Two Sides of the Soup Story

I am a fairly good cook. Not trying to brag but it is something I enjoy and I think (and have been told that) I do it well. I take pride in making delicious meals for a low cost for my family to enjoy. I strive to make food so delicious at home that we have no desire (other than that terrible feeling at 5:00 when I forgot to plan and am exhausted and want something easy....but we all have days like that) to eat fast food, or to go out to eat unless it is an intentional choice.

However I have come to realize that I have to be careful to not allow my boys' comments at Dinner time to sway my opinion of myself or my cooking abilities. Sometimes at the end of a long day the mommy feels unappreciated and defeated when dinner is met with criticism and/or groans. It is a rare night that my Engineer does not have something disparaging and (unintentionally) unkind. He just doesn't really see things in shades of gray and is not intending to be unkind he is just stating what to him in his world is the obvious. It is either what he is always used to (and even then I seldom meet his standards) or it is weird and therefore undesirable.

Most days (I hope) I am fairly good at redirecting him and helping him to see how he can say what he needs to say in a kind way or simply not saying it at all (I am also learning why Thumper's mother was less than successful at passing on her sage advice to her offspring). And I admit that often I just nod and try to block out his judging of the meal.

Today is a day that I was not at my best. It was a busy day and I had not planned dinner we had a deadline as my husband and I wanted to attend the Adult Meeting of Stake Conference and had to have the children fed before dropping them off. So I reached back into my days as a Cadette in Girl Scouts and made dump a can soup. I remember some camp counselor telling me that if you think about the flavors of the food you can almost always make a decent soup out of canned vegetables. So I did. And if I do say so myself it was quite tasty, filled our tummies and did not take long to cook. I however was not up to listening to the Engineer enumerate one by one the things wrong with the soup that he had yet to taste. He started off with his criticism that I "did not follow a recipe so obviously it was not going be edible." He added a few other faults but I really was not listening as I was letting his father know that he needed to intervene because I was not up to hearing about everything that I had done wrong in making dinner.

So as I was taking a time-out and breathing deep breaths the Comedian came up to me and he said with sincerity (almost made me cry) "Mom, when I'm a grown-up I'm going to make that same soup for my children at dinner time because it is so yummy. Maybe we can have it again tomorrow at lunch time!"

At which point I threw my arms around him, gave him a squeeze and told him how wonderful it was to hear that he had enjoyed the meal and was thinking of cooking for his own children one day. (Then I have to admit that I asked him to tell me again, because it made me feel good to hear of his enjoyment....which (he is the Comedian after all) he cheerfully did with a goofy grin and a very loud voice)

My complaining Engineer was feeling left out of the joy party (plus I think his papa had a talk with him about not being mean and trying to say nice things when someone has done something nice for you) so he came and said (with his sweet face that means he's trying to convey love even when he isn't really sure he feels it--if you know him I'm sure you've seen it) "Mom, when I grow up I'm going to make the same soup for my children except I won't put the spices in because they kind of hit my taste tester and it was REJECTED! It is so yummy except for the spices."

So for my Comedian and future grandchildren here is the recipe for tonight's dump-it soup.

In a large stock-pot add some olive oil and a chopped onion and saute. When onion begins to wilt add in

1 can cream of corn
1 can of whole corn
1 can green beans
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cans of sliced potatoes
2 pkgs Ramen Noodles broken up
1 tsp basil
1 TBSP minced garlic
2 cups water (or chicken broth)

bring to a boil and serve

If your leanings are more like that of the Engineer's omit the basil......

Enjoy!