I love potatoes, so changing from a high-carb plan to a low-carb one wasn’t easy.
Discovering cauliflower as a chunky, amenable solution to creamy soups and for other purposes, coupled with the ease of use the crock pot provides as months grow more chilly, makes for delectable and chunky vegetable soups and chowders, like this one. The pictures speak for themselves. This is good stuff!
Savory Chowder Recipe
Can be prepared in a crock pot or on the stove.
Ingredients:
1 pint half-and-half
1 cup organic chicken broth
1-16 oz bag frozen cauliflower
1/4 cup chopped red onion*
2 slices cooked bacon bits
1 tsp salt
2 tsp parsley
1/4 tsp thyme
1/8 tsp pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1 can of clams/juice optional**
Prepare cauliflower according to package instructions. Drain. Cube when possible, leaving smaller chunks, but chunks nonetheless.
For crock pot:
In a crockpot, add all ingredients. Cook in a 2 qt bowl on a medium setting for 2-4 hours, or until onion is softened.
For stove-top preparation:
In a saucepan on medium heat, soften onion in chicken broth until transparent. Add thicknthin/not starch. Stir. Add half-and-half and spices. Stir until half-and-half comes to a near boil, stirring constantly. Add bacon and cauliflower, and stir, reducing the heat to low/simmer. Keep an eye on dairy in the pan, to keep scorch from occurring.
For both recipes, serve warm.
*If using crockpot, you need not pre-cook onions to soften. On-stove cooks need to soften the onions on the stove by cooking in broth prior to adding other ingredients.
**If clams are added, add juice to the chicken broth, and add diced clams with the cauliflower.
Makes six, one-cup servings at 5.3 carbs per cup and 300 calories per serving.
what are you subbing thick n thin not starch with?
I would just skip any thickener in this recipe. In fact, I’m amending to remove it.
Oh, this was so good! I only had yellow onions, and I sauteed them in 2 tablespoons of butter before adding them in. I didn’t have the thyme (no pun intended) or parsley, and it was still unbelievably good! This recipe is going to become a standard at our house!
I am so happy to hear it, Lauri! Thanks so much for taking the time to let me know.
do you add the juice from the can of clams too?
I say why not! There’s not enough juice there to affect the creaminess of the soup.
I added it! it made a very good pot of soup, but a bit salty for my taste. at least the version I made. I used diced turnips instead of the cali, cause I had some I needed to use. Very yummy!