"Creamy" Clam Chowder and Almond Biscotti

"Creamy" Clam Chowder


2 medium potatoes, cubed
2 carrots, sliced
1 onion, diced
2½ cups water


2 vegetable bouillon cubes
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper
2 (6.5 oz) cans whole baby clams, undrained
1 (15 oz) can white beans, drained and rinsed
1 can coconut milk
1 tsp. paprika

Put everything except the coconut milk and paprika into a large pot and bring to a boil.  Once boiling, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes.  Stir in coconut milk and paprika and serve.

This is my favorite Lenten soup!  I made it today for the first time this Lent.  I had to make some substitutions - sweet potato for the carrot and kidney beans for the white beans.  I highly recommend this recipe!  It's very easy and so delicious!

My deep cleaning for Spring hasn't gone as planned, but I did manage to get some work on in my living room this week... mainly the floor.  They were really dirty and hadn't been cleaned well in a long time.  Since all the furniture had to be moved to do that, we decided to rearrange things when we moved it back.  I really like our new look!  It seems much more spacious.  Liza is enjoying having a little more room to crawl around.

Here is another recipe for today!

Lenten (Vegan) Almond Biscotti

2 cups flour
1 t. baking powder 
¼ t. salt
1 c. sugar
4 T. margarine, softened
Egg replacer for 2 eggs' worth
½ t. vanilla extract
½ t. almond extract¾ c. almonds, toasted (on a pan for just a few minutes) and coarsely chopped

1. Heat oven to 350º. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl. 
2. In a large bowl, beat the sugar and margarine together using an electric mixer on medium speed until creamy and uniform. Mix in the egg replacer. Beat in the vanilla and almond extracts. 
3. Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly mix in the flour mixture until combined, about 30 seconds. Mix in the almonds until just incorporated. 
4. Use floured hands to shape the dough into two 13x2-inch loaves on the prepared baking sheet, spaced about 3 inches apart. Bake the loaves until golden and just beginning to crack on top, about 35 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through baking.  
5. Let the loaves cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes. Lower oven temp to 325º. 
6. Transfer loaves to a cutting board and slice each on the diagonal into ½-inch thick slices with a serrated knife. Lay the slices about ½ inch apart on the baking sheet and bake until crisp and golden brown on both sides, about 15 minutes, flipping the slices over halfway through baking. Transfer the biscotti to a wire rack and let cool completely before serving, 1 hour. 

I found this recipe on Facebook a while back and made it this week for the first time.  They were nice and had a good subtle flavor.  I think it is a good base recipe that could be open to modification to fit your mood (ie, dipped in chocolate at the end, add dry fruit, use other nuts, etc.).  It's definitely a recipe I'll make again and probably include some variations depending one what I have.  Sorry I don't have a photo of the biscotti!  They are all gone... what we didn't eat I passed along to a friend yesterday.