Good Idea in This Week's Usa Weekend Magazine

I was flipping through the Sunday newspaper inserts today, and found an article in the USA Weekend magazine that I think would be great starting point for a theme show, especially in January - Soup Swap.

Many of us are already aware of cookie swaps, wherein each guest brings a designated number of cookies, and then leaves with the same number of cookies, but different types. A soup swap is the same idea, but with soup! Each guest brings 6 quarts of soup, packaged in 1 quart plastic containers and frozen. They leave with 6 different quarts of soup - ready for storage in their freezer for fast and easy meals. The article outlines procedures for selecting soups (guests draw numbers for pick order, and it proceeds much like a sports draft).

I thought that you could do a swap-prep show, focusing on good tools for making soup: stockpot, ladle, cutting tools, etc. Or, you could make the swap itself a show by making a side dish like a salad or bread or a dessert.

If you have a chance, pick up the Sunday paper and check out the article. It's on pages 22-23 (and is too long for me to copy out).

Interesting idea. I'll think about that one for a couple of hosts who are talking about doing something different.

I like this idea also, but I would like to think it through. The food safety side of my brain has to think it out further. The heating and cooling of food items is a concern of mine. I am trying to think of a way such as bringing all of the dry ingredients to a recipe (like the batter bowl soup recipe). Some may think I am worrying about it too much, but if they have ever had food poisoning, they would agree. Fortunately, I have not, but I wish to keep it that way too!

Ann,
How did you get the Sunday inserts already?

baychef said:

I like this idea also, but I would like to think it through. The food safety side of my brain has to think it out further. The heating and cooling of food items is a concern of mine. I am trying to think of a way such as bringing all of the dry ingredients to a recipe (like the batter bowl soup recipe). Some may think I am worrying about it too much, but if they have ever had food poisoning, they would agree. Fortunately, I have not, but I wish to keep it that way too!

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I wasn't thinking of making the soup there for them to take home as part of the swap, but as something to eat that evening, just like a regular cooking show.

JAE said:

Ann,
How did you get the Sunday inserts already?

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The Detroit paper that has a Sunday edition delivers the inserts on Saturday. So even though I only get the Sunday paper, I actually get delivery on 2 days: Saturday for the inserts, and Sunday for the content.

Did you see any Wii deals, like accessories? I bought the Wii, and now we need some extras. Hoping for some deals, like gift card with purchase or throw in something with purchase, etc.

I can't remember if there were any Wii deals. I only glance through a couple of the flyers usually.
Let's see..
Best Buy has the Guitar Hero III set for 89.99, Wii for 249.99
Circuit City has the Wii remote controller for 39.99, zappers for 19.99
Target has the glove kit (sleeves for the controller) for 14.99, remote recharge station for 29.99
Toys R Us has 50% off any Wii game when you buy Super Mario Galaxy

That's a good Toys R Us deal, but we don't have one in Holland any more. I'm not even sure where I can find a Toys R Us. I'll tell my mom. She's going to buy my kids some new games for their new Wii. Thanks Ann.

JAE said:

That's a good Toys R Us deal, but we don't have one in Holland any more. I'm not even sure where I can find a Toys R Us. I'll tell my mom. She's going to buy my kids some new games for their new Wii. Thanks Ann.

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JAE - there is a TRU on Alpine, and one out by Woodland Mall. Those are the only 2 I know of in the GR area - neither one is too convenient.

TRU was having a free shipping deal on their website. I get their emails. I'm not sure if it is over, but there will probably be another before Christmas to encourage orders.

Here's the soup swap article Ann referenced:

http://www.usaweekend.com/07_issues/071202/071202food-soup-swap-.html

These soups are made for swapping
Groups from Seattle to Schenectady cook lots of soup, socialize a bit, then head home with future dinners.
By Lisa Jaffe Hubbell

Those of us who have to feed ourselves dinner, night after night, know about the virtues of big-batch cooking -- making a whole vat of something to last a good part of the week. It might be pretty tasty the first day or even the second, but by the third -- argh!

Now, some cooks around the country have tackled that problem by staging soup swaps. After organizing friends at his own swaps for several years, Seattle resident Knox Gardner inaugurated National Soup Swap Day. The word soon spread over food blogs and neighborhood list serves, and a critical mass of soup makers staged simultaneous events all over the country this past January. The 2008 event is Jan. 23; organizers hope more people will join in (see Gardner's blog at soupswap.com for details).

Modeled after holiday cookie exchanges -- "but healthier," Gardner says -- participants make 6 quarts of soup, freeze it in 1-quart containers and bring it to the swap. Everyone draws a number to determine the selection order. No. 1 picks first, and so on, through six rounds. Before picking begins, however, is "the telling of the soup," Gardner says, when cooks describe their creations. The stories are always the highlight. "It's become quite competitive. Everyone wants their soup to be the star, and telling the story of the soup is a chance to sell it to others."

"My favorite story was about a corn and poblano pepper chowder with shrimp," says Renee McCallister, whose January swap was held in Schenectady, N.Y. The cook found the recipe years before, when she couldn't afford the ingredients. "The soup became her idea of the future -- a time when she could make the soup and make it for someone special," McCallister says.

In Washington, D.C., Adrienne Culler and Margaret Simino, who run the soup-centric site graciousbowl.com, report that the most popular entry at their swap was ancho chili con carne. "It may sound like cheating to hard-core foodies and their definitions of soup, but in the end, it's all about a good time and a packed freezer," Culler says. (And, let's face it, it's also about getting almost a week's worth of meals you only have to reheat.)

Many in the D.C. group provided extras with their soups -- containers of Japanese root vegetable soup wrapped in pretty cloth bags; Manchego cheese crisps to pair with the sweet potato chowder; a bag of shrimp chips with the Thai lemon grass-shrimp soup. Guests also collected canned goods for a local food bank.

Gardner thinks that too many rules can spoil a swap, but some guidelines are necessary. Don't cater to everyone's dietary whims, but do label the soups and list ingredients. And carefully consider how many people you invite to the swap. More people means more soup choices, but the bigger the crowd, the longer it will take for the telling of the soup and six rounds of swapping.

Culler says seven people seems like a good minimum: "That way, everyone gets to take home six different kinds of soups."

Want to organize a soup swap?

1. Invite enough people for variety, but not so many that the event goes into overtime. Seven to 15 is optimal.
2. Keep it to 6 quarts. That's about as much as most people's soup pots -- and freezers --can accommodate.
3. Make what you like; don't worry about picky eaters. But do try to avoid common allergens, like peanuts. Label the soup and list ingredients.
4. Bring soup frozen, but when choosing a recipe, know that some foods (pasta, potatoes, cream) don't freeze well. Bring an insulated bag or cooler to tote the soup to and from the swap.
5. Give prizes -- first picked, last picked, best story, most exotic. Prizes can be wooden spoons, potholders or loaves of bread.
6. Spread the bounty. Ask guests to bring canned goods to donate to area food banks as the "ticket" to the event.

thanks Colleen!