Clam Chowda

2 tablespoons butter
2 slices thick cut bacon, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 ribs celery with greens, chopped
4 sprigs fresh thyme
Salt and pepper
2 teaspoons hot sauce, eyeball it
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 pint half-and-half
2 cups chicken stock, from soup aisle
1 cup hash brown style raw shredded potatoes, from dairy aisle of the market
2 cans whole baby clams and their juice

In a medium pot over medium high heat melt butter. Add bacon and onions, celery and thyme sprigs. Season with salt, pepper and hot sauce and cook 5 minutes. Add flour and cook a minute more.

Add half-and-half and stock and bring to a bubble, then stir in potatoes and clams. Bring soup back to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes, until potatoes are cooked and soup has thickened to coat the back of a spoon.

Remove the thyme sprigs from the soup. The thyme leaves will have fallen off into the soup. Stir and adjust seasonings in your soup.

This is a Rachael Ray recipe but I've tried it and think it's pretty good. My family loves it. I do make some changes to it though. Instead of fresh Thyme, I use the dried stuff. And try to cook up the bacon in the butter first - it just cooks the bacon all the way through instead of leaving the bacon not done in some places. We don't use hot sauce, we just omit it all together. The shredded potatoes, can also be frozen hash browns. 2 % milk can be substituted for the half and half. (Unfortunately, the half and half is good, though.) Tonight I did 1 cup half and half and 1 cup 2% milk and that worked really well. Oh, and instead of baby clams, I just use regular clams and dump the whole can in the soup, with all the liquid. Chicken stock, I use Chicken Broth and even add some water to make the right amount. OK it's not like the original but it's really good, though!