Although the most well known chowders have seafood in them, there are wonderful vegetable chowders that are so filling. Now, take okra. Some people love it nad some people hate it. We really love okra in all of its forms. This soup doesn’t freeze well for me so we eat it up in several days. I use a dehydrated soup mix to make it a bit faster to prepare.

• 1 small Sweet Onion, diced
• 1 1/2 tablespoon unsalted Butter
• 1 medium Tomato, peeled and chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon dried Thyme
• 1 whole Bay Leaf
• 1 tablespoon fresh Parsley, chopped
• 1 quart Water
• 1 packet (2.5 ozs) tomato vegetable soup mix
• 1 package (10 ozs) of frozen sliced Okra or 10 ozs of fresh sliced
• Sea salt and Pepper to taste

Over medium heat, melt butter in a 2 quart saucepan. Saute onion in the butter until tender about 8 minutes. Add tomato, thyme, bay leaf, parsley. Cook and cook for 5 minutes. add the water and soup mix. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and stir occasionally. Add okra and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove bay leaf and serve warm.