A long, long time ago...

Across the street from the old office there is a deli called The Food Factory, owned and run by Jimmy and his wife-- I want to say her name is Sue Lisa, but right this second I'm drawing a blank. I can say it opened up about ten years ago because I know it was open on 9/11. They came from New York and had family and friends in the NYC Fire and Police Departments. The deli became a gathering place for workers in downtown Cary on that horrible day.

(I looked it up on their website -- the restaurant's 10th anniversary is November 15. And while I was there I stole that picture to the right.)

Anyway, back in the day we spent a lot of time over there. You could get a good grilled cheese sandwich and they would let you customize it-- my favorite was swiss on rye, but american on white with tomato was a staff trend at one time. Ann started that. Or you could get just a few slices of turkey or some cheese or little side servings of a variety of deli salads. Their designer sandwiches, wraps and paninis could be pricey, but we learned to improvise.

In those days, I had a partner-in-crime up at the front desk-- Dee. Dee turned me on to their Cream of Mushroom soup. It was a real treat-- so rich and creamy it was hard to finish-- so when they did offer it, we always had a discussion about should we or shouldn't we. And then hours of anticipation if we decided that we should. I can still remember how that soup used to make me smile.

I thought that Wednesday was Cream of Mushroom day and didn't even check before heading over there today, but alas-- there was none to be had. It may not be offered anymore (gasp) or they may have run out. They were busy so I didn't ask about it then-- but I will. Instead I settled on Chicken Orzo with Spinach.

I was a little disappointed thinking it would be similar to yesterday, but it was like apples to oranges. This soup is broth based and beautiful-- snow-white slices of chicken, bright orange carrots and deep green spinach with a decent amount of orzo swimming in a light broth.


The second reason I decided to hit The Food Factory today was that I knew I wouldn't be able to look up food values and obsess. It's a really lovely soup-- I'd say my favorite so far. It had the most meat and no processed flavor at all.

So I'm going to give it 3 spoons for love and 3 spoons for nutrition-- 6 out of 8 for Chicken Orzo with Spinach soup from The Food Factory. This bowl of soup cost me $3.99.

And I'll be back again someday soon,
looking for the Cream of Mushroom.

Never on Sunday

So I decided that the next logical step would have to be chicken noodle. I hate canned chicken noodle. I used to love those envelopes of Mrs. Grass Chicken Noodle-- which were just packets of flavored salt I suspect-- but you can't get that anymore. At least not around here.

And I never order chicken noodle soup when eating out. It's just not a restaurant soup in my mind. It's a traditional comfort soup that I generally don't like.

There is one version I've been curious about-- Chick-Fil-A's Hearty Chicken Breast Soup. And so that's what I ate today.

I've been curious about it because Chick-Fil-A is sort of an enigma. First of all-- they are closed on Sunday. Of course, I only ever want Chick-Fil-A on Sunday.

And then-- it's fast food, but you can get chicken salad on whole wheat there. And it's good chicken salad-- it's not all mayonnaise-- it has a little tang to it and crunchy bits of celery.

I've been told it's an acquired taste, but I have acquired it.

Their combo meals have the option of swapping their waffle fries for a cup of soup, a side salad or carrot raisin salad. But when I feel like I'm being good-- having the chicken salad sandwich-- I must have the waffle fries-- to balance out the goodness. You know? Fast food is not for behaving.

(I've just peeked at their website and the chicken salad sandwich is just about as bad as their breaded chicken sandwich. The chargrilled chicken sandwiches are better. So I've just been lying to myself.)

Anyway-- today I just got the soup. And it was like no chicken noodle soup I've ever had before. It was more like a stew-- or what's inside a chicken pot pie-- but then with these thick noodles that were perfectly cooked. Tender but not falling apart. Yum. I could have licked the bowl.

I got the small. The website and a couple of other sites I looked at had it listed at 140 calories, but I think that's off. I was full and completely satisfied until well past 5:00-- on 140 calories??? And look at those noodles. No way. Maybe it thickens up or they don't dilute it as much as they're supposed to.

