Chow down on chowda

I'd been wanting to make a corn chowder of some sort (hence this entry's title). Along the way, I tried a few other soups and various recipes. Here's my take on how or if I would redo them!

Italian Sausage Soup
Pretty good! It looked a little watery at first, but didn't taste that way. I used a spicy italian sausage which gave a pretty good amount of kick. Italian sausage grosses me out overall, but here it was fine. If I had this one to do over, I would go with a mild Italian sausage or maybe ground turkey.

Lemon Herb Chicken
I made this for a serving of 6 and it was ridiculously tasty and easy! I used lemon on each side as it instructs, but a Cajun seasoning on one side, and light salt and pepper on the other. Though the comments say the oregano didn't add much, I thought it made the final product look the way an herbed meat should.

Linguini with Broccoli and Red Peppers
Delicious! I didn't let the peppers get very soft because that's when the nutrients are gone and I just prefer them a little crispy. I cooked them in a stovetop grill pan so that may have helped. My broccoli was 1lb with the stems and extra stuff on it, so think about that when you weigh it. While the final product was delicious, I would definitely add more broccoli (at least another half pound) and maybe do two small red peppers rather than one medium to large sized one. Consider adding a little olive oil or other lubricant to the noodles; one pound is a lot to scoop through if cheese is holding it together.

Broccoli Cheese Soup
The processed cheese part of this is a little funky to me, so perhaps a block of your favorite cheddar or something else would be fine. The amount of broccoli and onions in this one was sufficient, even for me! I would use less chicken stock and a thicker-than-skim milk. The garlic powder is a really nice touch. I didn't see any difference after I added the cornstarch mixture. This was quite tasty and even though I made a double recipe so it would last longer, my husband ate double servings!

Chicken Pot Pie
We all know the toaster oven kind of pot pies we've had with delicious crusts but kind of funky veggies. We bought two ready-made crusts (see my previous note about being in finals); (I think of my sister-in-law telling me her story about avoiding pie crusts like the plague if they have trans fats here; ours was Pillsbury and had none, but also didn't have the dough for a lid) and two bags of different frozen vegetables. The result was pretty tasty, especially if you don't have much time! I'm not sure that going with fresh vegetables would be worth the trouble.

Cheesy Potato and Corn Chowder
The package of gravy mix we bought was- oops!- .75oz rather than 2.5. My husband thought the soup was too watery, so perhaps that's why (and also possibly because I used skim for the milk, as it's all we buy). Had we had a half pound of ham to add, I probably would've done that for protein's sake. As usual, I put double the celery, onions, and potatoes than the recipe called for because I like my soups hearty. I also added some true Creole seasoning (don't believe restaurants when they tell you it's Cajun or Creole seasoning if they aren't in Cajun country- this stuff is the real deal!) We didn't peel the potatoes-- the skin is the nutrients of 'em! It wasn't my greatest chowder, but it was pretty good overall and got better as the flavors made friends in the fridge.

Slow Cooker Cranberry Roast
Holy smokes- this was THE easiest tasty thing I've made in a while. I didn't make the gravy; there was plenty of juice in the crock pot after cooking, so I would just spoon that onto the brown rice served with the roast. Though the recipe didn't call for it, I browned the meat before slow cooking it because I find it looks more appetizing that way. I'm picky about cranberry flavor, but this was perfect-- the tiniest bit sweet, looked like a rich gravy, and after our first bites my husband and I looked at each other and said, "Wow." The meat was a little fatty, but because I would shred it as I prepared it over rice it was easy to toss out the white parts.

"The Most Delicious Soup" from my friend Becky.
The original recipe is here, but hers is:

• Pull all the meat off a grocery store rotisserie chicken and chop up. Throw away the leftover chicken parts and put the chopped chicken back into the leftover broth in the container and set aside.
• Chop up 1/2 cup onion. Chop up 1/2 cup celery. Chop up 1/2 cup carrot.
• Toss in a pot with 1 Tbsp. Olive Oil and cook over medium heat for about 8 - 10 min. until tender. Stirring frequently.
• Pour in one can of Petite Diced Tomatoes. Throw in 1 Bay Leaf. Pour in two 32 oz. cartons of chicken broth. Season with some sea salt and pepper.
• Bring to a boil. Pour in 1 cup of Pastini pasta (the little tiny dot pastas). Reduce heat, cover and cook for 15 minutes.
• After 15 minutes, throw in all the chopped up chicken and leftover broth. Throw in about a cup - 2 cups of chopped/pulled apart greens (I use kale, but swiss chard or mustard greens work too).
• Serve once the greens are tender. Top with Romano cheese and cracked pepper.

I used four of the frozen chicken breasts we buy in bulk. I doubled the veggies we put in and added carrots. I didn't have pastini, so i broke some rotini (spiral pasta) in half. I used regular diced tomatoes instead of petite. I didn't have any of the greens she mentioned so I threw in spinach and mixed other greens, but I imagine her suggestions would add extra flavor. Very good, ridiculously easy, and it only lasted a few meals in my house!