Archive for January, 2010

It’s soup season and one of my favorites is Clam Chowder.  There’s only one problem.  It’s not exactly diet friendly.  With as much as whole cube of butter and heavy cream or half and half, most clam chowder recipes are packed with fat and calories.

My version comes from a friend in Connecticut.  And while it isn’t totally devoid of fat and calories (it does have bacon and bacon drippings after all) it is significantly better than any other recipe I’ve ever seen.  The bacon and drippings are flavor, baby, flavor.  As Emeril says, “It’s a pork fat thing.”  This recipe is so good you won’t miss the butter and cream even for a minute.

Sue’s Clam Chowder

• 6 slices of bacon
• 2 Tablespoons reserved bacon drippings
• 2 cups peeled and diced potatoes (may use red potatoes with the skin on)
• 1 cup diced celery
• 1 cup onion
• Salt and pepper to taste
• ½ teaspoon fresh thyme or ¼ teaspoon dried crushed thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 24 oz. minced clams (reserve liquid)
• ½ cup flour
• 6 cups milk (skim to 2%)

Cook bacon until crisp- chop into small pieces and set aside.  Reserve 2 tablespoons of the bacon drippings in a large stock pot.  Add onion, celery and season with 1 tsp. salt and ½ teaspoon pepper.  Saute until translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add clam juice, potatoes, thyme and bay leaf.  Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for 10-15 minutes, or until potatoes are soft.  In a bowl whisk together flour and about ½ cup milk until there are no lumps.

Add flour mixture and remaining milk, bacon, and clams and heat gently until thickened.  Do not boil.  Taste for seasoning and salt and pepper to taste.

Click on over to Tasty Kitchen for the printable recipe.

Start by sauteing the onions and celery in the bacon drippings.  Season with 1 tsp. of salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper.  One thing I want to say about soup recipes:  The measurements are just guidelines.  If you chop up an onion and there is 1 1/4 cups instead of the 1 cup required, I just throw the whole thing in.  If I really like potatoes, add a few more.  The measurement are just guidelines and not hard and fast rules like when baking.

Add the potatoes, thyme, bay leaf, and clam juice.  Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.  Simmer for 10 minutes or until potatoes are soft.

Whisk together 1/2 cup of milk with 1/2 cup of flour until smooth.

Chop up bacon.

Add milk, flour mixture, bacon and clams.  Heat gently until thickened.  Don’t let it come to a boil.  Check for seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed.  It really depends on how salty my bacon is.  A quick word about the milk.  The higher fat milks make for a thicker, creamier soup.  But if your watching what you eat, like me, the skim still tastes great.

And don’t forget some good bread.  Rye or pumpernickel breads are wonderful with clam chowder.  But I will take homemade wheat too.

It’s the perfect warm-you-up meal on a cold day.  Enjoy!

There’s a little cold going around our family.  It’s nothing major, it just leaves you feeling a bit mucky.  The worst part is the congestion and sinus headache.

Several years back, my son had a sinus infection.  I finally took him to the pediatrician, and he prescribed antibiotics.  After five days on the antibiotics, he wasn’t improving at all.  I called the doctor again and he suggested switching to a stronger antibiotic.  Sinus infections can be hard to treat he said.

That same day, I spoke with my mother-in-law, Kit.  She suggested trying a Neti Pot for Ben.  I was skeptical.  I didn’t think a 6 year old could do it… or that it would help even if he could.

But we picked one up at the Natural Foods Market and gave it a try.

It was a little tricky to use it on a young child, but Ben was a trooper and with my help we made it work.

And much to my surprise, after the first time using it, Ben said his head felt a little better.

We used it 3 times that first day and each time it brought him more relief from the headache and congestion.  After 3 days, his sinus infection was gone.  Ben did complete the antibiotics we had already started,  but I’m sure it was the Neti pot that really helped him get better.

For those who aren’t familiar with a Neti Pot, I hope I don’t gross you out too much.  It is a little pot designed to flush your sinuses with a saline solution.  It clears out the muck and helps moisturize the nasal passages.  To use a Neti pot, you mix ¼ teaspoon of finely ground non-iodized salt in one cup of warm water until dissolved.  We use Sea Salt.  You lean over a sink and pour the solution into one nostril.  The saline solution moves through the sinuses and comes out the other side.  It feels funny, but not painful in any way.  You repeat the process going the other direction.  It pretty much clears out the stuffiness and allergens.  When done, I put the pot in the dishwasher to clean and sanitize.

Since buying our pot, we use it any time someone has a cold or congestion.  I love using it in the Spring for my allergies.

The Neti pot is a little life saver at our house.  It never fails to help us feel better.  It just goes to show, sometimes the oldest and simplest solutions are best.