Delicious Dish : My Best Clam Chowder

Okay, so I fibbed.  It's not completely MY best clam chowder recipe but I did made several modifications after this month's book club for Orphan Train (by Christina Baker Kline)  to make it worthy of the chowders I remember back home in Southern California (you can find the original recipe here). 

 ...and I know what you're thinking.  Clam chowder? Whoa there.  Red light. That's where some of your eyes go glossy and you head over to another recipe.

I get it.

Any new recipe that has seafood or meat has my heart pounding and all sorts nervous too.  I'm more of a banana-zucchini bread/oatmeal chocolate chip/pumpkin pie kind of girl myself.

But maybe you're trying to get out of your comfort zone, away from your old boring recipes, or even getting more of an adventurous palate...there's every reason to make this chowder.  It's not "fishy" at all (if you have an aversion to seafood) and it is an insanely easy recipe that no one can screw up...except if you don't follow the most important golden rule below:

Delicious Dish: Sunday's Brown Sugar & Bacon Baked Beans Recipe

My mom has been making these beans for almost 40 years,  tweaking my grandmother's recipe here and there and making it her own.  I have not had one recipe that has even come close to tasting as good as hers.  I think that's my opinion with all family recipes so I was excited to share this nostalgic dish for our book club party for Station Eleven. 

Kellie had little individual jars and tin cans to serve these in and it was the perfect post-apocalyptic menu item.  

The secret is the long bake time which allows all the flavors to meld together making the beans soft, creamy, and perfectly sweet and rich.  I have a terrible sweet tooth, so this satisfies that craving, plus it's dairy and gluten free and rich in protein.  Comfort food at it's finest!