My sister has a can of soup on her head

So she brought me two cans of Sun-Ripened Yellow Tomato Soup and two cans of Harvest Orange Tomato Soup. She also bought some for them to try at her house.

Her boyfriend, Brandon, reported that the yellow just tasted like regular tomato soup and that the orange tastes like Chef Boyardee.
I have only tried the yellow so far and I found it to be very sweet-- like a cross between butternut squash and tomato. I tried adding pepper-- my favorite addition to canned tomato soup-- but in this soup it didn't work at all.

It has a nice consistency though-- smooth like regular tomato soup. The yellow soup label lists parsley, cilantro and thyme, but I didn't taste them. The orange soup lists garlic, rosemary and sage-- which makes sense if the soup has an italian flavor. I'll try it soon.

We're afraid these soups aren't selling very well-- she bought these on sale for $1 a can (2.5 servings). They list 100 calories and 480mg of sodium per serving-- like regular tomato, the lowest of the soups I've had so far. They're all also very high in potassium (helps regulate blood pressure) and vitamin C, so I'll give them 3 nutrition spoons, but only 1 love and comfort spoon. I think it's hard anytime they change a beloved product just a little but not much-- it just ends up tasting off.

Owls have nothing to do with soup.

Yesterday's post was long, so today's will be short. That's my soup there with my owl. I saw an owl in flight a few months ago. It was breathtaking.

It flew at me, slowly, so I got a good long look at it. So owls are my new totem. We got this one at the aquarium and he just made his way to my desk-- I don't know why.

But owls have nothing to do with soup.

The soup is called Creamy Chicken & Dumplings and it is aptly named. It is very creamy. It says "dumplings" on the label, but on the ingredients list they list spaetzle. And even the spaetzle are creamy. It was a lot of fun to eat.

It was sort of like the best part of the potato soup plus the best part of the spaetzle soup, mixed together. And at a discount price.

It doesn't photograph well-- it's monotone. Project Runway would say it needs some color-- some contrast, some depth. But the flavor and aroma were great. Honestly, it tastes better than it looks. Good, simple, cheap, creamy soup.

Nutritionally it's second highest in fat and calories per ounce behind the potato soup. It's among the higher soups for protein at just over one gram per ounce. And it has the most sodium of any of the soups so far.

The 15.25 ounce container is 380 calories and 1780 mg of sodium-- almost 3/4 of the daily recommended amount of salt if you eat the entire thing. It is labelled as two servings.

I'm giving it 2 spoons for comfort and love, because even though I enjoyed it, I felt bad about what I had done afterwards. I've known a few men like that-- back when I was young. And I'll give it half a spoon for nutrition because of the protein. It would deserve more if it weren't for the salt.

This is another Campbell's Microwave soup, so it cost $1.50 or so. I did hear from Ron that there was a sale when he bought me all this soup. And yesterday there was a dollar off of four Progresso in the Sunday paper. So I'l be getting to that soon.

Just another manic soup day...

I've decided that Mondays will be Campbell's Soup days because I am always late on Mondays. I mean, I'm always late-- but on Mondays it is even worse, so I can't really justify going out on a soup hunt mid-afternoon.

And I now keep the microwaveable soup in my desk (some of it was a present from my husband, awww) and I have the very plush breakroom in which to microwave and also pick up some fancy coffee while I'm in there.

So all in all it was a warm and fuzzy lunch today on an otherwise hectic and bizarre day.

I looked all over the web and can find no verification of this, but I feel like Chunky Sirloin Burger came out in the mid to late 70's. It feels like the soup of my hip and groovy generation. I remember it being very popular. I remember thinking it was an All American soup because it had little hamburgers in it.

Or maybe that was in the advertising back then-- what a strange thing to think of on my own!

The thing I really love is that it tastes exactly the same as it did back then. Or enough the same. It takes me back and it's hearty, beefy soup-- like nothing else I had this past week.

The other great thing about it is it will always be the cheapest. Not only does it start out being the cheapest, but you can always find coupons for soup.

And now, when we must have everything at our fingertips, you can ALWAYS find coupons... at campbells.com or chunky.com... there are coupons right there.

It turns out Campbell's has an Italian Wedding soup. I never knew. I saw it on the website and it made me realize-- I don't really explore the soup aisle. I grab what I need and what I know.

Even when I was preparing to do this-- I wanted my familiar favorites on hand to easily turn to when I was too poor or too lazy to do go out hunting soup. And isn't that what canned soup is all about, really? :)

Well, the month is marching on and I will need new things to try. I need to shop the soup aisle for real. Soon.

So... three out of four spoons for nostalgic (and economic) satisfaction (it loses a spoon to the really evil cheesy soups) and three out of four for nutrition.

It's right in the middle of my soups so far in carbs, fiber and fat. It's higher in calories and protein which makes it very filling. Higher in calories, but still just 280 for the entire thing-- which counts as two servings and is that filling-- so not high calorie in the world outside of soup.

Anyway, 6 out of 8 spoons for Campbell's Chunky Sirloin Burger.

I'm not sure what we paid because I didn't realize I'd be keeping track of that, but I think it's safe to say it was under $2. And then with the VIC card, who knows, and they were probably even two for one. Everything at Harris Teeter is two for one. I'll keep better records when I restock.

Sleep tight.

Let's start at the very beginning...

I am certain that for many people a quest through the land of soup would begin at Chicken Noodle. That is the traditional soup of childhood sick days. But not for my family. Soup in my family begins at Tomato.

So I decided that EaMoSuMo would begin with Tomato-- and not just any Tomato-- Campbell's Tomato Heat & Enjoy Microwaveable Soup.

I am the eldest of four. My father was a grad student most of my childhood and so we ate a lot of cheap food. We ate a lot of soup. We ate a lot of Hamburger Helper and also TV Dinners-- but not Lean Cuisine foo-foo TV dinners-- metal tray TV dinners with four segments full of lava. This was in the 60's and the 70's. We were tough back then.

My mother always served tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches and dill pickles and so for a real comfort fest it has to be with the sandwiches and the pickles. But for lunch I like tomato soup with lots of pepper.

When I got to grad school myself, I was on my own for the very first time and my food budget was $25 a month. This was in the early '80s and $25 went farther than it would today, but still-- it didn't go far.

I do think Ramen was around then, but it wasn't all the rage. I lived on Campbell's soup, Kraft Mac & Cheese, Rice-a-roni and beer. But that was okay-- I was young and determined and moved around a lot :).

And now-- tomato soup still tastes like youth and determination to me.

But now that I'm an old woman, it's hard to look past the fact that soup can pack a lot of sodium, particularly canned soup. So I'm going to log the data here so as to compare. This 15.4 oz Campbell's Tomato soup is two servings with 480 mg each. If I were to eat the entire thing (which I didn't) I would have had 40% of my recommended daily value of salt.

And yet-- a quick peek online at some other products (yes, I know, that's cheating) reveals that that's not actually high for canned soup. And yet if I were to eat this entire thing (200 calories) and stick to 2000 calories a day, I'd have had 40% of my salt in 10% of my calories. And only 3 grams of protein.

So for nostalgia and dependability, I'd give Campbell's Tomato Soup 4 out of 4 spoons.

For nutrition and balance, I'm afraid I have to give it only 1 spoon out of 4. I'd give it zero but for the fact that it is low calorie and filling, and because of the antioxidant properties of tomato products.

Final score: 5 spoons out of 8.

P.S. Don't go for a manicure and forget to vote.