Canned soups always seem to be on sale, especially tomato and chicken noodle. I always keep some in reserve for those days when I don’t feel like making homemade. However, sometimes adding a few ingredients to these canned varieties can turn them into almost gourmet treat. Here are six of them and what I’ve added to give them some pizzazz-

 

Tomato

 

 

There’s so much you can do with the tomato variety. I’ve add salsa and topped it with sour cream and shredded cheese. Sometimes to make it more of a meal, I’ve served it with cornbread which I’ve added chopped chile peppers.

Leftover pasta works great with tomato soup.

Another addition is spicy croutons. You can make your own or use store brand, heat them and add cumin or chili powder.

 

Mushroom

 

One of the drawbacks to many of the canned mushrooms soups is lack of bite size mushrooms. I like to saute bite size pieces and then add them to the soup once it’s made. Something else I’ve added is curry powder.

 

Chicken Noodle

 

 

Just about everyone loves chicken noodle and like the tomato variety it’s perfect for adding a variety of ingredients. One is leftover roasted chicken. One thing I love is roasted vegetables. Carrots and zucchini are my favorites. Another idea is to turn it into chicken tortilla soup. Add some chopped chiles, and top with tortilla chips.

Potato

 

I like this soup as is but when I want to make more of a meal out of it, it’s easy to turn it into chowder. For corn chowder I add corn and chopped cooked potatoes. For shrimp, I use the salad shrimp and more potatoes.

Lentil

 

This one is perfect for adding things like chopped sausage or bacon. Sometimes I add a few spices too, like cumin and coriander.

Cream of Chicken

I use this one all the time for dishes like chicken divan and even a sauce for pot pies but one thing that’s great to add is more roasted chicken and corn. Another time I tried adding salsa which was pretty good too.

All these soups are a perfect way of using up leftovers and sometimes it’s just a case of pairing different ingredients to see what you can come up with. It’s amazing that something costing as little as 50 cents can be turned into a meal.

Check out Monday’s blog because I have some coupons for a new soup to give away to one lucky reader.