Coffee And Soup

I had some trouble finding the Campbell's Tomato Soup at the store a couple of days ago; I had to look and look before I found it. I think from the picture you can see why:

The green label wasn't quite what I was expecting. Something else I wasn't expecting was the aroma of the last coffee I bought which is Maxwell House Original.

Usually when you open coffee you get a wonderful strong coffee smell that makes you anticipate that first taste. When I open the Maxwell House, however, I get assaulted by a smell like musty gymsocks. That was a surprise. I have no idea why MH smells like that because every other coffee I've ever used has smelled like coffee. I usually just get the generic Walmart brand of coffee but MH is also 100% arabica beans so that isn't a difference. Maybe it shouldn't be a surprise given the cost of MH which is quite a bit cheaper than the Walmart brand and Folgers. It is even cheaper than the light roast version of Folgers and less common brands like Master Chef. However, in MH's defense the coffee does taste okay in spite of the less than enticing aroma.

I usually drink mine as cappuccino made on my low end, consumer model, Mr Coffee machine. I like chocolate so I typically just add hot chocolate mix. However, I've always wondered about the steamed milk. I've tried making it with powdered creamer and no milk but that does not have the proper cappuccino taste. It seems to need at least some actual milk to get the flavor right, but surprisingly it doesn't seem to need much. You can actually get a cappuccino taste with as little as 1/4 skim milk and 3/4 water and powdered creamer. The steaming is also overrated. I've tried just adding the cold milk directly to the cup and then heating it in the microwave and it tastes the same. The only benefit you get from the time consuming process of steaming is the froth and you could easily froth one pitcher and spread it among four cups. You can froth it more easily though if you hold the steaming nozzle just above the milk so that it jets in air with the steam. However, what I really like in my cappuccino is Baileys Irish Cream. Just a teaspoon or so is enough to enhance the flavor and especially the aroma. It seems to work well with chocolate.

I made some chicken noodle soup which you can see here. It only takes a little bit of chicken. I included one small carrot and a couple of stalks of celery. The nice thing about soup is that you can use the celery even if it is getting wilted. I usually add a touch of Italian seasoning a little seasoned salt.



I use chicken broth if I've just cooked some chicken but in most cases the flavor simply comes from chicken base like this. The only other requirement is about half a package of noodles.