Soup Battle, Part 1 - Cream of Mushroom Soup

Photo and recipe courtesy of Chungah at DamnDelicious
http://damndelicious.net/2014/05/10/cream-mushroom-soup/

There have been a handful of soups that Elizabeth and I have very different opinions on making... and we keep vetoing each other when these specific soups come up. However, we had a very busy weekend last weekend and then nothing to do on Sunday and sister came up with the suggestion that I make a soup she doesn't want to eat, and she make a soup that I don't want to eat, and then we make everyone try both.

She HATES mushrooms. I do not understand this because I will eat mushrooms on almost anything. I used to eat the Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup from the can when I was in college. And my sweet husband will always throw a packet of mushrooms on the grill when he is making chicken or burgers.

So I was excited to make this soup and Elizabeth was decidedly UN-Excited.

This was super easy to make, and smelled so good. My only issue is that I could NOT get it to thicken. I made the cornstarch and water mixture three different times and it still would not thicken. But honestly, I liked it soupy. I ate it for lunch three days and then froze the rest in 10oz containers for recipes later.

Also, Colby HATES mushrooms too. I wanted him to give it a chance, so I didn't tell him what kind it was, and gave him a blind taste test. That went well. NOT.

Scoring:

Marty: I give it a 6.5... it does need to be a little thicker, but the flavor is good.
Elizabeth: 3. GAG.
Colby: Blind- I give it a 5. It tastes weird. / Reveal the Soup - GROSS!! A TWO!! I give it a TWO!!!
Me: 7 - Yummy! I am the best cook ever!

Soup Battle, Part 2 - Buffalo Chicken Soup

Photo and recipe from Susan at:

http://doughmesstic.com/2015/02/05/buffalo-chicken-souplow-carb/

Buffalo Chicken Soup was Elizabeth's choice for Soup Battle. She loves all kinds of Buffalo Chicken, and is obsessed with Blue Cheese Dressing.

I have never been a fan of wings, buffalo chicken, blue cheese or anything related to such. However, I have tried to make things that the kids like over the years, even if I wasn't a fan.

About three years ago, I made Crockpot Buffalo Chicken Sliders... I ate one, wasn't impressed. Kids loved them. That night, the worst stomach virus ever hit me. I was so sick. I won't go into detail, but it was SO NOT GOOD. The smell of buffalo chicken was EVERYWHERE. In my house, in my nose, in my brain.

So as soon as Elizabeth started making this soup, and the smell started permeating the house,  I started having flashbacks. My stomach was staging a revolt against the soup immediately.

Another thing... this soup calls for a rotisserie chicken. Super easy, right?

Confession: I have never de-boned a chicken. Cooked nor raw. I sent my mother a photo and was all, "GUESS WHAT I AM DOING??" Like I was running the NYC marathon or developing cancer vaccines or something.

I have always had a weird thing about food with bones. It just grosses me out. If Marty had known this from the beginning, it is safe to say he would not have married me. As I don't do boney food, I never made it for the kids either. One of the Famous Family Stories is the time my aunt gave 3 year old Elizabeth a chicken leg and she tried to eat it like a corn dog, from the top... and then says, "I can't eat this chicken, it has a STICK in it." From then on when someone asked if she wanted chicken, she would ask, "Is it the stick kind?" Even NOW, she will tell me that she went to a sleepover or out to eat and "Mom, they gave me stick chicken.." THE HORROR.

Yeah. Marty is ashamed. Horrified and ashamed.

Anyway, so I did a total hatchet job on the chicken. I probably threw out more than I kept because I was trying to make sure there were no veins, or weird spots, or anything too close to the bone...

It occurs to me that maybe I don't need a food blog... I am not quite Alton Brown... LMAO!!!

Once it was all said and done, I was prepared to gag at the soup. And I didn't. It wasn't bad. I ate more than my allotted two bites. Not much more, but more.

Scoring:

Marty: 6.5 - Pretty good!! I actually like this more than I expected
Natalie: 6 - I do not hate it.
Colby: 8 - I really like this soup! I like that it is spicy! (he ate two bowls.)
Elizabeth: 8 - I am the best cook ever!

Creamy Pumpkin Bisque

Photo and recipe courtesy Kelly at designcrushblog


http://designcrushblog.com/2012/11/21/creamy-pumpkin-bisque/


Elizabeth has been wanting to make this soup for a while. She tried a version of it at our favorite local coffee house, Java Primo. If you have never been there, you need to drive over there RIGHT NOW, and try a Panini. Preferably the turkey. It is what sister and I get EVERY TIME. Also their sweet potato pie is HEAVEN. Anyway, sister raved about how delicious their bisque it was and how I had to try it sometime.

Here is where I admit - I had no desire to try it. Pumpkin is a dessert food. I love pumpkin pie, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin cookies... but pumpkin soup is a little hard to think about. But that is the whole purpose of this year long experiment. Learn to cook! Try new things!! Have fun!! Love each other!! Gain weight! Be fat!

