I came across a lovely chicken Bacon Crock Pot Chowder recipe on PeaceLoveAndLowCarb's blog that I modified quite a bit today. I had 3 pieces of my Montreal Baked Chicken leftover this week and decided to take her recipe and morph it into one that undoubtedly tastes quite a bit different from hers, I suspect. Not only did I omit the celery and thyme, her only seasoning ingredient, but I added even more Montreal Steak seasoning than was on my leftover chicken. No way could I tolerate 1 lb. bacon all at one time in ANY recipe (I'm very sodium sensitive) so I cut that back to 1/4 lb. I don't care for the taste of flat leaf parsley, so I subbed in curly leaf and more of it. I cut the cream cheese in half and added 4 oz. ground pork to the soup. I also increased water, as the ratio of solids:liquid was way too high for my liking. Lowered the amount of cream and added in 3/4 c. coconut milk instead. Man, was the resulting soup ever good!!!! One of the best soups I've EVER made.

All I can say is this soup is incredibly rich, has depth of flavor and the strong flavor of bacon and coconut in this soup takes my Montreal Baked Chicken flavor combo to a whole new level! I want to thank Kyndra for my inspiration for this. It ‘s a keeper for sure! I look forward to trying her original version with thyme one day as well. This soup is suitable for all phases of Atkins. Here’s how I put it together:

INGREDIENTS:

12 oz. baked chicken meat, skin removed, diced (I used Montreal Baked Chicken)
4 oz. lean ground pork (or bulk pork sausage)
4 oz. lean bacon, chopped coarsely
2 oz. onion, chopped
1 T. shallot, chopped (I used 1 T. dehydrated shallot)
3 cloves garlic, minced
5 oz. sliced mushrooms
1/3 c. chopped parsley
3/4 c. leek, well washed and very thinly sliced
¼ tsp. black pepper
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
1½ tsp. McCormick “Grillmates” Montreal Steak Seasoning
4 oz. cream cheese
1/4 c. heavy cream
3/4 c. coconut milk
2 c. chicken stock (low sodium)
3 c. water (more if final soup is too thick for you)
1 tsp. chia seeds, ground (or your favorite thickener)

DIRECTIONS: Cut up the chicken into small bites and set aside. Cut bacon and brown a bit, add onion, leek and garlic. Saute until onion is getting tender. Add mushrooms, parsley, and all seasonings. Saute, stirring for 4-5 minutes. Add in cream cheese in small bits at a time, the diced chicken, chicken stock, water, coconut milk and ground chia seed. Simmer over low heat for about 15-20 minutes to allow the flavors to blend. Lower heat and stir in heavy cream. Simmer about 5 minutes longer at lowest heat to slightly thicken up. Add a bit more water if the overall soup is too thick or doesn’t have enough liquid for your liking. I found I wanted 1 c. more water in mine, as I don’t like too high a solids:liquid ration in my soups.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Entire recipe has 35 net carbs. I found my recipe made eight 1-cup servings, each containing:

315 calories
25.4 g fat
5.74 g carbs, 1.38 g fiber, 4.36 NET CARBS
16.5 g protein
580 mg sodium
360 mg potassium
18% RDA Vitamin A, 19% B6, 14% B12, 14% C, 23% copper, 22% iron, 19% manganese, 38% niacin, 26% phosphorous, 19% riboflavin, 30% selenium and 18% zinc