Published: October 13, 2009 02:14 pm      

Soup’s on y’all

By Janis Saunders

Democrat Food Critic

Whenever I don’t feel so good or whenever I feel sad I want some soup or chili. I guess I have my mother to thank for that. She would always get out her big soup pot and say, “Well, it looks like it’s going to be a soup day today. She would get in the kitchen and start peeling, chopping and putting in some liquid in the soup pot and before you knew it you would start to sniff and your senses would be overcome by the lovely aroma of some beef or chicken soup. Or, maybe it would be a huge pot of chili slowly bubbling on the stove and your mouth would start watering and asking when it would be done enough for tasting.

This last week was a perfect time for soup. After going through the trauma of cataract surgery, I woke up Wednesday morning sensing something was wrong when I happened to run into the door. Now that was odd. How did that happen? I started off into the kitchen and felt light headed and off balance. I soon found out what was wrong. I was completely blind in my left eye ... the one that had been operated on. I didn’t panic. I just took a long breath and screamed for Jim to come here, quick. He came running and wanted to know what was wrong. I told him to get the doctor’s office on the phone immediately and tell them what was wrong. He did and was told to come in immediately.

The doctor took one look, took the pressure in my eye and I was sent to another eye specialist who dealt in Retina problems who happened to be in his Arlington office that day. I didn’t care. I would have gone to Austin if I thought he could help me see. When we got to his office, he was waiting for me and immediately took me in, sat me down and started getting out his needles and some other strange looking paraphernalia. At this point, my “Rock of Gibralter” slipped out of the office with the excuse he was going to call our girls. The doctor laughed and said he thought the sight of the needles got to him. He pushed, pulled, stuck and drained fluid off my eye while I gripped the chair arms and told him I was OK and keep on doing what you’re doing.

There is a one in 10,000 chance of a bacteria getting into the eye and guess what? I was the one in 10,000! For the next five days I have appeared in his office and he goes through the whole process that he has done the day before. At this point, I can detect bright electric lights and some shapes, but not faces or details.

That’s why the idea of a big bowl of hot soup or chili sounded better than anything else.

My friend, Willena, heard about my dilemma and showed up with a big container of her potato vegetable soup and jalapeno cornbread. Mmm! It smelled wonderful and I was eager to dig in. It tasted so rich and creamy, I forgot about my problem and dug in. She was kind enough to share her recipe and this is one you will want to keep.



Willena’s potato soup

Basic recipe - 32 oz. container chicken broth

1 (28 oz.) pkg. frozen Potato’s O’Brien (Oreida)

2 pkgs. Country Gravy Mix

Bring chicken broth to a boil and add potatoes. When potatoes are almost done, gradually stir in gravy mix. Depending on how thick you like your soup, you can add additional broth or water. Let finish cooking on low heat until all is well blended and smooth.



For different variations:

Dice extra onion, bell pepper, celery and carrots and saute in small amount of oil for a few minutes. At the same time you can dice up additional potatoes and add to soup.

If you like you can add navy beans, corn or chopped ham. You can also add various herb and spices to taste.

This soup has a hearty taste and a bowl of this soup with some cornbread makes for a “heavenly meal.”

Jim, on the other hand, went into the kitchen and began getting together all the ingredients for chili. The chili recipe we like more than any other is one our late friend, Clay Price, won in a chili cook off we had in our neighborhood some years back. He won as the “Best Dadgum Chili in the Hollow.”

Again, with chili, you can make additions to the basic recipe. You can add jalapeno peppers for fire or you can add beans. It’s your call.



Price’s best dadgum chili in the Hollow

2 lbs. chili grind beef

1 large onion chopped - brown meat and onion together and add:

2 cloves garlic-chopped

3 tablespoons Mexene chili powder (or any good chili powder) Add more if you like.

2 tablespoons salt

1 tablespoon sugar (rounded up)

1 tablespoon Louisiana Hot Sauce

1 (8 oz.) can tomato paste

1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes

1 teaspoon comino (cumin) powder

2 cups water

Bring all ingredients to a boil then simmer a minimum of 2 hours or more adding water as needed.

About 15 minutes before end of cooking time, add 3 chili peppers cut in thin strips (if desired). If there is any left, freeze it to bring out at a later date.



Lo and behold, two days later, Diana, our youngest, sent over some beef vegetable soup. She knew how I felt about soup, so we ended up with two soups and one chili and we enjoyed every bit of it.



Beef vegetable soup

2 pounds boneless beef chuck roast cut into 1-inch cubes

1 tablespoon cooking oil

2 (14 oz.) cans beef broth

2 cups chopped tomatoes or 1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes, undrained

1 cup water

4 cubed, peeled potatoes

2-1/2 cups baby carrots

1 cup sliced celery

1 cup chopped onion

Salt, pepper to taste

In an 8-quart Dutch Oven, brown meat and add onion. Sir in broth and tomatoes and simmer covered for 1 hour or until meat is tender.

Add rest of ingredients and simmer, covered for 30 minutes. We like to add whole kernel corn, but it’s not necessary unless you really like it.



That’s what makes soup good. You can add the ingredients you like and chances are it will turn out fine.

Sometimes we add small elbow macaroni to soup and simmer until it’s done. As I say, it’s your call.

Jim and I ate the soup and chili and I felt better after eating it. I still can’t see, but I hope the specialist knows what he is doing and I will soon be back to normal.

Just remember, if you have a bad day or you feel blah, get out the Dutch Oven or big soup pot and start something bubbling away. The aroma of the soup will comfort you and if you’re like me, I can never cook just a small amount of soup. We usually have enough soup or chili to last us for three or four days. That means there aren’t a lot of dishes to wash up and it always tastes better the second day. Remember, you can freeze it and bring it out at a later date and it will be just as good as when you first made it.

Right now, I have my seeing-eye husband, and I have high hopes my vision will come back, so I’m rocking along. As for having my other eye worked on — I’ll have to think about that for probably a long, long time.

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Janis may be reached at: jks4417@aol.com.