Tasty Soups: Creamy Corn Chowder by Kira

Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons Flour
1/4 cup Flour
1 cup Water
1.5 cups Milk (skim or 1% work fine, and lighten the soup considerably)
2 regular-sized Chicken Bouillon Cubes (or 1 Knorr Chicken Bouillon Cube, or 2 tsp Chicken Base)
1/2 lb Bacon
1 small Onion, minced
2 Red Potatoes, diced into small cubes
2-3 cloves Garlic, minced
1 can Corn, drained (or 1.5 cups frozen kernel corn)
Salt and Pepper to taste
a few dashes Hot Sauce (like Tabasco or Cholula)

Fry bacon until crisp. In the meantime, melt butter over low heat in a soup pot. When melted, add flour to make a roux, and mix until it comes together to make a little ball.

The "ball" of butter and flour

Add water and whisk until completely combined and there are no lumps.
Add milk and bouillon (or chicken base) and bring to a simmer. Add potatoes, onion, and garlic and simmer (but don't boil), stirring frequently, for about 20 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.

The chopped onion and potatoes

Cooking the veggies

Kira stirring her soup frequently!

Add crumbled bacon and corn, and heat through.
Add a few drops of hot sauce, and then salt to taste. The soup NEEDS the salt, but an exact salt measurement is not given because bacon differs in saltiness, so it would be very easy to make the soup far too salty. Start with about 1/4 tsp salt; stir for a few minutes, then add more salt if you'd like.
Ladle into bowls. Top with extra bacon and cheese if you want.