ham and corn slow cooker casserole

Although this recipe says it is a slow cooker casserole, it really is a chowder.
So, I have made my menu for the week, and for some strange reason I included no slow cooker meals on the menu.  That really doesn't work for me because Tuesdays are rather busy.  This one in particular because Basketball Practice for DS2 was at 6 rather than 7, and DS1 still had wrestling at 7.  Plus I now have piano lessons again on Tuesday from 3:30-5.  So, if I want to have dinner on the table for people having to leave the house, slow cooker it has to be.  I still have no idea why I planned no slow cooker.  I know my schedule - even without basketball being earlier, I don't have a lot of time for making dinner on longer piano lesson days.  So yesterday I took DS4 to the library for toddler time and grabbed a couple of slow cooker books to look through.  I picked a recipe and wanted to stop by the grocery store on the way back to pick up DS3 from preschool, but somehow had no wallet -such a nice day, I know.  :) Finally got all of the ingredients (after going home for wallet, to 1 store who moved their diced ham, but I had no time to search -bought 1/2 of my ingredients before I had to go back to pre-school to pick up my child and then to another grocery store for the rest of the ingredients.)  After all of this running around, and getting my meal ready for the slow cooker, my piano lessons didn't even show up.
Luckily this soup was so tasty, It made the end of the day nice.  Since the piano students didn't come, I got to make some 30 minute rolls to go with our soup, and that too was nice.  This recipe is from fix it and forget it recipes for entertaining.  I did make some changes because it seemed to have way too much ham.  Plus it called for an 8 oz can of cream corn.  I had a regular size can (15 oz or thereabouts.  Not sure, I just know it was about twice as big.)  I also cut out 1/2 of the butter.  Didn't seem to lose any flavor because it was super tasty.  Yum!

Ingredients

• 4 Tablespoons butter
• 1 small green pepper, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 4 cups milk (I used 1 cup 2% and 3 fat free)
• 1 can (15 or 16 oz?) cream-style corn
• 3 small-medium potatoes, diced (about 2-2 1/2 cups) - the recipe called for slightly cooked?  I tossed these in the pan after the other mix, but of course they stuck, so I didn't leave them long.  I'd just go with raw next time - or slightly saute them in some butter before the onions
• 1 12 oz. package diced ham
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

1. In a large skillet, Saute onion and green pepper in butter.  (While this sauteed, I measured my flour, added the spices to the top of the cup, and measured out my milk to help move the process along.  I think you could probably sub out some frozen obrein potatoes for the pepper, onion and diced potatoes, but not sure it would be quite as tasty - I guess you could saute it all in butter, not just the onions and peppers.  It was just a thought I had while cooking on how to make it speedier.)
2. Stir in flour and seasonings.  Gradually add milk and cook until thickened.  Pour into slow cooker.  
3. Stir remaining ingredients into the slow cooker.
4. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.  (I cooked mine on low for 2, then high for 3-3.5 because that is when I wanted to eat - basically you want to get the potatoes cooked.  I also stirred mine a couple of times because the mix was sticking to the sides -I'm thinking the cheese?  That is not normal for a crock pot meal, but I would suggest it with this.)