Karen's New England Clam Chowder

It's that time of year...... there's frost on the grass in the morning, all the leaves have fallen from the trees.... and if you look really hard, you can see a flurry or two sneaking in on a sunny November afternoon.

What warms my heart, and my tummy is a good, hearty soup. My husband begged me to make Manhattan Clam Chowder, which I did, and he loved. But me..... not so much. Too tomatoey..... but I knew there was a clam chowder out there for me, that was based in potatoes.

He loves tomatoes.... I love potatoes.

The recipe that I found that was closest to what I wanted was LOADED in fat (I'd suppose the 3 cups of half and half or heavy cream might have had a bit to do with that) but I didn't want to lose the creaminess. Hello white rice flour! It thickened it up, and because it's a soup, the flour lost the graininess that sometimes others complain of when using this type of flour, because it absorbed enough liquid.

This recipe totally made my family happy..... and my BAND!

KAREN'S NEW ENGLAND CLAM CHOWDER

Ingredients:


4 slices of low-sodium bacon, diced (I used Plumrose sugar free, lower sodium bacon)
1.5 C onion, diced
1 C clam juice
4 C potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2" chunks
White pepper, to taste
2 C Fat Free Milk
3 T butter
2 (10 oz.) cans minced clams
4 T. White Rice Flour, mixed with enough fat free milk to make a paste 

Directions:

1. Place diced bacon in large stock pot over medium-high heat. Cook until almost crisp. Add onions, cook until translucent. Stir in clam juice and potatoes, season with white pepper (and salt if you'd like) Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce to medium, and cook for 20 minutes.

2. Pour in milk and butter. Put in both cans of clams, with liquid. Cook 5 minutes. Add white rice flour and milk paste, cook until thickened.

3. Pour into soup bowls, top with shaved parmesan/romano/asiago cheese.

Totally approximate: Makes 8 servings, at about 350 calories, 20 fat, 20 carb, 25 protein