Soups - A Final Grade for the Four I've Made

Yesterday I was efficient. I had a schedule of stores to go to and a firm timing. Of course that didn't stop me from having to go back to the grocery store two more times during the day for things I had forgotten, but that's totally on me. I just wasn't using my brain. 

The Roasted Butternut Squash soup recipe was 
made last week. It was fabulous and fantastic and 
I highly recommend it if you're looking for a 
good cold-weather soup. Grade: A.

The goal yesterday (aside from the normal items like my three loads of laundry for Wednesdays) was to make the other two main soups I had on my agenda - the Roasted Peppers and Tomato Soup, and the Creamy Avocado Soup. So, after getting home from the gym, I dove into my day. I went to the stores on my list, then settled down to make the first soup on my agenda. I had high hopes for this one - it sounded delicious. 

The "Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup" recipe 
is another winner. I liked it so much, I had a portion 
for my dinner last night. Mine was a bit more 
orange than the photo, but that's because my 
tomatoes were heirloom so a bit lighter in 
color. Grade: A. 

I prepped the veggies and put them into the oven to broil for their 25-35 minutes. I had the broiler set on "Lo" because I didn't need to set them on fire, just roast them. The large baking sheet was crammed full of four peppers, three tomatoes and one onion, there wasn't room to breathe. Next time (and there WILL be a next time) I'm going to do two baking sheets so that I can flatten the peppers a bit more and get a bit more char on them. But this recipe turned out to be excellent. VERY tasty indeed and highly recommended. 

The Roasted Carrot soup was also quite tasty. 
I might add a little honey or maple syrup to 
augment the natural sweetness of the carrots 
next time I make this one, but I will most 
certainly make it again. Grade: B.

After this one was finished (and in my newly purchased storage containers - LOL) I dove into the second recipe the avocado soup. I had my hesitations about this one because it called for cilantro, but thought, OK, I'll give it a try anyway. BIG MISTAKE. I truly HATED this soup. I think if you like cilantro it could be a good one, but for me, I disliked it so much that I actually threw the soup out. I didn't bother eating the one batch and saying "Never Again", I flushed it. So, My scorecard so far ... firm "A" grades for the Butternut Squash and the Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato soups. A "B" grade for the Carrot Soup which I would absolutely make again, and a "D" grade for the Avocado Soup which I really didn't like. 

If I could think of a good alternative to the 
1/4 cup of Cilantro, I might try this one 
again, but probably not. I get something 
similar in my Ogre Juice, and don't feel like 
I need to have that warm. All together, this 
one was a miss for me, although not a 
complete fail. Still, Grade: D. 

I had time available, so I did a major clean out of the back of my closet - you know ... that area where things older seem to go to die because you hardly ever manage to open that door or move into that section. I started pulling out clothing and anything that was too large, whether I loved it or not, went into a pile for Goodwill. I ended up with FOUR full grocery bags of clothes to donate tomorrow - a total of 43 different things, mostly blouses and shirts. I'm thrilled. I have a bit more closet space now, and I tried on a few things I loved that I haven't been able to wear for years, and THEY FIT! It was a fabulous feeling. 

I haven't tried the 10-Ingridient veggie soup yet, maybe 
I'll try that one next week. I'll have to take a look 
through the ingredient list to see if I'm interested 
in it or not. I would be just as happy with another 
batch of either the Squash or the Roasted Peppers 
soup instead. 

So, I'm out of here. Photos and then off to the pool, to work, and to the day ahead. I hope your day is spectacular and happy, and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini.