Earl & "Turkey" Cook Trader Joe's Wonton Soup

I love shopping at Trader Joe's! They have some great people, products that are unique or hard to find at the normal grocery store, and most products are their own private label! But don't think generic or cheap. Their products are reasonably priced and often imported. That said, sometimes their frozen products have failed to be what we expected. But I am always on the lookout for something new and tasty. On this visit I found Trader "Ming's" Chicken & Vegetable Wonton Soup. It looked good at first glance, but then I noticed it was microwave only, which always worries me. It had an uncooked protein, a wonton wrapper, and frozen carrots...three items I normally don't care to micro-zap. But the picture looked tasty, and we rarely go out to eat Chinese food, and I never cook it, so i bought one for each of us, and we each cooked our own.

My wife (a.k.a. "Turkey") had me go first. All I had to do was add about 5 ounces of water and microwave it for about 5 minutes in the provided bowl and voila, it's soup! I topped it with fresh ground pepper, added a dash of Soy Sauce and it was great! My wife even said it was good enough to do all over again. For a quick, satisfying meal, it is nice to have on hand!

Conclusion:
Taste ⭐⭐⭐⭐(Very good)
Price 💲💲(Really nice)

P.S.: I read a review today that said they didn't care it. We must have been eating different meals. Nothing they said applied to our meals!

Earl Cooks Ramen for Relief

How do you spell relief? R-A-M-E-N. Recently, I needed to consume bland things for a couple of days. Well, I was tired of yogurt and cheese so I reached for something I almost never eat...ramen. To keep it bland, I needed to omit the seasoning packet. My plan was to use just the noodles and make a soup.

...Now what to do to make a sauce? I added condensed cream of celery soup after cooking the noodles in a saucepan. 

Then I added a can of Costco's premium canned chicken.

...Sauce, noodles, chicken. Now for the finish - a runny fried egg  This was enough to feed me well and didn't taste bland!

Earl Cooks Souped-Up Soup

In a hurry to get dinner the other night, I did one of my favorite quick prep meals ...souped-up soup! What is that? It is canned soup made different and hopefully better. Usually when I make this, I simply add more of one of the soup's base ingredients. Today, however, I am going one or two steps above the normal. That's why I call it SOUPED-UP.

—I start with a better canned soup. Progresso is my preference and never has a canned taste. Use what you have or like, but I know for this preparation, Progresso works best. The flavor I used was Light Creamy Potato with Bacon & Cheese. I will fix the "light" when I add my flavor levels. 
—Place the soup into a large saucepan and begin warming it through. Add to the soup a half cup of crumbled bacon. Since I was in a hurry, I used pre-crumbled for mine to speed up the process.
—Now I add my delicious volumizer...packaged mashed potatoes. Idahoan brand are the best in texture and flavor. To add to the richness and complement the cheese in the soup, I add the Four Cheese variety. Use your favorite, or leftovers from another meal. My packaged potatoes call for 2 cups of water, but I want to make it richer and use half milk/half water.
—Add the potatoes to the heated soup and bacon and combine thoroughly, and add more CHEESE! Half a cup of mozzarella, or a quarter cup of Parmesan (or both)!
—Now finish the soup off with half a stick of butter and your soup is now SOUPER!  I love croutons on soup and my homemade croutons make a lovely topper! The whole pot was eaten up by the both of us...no leftovers!

Earl Cooks Chicken Noodle Soup from Leftovers

Growing up, soup always came from the iconic Campbell's can. Chicken Noodle and Tomato were the only two flavors we had on hand with regularity. There were other flavors on the store shelf, but these two were in our cabinet. This was before chunky, stars, and even before Progresso made it to my local store. I had always heard about other flavors, but I don't remember eating them until my teens. Soup wasn't considered a meal, just something that accompanied the REAL food. I now know how little I knew then!

