The End of Soup Season

When I cook dinner, I don't like to eat a whole lot of saturated fat.  There are exceptions to this.  Absolutely.  BBQ is one.  Whataburger is one.  Lord have mercy if there is pizza around.  Geez the rodeo is the best/worst dream/nightmare.  We definitely consumed chocolate covered cheesecake on a stick right after an Italian sausage sandwich and beer.  no regrets here people.  It was amazing.

DC says I have a small but extremely chubby girl living inside me.  I have to watch it ...no one wants that girl to come out for reals.  She's been around before (hello 1990-2006) and she can be a you know what when she's hungry.

What the heck am I writing about?

Right.  Shrimp and Corn Chowder with Fennel.

Typically when I read my Real Simple Magazine (within 2 days of getting it), I skip over the recipes.  They look divine, but the back of the magazine has all of the nutrition facts and it is rarely good news.  And the word chowder is usually a no go.  But!  A month after getting the February issue, I ran across this recipe again, and it looked amazing.  Plus, I knew I only had a couple of weeks before DC would not accept soups for dinner anymore.  Hot Houston + a hot meal is not a good combo.  And he'll probably shave his beard around the same time as the soup cut off.  Why doesn't he just cut my heart out and rip it into pieces then spit on it and run over it on his bike?

I love his beard.  Him too.  Mostly the beard.

Oh my gosh worst post ever.  Who lets me drink so much coffee every dadgum day?

Ok so I took this recipe and made it a little lighter.  Don't hate.

I forgot to take a picture of the fennel before I cut it up.  If you've never used it before, it smells like licorice (don't gag), and it is frilly.  Yes.  Frilly.

So you want to cut the bulb off, rinse it, and chop it up.  Save the rest for topping a salad off, or for your husband who craves licorice.

Leeks!  I love to cook with leeks.  My love for onions tripled when I started using these.  I love them.  You're going to use the white to light green areas, so cut off the rest, then chop what you have.

Save the ends!  I planted them hoping for some little leeks.

Chop up some potato.  It calls for however many pounds, and I don't really want a ton of them, nor do I know how to measure how much potato I am putting in, so I just try to guess about how much potato DC and I would eat in one sitting (like a baked potato) and throw that much in there.  My recipes never make sense on here.  But they taste good so there.

Melt some butter or oil in a large pan.  I used this and only 1 tablespoon.  It works well for cooking, but not so much for baking.  Baking is hard to find substitutes for the bad stuff and still have it come out tasting good.

If I could go back, I would season the veggies more.  So, use some salt and pepper and whatever else you like.  Cook until the veggies are tender.  Then stir in about 2 tablespoons of flour.

Add the clam juice.  Do not mix this up with clam sauce!!

the potatoes

and the milk.  I totally meant to stop and get at least 2% milk for this, and I didn't.  It calls for whole milk and there's pretty much zero chance that I would use that, but non fat milk will have a hard time thickening.  Lucky for me, DC likes thin chowder.  You could also use a potato masher and mash them up for a thicker consistency.

Bring all of this to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for about 12 minutes.

Stir in 1 package of frozen shrimp (cooked, tail off, and thawed / drained) and one frozen package of corn (thawed and drained).  Be sure to season again when you stir these in.

This shrimp has no preservatives.  We likey.  I also have no clue where we bought them because we found this package in the back of the freezer when we were trying to make room for our wedding cake tier.  Also!  The shrimp in the picture on Real Simple has been grilled and placed on top.  If you simply toss shrimp in like I did, it's not going to get that "cooked on both sides" look.

Cook until shrimp and corn are heated through and the potatoes are tender.  The recipe says about 4 minutes, but this is so far off.  My potatoes took for-ev-er to cook through.

Stir in some lemon juice

How do you cut and squeeze your lemons?

Like Giada?

Like Rachel?

DC was still working on bikes, so I dished it up in these super cute personal pots and covered it with their lids.  Then I whipped up some garlic bread a la Giada.  You literally toast some bread (we love Whole Foods or Central Market's Seedalicious) and rub a garlic clove over the bread while it's still hot.  No butter needed and it tastes so fresh.

There she blows.  I forgot to snag some parsley at the store the week before so I threw cilantro on there.  I like it on everything, so it was delicious for me, but I don't know if everyone would like it.

Sayonara soup season!