Corn Chowder with Shrimp

This is a tasty fall soup... flavored with veggie bacon, corn and shrimp, so it's vegaquarian. Of course you can use real bacon if you want.

Ingredients

4 slices veggie bacon
1 cup prechopped onion
2/3 cup prechopped celery
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
1 garlic clove, minced
3 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels, thawed
2 cups vegetable stock
3/4 pound peeled and deveined medium shrimp
1/4 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt

5-6 cups

Directions

1. Saute the bacon, onion, celery, thyme and garlic in a dutch oven for 3 minutes or so. Add corn, and cook 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add broth; bring to a boil, and cook for 4 minutes.

2. Put 2 cups or so of the corn mixture in a blender. (Remove the center piece of blender lid to allow steam to escape, secure lid on blender and hold a clean towel over the opening). Blend until smooth.

3. Return pureed corn mixture to pan. Stir in shrimp; cook 2 minutes or until shrimp are done. Stir in milk pepper, and salt. Now eat.

20 minutes