Steven Helmer Publications

Tonight was skate and dance night for our daughters so, since my wife and I would be out of the house (on opposite sides of town), I decided to pick up something to throw in the slow cooker. I originally planned on buying one of those frozen slow cooker meals. However, the grocery store I was at apparently decided to get rid of them so I ended up going to Kwik Trip instead and buying a bag of their Kitchen Cravings Macaroni and Cheese. It was my first time trying this particular product and I wasn't sure what to expect from it. But, it ended up being pretty good. As planned, I ended up making this in our slow cooker, adding some ham steak and broccoli to give it a little more substance (it did, after all, have to stick with us all night). Since the soup was pre-made (just frozen), the prep work was easy enough. I just needed to thaw it a little bit in the microwave, so it would fit in the slow cooker, add the chopped up ham steak and broccoli and cook it on low. Everything...

I had to run some errands at lunch today and didn't have a chance to eat all that much as a result. Because of that, I ended up going to Kwik Trip about an hour later so I could get something to help me get through the rest of my day. After yesterday's disappointment with their chili soup , I decided to stick with something more classic and filled my cup with their Kitchen Cravings Chicken & Dumpling variety instead. This, as it turns out, ended up being a good choice. The soup had a good flavor to it, it wasn't bland like yesterday's choice and had just enough seasonings in it to give it a good, comforting taste. I also liked how thick and chunky this soup was, with plenty of vegetables in it, an acceptable quantity of chicken and plenty of dumplings. I ended up adding crackers to it out of habit. But, I would have enjoyed it with or without those. In fact, the soup didn't last me very long once I got it back to my desk. This is unusual for me, norm...

I am fighting a bit of a cold right now and decided to run up to Kwik Trip and grab a hot cup of soup to help me get through the rest of my day (I really need a couple days to rest, but that's just not going to happen anytime soon). As it turns out, they were running low on their soups and, even though it wouldn't normally be my first choice, I decided to try this one simply because it was the only one that had enough left to fill the cup. After trying it, I have to confess I'm not that impressed with it. This surprised me a bit because I've had most of the other Kitchen Cravings choices and was always happy with my purchase. This soup, however, really didn't live up to my expectations. I think my biggest complaint about this soup is it is very bland. Chili doesn't need to be 3-alarm spicy. But, I do think it needs to have some sort of kick to it. This didn't meet that criteria at all and was definitely missing something (or multiple things) to bump...