Still working on our house. This week I am doing some organizing. You know those small items I kept? Now they need to be organized. Tony is great for organizing big things. He HATES organizing small items. I don’t mind that. I did this a while back when I helped him clean out our garage. The person who lived here before me left little baggies of small parts all over the garage. I found them all and organized them into our odds and ends bins. I call them that, because they are essentially plastic flat tackle boxes with the little section dividers. Each box holds a plethora of nuts, bolts, screws and other things. Those boxes save us a ton of trips to the hardware store. I’ll be doing the same with the stuff I found in the sheds at the other house.

Since I will be pretty busy, the slow cooker has come to the rescue again. This time with a healthy chicken and veggie chowder recipe. I am starting with a recipe from Better Homes and Gardens for Chicken Edamame Chowder. The recipe uses some healthy ingredients, but I noticed it could have more vegetables. I almost always add vegetables to make something be more nutrient-dense and filling. The edamame, provided protein and can be found in the freezer section of your grocery store. One note about frozen food: if you are on a low sodium diet the freezer section can be your best friend. Not only are the vegetables more fresh and last longer, they have no or low sodium (as long as you stay away from the seasoned variety). For example a local store brand of artichoke hearts in the can is 360mg of sodium PER SERVING. Eat the whole can and your sodium for the day is done. The frozen variety has 45mg of sodium per serving. Also, this is my personal opinion, canned veggies just have a funny taste. I was spoiled growing up with a garden with fresh grown veggies. Mom never served canned vegetable to us. Frozen is the way to go to have vegetables on hand for a lower price.

Here are the original stats:

Here’s what I changed:

• I replaced the sour cream with a dairy-free substitute
• I replaced the flour with cornstarch to replace the gluten
• I replaced the chicken stock with a low sodium variety
• I increased the amount of bell pepper to increase the vitamin C
• I added butternut squash for vitamin A.
• I increased the servings from 6 to 7 to lower the calories.
• I deleted the added salt to reduce the sodium

Here are the final stats:

Here is the final recipe:

Chicken Edamame Chowder

Serves 7

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 12 ounce package frozen sweet soybeans (edamame)
• 2 large coarsely chopped red pepper
• 1 cup chopped onion (1 large)
• 2 fresh jalapeño peppers, seeded and finely chopped
• 8.75 ounces butternut squash, cubed
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
• 4 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 1 8 ounce carton vegan sour cream
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise

Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 7 to 8 hours or on high-heat setting for 3 1/2 to 4 hours.

If using low-heat setting, turn cooker to high-heat setting. In a small bowl combine sour cream and cornstarch. Thinly slice zucchini. Stir sour cream mixture and zucchini into chicken mixture. Cover and cook for 20 to 30 minutes more or until mixture is thickened and zucchini is crisp-tender.