Soup is Just Wet Food

I am not a fan of soup. It is literally wet food. I don't have a big bowl of chicken water, why would I eat a bowl of chicken soup?? Now I know that will ruffle some feathers (especially the chicken's) but that's fine. We all like what we like. Or don't. Now, I will eat it if that's what I made for dinner. HOWEVER, I do tend to take out most of the broth and all of the meat that may be in it and just eat the noodles and vegetables. I haven't even mentioned, or ranted, about the noises people make eating said soup. Ugh. Make it stop.

With all of that being said, I don't particularly hate thicker soups (or stoups as I call them) or even stews, creamy soups, or even a corn chowder. They have to be the thicker soup cousins. We will not even discuss cold soups (aren't they just smoothies??? which I also do not partake in) I will eat wild rice soup, potato soup, broccoli cheese, bean soup with dumplings, or even a stew with big chunky vegetables. Do I eat much of it? No, no I do not. They remind me more of vegetables with gravy. I wouldn't eat a big bowl of gravy either.

When I tell people this, they get this horrified look on their face, gasp and say things like "You don't like soup???" Nope I just said that. Then I hear " Oh I love soup! I could have it every day" Well yeah for you! You go have that wet food! Then they say "Well you should try MY (insert soup title here) you would LOVE it" I doubt it. Wet food is not very appealing. And with their mouths hanging open at my contempt for THEIR obviously favorite food, I leave them to contemplate their life choices. We all have favorite foods. Live it up!

This is all not to say that I don't make soup once in a while. If the husband has been working outside in the cold all day, he likes soup to warm him up and make him cozy inside and out. I will make him soup. It can be tricky though because he is celiac. And that is a whole new life lesson for a later time. My son shares my lack of enthusiasm for soup so I have to make him something else. Okay, I hear that, I don't HAVE to, but I do.

After saying all of that, soup has it's benefits (when I don't have to eat it). It can be healthy (depending on the ingredients you choose), comforting (if you are trying to escape it) and can be as easy or complicated as you feel like making it. It can be super simple or it can be the chef salad of soup---clean out the fridge and use all the leftovers before they go bad (leftovers being another thing I do not eat). They are versatile, adding and subtracting ingredients that you have, or don't or spices, vegetables etc that you can or can't have. You can make it all your own! And then make someone else eat it.

Soups and stews are what fed the rich and poor alike through the centuries. Throw your cauldron over the fire, add what you have and let it go. Eat some, add more ingredients to the pot and let it go, like a record that is skipping, you just continue the cycle. If you were lucky, a squirrel was dumb enough to enter your territory and you had some meat to add. Otherwise it was vegetables, grains and beans. I would be happier with that than the squirrel.

Enough disparagement of the revered soup pot. let me extend an invitation to you to try this potato soup that "will do" if you ever find yourself having to eat a bowl of wet food. it is thick, creamy and tasty. Kind of like if you poured gravy on a loaded baked potato....

Loaded "Baked" Soup

In a large pan ( I use the Le Creuset dutch oven pans or even my stock pot) cook until crispy

1/2 pound of chopped bacon

remove the bacon to a paper towel lined plate, leaving the grease in the pan

Add: 1 small onion chopped

1 small carrot grated (I actually buy the bags of grated rainbow carrots-no carpal tunnel for me!)

2 cloves minced garlic

Let those get soft

Add: 1/3 c flour stir and cook for about 1 min to cook out that floury taste

Add: 2 c chicken stock

2 c milk

stir/whisk until smooth no lumps!

Add: 1 1/2 pounds of raw, diced potatoes (a waxy potato works better for this as they hold together better and don't break down like russets do, but any potato works)

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp thyme

1/4 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp smoked paprika

pinch of cayenne (or more, if desired)

Simmer, (do not boil or the milk may curdle) until the potatoes are cooked through.

Add: about 1 c shredded cheddar (or whatever cheese you like) remember that pre-shredded cheese is coated in a potato starch and has the potential to leave a slightly grainy taste, so shredding your own is better for this)

Add: about 1/4c to 1/2 c shredded smoked gouda

Check for salt and pepper

Let them slowly melt into the soup, stirring gently.

Gently stir in HALF that cooked chopped bacon that you haven't eaten

To complete that "loaded baked potato" theme, top your bowl of soup with the remaining bacon (that you haven't eaten..), chopped green onions and or sour cream.

Finally REMEMBER this is your wet food--- if you like sharp cheddar, use that. hate gouda? Leave it out. You want wetter soup--add more chicken stock. Ate all the bacon? cook the full pound. It's not necessary to follow MY recipe, what matters is that you are cooking and making a recipe YOURS. Even if it is wet food......