And it gets even worse-- the same sites that say 140 calories also say 900 mg of sodium. So if it's more condensed than it's supposed to be, that would be worse too.

The medium waffle fries have 200+ more calories (359) but 1/6th the salt (153). Of course the side salad would be better still.

This is getting sad. I meant this blog to be PRO-SOUP!! I need to find some good news tomorrow.

I'm going to give it 2 & 2-- so 4 spoons out of 8. I don't have an emotional attachment to chicken noodle and now I just feel decadent for having enjoyed it so much. It gets 2 nutritional points for bringing some protein to the party and because I suspect that normally it is a low calorie food.

I wanted to start logging this too-- Today I paid $2.25 for this bowl of soup.

9:47 p.m. Edit: Okay, I've decided-- I'm not going to sabotage this by becoming obsessed with sodium. The fact is that processed food contains a lot of salt-- it's not like I didn't already know that and it's not as if I've been eating low sodium up to this point.

I will eat one serving of soup each day and because it is filling and often nutrient dense, it will help me make better choices later in the day. And I'm going to look hard for sources of homemade soup. Mom?

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.

I Always Feel Like... Somebody's Watching Me

Sometimes it seems like the television knows who I am and is talking just to me. Last night, after getting so obsessed with soup, I saw a television commercial for Progresso Soup featuring my two favorite soups-- Italian Wedding and Chicken Tortilla.

I started making Italian Wedding soup when my daughter was tiny and I still enjoyed things like sitting at the table rolling hundreds of tiny meatballs. Ron and I liked it so much that I took a batch over to my parents-- they were distinctly underwhelmed. Something about beef meatballs in chicken stock just didn't fly with them back then.

Then, years later, they were assigned the soup in gourmet club and thought it was wonderful. Old people-- you can't show them anything-- they have to discover things for themselves. Or it's even better if you can get them to believe they invented it-- then they'll be a fan for life.

Since then there has been a bit of debate-- I put spinach and small pasta in mine. She uses escarole and lots of cheese and sometimes makes the meatballs out of ground turkey. It has become one of my father's favorite dinners and so she makes it all the time now. I love her version too, so I've given in. In fact I don't think I've ever had a bowl of Italian Wedding Soup that I didn't like.

Chicken Tortilla has a rockier past at my house. I love it in restaurants. Love it. I order it whenever I can.

We had a little soup potluck at work and so I made some-- I thought the recipe was pretty straight forward. But the recipe called for floating lime slices before serving. I put the lime slices in the crockpot before I took it to work and they sat in the soup all morning. By lunch time the lime had overpowered the soup and it was awful. I took it home and tried to rescue it by diluting it with chicken stock but that seemed to only make it worse. Even my soup loving family couldn't eat it.

I need to try again someday, now that I know better, but just now I'm looking forward to trying Progresso's new versions.

Eat More Soup Month- November 2010

Mary's new plan:

Here's the thing-- I find myself writing about soup a lot-- on facebook, on livejournal, on twitter. If I find myself with a belly full of warm goodness, I just feel the urge to write about it. Particularly this time of year.

And then there's this-- I've done NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month-- each November) before, but I find that about halfway through the month I lose my way. I lose the plot and head off on ridiculous tangents and eventually it's too painful to keep going. This makes me doubt that I was ever meant to be a writer.

So this year I've decided to spend November eating and writing about soup. I'm going to eat soup every day and write something here every day. Those are all the rules I'm setting for myself, no word count goal or a required variety of soups. I know there will be Basic Budget weeks where I eat only canned soup or make it myself and if I get a cold I promise you it will be Hot and Sour soup every day.

I'm curious to see if I *will* get a cold. I usually do get sick in November and soup is my favorite remedy, so if I'm already eating it every day... will that be preventative medicine? We shall see.

So anyway-- here we go.