Cheesy Meatball Soup -- p. 57

Now, let's see...I didn't love it, but my family did.  So do I average the spoons?  I thought it was a three-spooner.  They thought it was like a four.  I had to make my own meatballs, but that wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be.  Other than that, the usual suspects and a party-crasher, Cheez-Whiz.  I did not want to put two whole jars of Cheez-Whiz into a soup (I doubled this recipe.) so I used one jar, two cups of milk and  1/3 cup of potato flakes.  Everyone raved about it (go figure).  I thought it was good, but not great.  I also thought the meatballs made it a little heavy for me, but it was good.  Three and a half spoons...

Fast Fiesta Soup -- pg. 161

Fast, yes.  Fiesta, no.  There are only 4 cans in this soup:  2 Rotel, 1 corn, 1 black beans.  "Wow," I thought, "I hope this is as good as the person who submitted the recipe says it is!"  Let me tell you what the heading said:  This spicy soup was served at a very elegant lunch, and the hostess was deluged with requests for the recipe.  The colorful combination  is a snap to throw together...just open the cans and heat.   

Yeah.  Well the snap to throw together part was right.  I cannot imagine what lunch she went to, but the food must've been horrible.  No, the soup isn't that bad.  It's just not good.  It looks and tastes similar to salsa, but without the flavor.  In fact, I'd rather open a jar of salsa and heat it up.  It would be better.  So I give this soup one and a half spoons.  The one is because it's easy, and the half is because it's edible.  

White Chili with Chicken -- pg. 215

Again, I had family in town and it was snowing.  I didn't want to go to the store, so I got some chicken out of the freezer, and voila!  If you have extra cans of Great Northern Beans, this will work for you.  I am thinking I need about a dozen cans of Great Northern, black, pinto, navy, garbanzo, kidney and chili beans until I'm done with my soup endeavor.  Then, just whip out the beans and let the fun begin!  The diners said that it had just the right amount of kick to it (with the jalapenos).  I would only add that I think the recipe calls for too much chicken broth.  I did swap out the corn starch for flour, too.  I'd say three and a half spoons.

Baked Potato Soup -- pg. 92

So I had the baked potatoes that I snaked from my sister-in-law's Christmas Eve dinner, and the bacon.  So what did I do when I didn't have enough leftovers?  (Hint-- It's hidden in the title of this post.)  It went together really quick, and it was very good.  My husband said to give it four spoons, but I say 3 1/2 because the Best Ever Potato Soup was better.  My mom and dad-in-law liked it, too.  I used light sour cream instead of full-fat, so bonus!

Corn Chowder -- p. 177

Hello again -- I made a ham for Sunday dinner, and so you may notice that all the soups I'm making have ham in them.  So, corn chowder...the usual suspects (celery, onion, carrot, potato) plus ham, mushrooms and (can you guess?) yep, corn.  It was pretty good.  I'd use it when I have leftover ham.  I just wouldn't go out of my way to make it.  The family liked it.  Bryn said 4 spoons, but I think that's a little high.  I will award 3 spoons for this one.

The U.S. Senate Bean Soup - p. 159

Now, I get it.   The senators hate  us because we keep serving them this soup in their cafeteria.  Although, I have to laugh because it was a lot of work, looked pretty on the outside, but then you get served up a bowl of crud.  If you have an extra few hours to kill, and want to make something that I'm sure will mold in the refrigerator, then this is the recipe for you.  I like ham and bean soup, but not this one.  It's bland, and I think you cook the ham so long that it has no smoke flavor whatsoever.  Am I being clear?  One spoon, and that spoon is because it isn't inedible. It just doesn't taste good.

Quick Clam Chowder - p. 186

I was wrong about all soup-within-a-soups being from the devil.  This is probably the easiest soup ever, and really good.  I mean, it's not Seafood Chowder good, but if you take into consideration that it takes about five minutes to make, it's really good.  Five ingredients--that's it.  I have to give it 3.5 spoons, more because of the work/taste ratio than the taste.  Next up -- U.S. Senate Bean Soup.  (Does that mean it costs a ton, and there's nothing in it?)

Creamy Potato Soup - p. 91

So...until I make all the soups that call for a baked potato, I've been making extra baked potatoes with my dinners.  That'll motivate me.  Plus, baked potatoes aren't very great warmed over, so why not put them into a soup?  The Creamy Potato Soup was pretty good, especially if you take into consideration my hatred of soups made out of canned soups.  But, as you will see with the next post, sometimes I'm in a hurry and "soup within a soup" is not bad.  Nothing great about this one.  But, if you want an easy potato soup, and have the baked potatoes lying around, not a bad choice.  Definitely put the liquid smoke in it, 'cause it needs flavor.  Okay-- this reminds me...cheddar cheese-flavored canned soup--what's up with that?  It doesn't taste like cheese...just a bland nothingness.  But, I used it anyway...2 1/2 spoons guys...

Ham & Cauliflower Chowder

This one was better than I expected.  As a bonus, it was also simple.  Yay.  I did manage to scorch it. In the crockpot.  On "warm".  Yeah -- warm, not even "low" -- how does that happen?  I actually made this soup last year, but I used really nasty ham, and it turned out way salty.  So, I think 3 spoons.  It was good but not super-good.