New England Clam Chowder - The Easy Way

*We are heading up North to visit some family for a few days and of course, whenever we do that, we make soup since the Midwest weather is so much cooler than Paradise! Hubbby keeps telling me, Clam Chowder! Clam Chowder! You gotta make the Clam Chowder! Fine, fine, ok, ok, I got it!  So here you go, folks, the Clam Chowder!

 It has been a while since we've made soup ... especially this yummy, super easy New England Clam Chowder ... 

As you know, New England style is creamy ... Manhattan is red and chunky. And if you've been reading for any length of time, you probably picked up that Hubby HATES chunky tomatoes in cooked dishes. For someone who is a big fan of food, he certainly can be picky at times ;-)

Just for the record, I was set NOT to like this ... I mean, all the ingredients were pretty much processed and well, I'm trying to avoid that stuff ... but, hell, it was  a Saturday night, smelled good, he made some lovely ciabatta bread and it was to die for ...



Yes, it is a little indulgent and I would suggest you not make it every day. But please, whatever you do, give it at least ONE shot ... I think you'll be glad you did!

Here's what you need:

7 pieces of bacon, cooked and crumbled (save the bacon grease in skillet)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cans of baby clams
5 to 7 potatoes, cubed
1 1/2 cans of cream of celery soup
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup milk
1 tsp dry dill

Make life a little easier and give the bacon a quick whirl
in food processor to chop it up

Cook onion in the bacon grease until translucent and soft.  Add the juice from the clams (set clams aside) and the potatoes to the pan and cook til the taters are tender, 15 to 20 minutes.



Add the balance of the ingredients, stir and let simmer 45 minutes or so until thick. Add the clams towards the end.



Dish up into some pretty bowls, top with a little more bacon bits if you have ... ENJOY!



*We made a double batch as we had some friends coming over, so used a WHOLE pound of bacon and double the balance of the ingredients. I'm sure Hubby did some other things to it to season it up as he does NOT follow recipes super well :-). We also used CANNED POTATOES that were in the pantry as I didn't have any in the pantry or fridge. Hubby said he'd do it that way again as it was a heck of a lot better than peeling and dicing!

 Looking forward to sharing at some of these GREAT Parties ... go check them out!

Comments

  1. Miz HelenMonday, December 21, 2015

    Congratulations!
    Your recipe was featured on Full Plate Thursday. Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and enjoy your new Red Plate!
    Miz Helen

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Smelly Shoe Fix!

Image
Honestly, we have real good hygiene habits in my house, I can assure you of that! But, lets face it, living in paradise with 125% humidity can be a little trying sometimes ... my running shoes (which have NOT seen much running action for quite a while) get a little ripe smelling ... and oh man, you should smell the shoes that Hubby wears outside in the yard, patio, garage and boat that constantly get wet ... enough to suck the oxygen right out of your body ... whew! Then you have the Boy ... who works out pretty darn hard and doesn't always wear socks, nor does the Princess ... I mean, seriously, I've had to throw shoes away because you could smell them just sitting there. No one wants to be the person that people are wrinkling their nose at when they are walking by you! So when I saw the featured post for the Smelly Shoe Solution (and dang, I'm still trying to find the original post because I had no need to bookmark it, such a simple fix!) Yes. That's IT!
Read more

Non Toxic Mosquito Spray

Image
Let's face it, living in Paradise does have a few drawbacks with the #1 complaint being ... BUGS. Yeah, bugs.  Mostly mosquitoes that can just ruin an evening of relaxation on the patio ... those pesky little guys can really do a number on you quickly!  Heaven forbid if you are one of those who are very sensitive to the bites (the Boy), you will have welts in no time. So Hubby always decides to spray AFTER everyone starts swatting the air and scratching. We have to gather up our drinks and appetizers, go indoors and wait for 20 minutes or so for the toxic fog to flat away ... only to be swatting and scratching AGAIN in 30 minutes. After seeing THIS tip a few too many times, I figured, what the heck, $5 at Walmart is worth it to try, right? Guess what?  It seems to work!!!  I need to do a few more nights to say for certain but I say it's WAY better than that can of toxic stuff ... and cheaper to boot! You must use the ORIGINAL flavor, and yes, it nee
Read more

Rice Cooker - Hard Boiled Eggs

Image
One of the things I picked up at Costco was a new Rice Cooker. The one I have, well, I gave that to the Boy when he went away to college (so he could make his macaroni and cheese), not to mention, it was small as heck, like mini size! So, I figured, you know, Hubby likes to make rice occasionally. The Boy makes brown rice in the microwave every other day and leaves the bubbly residue behind for ME to find when I go to heat something up (I hate a dirty microwave, totally wigs me out and sends me running for the windex!) ... so I grabbed the rice cooker ($29.95), a 10 pound bag of organic brown rice and a 20 pound bag of Basmati rice. I'm asking myself now, a whole week later, what the hell am I going to do with 20 pounds of Basmati rice? Anyways. Then I was reading the recipe booklet that came along with the cooker. They had one recipe that said to add the eggs, unshelled, to the steamer basket.  Ok. That made me re-read it a few times. Unshelled? Did they mean out of the shell?
Read more