Easy (relatively) chowder with random veg, protein and cheese

The only specific ingredients are onions, garlic, spices, heavy cream and at least some cheddar.

Before starting salt all of your veg. This is so they are INTERNALLY seasoned, otherwise you'll have salty soup and bland veg.

Saute your onions (with any other hardy vegetables) and butter can be used if feeling indulgent. Salt as you saute

Once slightly tender add and cook a couple tablespoons of flour (depends on quantity of soup and desired thickness)

Add whatever stock or bullion on hand (I use home made with bones and veg scraps). You could also use plain water if really starving and desperate though.

Once the soup is boiling add a ton of (salted) minced garlic, FRESH CRACKED black pepper, rosemary, thyme, smoked paprika and a couple pinches of mustard powder. These can be fresh or dry, but I do like fresh garlic and fresh cracked pepper (many of the flavors and compounds are highly volatile and will literally float away if stored post cracking). Also be generous with your spices, makes it way tastier.

Add your veg. It can really be anything from broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes, corn, peas, carrots, mushrooms zucchini, celery, cabbage (not too much), bell peppers, etc. experiment and go nuts.

When pot is hot again add your protein, nothing specific. I've used ham, pork, ground beef, ground turkey, deli meat that was gonna go bad, breakfast sausages, Italian sausages, chicken breast and thighs and even tilapia. Make sure to salt them for 15 mins before adding.

When your proteins are not raw and almost cooked add heavy cream (if you don't have much you can also add some milk, you can also freeze milk, let it melt and drip into a container, when halfway melted remove the frozen milk and whatever is collected is highly concentrated because all of the fats in the milk melt much faster than water)

When soup is reduced to desired amount turn off the heat and let it cool to a light simmer. Add your cheese and stir thoroughly. If soup is too hot your cheese will cook and clump up in nasty globs and will not thicken your soup either.