Campbell's Select Harvest Chicken with Egg Noodles Soup

So it's late fall. Thanksgiving is almost here, it's a nippy 62 degrees in Los Angeles (hey, that's nippy by local standards!) and it was dark by about 5:00 P.M. Sounds like a soup night to me! Well, tonight's soup is one from Campbell's Select Harvest line. I chose the Chicken with Egg Noodles.

The nice thing about the Select Harvest line is that it features 100% natural ingredients, no MSG (should you be trying to avoid it), and the meat -- chicken, in this case -- is roasted breast.

First thing that I liked is that the carrots, the celery, the noodles and the chicken chunks were huge. We're not talking about some teeny-tiny little shreds here; we are talking serious chunks. It really made the soup look homemade.



There are some other noticeable differences between this Chicken with Egg Noodles and the classic Campbell's Chicken Noodle (or even the Chunk Healthy Request Chicken Noodle).

The first is the broth. It's a little thicker. The chicken also seems leaner and more like what would be found in a homemade soup. It's a little dry...but I personally like my chicken dry, so that's perfectly fine with me.



The broth overall has a taste that I can best call "roasty." Yeah, there's some sage in there (or something that tastes like sage -- the ingredients list includes "spice," but it doesn't specify which ones). There's also a little onion. But the strongest flavor just seems to be essence of roast. In theory, roasted chicken -- but it's not a complex enough flavor that I could really say for sure. It overpowers everything to the point that "roasted" is really the only thing you can taste.

The noodles were good, perfectly tender, and there's a very generous portion of them. I am sure that egg noodles are what my bubbe would have used...if I had a bubbe, that is. (My grandmother made clam sauce, not soup!)

But while I really liked the big chunks and the quality of the ingredients, I can honestly say I prefer the taste of classic Chicken Noodle or the Chunky Healthy Request Chicken with Noodles. If you like that "roasty" flavor, you may love this one. Sadly, I really didn't care for it.



PURCHASED FROM:
Sample From Company

Campbell's V8 Golden Butternut Squash Soup

Since we announced the winner of the Campbells V8 Soup Give Away yesterday, I thought this would be a great day to bring you another V8 soup review!

I love butternut squash soup, and Campbell's has some big shoes to fill on this one. My all-time favorite B.S. soup (yeah, there's that 12-year-old again) was the soup served at the now-defunct Wolfgang Puck Café chain. (They were popular here in Southern California for about two weeks...in 1996). Well, let me tell you, it was perfect. That stuff that Wolfgang is selling in a can does not even come close. I don't care what they say, something is different.

ANYWAY...so let's talk about the Campbell's V8 version. (Did I mention that one of the advantages is that one bowl of soup gets you a full serving of veggies?)



The texture is creamy but not perfectly smooth. It's not lumpy, mind you...maybe "rustic" would be a good word for it. You get little chunks of veg and the slight grain of the squash. It makes it seem more like homemade.



The soup is sweet and mellow. You can really taste the carrots that are in it. The squash tastes fresh and ripe, like a nicely baked squash -- not at all like that nasty frozen squash puree that haunts the frozen food aisle (and my childhood nightmares).

One thing that stands out is the richness of the soup. I can see that there is cream in the base, but it's the flavor of butter that stands out. Again -- how could butter possibly be bad?! There is also herbage floating in the soup. If I had to guess, based on the label, I would say it's parsley. Honestly, I couldn't tell. But it looks pretty.

All around, this is about as good a soup as you'll ever find in a supermarket. Wolfgang may still have my heart, but this soup is definitely gunning for his spot.




PURCHASED FROM:
Sample From Company

Winner of the Campbell's V8 Soup Give Away!

Woohoo! Will soupy happiness never cease???!?

I know that all of you who entered have been waiting with bated breath to find out if today is your lucky day...and that those of you who didn't will probably shed a tear or two wondering how you let such an opportunity pass. For shame!

And a few of you are probably wondering what the hell I am talking about. For those curious, the fine people at Campbell's wanted to share the veggies and the love. And they have graciously offered my readers the chance to win not only some of their very own V8 soups, but also a spiffy pedometer and a health journal (just click here to read all about it).

So how does one make such a momentous choice as to who wins the cool Campbell's stuff? Let me tell you, I spent untold amounts of time and energy pondering this one. (Really, I did.) Then I decided that in the spirit of bad reality TV, I would have to designate this august task to a special guest judge.

So without further ado, our esteemed and discerning judge is...



...George the cat.

