Primal Crab Chili Chowder

Soup is one of the easiest things you can make in your crockpot. Toss all the ingredients together in the morning, let it bubble away all day, and you have dinner. Tons of wiggle room in the cooking time. Easy leftovers.

But not all soups are substantial enough to be considered a meal, especially if you are among those CrossFit paleo folks out there. This is a hearty, hearty soup, full of good fat and perfect for the day of a workout.

I can't really call this recipe *paleo* since there's an entire cup of sweet corn and an entire cup of heavy cream in it, which is why I've called it *primal* instead. In the paleo community, primal generally refers to a diet with a bit more flexibility, more like the Mark Sisson approach of 80% strict/20% reasonably good decisions. If you have some wiggle room in your diet, give this recipe a try!

Serves 6.

The Tools:

6 qt. crockpot

2 T butter
1 onion, chopped
4 cups chicken broth
1 potato, chopped
1/3 t thyme
4 oz can of green chiles, drained
1 cup frozen sweet corn kernels
12 oz. canned crabmeat, picked through
1/2 tsp chili paste
dash salt and pepper

1 cup heavy cream (to add at the end)
avocado slices (garnish)

The Process:

Heat up butter on the stove top. Saute onions until they are translucent. Scrape onions and as much of the butter as you can into the crockpot.

Add all other ingredients EXCEPT heavy cream and avocado. You don't want to slow cook heavy cream. It will get yucky and gross.

Cook on LOW for 8 hours.

Once it's done, you have a few options. You can eat it as it, or you can puree it until it's smooth.

OR you can do what I did, and use your stick blender in the crockpot and puree it about halfway, so that's it's that super-hearty-chowder consistency. If you don't have a stick blender and want to try this approach, remove a few cups of the chowder and puree in your regular blender (carefully!!) and then add back to the crockpot and mix well.

Ladle in bowls and garnish with fresh avocado slices.

Enjoy!