Creamless Crockpot Chowdah

It was a scorcher today so I was not interested in turning on the stove. I'm pretty pleased with my first attempt to make a soup in the crockpot.

Since I'm lactose intolerant and have been milk/cheese/cream free (for the most part) for at least a decade, I haven't been able to enjoy seafood chowder. Next to cheesecake, it's probably the dairy-containing product I miss the most.  So, I decided to make a creamless seafood chowder. Here's what I did....more or less:

• Rough chopped half a bunch of celery and put in the crockpot. 
• Turned the crockpot on high to get it going.
• Added about 1/4 of a cup of minced garlic from the jar (it has olive oil in it).
• Added half a bag of frozen diced white onions (since I was out of the fresh ones).
• Added liberal shakes of ground, dried basil, cilantro, rosemary, salt, and pepper.
• Added a carton of organic chicken broth and a carton of organic vegetable broth.
• Rinsed about 10 baby white potatoes, about 10 baby red potatoes and what was left in a 16 oz bag of baby carrots and added them into the broth. I didn't dice or even split them before adding them into the crockpot. In retrospect, that was a little lazy. I ended up cutting up the potatoes with a big metal spoon after they cooked for 8 hours which was much harder. I'm glad I left the peels on because I like the rustic texture and extra nutritional value but I wish I had cut up the potatoes and at least split the carrots while they were raw before I added them into the crockpot.
• Set the timer on the crockpot for 8 hours.
• After the timer went off, I added in a can of white clams and a big piece of de-boned cod fish. I sort of buried the cod under all the potatoes. I just added it in whole because I knew it would fall apart in the crockpot.
• I turned the crockpot down to low and set it for 1 hour and 30 minutes. I stirred it every now and then and started cutting up the potatoes with the big metal spoon. Again, not the best method.

Because I made this one in the crockpot vs. the stockpot, I didn't do the whole creaming half of it in the blender thing. but I didn't really miss it. With so many potatoes, it was pretty thick. I ate a big huge bowl for dinner and the kids said they like it and actually finished their tiny tasting bowls that were a side dish for their dinner of homemade BBQ chicken wings, broccoli, and sweet potatoes. In a perfect world, I would have had a loaf of good Italian or French bread to dunk in this soup but I didn't. Mmmm. Maybe I should go get some tomorrow to have with the leftovers for lunch...?