Sweet Potato Chowder

Ingredients

1 celery rib, chopped up real good

2 tablespoons butter

32 oz box of vegetable broth (or as close to 32 oz as you can muster)

1 can sliced white potatoes (the 14 oz kind) drained

2 big cans sweet potatoes in syrup (the ones just over a 1 lb - not the biggest, but the next size up from the 14 oz) - one drained, one not drained

1 can corn (the 12 - 14 oz kind) drained

two 12 oz packages of diced ham

1 tablespoon dried minced onion

1/2 teaspoon each garlic powder, seasoning salt, cinnamon, and parsley flakes (resist the urge the add any more than that)

1/4 teaspoon each black pepper and crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 cup white flour

1 cup milk

Directions:

1. Chop up the celery well enough that it'll just've dissolved into the soup by the time it's done cooking. This is the hardest part of the recipe. Cook it in the butter over medium heat until it gets soft and a little brown. Take a big sniff - it is divine.

2. Add the broth. Turn the heat up to wherever it needs to go to bring it all to a boil by the time you're done adding the other ingredients.

3. Drain the white potatoes and the corn and add them.

4. Open one of the cans of sweet potatoes but don't drain it. Take a butter knife and cut up the potatoes into smaller chunks while still in the can. Add the sweet potato chunks and syrup to the pot.

5. Open up the other can of sweet potatoes and drain it. Take a butter knife and cut up the potatoes into smaller chunks while still in the can. Dump that in.

6. Add both packs of diced ham and all the seasonings.

7. Let that heat up some more while you make the thickening. Fill a glass measuring cup with one cup of milk. Gradually stir in a quarter cup of flour with a fork. Do it slow enough that there aren't any lumps when you're done. The soup should be at a good boil when you're done.

8. Add the thickening and bring it to a boil again. It should only take a minute or two for it all to become thick. Smells good, don't it?

9. This is an odd soup in that it does not taste better the next day, so don't be shy about eating it all right away. (I mean, it's not disgusting the next day or anything. It's just that the sweet potatoes have completely dissolved into the broth by then, so it's a little too sweet.) Merry Christmas!