“Creamy” Manhattan Clam Chowder

Back to reality..

I haven’t really been cooking lately…actually, the last time I cooked was Friday night, I think.  I was super spoiled over the weekend with nice pre-Valentine’s Day meals + I had tons of leftover pizza.  Honestly, I probably would have run out of food otherwise!

I was not feeling any more grains today, so I decided to make soup.  (More evidence I am out of food – here is what I ate today:  oatmeal, left over pizza, a granola bar, more oatmeal).  I was definitely feeling a bit of a change.  Unfortunately, I also had to dip into my emergency canned food section of the pantry.  Here is what I had to work with:

random much?

From left I have whey, organic whole tomatoes, baby clams, chorizo flavored refried beans, organic onion, organic garlic, and organic turnip.

A major reason I went for the clams was because I’m starting to feel like my iron might be a little low.  Little known fact- shellfish contain much more iron than beef.  I’ve struggled with anemia for the past 6-ish years, so cooking with iron in mind is something I feel like I’ve perfected over the years.  Because I wanted to get the most iron possible, I actually eliminated the whey.  I’m not positive what the calcium content in whey is, but calcium inhibits the absorption of iron.  Vitamin C, however, helps the absorption of iron so making a tomato based clam chowder seemed like a no brainer.  I wanted to add the beans to the soup to add iron and also a fuller, creamier texture and flavor since dairy was out.  Also, I didn’t have any potatoes so I figured the turnip could be a good substitute.  It def=initely was, and I can see myself making that substitution again.

I’ve made clam chowder quite a bit and this adaptation is one of my favorites.  The chorizo flavor in the beans went well with the clams, and the turnips added extra flavor.  Here’s what I did:

Creamy Manhattan Clam Chowder

-combine a 28 oz can tomatoes, 14 oz can refried beans, 12 oz can baby clams in a large pot
-add 1/2 a diced onion, 1/2 cup julienned turnip, 1 clove garlic
-season with bay leaf, salt, pepper, thyme, and crushed red pepper flakes
-simmer for ~20 minutes

needs more green..story of my life

Sooo easy.  This actually made quite a bit, too.  I ate two bowls tonight and have 2-3 bowls left.  Hooray for lunch tomorrow 🙂

Total Price: $5.48 (for 4-5 servings)

Tomatos: $2.89
Clams (not organic): $1.29
Refried Beans: (not organic) $1.10
Onion: $0.19
Turnip: $0.10
Garlic: $0.10

Considering that Darn Good Soup (an amazing soup place in B-town) sells a bowl for ~ the price of my entire pot, I think that’s a pretty good deal.