Facts of Existence: Seven Soup Sunday

Ok, so my blog has turned into Suzie Homemaker on Sundays. Oh well…I guess that’s what happens when there’s nothing worth a damn to write about anymore.

So when I moved into my own place after my “divorce” (I wasn’t married…just call it the divorce because it’s the closest to a divorce I ever want to go thru) my sweet mother brought me all the crap from her pantry that she would never use. While that sounds terrible, it was awesome! I had NOTHING to stock my new pantry; I was taking any charity I could get. In this plethora of “crap” was a Harry and David gift set of 6 dry soup mixes. It sat in my pantry until today.

Collection of Soup

You want to know what happens on a Sunday when you’ve done NOTHING the night before and slept for nearly 11 hours? You come up with crazy ideas like making 7 soups in one day.

I made it to the food store before 11:00am and $21.48 later I was headed home to start this ridiculousness.

Purchases

Ok, you’re wondering why it’s called 7 Soup Sunday and there were only 6 in the box? Well, back in March my dad had an oyster roast at his house. We had ½ a bushel left after the party and he shucked them and froze them. They, too, have been sitting in my freezer since then.

Oysters.

So, I Googled “Oyster Stew” and my lady Paula Deen’s recipe came up first. Sold. Good thing I bought butter.

Super Simple Soup – 15 minutes to done...recipe here.

Soup #1: Oyster Stew

While I was cooking the oyster stew, I took the 6 chicken breasts I bought and baked them with just salt and pepper for about 25 minutes in the oven. Here’s my secret on the chicken…Bilo had split chicken breasts on sale for .99 a lb. I would never normally buy something that I have to butcher again at home, but they were on sale – and I’m cheap. All I really had to do was cut the breast away from the rib and I had boneless, skinless chicken breasts for .99 a lb. Go me.

The first soup was simple…what was not simple is figuring out how the hell I was going to make 6 more soups in a tiny kitchen with one stock pot and one 3 qt pot. So, I lined up the mixes with the ingredients in order of time to cook.

This is looking a little nutso...

Before I get into the soups, let me explain how much I love freezing meals and not having to cook when I get home from work. All I want to do is change clothes, eat and relax on weeknights. I do this a lot during the year…make meals (spaghetti, chili, chicken and dumplings) and freeze them for really easy dinners later.

So I labeled Ziploc baggies with the date and the soup name. Then I took the baggies and put them into these sweet stadium cups that one of my sales reps got me…they were perfect sized. This helps hold the baggies upright while you divvy out the soup. I first scoop out the goodness (everything but the broth) and divide it equally between the baggies. Then I use the spout on my bowl to pour in the broth equally.