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[personal profile] redbird posting in [community profile] cookingforpeoplewhodont
This is a slightly higher-energy and more-flavorful version of one of the canned soups I grew up eating. I came up with it shortly after I had surgery a few years ago, when I had so little appetite that a teaspoon of sugar in black tea four times a day was a significant part of my total calorie intake, and I didn't have the energy to even think about more serious cooking.

Ingredients:
  • 1 can Campbell's vegetarian vegetable soup

  • 11 or so ounces [325 ml] of chicken broth, homemade if you have it l(my partner and I tend to make and freeze broth for later use after he roasts a chicken) or from a carton.*

  • Water (if you have less than a full soup-can of chicken broth)

  • Powdered ginger


Procedure:
Defrost the chicken broth if necessary, either in a microwave or in a small saucepan on the stovetop.
Empty the can of condensed soup into a 1- to 2-quart saucepan.
Use the can to measure an equivalent amount of chicken broth, or chicken broth and water. Mix that with the canned soup.
Add a small amount of powdered ginger. Try a quarter teaspoon, or less if you don't like things gingery; more if you're another person who has to remind herself to go easy on the ginger because other people don't like it as much as you do.
Heat to a simmer, stirring a few times while it heats, and eat.

Optional extra: if you happen to have some leftover cooked chicken, and some appetite (because you probably aren't doing this less than a week after having surgery), cut up the chicken and add a handful while the soup is heating.

This is lunch for one person, or a starter or side dish for two or maybe three.

I suspect that this would work fine with beef broth, but I haven't tried it. Ditto for other brands of canned vegetable soup, but you might have to adjust the quantities.

Note on the chicken broth: We tend to freeze it in units of one cup, one pint, and as ice cubes. We fill an ice cube tray with chicken broth. Put in the freezer for a day or two, then decant into freezer bags; those are a bit over an ounce each, and handy for adding a bit of chicken flavor to sauces. They can also be handy when I need between one and two cups of broth. Wash the ice cube tray after this before using for anything else.

*I tend to avoid canned chicken broth because most of it is saltier than I like, and some brands may taste of metal, but if you have one you know and like, go for it.

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Cooking For People Who Don't: A Carnival of Feeding Ourselves and Each Other

January 2015

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