Hot Clam Dip in a Bread Bowl

This photo is courtesy of Allrecipes.com. I found a recipe there that is very similar to this one I've made for years.   This is our Memorial Day tradition and I wanted to share the recipe with you BEFORE Memorial Day and I don't have a picture, so hopefully they won't care.  I'll replace it with one I take after I make it.
This is a yummy addition to a Memorial Day Barbecue or any old time!

Hot Clam Dip in a Bread Bowl
1 large round loaf crusty bread (French, Sourdough, Italian, Sheepherder bread, etc.)
2 8 oz. packages cream cheese
3  6 1/2 oz. can chopped or minced clams. drained, but reserve the juice
2 Tablespoons grated onion
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce (more or less to taste)
1/2 teaspoon salt.
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Heat oven to 250.  Prepare the bread by cutting off the top and hollowing out, leaving 1 1/2 shell.  Save the removed bread.  In a large bowl, beat cheese until smooth, then beat in about 1/4 cup of the reserved clam juice,  onion, Worcestershire, lemon juice, Tabasco and salt and sugar.  Then gently stir in the clams.  Spoon the cheese/clam mixture into the bread.  Top with the top and wrap all in aluminum foil.  Put on a baking sheet and put in the 250 oven.  Bake for about 3 hours.  The last little while, put the bread you took out to make the bowl on the baking sheet to toast it.  Before serving, remove the top and sprinkle on fresh or dried parsley.  Serve with the toasted bread.  Don't forget to eat the bowl!

Clam Chowder

Clam Chowder- there's nothing better than a good bowl of clam chowder.  There's nothing worse than a bad bowl of clam chowder. This recipe was extremely popular about twenty years ago.  I remember we made a ward cookbook and about five people turned in  this recipe with only slight variations.  It really is yummy.  Try this recipe for a really good bowl!

Clam Chowder
4 cans minced clams
1 large onion (or two small), diced fine
2 cups of diced celery
4 cups of diced potatoes
Chicken stock, as needed
1 1/2 cups butter
1 1/2 cups flour
2 quarts half and half ( to "lighten" the recipe, you can use part milk to make up the two quarts)
1 Tablespoon salt
Pepper to taste
2 teaspoons sugar

Drain the clam juice into a saucepan.  Add the onions, celery, and potatoes.  Add chicken stock to cover vegetables. Cook until the vegetables are tender.
In a soup pot, melt the butter and add the flour.  Whisk and whisk and cook for about 5 minutes.  Add the half and half, salt, pepper, and sugar and slowly heat til bubbly.  Keep whisking and cooking for a couple of minutes.  Then add the vegetables and all the liquid.  Combine well and cook until thickened.
This makes a big pot of soup.  Half it if you don't want that much.