A review, a recipe, a rhyme

All righty then.  We had the most fabulous time at our Sneakers Sports Grill Ladies Night.  As soon as I get the pics from our photog I will tell you more about it!  One of the ladies who attended was carrying the cutest Warhol handbag.  As in the picture immediately above this paragraph!

Normally when we use pictures to illustrate certain points or concepts here we like to place them with the relevant text.  Today you will notice all the pictures are up top.  Why?  I'm glad you asked.  

Because everything is connected.  Not just everything in this blog (and not just everything in my head)  but everything in the universe.  Which is why the WWW works so well.   And also why folks who are still into that whole linear thought process don't read our blog as often as the rest of you!

So if you were paying attention to the pictures (or if you have walked into a grocery store this month) you can't help but notice the pink label Campbell's tomato soup.  

Not going to review the soup because it supposedly is the same soup that is in the regular red labeled cans.  And I couldn't bring myself to actually purchase a can because just looking at it made me a bit queasy.  

Not because I am suddenly one of those pink-ribbon-backlash folks who go insane when I see a simple pink tic-tac.  No, the reason I can't stomach this soup is because of my mom. 

When my mom and her siblings were young and impressionable my grandmother would make them a special soup whenever they were feeling sick.  Being sensible Midwestern people they did not have a fancy name for this soup - they simply called it Pink Soup.  

Naturally when they became mothers they made it for their children.  Only we weren't so impressed.  My cousins and I agree that pink soup is what causes  tummy aches, not what cures them.  You don't even have to eat it to get a stomach ache - just watch it being made.  

But out of respect for my grandmother I will stop with the soup bashing.  My mom and aunt equate Pink Soup with love and nurturing - which we can all use more of.  Aside of the loving properties of this soup some folks may enjoy the pseudo bisque ness of it all.  And it's cheap and easy - you can't ask for much more than that!

Pink Soup 

Margaret Johnson Sundin

1 Can Diced tomatoes

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Milk

Heat can of tomatoes until piping hot

Add baking soda and stir till the fizzing has stopped

Quickly add cup or so of milk, stirring rapidly

Bring back to piping hotness

Add dash of pepper and a pat of butter

Serve in large mug

Now some of y'all are thinking that sounds good and that you may make a bowl of it for your own grandma; but  you still have a pink labeled can of Campbell's tomato soup that you don't know what to do with.  Here is my favorite thing to do with tomato soup:

Tomato Soup Cake

 

·                         ³/₄ cup shortening

·                         1¹/₂ cups white sugar

·                         1 (10.75 ounce) can tomato soup

·                         ³/₄  cup water

·                         1 teaspoon baking soda

·                         3 cups all-purpose flour

·                         ¹/₄ teaspoon salt

·                         3 teaspoons baking powder

·                         1¹/₂ teaspoons ground cinnamon

·                         1 teaspoon ground cloves

·                         1¹/₂ teaspoons ground nutmeg

·                         1 to 1¹/₂ cups raisins optional

·                         1 to 1¹/₂ cups chopped walnuts

 

Ø      Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Ø      Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt or tube pan

Ø      In a large bowl, cream together the shortening and sugar until light and fluffy.

Ø      In a separate bowl sift together dry ingredients. Set aside.

Ø      In a separate bowl, combine tomato soup, water and baking soda.

 

DISCLAIMER: I’VE BEEN KNOWN TO CREAM THE SHORTENING AND SUGAR AND THEN JUST START DUMPING THE OTHER INGREDIENTS IN AT RANDOM.  NOT AS PERFECT A TEXTURE BUT LESS DISHWASHING AND FUTZING ABOUT!

 

Ø      Add creamed mixture alternately with the flour mixture to the soup mixture.

Ø      Stir in the raisins and nuts.

Ø      Pour batter into pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 50 - 60 minutes and do the toothpick thing.

Ø      Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack

Ø      Frost with cream cheese frosting or just sprinkle with powdered sugar.

 

Mmmmm, mmmm good!

Okay - now we can get down to the charitable aspect of this all.  

Much like the Speciak K search, this information was not easy to come by.   Part of the problem, initially, is that my shiny Chrome browser (which if you remember correctly is NOT chome or shiny) displays the Campbells site poorly.  The links all overlap and it's impossible to read the left part of the page or search the site.  So I tried to acess it using good old Internet Explorer.  Well apparently Chrome and IE do not play well together and they had a little skirmish inside my CPU and eventually I gave up.  But not before finding these two quotes on the Campbells site:

Each October, we support breast cancer awareness by dressing some of our most popular brands in pink packaging, including Campbell's condensed soups and Pepperidge Farm cookies in the U.S., and Tim Tam biscuits in Australia.

 Our icon brands don pink labels to raise breast cancer awareness. We also donate funds to support the cause.

Wow.  I don't know about you but this vague 'support' is starting to get old.  I'm glad that they donate funds; would it kill them to tell us how much?  I read this on another site, not the official Campbell’s site:

 

The company's donation is not linked to purchase price, soup unit sales, or retailer order and display levels.

So I guess if you like Campbell’s soup you should buy it.  If not there is no particular reason to.   If you do buy Campbell’s soup please save the labels and donate them to your local elementary school!  Thanks!

 

Now please do not think I'm bashing Campbell’s here.  I appreciate people and corporations doing what they can to help.  They are in the soup business - not the curing cancer business.  Besides - there is another group of folks doing enough Campbell’s bashing for all of us.  

Apparently Campbell’s came out with special green label soup to celebrate/promote Earth Day.   This apparently offends some of the more strident of the self proclaimed protectors of the planet. Especially the chicken (gasp!  non-vegan!)  noodle version, which not only has meat but isn't even organic!  I wouldn't worry about it too much - have you ever seen how much chicken is in the regular chicken noodle soup?  In fact I'm not even convinced it is chicken.   

Meanwhile the VP of  cause marketing over at Campbell’s is thinking, "Please stop defending us!"      

 

Ha!  I've only yet begun to defend!  I just realized this post is turning into a tome.  I think we will have to continue tomorrow. . . . . . 

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