Happy Saturday everyone! It is finally the weekend and I hope everyone gets to go out and do something fun or if you’re like me you work on weekends. I have to go into work later tonight, so I am trying to catch up on my recorded TV and sipping hot coffee.
Halloween is a little more than a week away and I can’t wait. I LOVE Halloween. Almost as much as I love Christmas. I’m gearing up for it by doing a very toned down version of my Christmas baking by doing a few treats. I will share those soon. I checked the Halloween hours in my town and it’s from 6-9! I am hoping to have lots of people come because the last two Halloweens I lived in an apartment and didn’t get anyone even though I bought candy just in case. I live in a small subdivision this year so I am hoping I get a few trick or treaters. I haven’t decided if I will sit out and scare the people or not lol. I also need to run out and get some candy I haven’t done that yet
I wanted to give you guys a great soup to try this weekend and it’s even better if it’s a cold day. It gets better though, you can go back for seconds on this soup because it’s a very healthy soup. Yes for real, healthy.
This soup comes together pretty quickly and tastes great. I got this recipe from my Rocco Dispirito’s cookbook “Now Eat This!” which offers healthier versions of comfort foods. All foods in this book are under 350 calories! You wouldn’t even know the difference trust me. I made a few modifications, but you should try this one. There is no fish taste if you are worried about that. If you are still scared of seafood, leave them out. I’m not looking.
Here is my take on Rocco’s New England Clam Chowder
Serves about six 6
1 large onion
4 cloves of garlic, finally chopped
4 cups of cauliflower florets1 bag of frozen corn
3 cups of skim milk
3 6.5 ounce cans of chopped clams with their liquid*
3 tbs of cornstarch
6 tbs of real bacon bits (Make sure these are REAL bacon bits)**
3 wedges of soft cheese (like laughing cow-Aldis has a version or 2/3 cups Greek yogurt)
½ cup of scallions (or 2 tbs of chopped chives)
Salt and pepper to taste
In a large pot add the onion, garlic, cauliflower, corn and skim milk. Bring to boil over high heat then reduce to low, cover and simmer for about 7 minutes or until the veggies are tender.
While the veggies are simmering, stain the clams and reserve the juice. Stir in the 3 tbs of cornstarch into the reserved juice.
Raise the heat to medium and add the cornstarch mixture into the pot stirring constantly. Reduce the heat again and let thicken about 2-3 minutes.
Add your clams and bacon to the soup and remove from heat. Stir in your cheese and scallions. Season with salt and pepper (I used a ton and added some hot sauce). Serve.
My calorie count comes in around 300 calories. The original recipe used Greek yogurt but it wasn’t a good price at the store so I used the soft cheese which are very low in calories. I believe the yogurt was supposed to make it creamy and the cheese really does.
*If you don’t use the clams, reserve one cup of milk and stir in your cornstarch than add it to the pot. I am really serious about it not tasting like fish either. When I opened the claims there was a little fishy smell, but once added to the soup and the liquid it was gone and my house didn’t even smell like it either.
**You can omit the bacon if you don’t dig it.
Enjoy!
