Lo-Carb Cheese Beer Soup

I've seen several recipes for Cheese Beer Soup lately, and I thought they sounded good.  When I looked one up, it was 20nC  per serving!  Oh, my! I played around with a few recipes and came up with one that is a little under 8nC.  Yay!

Lo-Carb Cheese Beer Soup
Serves 10 @ 7.9nC each

Ingredients:
1.5 cups of diced carrots
1.5 cups of chopped onion
1.5 cups of chopped celery
2 cloves of garlic, minced
hot pepper sauce, to taste
salt
pepper
2 cans of chicken broth
2 cups of beer
1/3 cup butter
guar gum
2 cups of heavy cream
2 cups of water
4 cups of sharp cheddar (shredded)
1 TBS brown mustard
1 tsp dry mustard
6 slices of bacon--cooked and crumbled

In a large soup pot, combine the first 9 ingredients.  (Stop at the butter--you'll need it for the next step.)  Bring the veggies, broth, and beer to a simmer and cook until the veggies are soft.  

In a saucepan, melt the butter and whisk in the water and cream.  Sprinkle guar gum over the cream sauce (not too much or it gels instead of thickening).  You'll need to keep stirring and testing for thickness.  When the white sauce is almost as thick as you want it to be, stir in the cheese.  

Once the cheese is melted (and the veggies in the other soup pot are soft), pour the cheese sauce into the veggie concoction and combine well.        

Serve with bacon crumbles on top.  Each serving will be about 1.5 cups.

Notes: I do not like beer.  I did not like this soup.  My son likes beer--he LOVED the soup.  I shared some with my neighbor (who is a chef and owns a restaurant).  He liked it.  I will make it again for my son, but one batch will last him a little while.

If you're like me, and enter your food into fitday or fatsecret, the nutritional value table is below.

	Nutrition Facts   10 Servings Amount Per Serving   Calories 475.1   Total Fat 40.5 g       Saturated Fat 25.3 g       Polyunsaturated Fat 2.0 g       Monounsaturated Fat 12.1 g   Cholesterol 139.8 mg   Sodium 902.5 mg   Potassium 442.3 mg   Total Carbohydrate 9.2 g       Dietary Fiber 1.3 g       Sugars 1.3 g   Protein 14.7 g   Vitamin A 74.0 %   Vitamin B-12 11.5 %   Vitamin B-6 8.8 %   Vitamin C 7.3 %   Vitamin D 8.6 %   Vitamin E 3.9 %   Calcium 39.0 %   Copper 8.7 %   Folate 8.0 %   Iron 5.9 %   Magnesium 7.7 %   Manganese 15.0 %   Niacin 14.7 %   Pantothenic Acid     5.0 %   Phosphorus     37.0 %   Riboflavin 18.4 %   Selenium 13.9 %   Thiamin 4.3 %   Zinc 13.8 % *Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

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