I let sister make this one from scratch. While I had a hard time wrapping my head around pumpkin soup, she had a hard time wrapping her head around trying to sautee large chunks of carrots, celery and onion. I wish I had videoed her! She makes me laugh.

We made bread bowls for our soup... I tried to keep an open mind. I DID. But BLECH. I didn't like it AT ALL. However, she really liked it and said it was much like Java Primo's.

I am beginning to think maybe I don't like BISQUE. (bisques? bisqueses?)

Ranking:

Me: 3 - and that is because of the bread bowl.

Elizabeth: 7- Mom is weird, I thought it was great. Oh well, more for me. Ha!

Colby and dad were camping and didn't get to try it. If there is enough left for a taste test, I will update!

Asiago Bisque

http://www.chef-in-training.com/2015/03/asiago-bisque/

Photo and recipe from Nikki at Chef in Training



My cousin Julie sent me this recipe last week and we couldn't wait to try it! It quickly moved to the top of our list.

I wanted to use fresh asiago cheese, so we picked it up on a trip to Kroger which is about an hour away. Man, I wish we had a Kroger here in Arkadelphia. Don't get me wrong, I love Brookshires! But something about all the fresh food that Kroger offers just makes me want to move in. We also don't make a trip to Kroger without Elizabeth getting fresh sushi for lunch. Talk about a princess!

We started prepping for the soup by chop, chop, chopping all the veggies. My potato peeler broke last time I used it, so I had to use a knife to peel them,  like a commoner. Channeling my inner Caroline Ingalls, as it were.

Elizabeth was quite concerned that this recipe had wine as an ingredient. So we had a bit of a chemistry lesson. I explained that most of the actual alcohol evaporates, and there might be a miniscule amount left, but nothing of concern.

While cooking, this soup smells delicious.

I do not have an immersion blender, so I used a regular blender, which I admit is pretty redneck. Que Sera! It did blend a little smoother than what I wanted, I wish I had reserved some chunks for texture.

This is another soup that the kids really liked, and the adults were pretty unimpressed. Elizabeth took it the next two days for lunch and said it actually tasted better each time.

Scoring:

Marty: 5 - There seems to be a bit of a bitter undertone, and the soup is quite bland. In all honestly, the bacon is the star of this show.

(I think maybe he has been watching too much Food Network.)

Natalie: 5- Meh. It is very bland. Reminds me a bit of baby food.

Elizabeth: 7 - (and then an 8 the next two days) It's really good! You can really taste the cheese and the soup is very filling.

Colby: 7 - I really like it. I also like the bacon.

Copycat Panara Chicken and Wild Rice

Photo and recipe courtesy of Chelsea at Gal on a Mission

http://www.galonamission.com/copycat-panera-chicken-and-wild-rice-soup/

Spring break is upon us! Even though I still have to work, that extra hour of sleep every morning is AMAZING. Especially since I don't have to make lunches or hustle kids out the door! I can be super lazy, drink my coffee in bed and drive myself to work... and I don't have to listen to Taylor Swift, or Twenty One Pilots, or the new Kelly Clarkson song that Colby is obsessed with!

Marty actually took a few days off so that he can Colby can go camping with his dad at the lake. Lots of fishing and bike riding and card playing. Colby was excited to spend time with his dad and his PopPop, but was not so keen on no internet.

Beth and I decided Friday night would be a good night to make a new soup, and then we could have leftovers for lunch on Saturday before going to the movies. I still had carrots and celery leftover from our last soup so really just looked for a recipe that would allow me to use up my vegetables.

Ok... this soup was the biggest hit. It was pretty easy, took a bit of time. But it is seriously delicious. Very flavorful, and filling. In fact, it was so good, I made another batch yesterday. I had planned to take some of yesterday's batch to my neighbor, but I got distracted folding laundry and some of the rice stuck to the pan. That is my only warning... once you put the rice in, you still have to stir it every couple of minutes. The first time I made it, I didn't use a non stick pot, and it tried to stick. Yesterday I used non stick but put too much faith in that, because it really stuck!

Scoring:

Marty: 8 - This is really good. Like REALLY good. The flavor reminds me of chicken and dumplins. Delicious.

Me: 9 - YUM. Very flavorful. This is now one of my favorite soups.

Elizabeth: 8 - I did not expect this soup to taste this good. I thought it was going to be really bland.

Colby: 7 - This soup is pretty good.

Stuffed Pepper Soup - by Skinnytaste

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/12/stuffed-pepper-soup.html

Recipe and photo by Gina over at www.skinnytaste.com

This recipe is kind of a cheat... because we have had it MANY times. It is one of mine and Elizabeth's favorite soups. We decided to make it this week because we have had so many "fails" in a row that we wanted a winner!

This soup is super easy and delicious. It also has fewer calorie than some of the other soups we have been making.

