Before the weather gets too warm and the thought of staying indoors with a bowl of soup is less appealing, you might want to try one of Canterbury Naturals artisan soup mixes.
I sampled the Rustic Fireside Tortilla mix and it was super-easy – you just add the mix to water and throw in chicken and tortillas (although be careful – the ingredients listed on the back of the box don’t specifically include tortillas, so I’m glad I read the instructions all the way through before going to the grocery store).
It smelled wonderful while it was on the stove thanks to all the tomatoes, leeks, peppers, onions, chili, cumin and garlic. And it was nice to know the mix contained no trans fats, hydrogenated oils, artificial additives, preservatives or colorings.
While I’m definitely a fan, I thought the soup turned out to be a little on the heavy side – although that very well could have been my fault. I’m a baker at heart and like precise directions, so when the box just said, “Cut tortillas into thin strips,†and didn’t mention quantity, I was a little thrown. (The small panic I had in my head was something like, “But I have a whole package of tortillas here!”) Since you are supposed to fry the tortillas in oil, I may have added WAY too many, which ultimately weighed the soup down. Bottom line, it totally could have been human error…and it was still a tasty soup and I’m excited about trying out the White Lightning Chicken Chili and Hearty Black Bean and Pasta mixes in particular. (There are plenty of others, too.)
The Mediterranean Savory Herb Flatbread was also quite easy – you combine yeast, olive oil, water and the flatbread mix and then knead it and let it rise. Afterward, I tried to roll each piece out into a thin circle per the instructions, but mine turned out more like dinner rolls…so I guess my thin circles were too fat? Or I let the dough rise too long? (It hadn’t done much after 30 minutes, so I let it sit a little longer.) And the box came with a lot more seasoning than I knew what to do with for my squatty little rolls. But, all in all, it was nice accompaniment for the soup.
