Lemon Chicken Soup with Salad

Recipe modified by You Want Me to Cook? – April 25, 2011

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Lemon Chicken Soup with Salad recipe originally published by Food Network Magazine – April 2012.

I really love a soup/salad or soup/sandwich combo, but my husband does not.  No matter what kind of soup I make, he never eats it.  Still I’m searching for a soup that he’s going to, at a minimum, eat a bowl.  I happen to love chicken and rice soup so when I saw this combination “lightened up” version of the soup with a refreshing salad, I decided to make it.

© You Want Me to Cook?
Lemon Chicken Soup and Salad

The soup was nice and creamy without being heavy.  In fact, there’s no cream or milk in it!  I’m terrible at the meat-to-soup ratio.  I always end up with more broth.  Still, it looks comforting and delicious.

Asian Egg Drop Soup

Recipe modified by You Want Me to Cook? – March 6, 2011

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Recipe originally published from Food Network.com, Tyler Florence (Food 911).

When I go for Chinese food (I can't seem to cook it right yet), I will get Egg Drop Soup.  Of course this is a fairly recent development.  I’m not a food-a-phobe, but it never appealed to me.  Luckily, my husband introduced it to me when we first started dating and now I love it.  Now, I know what you’re thinking… it looks gross.  At least that’s what I thought about it the first time I saw it.  But trust me; you’ll love it, so give it a try.

© You Want Me to Cook?

It looks like exactly what it is – a nice broth soup.  The egg feathered out beautifully and almost looks like noodles.  It also smelled wonderful.  The picture has me holding the spoon in it because I couldn’t wait to try it and was in the process of eating that bite before I realized I hadn’t taken a picture yet.

Porcini Mushroom Soup

Recipe modified by You Want Me to Cook? on February 21, 2011

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Recipe originally published in Gourmet, December 2008.

If you read my blog regularly, you know I have a certain love affair with mushrooms.  I’ve experimented with a lot of different types of mushrooms, but I’ve always wondered about the dried and exotic mushrooms at the end of the counter.  I’ll be honest – they smell funny.  I know they’re supposed to be delicious, but I simply didn’t know where to start… until now.

Soup is one of those things I love to make, but seem to get tired of quickly.  Luckily, my husband eats everything I make until it is gone.  I think it is a quest for him to empty the refrigerator before I do the weekly grocery shopping.  The reason I point this out, is that I try to choose my soup recipes wisely.  It has to make me happy, but be appealing enough to my husband that he’ll finish it once I tire of it.  This recipe had it all:

• It wasn’t creamy (creamy soups are not my husband’s favorite)
• It has mushrooms (obviously for me)
• It has “fancy” mushrooms (exciting for me to try)
• It is chock full of healthy vegetables (both of us need this – especially the mushrooms Vitamin D for me)
• It is vegetarian (we are trying to eat meat-free at least a couple times of week)

My finished product:

© You Want Me to Cook?
Porcini Mushroom Soup

Just looking at this picture makes me wish I had a bowl.  It is rich, yet doesn’t rely on cream to make it that way.  Of course, I wish I had used fresh herbs (the dried just kind of float there), but I can’t justify buying a bunch that I know will go bad after I use 2 tablespoons.

Parmesan Potato Soup

Recipe modified by Gretchen Wilson – February 3, 2011

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Recipe originally published in Allrecipes daily e-zine on Sunday, November 30, 2008.

If you live in Chicago, you may think the date this dish was made looks familiar.  It was the beginning of “snowpocalypse”.  Something in my brain said, 2 feet of snow = soup for dinner.  What better soup to make than a hearty potato soup?  I was excited by this one because of the parmesan cheese in it.  Usually, there’s a light cheddar presence or if you’re making baked potato soup, possibly an American cheese.  Mostly, it is blended potatoes in a cream base.

My finished product: © You Want Me to Cook?

Picture published with recipe: © Allrecipes

Now, I always have to remind myself that these are not professional photos for these recipes.  In fact, most of the recipes are user submitted, so there isn’t much control for what the chef/photographer does with their recipe or photo.  I like to use the pictures more as a frame of reference than what it “should” look like.  That being said, my soup and Katy’s soup (Katy is a fellow allrecipes user and the photographer) look pretty similar, so I was confident that I was on the right track.  She may have a little extra bacon in her soup, but who wouldn’t add more bacon where they could?

I had several disasters while making this dish.  Some were recipe generated and some were “me” generated.  Read on for more information…

Tomato Soup with White Beans & Pasta

Recipe modified by Gretchen Wilson – June 5, 2011

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Recipe originally published in All You, January 2011

I’m not really sure at what point in my life this happened, but I fell in love with tomato soup.  It’s odd since I don’t like sliced tomatoes, and never have.  However, when I’m feeling chilled and in need of comfort, nothing makes me happier than a bowl of tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich.  This recipe was a tomato soup with pasta and beans to give it a carb- and protein-boost, not to mention the antioxidant benefits of lycopene in the tomatoes.  I was game.

My finished product: © You Want Me to Cook?

Picture published with recipe: © All You

Well my picture sucked.  But getting past that… my soup doesn’t appear to be as tomato chunky as theirs.  Ordinarily, I’d say that’s a good thing, but I was disappointed with that.  I also selected to use small shell pasta since I had it on hand.  Even so, it had a rich taste that warmed me up and put a smile on my face.

Turkey & Bean Chili

Recipe modified by Gretchen Wilson – November 17, 2010

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Recipe originally published by MyRecipes daily e-zine “Dinner Tonight”.

