Mastodawn

Mx. Luna Corbden 🐸

Did you know they just let you add anything you want to canned soup?

I just had a hearty tomato stew by adding fresh mushrooms, tomatoes, frozen chicken, and frozen chipotle potatoes to a half can Progreso tomato basil soup, topped with crispy onions from a can, all made in the microwave.

I did have to spice up the flavorless base soup, but with some salt, garlic powder, cilantro, and bay it tasted pretty good.

Ed. for context:

For many AutDHD, those with poor executive function, or other disabilities, especially those of us who are bad at or hate cooking, the false dichotomy is between hard-to-prepare healthy food with high risk of failure and food waste vs something easy that will probably taste like crap and leave me feeling weaker and hungry if that's all I make for days.

Canned soup + healthier ingredients breaks that dichotomy with a secret third way.

#ActuallyAutistic #FoodTips #recipes #AutDHD #LowEffort

snowyfox Dec 26

.

eswillwalker Dec 26

@corbden This sounds like stone soup. You probably could have enjoyed it without the canned soup at all!

Mx. Luna Corbden 🐸Dec 26

@ELS I've been experimenting with making soup from broth, but there's added cognitive load to make it that way, because I have to think harder and there are more ingredients. This gives me variety with a much easier prep option for when I can't talk myself into anything more elaborate.

eswillwalker Dec 26

@corbden Good point!

Martin, Regulus Tithonium Dec 26

@corbden the /least/ I do to canned soup is add chicken bullion powder and msg, and I complicate from there. Go you.

Mx. Luna Corbden 🐸Dec 26

@tithonium It's funny, I've always known this secret about mac and cheese. Back when I ate pasta, I ate a lot of "super mac," where I'd add all kinds of things to off-brand Kraft. I'm kinda ok at cooking if I have something marginally edible to start with.

Dunno why I felt I had to stick with whatever came out of the can with soup.

Martin, Regulus Tithonium Dec 26

@corbden weirdly, while I know I "can", I don't /like/ to add non-seasonings to M&C. I'll add garlic, shallot, onion, pepper, etc etc etc, powders, but not, like, ham, or bacon, or ... that nature of ingredients. I think it's probably about the texture.

On the other hand, I used to have an entire jar of extra Kraft cheese powder and would make double-strength batches sometimes. They actually sold it standalone for a while, not clear if they still do. There's tons of other brands, of course.

Mx. Luna Corbden 🐸Dec 26

@tithonium My goal with mac was to being out the nip of the cheddar. So my major tricks included red wine vinegar, Worcestershire, and/or Tabasco. (The latter is how I was able to start liking capsaicin.) And real cheese of course. Hummus is great, too, and adds protein.

My go-to chonky ingredients included mushrooms (fresh or canned), canned tuna, bell pepper (fresh or the fancy stuff from glass jars), maybe zucchini or fresh spinach. Olives if I'm bored.

Having no texture is one big advantage to mac though, so if that's your thing, it does no good to mess that up.

Martin, Regulus Tithonium Dec 26

@corbden I find Tabasco - and most hot sauces - are too vinegary for my taste. The ones that aren't tend to be flavorless heat, which I also don't care for. Huh. I seem to be picky about my spicy.

Mx. Luna Corbden 🐸Dec 26

@tithonium Seems that way! I find the vinegary of it pulls out that sharpness from the cheese, is what I like about it. I'm way into tart flavors.

Hugs4friends ♾🇺🇦 🇵🇸😷Dec 26

@corbden Canned soup is often the thickener for our stews. Or packet soup, with half the water. We also add a small amount of chicken to our chicken flavoured 2 minute noodles. Simple, difficult-to-mess-up meals. A cup of soup, and a cup of cooked rice, is a meal for 3, or 3 meals.

@corbden
IIRC, this is illegal in at least two Canadian provinces.

@corbden wonderful!

My favourite hack like this is ramen-- the other student staple! Take a bog-standard Nissin ramen, add stuff like pak choi, mushrooms, baby corn, whatever. Just boil em right in the ramen as it cooks. Top your bowl with a fried egg if you're feeling indulgent.

@corbden this is basically what packet ramen is actually for. Flavourful base, carbs, then add whatever veg and protein you want to it.

I keep cooked, portioned protein & bags of veg in the freezer. With bullion & some herbs & spices it's a very quick way to make a hearty soup.

I can't eat much onion, so the missing sauteed onion stage doesn't matter 😅

Strfnurfn Dec 27

@corbden And frozen meals! I'll sneak in some frozen spinach, maybe stir in some (homemade vegan) sour cream, fresh lemon or sumac.

Soups are often much improved by a little lemon and a drizzle of olive oil, too.

Mx. Luna Corbden 🐸Dec 27

@earthtoneone sesame oil will add a great flavor to anything

Strfnurfn Dec 27

@corbden 🤯 Y'know, I'd think of that for Asian flavors but now that you mention it, it would work with so many things. Sesame is amazing. (tahini is my secret ingredient in smoothies 🤫)

Mx. Luna Corbden 🐸Dec 27

@earthtoneone I have these cool tiny jars from an Asian grocery that came with chili oil in them. They have a little squeeze pump and are the perfect size for dispensing sesame oil in small portions. It's expensive but a little goes a long way!!