Over the years, I have had many good, homemade soups. But I had a nice chicken carcass leftover from my salt roasted chicken earlier" see Salt Roasted Chicken ", and I just knew it would make a good chicken noodle soup, so I put it in a big stock pot and brought it to a boil. Then I added a variety of veggies such as carrots, onions, celery, beet greens, and some ribs from lettuce. I was going to steep the chicken and veggies for a good long while, to make a great stock and infuse the chicken flavor. I seasoned it all and let it cook! After cooking for a couple of hours, I removed the chicken from the bones, and added rotini noodles and let them cook thoroughly. I had  SOUP!

My bowl was just what I needed. My wife felt it was a bit under-seasoned, and I must admit, I went light on the salt because I had used so much in the original roasted chicken. Too light. This little bird gave us 2 meals. Thanks!

Earl Cooks Easy Double Leek & New Potato Soup - VEGETARIAN

No, this is not a mistake! I made and ate something VEGETARIAN! We are meatatartians in our house. We eat salads and vegetable sides, but most meals are truly meat based. We will have a steak dinner consisting of just the steak.

Now you know a bit about us, I wanted to eat something with no meat. I chose a leek soup made with 2 leek components.

I started with one of my favorite soup starters Knorr's Leek Recipe Mix. I prepare this according to package directions. I then added frozen sliced leeks from Trader Joe's, which are great to keep on hand (for this and many other dishes). Bring it back to a high simmer and allowing it to cook down to thicken the broth. While the broth thickens, I diced new potatoes from a can, which I added after the soup thickens. Don't forget to seaason well..
 I finished it off with half a cup of low-fat sour cream.

Once in the bowl, I added a pat of butter and fresh ground pepper, both are almost required for any tasty soup. I used crackers, but a nice crouton would be tasty too (I used croûtons on the leftovers).
As an add-in, I suggest scallions on top or chives or parsley. My wife, ever-the-meatatarian,  chose diced, baked ham. Bacon crumbles would also be good!

Earl Cooks Lentil and Leftover Ham Soup

The late fall weather just hit us today after letting us think we lived in a more mild clime. It was in the mid to high 60℉ range for the last few days but last night got down to the high 20s. The resorts are happy but we are a bit cold...which brings me to the quick soup I threw together when my wife got home and turned on the space heater. Soup is a great quick meal especially when you cheat by using a canned product. I don't buy a lot of different kinds of soup, but I do keep them on hand for occasions such as this. I also have some leftover ham from Thanksgiving which will make the soup even better. I start by removing any fat from the ham and cut it into bite-size pieces.

 Then I sauté the ham in the pot I am going to use for the sou to both warm and to give the roasted ham aroma to the house. I then take 1 can of Progresso lentil soup and add it to the heated through ham. I use Progresso because it is not condensed. Depending on my mood, I may add chopped onion, carrot, or celery to the pot when using a prepared product like this. When I do, I add those to the pot with the ham (or bacon or smoked sausage) to sauté until tender, adding the soup later. Finally, I add about a tablespoon of REAL butter for richness. This was a trick for soups and stews passed down from my dear mother to us. (Sour cream also works well). I then choose a great cracker...Keebler's Club Crackers are my favorite for soup and then I welcome the late autumn! This was good enough that my wife wanted the leftovers for lunch the next day!

One more note: Progresso is quite expensive compared with other brands, so watch for it on sale. I think you will find that for recipes like this, it beats condensed soups.-Earl

Earl Cooks Light Leek Soup-from mixes

Some nights, you just don't have time for cooking a big, heavy meal. Last night was such a night. What I did is combine 2 of my favorite packaged ingredients into a light, almost vegetarian meal.
I started with a product I always have on hand for just such meals, Idahoan Sour Cream & Chive Mashed potatoes.
I made a packet of them per package instruction on the stove top,
When I completed that task, I added about 1 cup of WHOLE milk.

Then came the star of the show Knorr Leek Soup Mix! What you say, 2 mixes in 1 recipe? You bet! And you'll see why...

I then added 2 cups chicken stock to the mashed potatoes, heated through and added the Leek Soup Mix.

After allowing it to combine, heat and thicken properly, I added fresh ground pepper  and 2 TBL REAL BUTTER, and served

I topped mine with Club Crackers, my wife with Ritz.