Chicken Tuscany Soup

[Kathleen B]

Mr. B's efforts to nurse me back to health during my recent bout with the flu included opening a can of Progresso Chicken Tuscany soup for lunch yesterday. I read the label and figured maybe I could duplicate it with dehydrated food for backpacking. I feel much better today and tried it. It worked well, and it's certainly open to editing to suit your own preferences.

I used harmonyhousefoods.com's dried vegetables and beans, and packitgourmet.com's soy powder and freeze-dried chicken. I didn't use all the ingredients listed on the can, mostly because I have no idea what corn syrup solids are.

I pre-soaked the soup ingredients for a few hours with 1/4 C unheated water, because the beans and veggies take longer to hydrate and soften than the time the water stays hot. So plan ahead – add the water at breakfast for lunch soup, or in the afternoon for dinner soup.

Chicken Tuscany Soup
Combine the following in a 1-pint freezer bag:
1/2 of a chicken bouillon cube
2 TB dried northern beans
1 TB freeze-dried chicken (optional – but then you'd have to call it Tuscany soup)
1 TB Nido powdered milk (Nido is whole milk and not fat free, and therefore a bit creamier)
1 ts dried carrots
1 ts dried spinach
1 ts dried celery
1 ts dried tomatoes
1 ts dried onion
1/4 ts soy powder
dash of salt
pinch of garlic powder
Add 1/4 C water and let hydrate a few hours. Add 3/4 C boiling water, stir, seal, put in a cozy, and wait about 10 minutes before eating. I'm thinking Sarah's savory muffins would go well with it.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Hope you don't mind that I posted your recipe on the site ;-) Yum!!!!

[Kathleen B]

I don't mind at all. In fact, I'm flattered. I just made a pizza muffin, and it is fluffy and yummy. I can tell I'm getting better, because now I want a big piece of chocolate cake.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Mmmmmm….chocolate cake!

[Donna C]

What's the purpose of soy powder? Is a substitute necessary or can it just be left out?

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

The "soy powder" is soy sauce powder. You can of course just use a packet of liquid soy sauce. The powder is quite neat to use and avoids carrying liquids!

[Gary Dunckel]

But what's the answer to her question–can the soy simply be left out, or would that mess up the flavor? Sounds like it should be called Asian Chicken Tuscany Soup, if you include it.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Not to answer it for Kathleen….but here is my take:

A recipe is only a guide ;-P If a person doesn't care for the taste of soy sauce…the adapt it to your own taste. There are many flavorings a person can use instead. Soy sauce adds a certain element though (I even use soy sauce on a low sodium diet – I just buy lower sodium versions, you can even find that in packets online from Minimus).

[Gary Dunckel]

OK, Sarah, I have the ingredients soaking in a bowl right now, sans soy. This will be an interesting breakfast. I'll have soy at the ready in case it's needed. By the way, where does one find PINT-sized freezer ziplocks?

[Donna C]

let us know how it works without the soy, Gary. I wasn't sure if it was for flavor or consistancy, like a thickener. If so, potato starch would work.

[Gary Dunckel]

Well, ladies, it was a fun experiment. First, I sipped a little without soy–not bad. I liked what the Nido did. Then I tried 1/2 tsp of liquid soy, and that was OK, I guess. I'm not a fan of soy, so that was a so-so thing for me. But something still didn't taste right. I added a few shakes of Italian seasoning, and things were good after that. So Sarah was right–start with the basic idea, then alter to please your brain's yum center. The key is to get the beans rehydrated well (which I was too impatient to fully do). Thanks for the idea–it's a good recipe for variety. It should totally rock with pizza muffins on the side.

[Gary Dunckel]

Another thing: I just received an e-mail from Harmony House Foods. They're doing a 20% off everything sale for a few days. The coupon code is HAPPY.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Pint size bags? They can be sometimes hard to find but I often find them at Wal-Mart and some higher end grocery stores. The packaging looks the same as the Quart ones by Ziploc so you have to squint.

If you can't find them…let me know. I have like 10 boxes of them :-D

[Gary Dunckel]

Thanks, Sarah, I'll check out Wal-Mart.

[Kathleen B]

What Sarah said. The ingredients are guidelines. Since I've bribed all the recipe police to focus just on people who use mushrooms, you've got lots of room to experiment safely.

I used the soy powder to add a fullness to the taste, and it doesn't really add an Asian flavor, although Mr. Progresso probably used the 3 soy variations in his canned version for thickening – soy proteins, soy protein isolate, and soy lecithin. I don't know what those are, and I probably don't want to know. I like a mild soup so this worked for me and appealed to what I crave at camp on a cool evening.

Next time I'll probably add some parmesan cheese. If my grandfather made this, he'd add a giant spoonful of peanut butter. If my brother made it, he'd throw in salsa. If Sarah isn't watched carefully, she'd probably add mushrooms. And yes, this went great with her pizza muffins. Please post any other variations that are working. Another thought I had is to use this in just its pre-soaked mode as a spread. Just a little more water, and it's stew. Even more, and it's back to being soup. Food is fun!

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

You sayin' you want a 3 mushroom chowder with wild mushroom skillet bread?

Hehheh!

I have been behaving lately and posting 'shroom free recipes on the website ;-)

[Kathleen B]

I have noticed, Sarah. And whew!

About the harmonyhousefoods.com 20% sale. This would be a good time to try their Greek lentil soup and their great northern bean stew. Both are terrific, and I use them even in town. I haven't tried the other soups. Their vegetables and beans taste so good, I'm wondering out loud if it's cost-effective to use them more frequently in a regular "town" diet and not just for backpacking food. Then there's the question of their nutritional content. Anyone know?

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

I often grab the beans and the veggies if I need just a bit when cooking at home! Like celery for example…if I buy a bunch of it I never use it up fresh. So why not save money and use the dry? Ta-da! Same with leeks and shallots. (I LOVE the shallots they sell!!!!)

Overall dried foods retain most of their nutrients. Especially if you use the rehydrating water in your food!

[Donna C]

those pizza muffins give me reason to hike now. I made some in the small sized muffin pans at home and they make great poppers for watching football. Good for a day hike, too.

I'm going to use the potato starch to the soup which doesn't add flavor, just body.

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