Question and Recipe

Hey all, Juts wanted to ask if anyone has used the "Carb Countdown" milk products as their protien drink? I really like the chocolate. Also, I found a recipe if low-carb clam chowder online, tried it last night and, after a little tweaking, it's awesome! I never believe it when folks tell me "it's better that the regular version" but I really think this is. The cauliflower has more flavor and doesn't "bland down" the chowder as much as potatoes. Here you go: LC Boston Clam Chowder 1 pound of shelled Clams, cleaned and chopped (you can sub. 2 big Costco cans of canned clams - drained) 1/2 pound bacon cooked crisp and finely chopped 4 cups of 2% carb countdown. 2 pints heavy cream 4 cups of water 2 cups cauliflower - boiled and sectioned 1 cup onions chopped 2 stalks celery thinly chopped 1 1/2 sticks of butter 5 tbsp Atkin's baking mix (or similar substitute) 2 tbsp salt - or to taste 1 tsp granulated garlic 1/2 tsp white or black pepper - or to taste 1/2 tsp thyme Do ahead: cook bacon and drain well. Combine clams or other raw seafood with 2 cups of water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cover - let simmer for 5 minutes. Drain well. In the bottom of a large soup pot melt 1/2 stick of butter. Combine onions and celery in bottom of pot and coo****il soft. Add in cauliflower, pepper, thyme and salt and remaining 2 cups of water. Let simmer on low heat while you mix remaining ingerdients. Drain off this water before adding milk mixture. In a medium saucepan, heat up the remaining stick of butter. slowly whisk in the Atkins baking mix. When sufficiently smooth, slowly mix in the cream. Transfer this mixture to the large pot and add in the chopped clams (or other boiled seafood) and chopped bacon. Add the remaining milk and simming on low heat. DOT NOT BOIL! Add additional salt and pepper to taste. approx 5 grams of carbs per serving! Blessings, -Perk (5 days and counting down!) Perry P. Perkins Author/Novelist Just Past Oysterville: Shoalwater Book One www.perryperkinsbooks.com

Perry (or do you rather prefer Perk?)- I use the Carb Countdown milk all the time and I use the chocolate now in order to get an iced mocha once in a while. Yum! The recipe doesn't surprise me - I use cauliflower all the time in substitute for potatoes and rather prefer it for many applications. Did you know you can make a mock-potato salad from cauliflower? It's wonderful! I didn't have a recipe set up on my website yet, but it's easy. I cut up the cauliflower into chunks before I cook it. Make sure to use the inner core as that will be even more like potato pieces. Cook it to tender but not mushy consistency. You want it to hold up and not fall apart much. After cooking, I immediately put it in a bowl to soak with pickle juice and vinegar. I let it set for several minutes....the longer the better. Then I drain the livin' daylights out of the cauliflower. I put it in a mesh strainer and shake it. I might even blot it off if I feel it's still too wet. Once done, I take about a dozen boiled eggs, slice them and add them to the cauliflower. The more eggs, the more protein and the less carbs. I add the following ingredients to mine: minced onion (not a lot), sliced olives, chopped dill pickles. Once all the main ingredients are in the same bowl, I add the mayo and mustard and mix it up. I try not to molest it too much so as to keep the eggs from becoming mushy, but make sure it's all mixed in. If you need more tangy, go for the mustard over using pickle juice or vinegar. It will keep it from getting soupy. I took this mock potato salad to a potluck once and no one knew the difference. I used just the inside stem portions of the cauliflower so there were no telltale florets. It went over really well. In fact....hmmmmmmmmmm.....I may have to make some today. That sounds like it would hit the spot! Dina

Okay Perry this sounds great....my question to you is...did this recipe include your tweeking....or do we have to experiement on our own? I haven't heard of carb countdown....where can you get this? Thanks for the recipe! Shelley

Shelley - I can answer that. You can get Carb Countdown in most grocery stores right next to the milk. I usually go to Winco or Freddies. Dina

That is the "tweaked" recipe. Basically, I added garlic ('cause it aint FOOD without garlic!) and replaced the milk with the Carb Countdown, and added the Costco reference. I get CC at WalMart, with the milk products. It comes in skim, 2% and chocolate. I mix the 2% and Choc at 25/75% because I think the chocolate alone is a little thick. Victoria says I'm a wuss. LOL! Blessings, -Perk