First, I am going to say that I really didn’t “change” the recipe.  I just elaborated on the ingredients and listed all of them in the instructions.  I hate it when they say, “the next six ingredients” and make you count them.  Now on to the recipe… I love chili and have a favorite recipe that I used to make often.  I realized, one day, that my husband was not eating it with me, and although he won’t admit it, I get the feeling he just didn’t like that dish.

Chili isn’t that healthy of a dish, so I started searching for a turkey chili that would rival my favorite ground beef chili recipe.  This was one of the first turkey chili recipes that had a tomato sauce.  I was excited.  I printed off the recipe and it sat for a long time.  Then I got that craving for chili again.

My finished product:

Picture published with recipe: © myRecipes.com

I didn’t plate mine with the cilantro bunches.  I’m just not that big of a fan of that much cilantro in one place.  And of course, the obvious difference is the sour cream.  I love sour cream in a hot bowl of chili, so I ate it that way anyway, but that’s not the point.  The point is, the recipe didn’t say that, and if you’ve read any of my other posts – that annoys me.  If you look at the chili, it is pretty similar.  Mine is a little more “juicy” but that is how I like it.

Black Bean & Salsa Soup

Recipe modified by Gretchen Wilson – October 14, 2010

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Recipe originally published by allRecipes.com daily e-zine “The Daily Dish”.

It is a vegetarian soup that isn’t a broth.  I couldn’t WAIT to try this!  First I have to say I was shocked that a vegetarian dish had such high sodium content.  Looking at the ingredients, I couldn’t figure out where it came from, so I turned to the recipe’s comments.  Now I have to admit, nothing angers me more than people who “review” a recipe just to say they didn’t even bother because of “xyz”, in this case sodium.  You want to impress me anonymous reviewer?  Tell me how you would lower it.  Anybody can whine – I mean, I do it all the time – but it takes someone with talent to fix the problem.  I was really happy to see that allRecipes did a little research (it was the broth) and posted some information in the comments about lowering the sodium level.  Also, I did a little research on my own, so the recipe changed for all this information.

Comments can also come in handy when looking at recipe sites because people often will give substitutions or ways to fix mistakes.  The bad thing is they can also scare you too.  I always look at the lowest ratings because if you’re raving about it, I have no worries about the recipe.  Sifting through the whiners about the sodium level, I found a lot of comments regarding the “bland taste” and “bad texture.”  Since the dish is fairly inexpensive to make and I already had most of the ingredients, I decided to give it a try anyway.

My finished product:

Picture published with recipe: © allRecipes.com

The picture from AllRecipes looks a little thicker, where my soup looks more like a rich broth.  Mostly, they look very similar.  I have to say that I think this soup has plenty of flavor and was delicious, but if you don’t like beans, this will not change your mind.

Quick Chicken & Dumplings

Recipe modified by Gretchen Wilson – August 30, 2010

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Recipe originally published by myRecipes daily e-zine “Dinner Tonight”.

I love chicken and dumplings, but it isn’t one of the easiest dishes to make.  When I saw “Quick” and “Chicken & Dumplings” in the same title, I was game.  I have to admit, when I saw that the dumplings were made out of tortillas, I was a little skeptical.  I am certainly glad I decided to give it a try.

My finished product:

Picture published with recipe: MyRecipes.com

Pretty close, right?  I’m not sure if I just scooped out too much broth for my picture, but it wasn’t thinned out or watery.  Now, I would never say that tortillas are an exact substitute for dumplings, but it definitely mimicked it well enough that I didn’t mind.

Brazilian Fish Stew

Recipe modified by Gretchen Wilson – October 26, 2010

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Recipe originally published on AllRecipes.com Daily Dish e-zine.

There’s nothing better in fall than a hearty soup or stew in the fall.  I had been looking for a fish soup for a while, specifically one that had more than a simple broth base.  Not a big fan of those – it tastes like fish water to me.  This recipe appealed to me because it had coconut and tomato base.  If you’ve never cooked with coconut milk, you’re really missing something.  I know it looks a little on the “icky” side, but it is a rich broth that really enhances the flavor

My finished product:

Picture published with recipe: © Taste of Home

The picture from AllRecipes wasn’t professionally taken (visitors can submit their own pictures of dishes that they make) so it is a little fuzzy looking.  From what I can tell, it looks about the same, although their picture looks a little creamier than mine, but that’s probably because one of the ingredient changes I made.  I don’t know if that makes a difference or not, because the one I made tasted delicious.

Potato Leek Soup

Recipe modified by Gretchen Wilson – December 13, 2010

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Recipe originally published in Kraft Foods Magazine, Holiday 2010.

Potato soup is one of those dishes that is perfect for a cold winter day.  Also, there’s a lot you can do with it.  For example, you can add cheddar cheese and make it a cheese-potato soup.  Got some extra bacon from breakfast?  Crumble it up with a little green onion and sour cream and you’ve got baked potato soup.  What I’m saying is you can make a big pot and serve it one way one night and serve it in a different form the next.  That’s why I’m always open to trying a different recipe when I find one.  This was the first time I saw a recipe using leeks that blended them directly into the soup. 

My finished product:

Picture published with recipe: © Kraft Recipes

My potato soup didn’t turn out as creamy.  Honestly, I like a little bit of potato chunk in my potato soup, but this wasn’t intentional.  I also didn’t dress it with the chives for the photo, but neither did Kraft.  No, they actually put bacon on top of theirs.  Of course, this is an absolutely delicious way to serve the soup, but not what the recipe calls for.  If you’ve read any of my other posts, you’ll know that I’m not very fond of that.