Satisfying Soups

The weather is unpredictable, even squirrelly—every couple of days it seems to go through a mini-seasonal shift. But it still is almost officially winter and one food that seems to be a natural in the colder months is soup. California- based Amy’s offers a winter dense variety called Indian Dal—Curried Lentil. Lentil soup is always fitting during these colder months but this particular one, with organic mung dal (Dal= lentils, beans or peas), green lentils and desi chickpeas is especially satisfying. There are no trans fats, no added MSG, No Preservatives, No GMOs, No Bioengineered ingredients and is gluten free. The taste is just piquant enough to be interesting.

But to get back a little taste of warmer climes, try Amy’s Summer Corn & Vegetable. While a lighter meal than the lentil, it is still hearty enough to offer real nourishment and even comfort. Like the Curried Lentil, the Summer Corn & Vegetable has no ingredients you wouldn’t want. This soup contains organic corn, organic potatoes and other tempting vegetables.

To complete the meal add some nutritious breads and cheese or hummus and a beverage.

From soup..... to broth

Progresso has a line of light but not light-tasting soups that are as satisfying as they are good for you. And as reported earlier, now no MSG. The soups are nutritious and savory with a hearty flavor. Endorsed by Weight Watchers, they have just 60 calories per serving and are endorsed by Weight Watchers. And the pull-top cans are so easy to open.

New flavors such as Light Chicken Vegetable Rotini• Light Reduced Sodium Vegetable• Light Reduced Sodium Roasted Chicken & Vegetable join the ranks of Southwestern-Style Vegetable, Light Chicken Noodle, Light Beef Pot Roast, Light Santa Fe Style Chicken, Vegetable and Noodle, and Savory Vegetable Barley to list a few.

And if you prefer to make your own, try their new ready-made broths—chicken, reduced-sodium chicken or beef, in 32 oz re-sealable packages. Just add you own ingredients and while you’re at it, get creative. Sometimes ingredients you might think will never meld or work together can surprise you. Ready-made broth is a respectable short cut to making home-made soup.

Food Advertising Wars

Here is an observation. Advertising wars. Or more precisely, advertising using products as adversaries. Case in point:

Campbell’s vs Progresso. Campbell’s has a television ad proclaiming that their Select Harvest Soups have no MSG. The blindfolded actor then recites the mouthwatering ingredients in the Select Harvest Soup (soon to have 33 varieties). When she tastes a spoonful of the Progresso soup, she announces she tastes MSG. A bit of an exaggeration, perhaps. Nevertheless, Progresso now is countering with ads on television for its new light soups (very tasty, by the way) saying that now there is no MSG in their selections.

Another side-by-side challenge comes when the maker of the cereal Total, throwing down the gauntlet to Kashi, declares that Total has 100% of everything a body needs, while Kashi's Go Lean Crunch doesn’t. Total has long taken this approach, stating that you would need say, 20 bowls of some other brand of cereal to equal one bowl of Total. There are a few ways of looking at this. One is, “Okay, give me the Total since I don’t plan on eating anything else for the rest of the day.” Or you can choose whichever cereal you like for other reasons and just eat it and get on with your day and the rest of your life.