As you can see by the intense look on his face, George is both serious and deeply thoughtful. That is why he posed for the above portrait atop our genuine early-1930's art deco enamel topped kitchen table...the backdrop we use for most of the food photos, and remarkably similar to the kitchen table seen in one of my favorite movies, "A Christmas Story." He was insightful enough to recognize that the simple yet elegant black-and-white color scheme of the table -- and the black and white WalMart salt and pepper shakers -- perfectly matched his own color scheme, thus lending him an air of Olympian dignity rarely seen anywhere this side of...oh, I dunno, Star Trek, maybe. (I don't know what the banana and chopsticks symbolize. Maybe George will deign to tell me someday.) Anyway, the point is that George is wise. And intellectual. And COOL, dammit.

George's backup, in the unlikely event that he might have wished any advice, was his favorite companion and chew toy...



...Doofy Dog!

I can assure you they undertook the assignment with all the dignity and reverence it merited. (In the name of full disclosure, I feel the need to admit that I am in fact George's human -- and Doofy Dog is what is referred to as his 'bottom bitch' -- but this decision was solely up to him. It would have been most presumptuous of me to interfere.)

True to his Spocklike logic and intellect, George chose the winner in an impeccably scientific manner. We humans, as per George's careful instructions, printed out the names of all those who entered onto small pieces of paper:



Then George assumed a dignified sitting position in the middle of the living room, and at his command, we lowly two-legged ones allowed the the slips of paper to waft down like stardust from the gods upon his noble head...



After staring around at the newly-fallen paper slips with what a layman might assume was confusion -- but was actually intense deliberation, I can assure you -- George slapped his paw down upon one of them, thus indicating that he had chosen the winner. (Doofy Dog just sat there in the background looking...well, doofy, to be honest)



And without further ado, the winner George has chosen is...

Squish!



Congratulations, Squish! You will soon have the belly warming, veggie-filled goodness that is Campbell's V8 soup in your eagerly awaiting tummy, a truly cool and neato pedometer on your hip, and you can write all about it the old-school way, on actual PAPER!

WOOOOOOOOOT!!!! BOOOOOYAAAAH!!!

Squish, please submit a comment along with your email address (it will remain unpublished), and I will be in touch with you for your mailing info.

George is confident that you are all pleased with his choice, and says if you would like to send him fan mail he will try very hard to take time out from his busy day of chasing his own tail, sleeping and hitting the catnip to get back to you. If he can be bothered, that is. Remember, as nice as y'all are -- you are still mere humans, after all.



Now, show Squish some love.





.

WOOHOO!! Campbell's V8 Soup Give Away!

Last month I reviewed the very yummy Campbell's V8 Garden Vegetable Blend Soup.

Besides tasting great, one of the fab benefits of the soup is that it gives you a full serving of vegetables in one single bowl (oh yeah, and there are other good things about it, like added fiber and vitamins A & C). And since the inventors of the Internet have yet to come up with a scratch-n-sniff version or even Lick-O-Vision, the good folks at Campbell's have come up with the next best thing: They have put together a gift pack for one lucky winner!



Not only does Campbell's want you to eat your veggies and love it, but they want to help you get healthy. The holidays are just around the corner, and who doesn't want to look smoking hot come New Year's Eve? OK, so you don't walk around in Speedos on New Year's Eve, at least not here in the Northern Hemisphere (unless the New Year's party you're attending gets a bit wilder than we can discuss on a family web page), but that isn't the point. The point is, you'll know you look smoking hot. And that is always a good thing.

Included in the gift pack will be:



Two containers of Campbell's V8 Garden Vegetable Blend Soup...



...a super tripped-out pedometer (they sent me one and it has become one of my favorite gadgets)...



...and a hardcover, spiral-bound health journal.

Admit it, your life will not be complete until you win!

So how do you win? Simple. Just leave me a comment telling me why you love V8 or Campbell's soup (or the Campbell's V8 Garden Vegetable Blend soup).

QUASI-LEGAL STUFF: The winner will be picked at random, purely based on whatever method amuses me at the moment. Bribes won't help you, but if you want to send them anyway, I'm perfectly willing to keep them. Lastly, friends, family, and people I don't like are not eligible to win. (Although I have a feeling that friends, family, and people I don't like aren't that interested in trying to win.)

Winner will be announced on Monday, Nov 9. The winner will be asked to submit their email address via comment (don't worry, it will NOT be published), so I can contact them for mailing information. Winner's personal info will not be auctioned off to the highest bidder on eBay, sold to Somalian pirates, bartered for Pez, or otherwise shared in any way. One entry per person. Entries start Monday, October 26th, and will be accepted until Saturday, Nov 7th at 12:00 AM PST.

