Hearty Bacon Potato Chowder

When my mother in law (an avid New Recipe Night reader) was here this past summer she gave me this cookbook, Land O Lakes Treasury of Country Recipes. It is a nice thick cookbook with lots of recipes, and I have marked a few yummy ones to try. Last night I made two out of it, this soup and also some biscuits which I will post separately. Yes, I realize yesterday it was like 82 degrees and definitely not soup weather, but I do my meal planning 1 or 2 weeks in advance, and this is what was on the menu, which has very little wiggle room. Ha ha.

Hearty Bacon Potato Chowder
8 slices bacon, cut into 1" pieces
2 cups cubed red potatoes
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup sour cream
1 1/4 cup milk (I just couldn't put sour cream in my soup. I subbed half and half for the milk and left out the sour cream. I think it was fine.)
1 10 3/4 oz can cream of chicken soup
8 oz can corn, drained (I used 1 cup frozen)
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp thyme

In 3 qt saucepan cook bacon over medium heat for 5 minutes; add potatoes and onions (it doesn't say to drain the bacon fat first, but of course I did...I left some of it in there but not a lot). Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes, until potatoes are tender (15-20 minutes). Add remaining ingredients. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until heated through (10-12 minutes).

This came out really good, even if it was a summer-ish day. Nathan had something else, because he doesn't like bacon or potatoes (crazy kid) and I didn't want to waste a bowl of it on him for the sake of the corn, which is all he would eat out of it. The rest of us really liked it. It was quite creamy, making me wonder if I should have just used milk, leaving out the sour cream anyway. But no complaints on that, just something I noticed. Like, the broth wasn't really chowder-y like you would expect, it was thicker than that. But overall a very yummy soup.