Low Carb Recipe: Mom's Mushroom Clam Chowder

Posted by Rishara Tuesday, October 13, 2009

I think my mom came up with this recipe because she had a bunch of mushrooms she needed to use before they went bad.  This probably isn't her exact recipe but is fairly close (I lost the email she sent with the recipe when my computer died).  My mom and I are not very good at measuring when we come up with recipes.  We generally throw in a little of this, a bunch of that, a smidge of this, etc.  It's been an effort for me to actually pay attention to how much of everything I throw into a new dish, both for the sake of sharing my recipes and also logging them accurately into my diet software. 

This soup was nice and hearty and made a very filling meal all by itself.  I estimated it at 4 servings, which turned out to be pretty nice sized bowls.  If you are only eating it as a side to a meal, you should divide it into smaller portions.

Mom's Mushroom Clam Chowder
1/2 small onion
1 stalk of celery
4 oz mushrooms (I used 1/2 portabella and 1/2 button)
2 cloves of garlic
4 slices bacon
1 1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup clam juice (1 bottle was 1 cup)
2 10z cans of clams (I used 1 can chopped and 1 can whole baby clams)
2 tsp celery salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp nutmeg or allspice (Mom's secret ingredient)
pinch of cayenne pepper
low carb thickener of choice (guar gum, xanthum gum, Thicken Thin-Not Starch)

1) Chop onions, celery and mushrooms into chunks.  The size of the chunks is really up to you.  I diced my celery and onions fairly fine and left the mushrooms a bit chunkier.
2) Dice garlic.
2) Slice bacon into chunks.
3) Toss bacon into the bottom of your soup pot and fry until crisp.  Remove with a slotted spoon to a paper towel.
4) Toss the celery, onions and mushrooms into the pot and saute in the bacon fat. 
5) Once veggies are soft, toss the garlic in and cook for a few minutes.
6) Add cream, clam juice, spices and bacon.  Stir and heat on medium heat.
7) Once the soup is warm, use thickener of choice to thicken the soup.  The best way to do this is to add a little bit of thickener at a time (I put mine in a salt shaker), whisk and wait a minute.  Repeat until the soup is the desired thickness.  It's best to be patient adding the thickener, because if you add too much it'll become gummy and nasty.
8) Simmer for about a 1/2 hour then serve and enjoy.

Nutrition Information per serving (as calculated by DietPower):
Assuming 4 servings:
Calories 413, Carbohydrates 7.79 g (Fiber 1.72 g, Sugars 1.15 g), Fat 37.2 g (Saturated 21.7 g, Polyunsaturated 1.83 g, Monounsaturated 11.1 g, Trans 0 g), Protein 14.9 g, Cholesterol 157 mg, Sodium 400 mg, Potassium 526 mg

2 comments

  1. Unknown Says:
  2. I use a program called Food And Exercise Diary (WeightlossSoftware.Com). It has a medical diary, food diary, and moods and feelings diary. So I can see relations between my foods, medication and moods. So the FED lets me figure out what is causing problems, and what works.

    I have lowered my insulin intake to 3 units a day from 40 units a day, or more, by using this food diary.

     
  3. Rishara Says:
  4. Thanks for the information--I will check it out. I assume you are the author of the software?

     

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About Me

I'm a software developer by day and an avid computer gamer by night. I'm also a woman rapidly approaching middle-age with diabetes and polycystic ovarian syndrome (pcos). I'm embarking on a lowcarb lifestyle in an effort to become healthy and live past middle-age and well into old-age.