Cover all vegetables with water in a good, big
stock pot. Salt generously. Couple shakes of
pepper.
Bring to boil. Simmer til fork tender.
Add 1-2 cups cooked bacon or ham. Actually you
don’t have to cook the bacon. You can chop raw
bacon into bite-sized pieces and toss them in
with the vegetables to boil. But I don’t
usually put ham (or
bacon bits, which are a practical substitute)
til the vegetables are done-ish.
Now add a couple of cans of Cream of Chicken
(not mushroom!) and an 8-ounce cube of cream
cheese
to the pot. It will all break down eventually
with gentle stirring (so as not to mush up your
vegetables)
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– OR –
In a separate bowl, soften cream cheese and
stir in Cream of Chicken soup. You might add a
little milk,
cream, half and half, or evaporated milk if you
have some on hand. This will help make it all
smooth
before you even add it to the cook pot.
Serve with grated cheddar and chopped cilantro
ON THE SIDE. If you add these to the pot, the
cheese
will separate and become oily and the cilantro
will make the whole soup too strong.
Don’t worry too much about amounts of any of
this. It is all really just to taste and
preference, and as I
said, it’s very forgiving.
The basics of this soup came from Grandmom
Marvel Rice.
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