Turkey Chowder With A Twist

You know those days when you have everything planned and then the plan starts to ravel? I had one of those yesterday. There was nothing bad about it and nothing disappointing happened, in fact a lot of unplanned really nice things were going on all around me and I got a lot of errands and running around done. Several stops occurred that I had no intentions of making, but, organically time and place ruled my route. And all of a sudden it was nearly 5 and I still had to drop fruit off at Mom's house. I pulled up to her house and notice My Beloved Sister was still there, as it was her afternoon to tend to Mom. When I walked in to deliver the oranges and grapes, I met them about to come out the door to grab a take out meal for Mom.

I rode with them and sat in the car talking to Mom while MBS bought her meal. Then we went back to Mom's and my sis had to go home. I stayed with Mom while she ate (mainly to monitor  the amount of food, or lack thereof, that she actually chewed and swallowed. Her usual m.o. is to just move it around the plate and pretend she is actually eating.
After a bit of nagging encouragement on my part, she managed to eat half of her vegetables and at least 3 bites of her salisbury steak. (Not much, but better than usual)

Anyway, by the time I left her house it was about 5:30. When I got back to my house I realized I had forgotten to buy a couple of critical ingredients for the planned dinner meal and I was not going to go back to the grocery store. So there was nothing to do but punt, and the turkey tetrazzini meal became a bowl of smoked turkey chowder with some rolls for the non-keto.

Though this meal (less the bread) was totally keto and we even had Son2 and DIL2 join us, the results were pretty amazing. Everyone liked it and for the first time in a long time my bowl had the same  exact food as everyone else.  It was good; really good.

I found the recipe at I Breathe, I'm Hungry  You can go there for her original recipe. The following is the very subtle change I made, because, well__ shallots. Do any of you really keep them unless you need them for a particular recipe? The Pig has them in a pack of two and sometimes I buy one for a recipe, but the remaining one generally dries and becomes shallot dust, which is what I found when I looked in my onion/garlic/shallot bin.
 

Turkey Chowder

5 slices bacon cooked crisp (chop and reserve about 1/4 of it for garnish
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1 1/2 quarts broth  (chicken would be good too)
1 head cauliflower, washed, drained and cut into small pieces
3 cups cooked turkey meat, shredded or chopped
1 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp liquid smoke
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup extra sharp white cheddar cheese, shredded
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 teaspoon thyme
1/4 cup grated yellow cheddar


Cook the bacon in the bottom of a dutch oven. Remove when crisp then add the onion and celery to the bacon drippings. Cook until wilted but not brown. Add the broth, then toss in the cauliflower, turkey, parsley,  salt and pepper, and the liquid smoke. Cook until the cauliflower is soft. Sir in the bacon except for the reserved bacon, whipping cream and the cheese. Stir until it is well blended and hot. Sir in the xanthan gum and the mixture will begin to thicken. Stir in the thyme, ladle into bowl and garnish with about a tablespoon of grated cheddar and a sprinkle of bacon bits. Yumlicious!