Good luck!

Campbell's V8 Garden Vegetable Blend Soup

After eating my body weight in chocolate mousse over the last 24 hours, I felt like I needed to squeeze a couple vegetables in for balance. And Campbell's V8 soup promised me a full serving of veggies in just one bowl (AND a bonus 4 vegetables, as the soup is made with 12 veggies, not just 8).



So how was it? Pretty good, actually.

The texture was rich, thick and creamy. I think I had been expecting the standard issue thinner broth, so that was a happy surprise. The soup is a thick puree that is studded with chunks of carrots, potatoes and peas. Parmesan cheese is also listed in the ingredients, as is milk, and I think that helps add to the rich texture.



You can taste the tomatoes, the onions and the celery. There are also whole kernels of corn. There's red pepper. There's also watercress and parsley. There is so much flavor going on! It was not at all what I was expecting from a boxed soup.

Oh, and there are no preservatives or artificial flavors! Really, what more can one ask? I will definitely be buying more of these.

Campbell's Chunky Beef & Dumplings with Hearty Vegetables

Once again, my thanks to the good folks at Campbell's for giving me the chance to review another of their new soups.

My tummy has been on hiatus most of this week (due to non-review related eating) and even though it's not exactly soup weather here in Southern California -- I would call it balmy, but somehow that doesn't convey the 100+ temperatures and the nasty, muggy, skin-sticking-to-things-it-shouldn't-stick-to levels of humidity -- I really wanted to work my way back into eating with a good bowl of soup.



The Chunky Beef & Dumplings is a thick, beef based soup. The base itself is like really good vegetable beef soup. You can taste (and see!) the onions, carrots and celery. There is a big assortment of veggies such as the aforementioned, plus potatoes, tomatoes and my personal favorite: GREEN PEAS! I know this is foodie heresy, but I LOVE canned peas, and anything that includes them moves up a notch in my book.



The dumplings are large, but they are just kind of generically starchy. If I hadn't known they were dumplings, I would have thought they were overcooked potatoes. It's not that they are bad, they are just kind of...well, just kind of there.

As for the beef: there is no mistaking that the soup is heavily beef infused. The meat pieces are large enough that they remind me more of what you'd see in a stew, rather than what you would expect from a canned soup. The meat is tender and there is a lot of it.

I really liked the basics of the soup. The consistency was great, again more like a stew than a soup. And there were lots of veggies, which is always a good thing!



PURCHASED FROM:
Sample From Company

Campbell's Chunky Healthy Request Chicken Noodle Soup

Chicken noodle soup is called a lot of things. Food for the soul. Jewish penicillin. Yellow gold. Et cetera and so forth.

And I would be lying if I told you that I haven't eaten a lot of Chicken Noodle soup over the years. I have had it made homemade by Jewish bubbes, and I have had it from delis, both world famous and strictly neighborhood. I've had Italian versions, Mexican versions, Asian versions. My own mother has attempted it. But in the end, the one the I like most to this day is the classic Campbell's version (Double Noodle, specifically). I know hardcore foodies will skewer me for saying that, but I don't care. I do love it, especially with about 9 billion crunched up saltines!

So when Campbell's contacted me and asked if I would like to review the new Healthy Request Chunky version, there was just no way I was going to refuse.



Looking at the soup in the bowl, it is indeed chunky. In fact, visually it reminded me a lot of my second favorite Campbell's soup: the long-discontinued Home Cooking version of Chicken Noodle. (Hey, Campbell's guys...any thoughts of bring it back....pretty please?)

The broth is slightly thicker than its red-canned cousin and tastes of carrot, celery and onions. There are many pieces of chopped herbs floating, which look quite nice (but honestly I couldn't tell you what it was). It's less salty than the classic Campbell's version-- which only makes sense, because the Healthy Request version indeed has 45% less sodium. And this is a good thing taste-wise as well. I think it makes it taste more home made and less like something from a can. (It is also 98% fat free, woo hoo!)

The carrots are large and tender and very plentiful. The celery was present more in taste then in actual slices; I wish there had been more and larger celery pieces. The noodles are quite large; and while cooked a little past al dente, (in fairness, that's probably unavoidable in a canned soup), they are not gummy or tough. The chicken pieces were breast meat and are bigger than those in its classic cousin. The meat is moist and there was a decent amount in the can.

One can made a very generous bowl that I was even kind enough to share. This soup is a very tasty option, and one that is more suited to grown-up tastes than my usual choice...but that's just fine. Since it's getting to be soup season this is definitely one to check out!


PURCHASED FROM:
Sample From Company