Halibut Chowder

Modified from Quick Cooking (this recipe was sent in by someone from Palmer, which I thought was cool)

1 large onion (they used green onions, but I never keep those in the house...I might throw in celery in the future or use cream of celery instead of mushroom soup)

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tbsp butter

4 cans (10 3/4 oz each) condensed cream of potato soup, undiluted

2 cans (10 3/4 oz each) condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted

4 cups milk

2 pkgs (8 oz each) cream cheese, cubed

1-1/2 lbs halibut, diced (we probably used more here as we halved the recipe and still used over a pound) [You could use chicken or any white fish here...even clams if you like clam chowder]

1-1/2 cups frozen carrots, diced (we used sliced here, as they recommended, but they were too big in comparison to everything else, so we'll switch next time...again we used more here)

1-1/2 cups frozen corn (we used more...I honestly might just use a bag of frozen mixed veggies in the future as I probably will always halve this)

1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (we used the full 1/4 and it wasn't too hot)

salt and pepper to taste (I added this)

In a Dutch oven or soup kettle, sauté onions and garlic in butter until tender. Add soups, milk and cream cheese; cook and stir until cheese is melted. Bring to a boil.

Stir in fish, carrots, corn and cayenne pepper.. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 5-10 minutes or until fish flakes easily and the vegetables are tender. We did this longer as we were stalling, which you could tell with the halibut (it gets a little stringy), but the large carrots took a long time anyway.

Makes 16 servings (about 4 quarts - it makes a lot).