Campbell's Healthy Choice Soups... update

A while back I wrote a piece about my thoughts on Campbell's Healthy Choice Clam Chowder soup. If you read it, you know I didn't have anything good to share. I thought the can was bad, as in spoiled. I received a lot of comments from readers agreeing with my assessment.

I've been sick and have been poor-poor-pitiful me-ing it for a little over two weeks now. After I finally started feeling like eating again I craved Campbell's Tomato Soup. I love their tomato soup with saltine crackers and cheese. My second favorite is mushroom soup with added broccoli and, again, cheese. Swiss or sharp cheddar in either is mmmm-mmmm perfect.

My wonderful hubby made a surprise run to the store and brought home two cans of each for me, plus some saltines and extra-sharp cheddar cheese. I was sooo looking forward to eating something solid, something I craved, until I noticed that he'd picked up Healthy Choice soups. He saw the look of dismay on my face, which I wasn't quick enough to hide unfortunately.

I hadn't tried the Healthy Choice tomato or mushroom soup. I figured what the heck, it couldn't be that bad. It's tomato after all. And I had enough of the "bad for you" cheese to cover the taste.

Wrong. It was horrible. I tried doctoring it up a bit, but you know I was craving real Campbell's tomato soup, not the kind that has all the taste, salt, and sugar removed.

I let my husband try it before I started adding stuff. The look on his face was priceless --- major "ugghhhly". He tried it again after I added a few things to it, made another face, and asked if I was going to attempt to eat the stuff. I said I hated to waste it and so would eat it. He looked at the bowl, looked at me, then dumped it down the garbage disposal.

The next day he took the remaining cans back to the store and exchanged them for the real deal. I had to tell him where to look to find them as most stores have huge displays with all the higher priced "healthy" stuff at eye level and they hide the good stuff on the bottom shelves. I think it's because they have to keep cases of the real soups so they need heavy duty shelves... plus Campbell's and others are trying to sell the higher priced soups so they want to make them enticing. Unfortunately there's nothing enticing about the prices or the taste in my humble opinion.

The lady who exchanged the soups for my husband commented that he wasn't the first to return the soups. They both joked about how they took all the good stuff out and charged more.

Once he returned from the store I happily ate a bowl of the new real soup... new because they've switched to sea salt to lower the sodium. I'm not sure whether it's just my taste buds 'cause I'm still on the mend or whether the changes they made to the "non-healthy choice" soup modified the taste somehow, but it still didn't quite taste like the soup I've enjoyed my entire life. I'm going to wait until I'm 100% better to have another bowl. I can live with the slight difference though, if it exists. I'll let you know when I eat my next bowl in complete good health.

Yesterday he stopped by the store and picked up four more cans of REAL Campbell's soup for me. Now I'm set for a while.
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Here's the blog post from our old food blog (County Cuisine):

Campbell's Chunky Healthy Request New England Clam Chowder... m' m' bad...

I love New England Clam Chowder. Being on a perpetual low-fat, low sodium diet I was very happy to run across Campbell's Chunky Healthy Request New England Chowder. Until I got home and took a bite.

It is 97% fat free and has 45% less sodium, which is a good thing. However, either the can I purchased is getting ready to be on the recall list, or it simply tastes bad.

I tried a bite and grimaced. Knowing Campbell's soups I thought it must be MY taste buds. I sipped some water and tried again. Then I tossed the bowl down the disposal.

I can't begin to describe the taste. It was not good. I drank some soda to get the taste out of my mouth it was that horrible.

I know not to expect a taste that matches the 'real deal' which has so many calories just looking at it adds inches to my hips. But I did think it would be palatable. Especially since I've had other Healthy Request soups and thought they were great.

My suggestion if you're craving New England style clam chowder? Make it yourself and cut whatever corners you can or eat a smaller portion of the regular clam chowder.

Norwegian Crab Bisque - Great Clam Chowder substitute!

I'm not sure which one of my food-loving fellow contributors left the review of Campbell's Chunky Healthy Request Clam Chowder, but I'm glad you did. I saw it on the shelf and had contemplated trying it. I'll stick to what I know is good thank you very much!

Here's a recipe you might want to try when you're craving clam chowder or fish for that matter. This is a great soup, healthy and fairly low cal. I'm sure you'll be able to make a few modifications to cut back on the calories even further! I substitute clams from the can for the crab for a great tasting clam chowder.

Norwegian Crab Bisque

2 cups water

1 small onion, diced

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 medium potatoes, diced

2 carrots, sliced*

1 cup frozen peas**

6 - 8 whole allspice

1 tsp. dried dill weed

1/2 tsp. white pepper

2 cans (13 ox. each) evaporated skim milk

1 lb. imitation crab***

1 Tbsp. parsley

Dash of tabasco or other hot pepper sauce

Place water, onions, celery, potatoes, carrots, peas, allspice, dill and white pepper in 4-quart saucepan. Bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove and discard allspice.

Add mile and simmer (do NOT boil). Gently stir in imitation crab. garnish with parsely and tabasco.

Makes 6 servigns. 229 calories, 0.3 gram fat, 629 mg. sodium, 38 mg cholesterol per serving.

*I use the shredded kind in bags as I don't care for large pieces of carrots
** I usually leave these out as a few in my family don't like peas. I like having veggies in it though so I might put some brocoli on occasion. I tried spinach and loved it, but I was the lonely owner of a whole pot of bique as no one else would try it.
***I prefer not to use the imitation crab as it has a distinctive flavor and it has sugar in it. I have substituted clams, shrimp, and/or boneless fish. You need to simmer long enough to make sure the seafood is cooked if you use fresh, something you don't need to worry about with imitation crab. I usually just use frozen cooked shrimp or canned clams so I don't have to worry. However, the flavor is SO much better with fresh. Sometimes I'll precook the fish in the microwave to save a minute or two. I have also made this with scallops, real crab, shrimp and clams all together, for a great seafood gumbo.

The recipe is from "Light-Hearted Seafood - Tasty, Quick, Healthy" by Janis Harsila, R.D. and Evie Hansen. It's from way back in 1989 and was published by the National Seafood Educators, P.O. Box 60006, Richmond Beach, WA 98160 (206-546-6430 is the phone number listed, but who knows if it's still good). I'd suggest doing an Internet search if you're intersted in trying to find a copy.

It's a great little book if you love seafood like I do!

Judy

Campbell's Chunky Healthy Request New England Clam Chowder... m' m' bad...

I love New England Clam Chowder. Being on a perpetual low-fat, low sodium diet I was very happy to run across Campbell's Chunky Healthy Request New England Chowder. Until I got home and took a bite.

It is 97% fat free and has 45% less sodium, which is a good thing. However, either the can I purchased is getting ready to be on the recall list, or it simply tastes bad.

I tried a bite and grimaced. Knowing Campbell's soups I thought it must be MY taste buds. I sipped some water and tried again. Then I tossed the bowl down the disposal.

I can't begin to describe the taste. It was not good. I drank some soda to get the taste out of my mouth it was that horrible.

I know not to expect a taste that matches the 'real deal' which has so many calories just looking at it adds inches to my hips. But I did think it would be palatable. Especially since I've had other Healthy Request soups and thought they were great.

My suggestion if you're craving New England style clam chowder? Make it yourself and cut whatever corners you can or eat a smaller portion of the regular clam chowder.