Recipe(tried): Seafood Chowder (slow cooker) & Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello all!

Hope you are all having a wonderful meal with your family and friends.

I know I have been scarce around these parts! I have been very busy launching a new business, and not cooking as much as I used to. But my slow cooker(s) get a pretty good workout every week, as my family is now grown but still living here. So, everyone's schedule is different, including mine, with people coming and going at all hours, including me...so in the morning I set something to cook, and everyone helps themselves. It is a rare occasion these days when we are all here to eat together.

I know some of you have asked what the heck I am doing?! And where the heck am I?! so today I will finally answer you!

Back at the beginning of the year (2009), I got laid off. I was not expecting it, but the "funny" thing was, I was just about to quit. I had it in mind to start a business, and I had already taken some courses to get qualification as an ESL teacher in the fall of 2008. I had volunteered as an ESL teacher for years, and you know us old broads, we like to move toward where our passion takes us as our children move onto their own lives. So that was where I was at when they laid me off, more than ready to leave! but the layoff actually helped me, because then I was eligible for EI (insurance for unemployed people) and also even sponsorship for a GREAT course about how to start and run your own business. So, I was (am) off to a running start.

By the end of September, my schedule was full. I teach 10 hours a week at local college, plus I have 12 hours of tutoring individual ESL students. Those hours, plus prep time, make up a full week. I am earning twice what I used to make, in less hours. So, I have really landed on my feet!

It all came together for me, but I am so busy! And I still have other ideas I want to bring to fruition, so it is kind of a whirlwind. But I can't tell you how much I love it, it is even better than I imagined. How's that for a happy ending?

ok, finally, here's my recipe: I am trying to whittle down some stuff that has been clogging up my freezer and needs to get used! (I used the seafood I had on hand...you can sub anything you like)

SLOW COOKER SEAFOOD CHOWDER

1/2 quart 10% cream (half 'n half cream)
1 tin diced tomatoes
1 quart chicken stock
3 cups frozen hash browns
1 diced onion
2 cloves garlic, finely sliced or crushed
3 stalks of celery, finely sliced (I had fennel, and I used it instead...it came out great!)
1/2 pound prepped shrimp (I had cooked frozen shrimp)
1/3 pound IQF clams
Italian seasoning, pepper,a sprinkle of dried chile pepper

Soften the onion and celery in a bit of butter or oil, add garlic and seasonings. Load all ingredients into the slow cooker and cook on low for about 6 hours.

DH asked if I could please make this for him every week! There was lots, and some left over for lunch, too. I served it with a delicious sourdough loaf.

Enjoy!

Carolyn!