Tomato Bisque -- pg. 135

Mrs. B.B. Mallory of Irving, Texas won a blue ribbon in the fair for this soup...Wow...I thought there'd be more competition in the Dallas metro area.  I mean, aren't Southerners known for their fiercely competitive cooking?  Well, that being said, it was a good soup.  My husband said it's the best tomato soup he's ever had.  I disagree.  I thought it was good, and for the effort put into it, possibly great.  Yeah, I'd say for the easiness of the soup, it was probably the best tomato soup yet.  Most of the recipes I really love for tomato soup are a lot more involved.  But, I digress... I can't put my finger on what didn't make this recipe perfect, but something was off.  I like basil, onion and pepper, so that leaves either the bay leaf (unlikely) or that one of the cans of diced tomatoes I used was stamped "Good through August 2003".  Hmmm, does eight years after the expiration make it not as good?  They smelled fine.  The other can was Italian-seasoned diced tomatoes.  But, the seasoning was basil, onion and something else...Let me go dig it out of the trash...BRB...ahhh no onion, but garlic and oregano.  I like both these spices, but maybe that threw it off just a little.  While I was upstairs checking the can in the trash, I tasted the soup again.  I think it's better than I thought.  But, since I will make this again, I will buy new cans of diced tomatoes, with no added seasonings, and let you know if that was it.  The recipe called for four cups of milk, and I used 1%, which made it plenty creamy.  Four spoons...I'm on a roll!

Herbed Beef Stew and Dumplings -- pg. 252

Everyone loved this one!  Yessssssss.   I even used the parsnips (which I have never tried because they look like anemic carrots).  The dumplings had to cook way longer than the recipe stated.  I think that could be because I doubled the recipe.  I would omit the cinnamon next time I make this.  It wasn't horrible to have in there, but I definitely think it'd be better without it.  I'm not a fan of adding cinnamon to savory things.  I sometimes can handle the nutmeg in soups, but not always.  Anyway, the family said five spoons.  I am giving it four, because of the cinnamon.  So now, maybe I can make a few soups again...Oh yeah -- and it's pretty to look at, too!

Tortellini Soup - p. 71

Really easy to make.  I think it was a little bland.  My husband said bland in a good way?!  Everyone liked it.  I think that if you sub Italian sausage for the ground beef and use Italian-seasoned diced tomatoes instead of plain ones it could make all the difference.  That is all.  Oh-- I guess three spoons.   Oh yeah -- my family has asked me not make any soup for a while :-(  So I don't know when the next post will be.