Thursday, January 10, 2008

Wifezilla's Low Carb Golden Clam Chowder

I'm on a roll with all the cooking (sorry if I am making you hungry)! Here is what I made this morning and left cooking in the slow cooker while I went to the office. Based on a traditional clam chowder recipe, it has a few low carb adaptations. The golden color comes from the rutabaga.



Wifezilla's Low Carb Golden Clam Chowder
(Slow cooker directions)

Ingredients
6 slices of thick cut bacon (or hog jowl slices)
1 large rutabaga
2 cans of minced clams
1 Tbsp dried minced onions
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp crushed dried rosemary
1 tsp cayenne pepper powder
2 cloves
2 cups water
1/2 cup heavy cream
dried or fresh chopped chives for garnish

Directions
Peel and chop rutabaga in to small pieces. Cook bacon in a large frying pan. Remove when well done and drain on paper towels. Put rutabaga pieces in the bacon grease and cook until a bit soft (don't worry about cooking them completely at this point...remember...this is all going in to the slow cooker). Add in all the spices except for the cloves. Add in both cans of minced clams including liquid and stir well. Once everything is warmed up, transfer contents to your slow cooker. Crumble the bacon and add that in as well. Pour in 2 cups of water and stir well. Place the 2 clove pieces on top of the mix, or wrap the 2 cloves in a piece of cheese cloth or put in a tea ball. You want to be able to remove the cloves before serving.

Put your slow cooker on low and let this mix cook while you work or run errands. When you get home, fish the cloves out and stir in the cream. It will take a few minutes for the chowder to warm back up to temperature, so pour yourself a martini, or have a few slices of cheese as an appetizer. Relax. (Or you could just say "To Hell With Waiting!" and nuke some...to each his own.)

Once the chowder has warmed up, help yourself to a bowl and sprinkle with some of the chives. No, you should NOT serve this with oyster crackers like a traditional chowder. That would blow the whole point of me adapting this to low carb. You could make yourself some cheese crisps or flax crackers, but I think another martini might be more fun.

UPDATE: lisabinil from Low Carb Friends was kind enough to run the numbers on this. Thanks Lisa!

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 413 Calories; 31g Fat (67.3% calories from fat); 19g Protein; 15g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 88mg Cholesterol; 357mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 2 1/2 Lean Meat; 1 1/2 Vegetable; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 5 1/2 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.



Low Carb Energy Magazine

4 comments:

OhYeahBabe said...

That sounds wonderful! Thanks for sharing your recipes, 'zilla.
OYB

BlogBeacon.com said...

Hi, I'm Mr. Wifezilla and I approve this chowder. (I just ate a big bowl. Very good.)

Disease Management said...

Nice to read through your low fat recipes,keeping sharing more of them.

Linda said...

You must be confused. I do not post low fat recipes. Low fat is a dangerous, unhealthy way to diet. My recipes are low carbohydrate...meaning very little sugars and starches. There are plenty of healthy saturated fats in my recipes.