This recipe calls for marjoram spice, and let me tell you - don't cheat. I have been out of marjoram in the past and used oregano... it's not the same. The Marjoram is what gives it that "stuffed bell pepper" taste. According to cookthink.com: "Marjoram is oregano's calmer, sweeter fraternal twin. Oregano = zesty + peppery + lemony. Marjoram = delicate + floral + round. The two are often used interchangeably but if you get up in their mix you'll see some big differences." I agree!!

Scoring:

Mom: 10 - Easy, delicious, and leftovers are even better!
Elizabeth: 8 - Very good in cold and rainy weather
Colby: 5 - It's pretty good, if you took out the tomatoes it would be a 10
Dad: 6 - It's okay, but not my favorite.

Spinach Artichoke Parmesan Soup

http://redefinedmom.com/slow-cooker-spinach-artichoke-parmesan-soup-recipe/#_a5y_p=4422862

Photo and recipe by Kelly at www.redefinedmom.com

Soup #7

Ok, in case you haven't noticed, there is constantly something going on in my house. I don't know what the deal is, but we absolutely cannot get it together. This soup is a metaphor for our life right now.

To backtrack, Colby had an allergy shot last week that went crazy. This was actually his second one to go crazy. For some reason all of a sudden he is having reactions to his shots. It takes a few days for the reaction to completely go away. Meanwhile, he takes Benadryl and we keep a positive attitude. And by "we", I mean ME. Colby isn't quite as positive as I am. Ha!!

Well, Friday night, Elizabeth tells me that her head is itching so bad that she is actually going a little crazy. I automatically think "lice" and then I think about the "super lice" that is in the news lately and immediately start thinking about how we are all going to look with shaved heads... I have her sit in front of me and start to go through her hair with a flashlight... it's not lice. She has some weird rash all over her head... and down her neck... and behind her ears.... and she says, "Hmm... that may be why my stomach itches," ... pulls her shirt up... She is broken out in hives. Awesome. We start back tracking on what she ate and where she has been. She convinces me to text a friend of mine that is a nurse, and after texts back and forth, I remember the acne medicine she started taking three weeks ago. Nurse Melanie does some research and finds that 1 out of 100 kids have hives after three weeks of use. I gave her a benedryl, and she just keeps getting more and more hivey... give her another benedryl. She sleeps for 12 hours. Saturday night, breaks out in hives again. Same thing. Sunday morning we go to the grocery store... hives.

Basically I need stock in Benedryl right now.

We get home from the grocery store with our big plans of making this soup and also making chicken salad for lunches this week. I pull out the crock pot and put Elizabeth completely in charge of preparing the soup while I start cutting up and boiling the chicken for the salad, doing a load of laundry, loading the dishwasher, and cleaning out a kitchen drawer that had something spilled inside of it.

In the middle of all my chores, I glance over at the crock pot Elizabeth is working on and notice the flour on top.... I ask her, "Did you read the recipe??" and she says, "Well, I was going to put all the ingredients in first, and then read it."

Oh cooking!!!

I explain (ok....exclaim... loudly) that it is very important to read the recipe before you start cooking because putting the milk in now will result in a curdled mess after 5 hours in the crock pot. Honestly, I got really annoyed, which is NOT the point of this whole fun year of soup. (Sorry Sister. *guilty mom face*) She admits that she has already poured the milk in... and the cream cheese.

I decide that maybe if I put it on the stove top instead of the crock pot it will have less of a chance of curdling... I scooped out what I could of the flour and I also pulled out the cream cheese. Move it all to the stove top.

 Elizabeth is perpetually apologizing. I told her it was fine.

"It's NOT FINE. This soup is going to taste like disease, misfortune, and the tears of the homeless starving children in Africa! It will taste like literal SADNESS." she cries. (My kids are a little dramatic.)

I really don't want this soup to be a fail. So I text my mom. Tell her the whole thing. She recommends pouring off all the liquid and starting over. While this is a great plan, I do not have any more chicken stock or evaporated milk on hand. After a few minutes she calls. "What if you drain all the liquid off, keep it and cook the soup in water. Once it is cooked, pour off the water, replace with the reserved liquid and finish cooking as directed?"

GENIUS.

So that is what we did. A five hour "easy" crock pot soup, turned into a three hour hot mess of a pain in the ass stove top soup. But all in all it wasn't horrible. Certainly not disease and misfortune horrible. The texture was a little weird, but I firmly believe that was our fault.

We served the soup with thinly sliced French bread, toasted very crisp with butter and fresh garlic and fresh parmesan on top.

Scoring:

Mom: 7 - Good flavor, weird texture.

Dad: 6 - The texture is a deal breaker.

Elizabeth: 7.5, but with the bread as a spoon, a firm 8.5. This bread is the BEST. How many slices are a serving?

Colby: 7 - it's pretty good. No tomatoes!