Ham and Potato Chowder

We have a cafeteria at work and they make a ham and potato soup that is pretty good, but you can tell they are using some campbell's cream of ____ soup in there. I threw this knockoff together without using any of those pre packaged soups. Its one of my favorites now.




Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups peeled and diced potatoes
1/3 cup diced celery
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
1 can of corn
1 cup diced cooked ham (buy a ham steak in the deli section)
3 1/4 chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste (go easy here, the ham is pretty salty)
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
5 tablespoons butter
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups skim milk


Process:
1.Combine the potatoes, celery, onion, carrot, ham and chicken broth in a stockpot. Bring to a boil, then cook over medium heat until potatoes are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the salt and pepper.

2.In a separate saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour with a fork, and cook, stirring constantly until thick, about 1 minute. Slowly stir in milk so that lumps don't form and until all of the milk has been added. Continue stirring over medium-low heat until thick, 4 to 5 minutes.

3.Stir the milk mixture into the stockpot, and cook soup until heated through.

4. Top with cheddar cheese, chives, and bacon if desired. Serve immediately.