Fab and Delicious Food

Winter is the perfect season for eating soups, and luckily for me, Lucinda Spurr, from Kettle Cuisine, was kind enough to send me some Kettle Cuisine soups!  Thanks so much, Ms. Spurr! 

Here’s the story behind Kettle Cuisine:

The soups can be found in a variety of flavors in the frozen (organic) section of your grocery store.  They are extremely easy to make – they can be heated in the microwave or on the stovetop.

I actually heated each of the soups in the microwave, and guess what?  It worked perfectly!  They actually tasted like they were heated on the stovetop, which is nice because sometimes when you heat soups in the microwave it gives it sort of an off taste, but no such problem with these.  They also heated evenly after the time stated, so no guesswork, which I find is often the case with canned soups (Kettle Cuisine soups are frozen).  And, there was no mess!  Even after you peel back the film, stir the soup, and then place it back on, the soup doesn’t splatter.  The only reason the soup might splatter a little bit is if you heat it too long (wanting the soup to be even hotter) or peeled back the film too much in the first place (which you shouldn’t even have to do – I found that when you first pull the soup container out of the box, there should already be a small opening in the film (it’s usually not sealed all the way) and it’s just enough to vent the soup properly.

Now, the soups were not only easy to heat up, but they tasted delicious as well.  Probably because they are made with all natural ingredients!  Here’s a review of each of the six soups I tried.

Roasted Vegetable Soup

• This was my favorite soup out of all of them!  The roasted vegetable soup was just the perfect blend of vegetables and spices.  The perfect thing to warm you up on a cold winter’s day! 

• It was made with very simple ingredients, and I loved them all.  The vegetables had a really nice texture, and the soup was rather filling. 
• It was a creamy soup, but not at all heavy.  I think some of the soup must have been pureed – and probably it was the potatoes that gave it the creamy texture.
• It had a little bit of a kick to it – maybe some black pepper?
• This soup was so good!  I want to eat it all the time! 

Tomato Soup with Garden Vegetables

• This was another great soup!  I think it would be great in the winter with a grilled cheese sandwich.  Or, it would be great in the summer as a more refreshing soup.

• There was a really good amount of veggies in this soup – they didn’t skimp on them at all.  They also still had a bite to them – they weren’t soggy or anything like that. 
• Even though this was a lighter soup, it stil does a decent job of filling you up – making you feel more satisfied than full – because of all the veggies. 

Angus Beef Steak Chili with Beans

• This is a nice hearty chili, made with angus beef and red chili beans.

• Since it was angus beef, the meat tasted really good.  It had a nice flavor and texture, which I think is sometimes rare in chilis that are not homemade.  A lot of times with canned soups, the meat is just this weird texture and off flavor – it doesn’t even taste like real meat, so I don’t even eat it.  With the Kettle Cuisine chili (frozen soup), you could definitely taste the difference. 
• This chili had a little bit of a kick to it, from the diced green chilies and pepper sauce. 
• Other interesting ingredients included pork fat and cocoa powder.  
• Although I liked this chili – there were plenty of beans and meat – I would have liked maybe another variety of beans or some veggies just to add a little more texture and flavor. 

Chicken Chili with White Beans

• I don’t think I’ve ever had a white chili before – I always eat the tomato-based ones.  This one is richer than the angus beef chili because it is made with sour cream. 

• This was similar to the angus beef chili, in that it was made with meat and beans, only this time it was chicken and white beans.   The chicken actually tasted like chicken and it didn’t have any sort of weird texture at all.
• One of the ingredients was a garlic chili pepper sauce, so this one was a little hot, even more so than the angus beef chili. 
• Because it was more of a cream-based soup, it was a bit rich and heavy.  I think it would be nice to add some more veggies. like zucchini and carrots,  just to balance the soup a bit more.

Thai Curry Chicken

• This was probably the most interesting of the soups, just because of the flavor profile and ingredients used. 

• Some of the ingredients include brown rice, natural creamed coconut, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, scallions, garlic chili pepper sauce, curry powder, lemon grass, and lime oil. 
• If you like lemon grass, you’ll love this soup.  Unfortunately, I don’t like lemon grass!  It just has such a strong flavor, and because of that, I felt it overpowered the rest of the soup.  But I’m sure if you like the taste of lemon grass, you’ll also appreciate how it pairs with the rest of the flavors. 

New England Clam Chowder

• This is not your typical clam chowder!  It tastes like clam chowder, but more like a seasfood clam chowder since it is made with fish stock and fish sauce and also contains haddock/cod, anchovy.

• Other interesting ingredients included salt pork and pepper sauce. 
• It didn’t seem as creamy or heavy as other clam chowders I’ve eaten before, so it would make a good appetizer since it won’t make you too full! 

Overall

• I love the Kettle Cuisine soups!  They are so easy to make, and they taste really good as well!  They actually even taste like homemade soup, how about that?!  They would be great for taking to work, since they are nice and portable, wouldn’t take up much space in the freezer, and wouldn’t make a mess in the microwave.
• Pricing – I think they retail for about $3.99, so they are kinda pricey, but I think well worth it if you want something quick and convenient, tasty and delicious. 
• Kind of depends on how easy they are to find – One store only had two flavors, while another store had about four.  Neither had the roasted vegetable soup – my favorite – nooooo!!!!  Hopefully some other grocery stores will carry it because I just love that soup!  The roasted vegetable soup is Kettle Cuisine’s best one, and in my humble opinion, should be carried in all grocery stores!   

January 20th, 2012 | Tags: Kettle Cuisine Soups | Category: Product review | Leave a comment