I’m just letting you know now, that you don’t have to look for anymore chowder recipes. My Pressure Cooker Smoky Vegetarian Sweet Potato and Corn Chowder is the chowder of all chowders! And the fact that it takes no time to make, secures it’s number one spot because who really wants to slave over a stove all day???
FYI: This post has been sponsored by Kansas Farm Bureau and Kansas Soybean Commission. This does not alter my opinion whatsoever. However, as one of my readers, I feel that it’s important for you to know this tidbit before I proceed.
I decided to share this recipe with you because corn is such a huge factor in agriculture. From the farmers who grow the corn to sell, to the animals who need to eat it to stay alive, to the fuel for our cars that we need to drive everyday. I feel that corn gets such a bad wrap sometimes, and it’s important to discuss the positives that it brings to our economy and to our health.
I chose to go with a chowder because I wanted a recipe that represented the wholesomeness that I felt when I was in Kansas. Visiting these farmers and their homes was a great glimpse into their family life and how they keep their values sacred.
Lastly, I chose to make this an instant pot/pressure cooker meal because the Instant Pot came up a lot as we visited the different farms and talked about food. In particular there was a mushroom risotto that I had on the Goode Farm and it was absolutely amazing! Which has also sparked my interest in making risotto in the pressure cooker, so be on the lookout for that soon. Farmers and their families have a lot of work to do and that they need wholesome meals with a fast turnaround, and luckily the instant pot or pressure cooker is a great vessel to help them do that.
Three things in particular stood out to me while on the tour, and it they were issues that were brought up the most.
- Farmers are having a hard time keeping employees. Because of this, they are having to take on all of the work themselves. And I’m not talking an acre here and and acre there. I’m talking about thousands of acres that they have to plant and harvest themselves. We had a Farmers wife on the bus, and I asked her why is employment such a huge problem? In the rest of the country, people struggle to find jobs, but for some reason it’s the complete opposite for the farmer in Kansas. Here are some of the reasons she gave me.
- The farmers just can’t afford to compete with the wages of the local factories.
- Offering insurance to employees, just isn’t an option right now.
- Work on the farm is hard. A lot of times when people experience one day of work, they never come back. It’s just too much.
- Farmers are constantly working against the weather. If you don’t think climate change doesn’t exist, I’d love to see you argue that with farmers. The weather dictates how the animals act and how their crops produce each year. Too much rain will drown out their crops, but too little will stunt their growth. Perfect weather is imperative to a farmers success!
- Their children are choosing other professions. So, that means that passing the farm down to family isn’t usually the case as much as it was in the pass. This leaves a lot of farmers in a place to where they have to decide whether or not to give up their family farms. When family and your history is everything, this could be a truly hard decision to make.
- Farmers and Ranchers are thinking outside the box to figure out new ways to optimize their land and products. Gone are the days where farmers are leaning towards traditional ways to run a farm. They’re learning about innovative ways to use their harvests.
When I go to tour farms in the middle of our country, it allows me to learn about a world that is so close yet seems so far. The topics above are just a small glimpse into some of the challenges that our fellow neighbors incur. I ask that you take an initiative to find out more about where our food comes from and the challenges that farmers go through in order to make sure that we have food on our tables. Hopefully, this will help us bridge the gap, and provide help to those who a lot of us take for granted.
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Pressure Cooker smoky Vegetarian Sweet Potato and Corn Chowder
Ingredients
16oz Frozen Corn
2 Sweet Potatoes diced
1/2 Onion diced
1 Green Pepper Diced
1tbs Olive Oil
2 Garlic Cloves minced
1tbs Smoked Paprika
2tsp Salt
2tsp Pepper
2cups Broth of choice
2cups Heavy Cream
Smoked Pepper or Bacon Crumbles for topping
Instructions
Add olive oil, onions, green peppers, and garlic to your pressure cooker. Turn on the Saute mode, and cook until tender. Make sure you constantly stir ingredients.
Add remaining ingredients EXCEPT for heavy cream to the pot.
Place lid on the pot and turn to soup setting.
Cook on high for 4 minutes.
Safely release the steam.
Stir in the heavy cream.
Serve hot and top with either smoked peppers or bacon.
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