Another one bites the dust

So remember how cream cheese was the only product that I haven't been able to find sans soy, and I can't make it myself?

Well I found another casualty of my soy war: creamy soups.

As in, cream of chicken, cream of mushroom, cream of celery, cream of fill in the blank.

This is quite unfortunate due to the sheer number of favorite recipes that use these ingredients: chicken spaghetti, southern dressing (and no, it's not anything like stuffing!), my personally invented low-fat alfredo, chicken pot pie, chicken enchiladas....

I'm sure I'll find some alternative recipes for some of the items I listed above. I'm actually trying to find a way to make my own cream of chicken soup, but haven't found any good recipes yet. I already make my own chicken broth (you can't buy any that doesn't have natural flavors added), so I don't mind doing the work.

I'm just sad about the chicken pot pie, and dressing. I think I'll probably still make dressing this year for Thanksgiving, but I'll only have a little.

Such is life. Oh, and I'm still pain free. So there's that...

Happiness in a Bowl

After Brint and I started dating, it didn't take long for me to be introduced to one of his Mom's signature dishes - baked potato soup. It was absolutely the best potato soup I'd ever tasted. I asked for the recipe so she gave me a copy of the local cookbook from where it came.

This recipe is easy. It is also free of any trace soy. It is NOT low-fat, or low-calorie. If you want to make it low fat (skim milk, fat free sour cream, and fat free cheese) - feel free. We tried that once and vowed to never do this recipe injustice again. It was still good, but having had the deliciousness of the full-fat version, there was just no comparison.

Here's the skinny (or fat?):

Ingredients
6 Cups Whole Milk
4 large baking potatoes (or as many as you want)
Green Onions
Bacon, cooked and chopped
cheddar cheese
8 oz sour cream
2/3 cup butter
2/3 cup flour


Directions
Bake the potatoes until fork tender, and cool.

Scoop out the pulp and set aside. Note: If you don't want chunky potato soup, pulse the potato pulp in a food processor until creamy. Melt the butter on LOW heat, and add flour, stirring until smooth. Add the milk and stir consistently until smooth.

Add the potato pulp, 2 tablespoons chopped green onions, 1/2 cup bacon pieces, and 1 cup cheese. Cook on low heat until warm throughout, stirring occasionally. Add sour cream, stirring until well constituted. Enjoy!

** I didn't provide amounts of bacon, onions, and cheese because you can use extra for garnish

Matrices and Carnivores

I don't eat enough protein. I never have. I don't do it on purpose, it just happens. So for the last many many months, I've been supplementing my diet with protein shakes. It took me a long, long while to find a protein powder that I liked: Syntrax Matrix. I liked it because it isn't full of sugar (which can be problem with protein powders) and it tastes good.

But alas, it has soy, in the form of soy lecithin. The bane of my existence.

I almost gave up on finding a replacement protein powder, until this week:

Carnivor. It's beef protein; not whey, soy, or egg like most other protein powders. The taste is.... different. If you like dark chocolate (Brint loves it) this is great. But it has a.. dark, almost burned, hint.

I tried to like it, I really did. But based on my recent discovery that I can handle a little soy a few times per week - I'm back on the Matrix. Brint is happily consuming the Carnivor.

But if you have no tolerance for soy and don't want to buy expensive beef collagen gelatin (heavy on protein, used in confections), this could be a pretty good alternative.