[Cheesy Potato Soup Report]

The verdict:

It's spot on.

Any odd or off taste I noticed I was able to immediately attribute to the choice to use Thanksgiving turkey instead of ham. Nothing milk-substitute-related changed the flavor, except maybe to enhance the buttery, cheesy goodness.

One tip, though... don't make the rookie mistake Mom made and buy firm tofu. Buy soft tofu, so it melts in better. It's still great, but it will help thicken the soup up a bit to use the soft tofu.

My half-eaten bowl of soup. Yes, I had to dig in before taking a picture. Don't judge my artistic skills by my voracious appetite.

And now, for seconds.

If you try it out, tell us how YOU liked it!

[Stay Tuned for... Cheesy Potato Soup!]

Our family has a truly killer recipe for potato soup. Oh, yes, it's chock full of fat and cholesterol, but dear God in heaven is it ever fabulous. My college roommates and I (in the pre-lactose-free days) used to eat healthy all week so we could make ourselves sick on a full stock pot of that gloriousness. Oh, yes... *reminisces*

Ahem. Anyway, obviously the exact recipe is not going to work so well these days. It breaks my heart, yes, buuuuuuut... Mom's visiting this week while their friend is working on my house, so she's attempting to adjust the recipe for my stomach to handle, and substituting turkey meat for ham to get rid of the rest of our turkey.  I'll definitely post the adjusted recipe this evening with the verdict.

For my still-able-to-consume-dairy reading folks, here's the original recipe (it goes back at least two generations):

4 medium-sized russet potatoes chopped
3 large carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 onion, chopped (I usually don't use the onion, but it works either way)
2 cans of cream of ______ soup (choose whichever you like)
1 stick of butter
1 can of evaporated milk
Garlic, salt to taste
Chopped pre-cooked/baked ham, roughly a large handful or two
1 large package of shredded cheese, usually cheddar, amount to taste, or half of a block of cheddar

Boil the potatoes, carrots, celery, and onion in water until tender. Drain. Return veggies to stock pot and add liquid ingredients with butter until it just starts to boil. Decrease heat to low or medium-low so it doesn't boil over, then add cheese and seasonings gradually until the cheese melts and the milky broth is a soft yellow color--not vivid yellow, but more yellow than off-white.  You may wish to add more milk to thin the recipe or more cheese to make it taste sharper. Most of the ingredients here are of the "add a pinch or a handful of...." variety, so adjust to suit your tastes.

Our adjusted recipe, made mostly the same way, will include not draining the veggies, using Lactaid milk (if you have a full dairy allergy, using non-sweetened soy, rice, or almond milk should be fine--but do NOT use a sweetened variety... I made that mistake when I wrote the recipe down wrong the first time and used condensed instead of evaporated milk. It was horrible!). Instead of canned cream-of-____ soup, we're using a non-dairy recipe from Food.com (http://www.food.com/recipe/non-dairy-cream-of-mushroom-soup-substitute-107359), and we're going to use standard salted butter--it usually doesn't bother me. If it does bother you, use a non-dairy margarine or shortening like the linked cream of mushroom soup calls for. We're also using the Almond cheddar "cheese" from yesterday's photo instead of standard cheddar, and we're thickening the recipe by adding tofu (about half a package) with the milk, so it behaves more like evaporated milk.

Pictures and review coming tonight!

[Amy's Kitchen, Part Two: Burrito]

On my way home from work/the ear doctor, I stopped over at MaMa Jean's. I'm a little turkeyed out right now, so I thought I'd pick up some "cheeze" and another Amy's meal to sample.

For tonight's dinner, I heated up the burrito and a little of the Daiya Mozzarella in case the burrito came out spicy. I confess, I have a very low spice tolerance, hence my need for cheese! As it turns out, the burrito was delightfully mild with the right type of flavor for a spice-lover to sprinkle with tabasco sauce or cayenne pepper.

Yes, I eat in bed sometimes. Don't judge.

Overall, I enjoyed the meal. It filled me up nicely, and the cheese melted like, well, cheese. Was it a spot-on comparison? No, not really, but it was close enough I wouldn't have withdrawals. :) And the first few bits of the burrito were, oh, fantabulous. No hard corners, like my El Monterrey chimichangas and burritos tend to get, and it had an excellent balance of authentic (or "authentic"? Hey, I live in Missouri...) Mexican tastes without being, well, Tex-Mex. It was big enough (about the size of one-and-a-half El Monterreys) for my appetite.

However, the meal did have a couple of minuses. Like many other gluten-free wheat alternatives, after a few bites and as it cooled down, the tortilla's texture was a bit... off--almost like it was made of potatoes (could be, actually... I didn't check the ingredients before chucking the package). For some people, that's great... they love potatoes; however, I have a strong gag reflex, especially since I've had soft palate surgery, so a potato texture had a tendency to trigger that reflex. The other was price. At over $3.50 per burrito (I get eight with El Monterrey for the same price at WalMart), it was hard for me to justify buying them on a regular basis for a quick lunch.

Now, you can buy direct from Amy's for a lower price ($2.84 unit price), and if your budget allows for you to, say, eat out on a regular basis or buy "gourmet" meals from the store ($3-5+ range), then it may work for you. I'd just suggest you sample one for yourself at a local store before buying in bulk from Amy's. Additionally, entrees are still over $5.00 apiece for the most part, so they're the sort of meals you want to get as an indulgence when you have a craving for, say, Indian food or lasagna and you don't want to pay the gastrointestinal price.

Still, it's nice to know we have edible and fairly comparable options.

I'm planning to sample one of the Indian foods soon. I haven't had much (okay, any...) Indian food other than a brief sample on a youth group trip to London in 2001 (plus, there's the spice factor for me), so it'll be a new experience in more ways than one. Still, judging by how both meals I've had so far have compared to their milk-induced counterparts, I think I'll be getting a pretty accurate taste for that particular dish. I'll be sure to fill you in on the details as they unfold.

If you'd like to contribute to my culinary adventures (or my art business for that matter--I'm in the market for a pen tablet so I can do some web art for the first time and open my options up... but they're still a little steep for me with fewer classes to teach next semester, even at under $100), feel free to use the Google checkout to the right on this page (or my Amazon Wishlist, also to the right, for art-related needs).

Until next time, readers! Don't forget to check out my other two blogs, in the meantime, if you'd like to read more of my writing or sample some of my artwork.

After-note: Amy's does have a standard non-dairy (but not non-gluten) burrito that I couldn't find today, so when I sample that one, I'll let you know my reaction. I have a feeling it will be more positive.