redundant cabbage soup

Serves 12+

2 pounds beef for stew
1 white onion, diced (optional)
1 large head green cabbage, sliced
1 large can tomato juice
2 pounds baby carrots
vegetable oil to cover the bottom of the soup pot
splash of lemon juice
salt and pepper


Pour enough vegetable oil into soup pot to just cover the bottom.

Brown stew meat (and diced onion)

Add sliced head of green cabbage and baby carrots.

Add enough water to fill about two-thirds of the soup pot.

Add large can of tomato juice until pot is full.

Add splash of lemon juice (about 1/4 cup). Salt and pepper to taste.

Simmer this soup for hours -- preferably all day long. The soup gets thicker and tastier with longer cooking.

When this cabbage soup is served for both lunch and dinner, it tastes better when served the second time -- hence the name: redundant soup

***

Review:
5 forks -- great taste

wagon wheel beef soup

This was a spur-of-the-moment lunch item one recent October day . . .

Serves four.

Heat a large can Campbell's Vegetable Beef Soup, per directions on the can.

In a separate saucepan, prepare 1 package wagon wheel pasta according to the directions on the package. (We tried the mini wagon wheels by Barilla. The pasta size matched the soup very well.)

When the pasta is cooked, drain thoroughly.

Add to the hot Vegetable Beef soup and stir thoroughly.

Top with generous sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.

Serve and enjoy!

***

Review:

Rating: 4 forks
My diners loved the recipe.

chicken gumbo from a can

The other night we had a curiosity manufactured by Campbell Soup Company: Chicken Gumbo Soup. It was spicy, but definitely thin and watery. A brothy soup delicately filling a bowl rather than a thick and hearty gumbo covering a heap of rice. However, it made a good appetizer for the light and delicate main course: Garden Salad.

Review:

2 forks for being too salty

asparagus soup

This quick and easy soup received rave reviews. In spite of the summertime weather, diners went back for refills. Why was it such a hit?

I think it was entirely due to Tchaikovsky. I set the table, poured drinks, served the food, lit a couple votive candles -- and tuned the music to a classical mix. It happened to feature Tchaikovsky.

The conversation immediately turned to the dining experience with many happy expressions of enjoyment. Although pleased, I knew it wasn't really about my experimental-style cooking. It was about Tchaikovsky.

Try eating this soup with a sandwich on the side and the famous Polish composer's music filling the atmosphere and see if you agree. Let me know if Tchaikovsky is the "missing ingredient" in your home cooking . . .

Recipe for Asparagus Soup (makes about 6 servings)

• Put together in a blender: 2 cups cold cooked fresh asparagus and the water it was cooked in. (I used leftover refrigerated cooked fresh asparagus from the night before)
  

• 1 teaspoon olive oil

• 1 can Campbell's brand beef noodle soup

• additional cold water, if needed, to have enough soup for 6 servings

• 2 teaspoons corn starch

• Blend.

• Pour soup from blender into saucepan.

• While stirring constantly, heat thoroughly. The cornstarch will thicken the soup.

• When heated, put a lid on the saucepan and remove from burner.

• Serve immediately.

***

Review
5 forks for taste
4 forks for appearance
5 forks for presentation

Split carrot soup

I started the split carrot soup yesterday, let it rest in the refrigerator overnight, and finished making it today. It's really easy.

For about 12 servings:

• Put 2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breasts in a big pot on the stovetop and cover with plenty of water. Add poultry seasoning to taste. Also add a little olive oil.

• Add 2 pounds of baby carrots to the chicken and water.

• Start simmering.

• Simmer until the ingredients are cooked thoroughly.

• Cover and house in the refrigerator overnight.

• The next day remove the chicken meat from the soup. Reserve a few cooked carrots. Blend the cooked carrots and broth.

• Cut the chicken breasts into bite-size pieces.

• Dice and saute half a yellow onion.

• Combine the blended carrots, the reserved carrots, the sauteed onion, and the cooked chicken pieces in the big pot again. Add more poultry seasoning and a little salt, if you like.

• Cook thoroughly -- about 30 or 40 minutes.

• Serve warm with garlic bread and milk.

*

Review:

5 forks for unexpectedly sweet flavor
3 forks for appearance

How I Learned to Cook

I have never been much interested in food, viewing it as the means to survival and not worthy of much serious thought.

When I arrived in Germany as a University Studentin for a year, my cooking repertoire was scrambled eggs and popcorn. The night I arrived in the University town and moved into my lodgings, my landlady took pity on me and drove me to the grocery store. There I exchanged some dollars and bought some food I thought I might need-- as well as some processed food items that looked interesting, but were complete unknowns.

When the Muenster church bell tolled 6 a.m.the next morning, I walked past the cemetery, through a neighborhood full of backyard gardens to the trolley stop. The trolley took me into the center of the city and the the Marktplatz Farmers' Market outside the Muenster. The friendly vendors spoke a German dialect I hadn't learned in college! But I did buy some produce: tomatoes and green beans (vegetables whose German names I could recognize).

I hauled my small purchases back to my apartment and viewed the entire assortment. Now, with these miscellaneous strange and foreign ingredients, what could I make to eat? I was really hungry, so decided to start with something easy. Soup. I filled the small saucepan half-full of water and started it boiling on my single-burner electric hotplate. I added a couple chopped tomatoes and some snapped green beans. I had never made soup before, so there was a sort of delight about the endeavor. The tomatoes cooked until they disintegrated, the skin peeling itself off into the water. It turned a satisfying and reassuring orangey-red. The green beans floated disconcertingly on the surface. When I thought it might be done, I ate the soup. Not bad! Rather plain and thin.

The question remains: was it a tomato soup or a vegetable soup?

Today's dilemma

Got up this morning, woke up the family, drank a cup of coffee, and drove 200 miles round trip to the nearest airport to meet a plane. By the time I got home, everyone was hungry -- those who had made the road trip with me, as well as those who had already eaten lunch (tuna sandwiches), but were willing to consider having lunch all over again.

A survey of the pantry got my mind going re: what to serve for lunch.

We had glorified Ramen noodles, cooked in a big pot on the stove top (instead of the microwave because I fixed five servings simultaneously). One small can green peas and a small can of chicken soup with rice added a little meat and color to the Ramen noodles. Everyone liked the food. Just didn't eat very much of it.

Suggestion on making tasty Ramen noodles would be appreciated!