Late last year, someone on Bluesky — I can’t remember who — linked to the tumblr @formaldehydedoesstuff, where they decided to cook 100 different soups in 2025 (and succeeded!) I make a lot of soup, and I wondered if 100 different soups was something I already did, or would I have to make a concerted effort and avoid repeats? Not a lot of soup happening in the summer, after all.

So that’s what I’m going to find out. I will be tagging each soup on Copy Me That (I think it’s viewable without an account? But let me know if not). So far, I’ve made three soups. I haven’t been good about taking photos of them yet, but I will start. Links will go to their original source, and I am sorry for any potential paywalls (marked [pw]), but if you cook often, Copy Me That is worth paying for to get around those and organize your recipes. (This is not an ad; I just probably take up way too much of the owner’s server space.)

• Parmesan Cabbage Soup [pw]: Nothing says “recession indicator” like the food sites going all-in on cabbage, but I do sincerely like it. I used a regular onion instead of leeks, dried thyme instead of fresh, and probably dried cilantro too. I also used Kraft-shake-cheese-in-a-can because it’s lactose-free and I usually have it around. It’s winter. Don’t make me go to the store more than I have to. But even with the substitutions, this was good.

• Marry Me Chicken Soup: Okay, I don’t love that that the recipes with this flavor combo are all called “Marry Me” but if you see it, it’s shorthand for sundried tomatoes + cream/similar + some sort of basil-based seasoning + spinach (but not always), and it’s hard to go wrong with that. I used half- lactose-free 2% and half- Country Crock’s version of fake heavy cream, and I’d make it again.

• Smoky Vegan Corn Chowder with Potatoes: Seeing “vegan” is also a nice shorthand for those of us who are lactose-challenged (*single tear*), but I did use regular lactose-free 2% and not a non-dairy milk here. Use whatever type of potato you have, and if your frozen peppers are a mix, that’s fine. Since I bought the sun-dried tomatoes to make the chicken soup anyway, this was another good way to use more of them.

Once again, I hope to be more regular about writing this newsletter (she says, like everybody), and perhaps 100 Soups will inspire me to get to it more often. I have made the somewhat arbitrary decision that chili does not count as soup. Stews… tbd.

Not to worry, people who didn’t come here for the recipes, I’ll have other things to talk about too.

Since I last wrote, I had a short feature appear in For The People: A Leftist Library Project’s newsletter about the fundraiser my husband and I organized that benefitted the Great Falls Public Library Foundation. Click on through to see my Chappell Roan-inspired cigar box art. I made use of the box’s clear sides.

Currently Reading^*

• Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman — another #bsbookclub read. I don’t know that I love it, but I like it enough to where I’m going to read the full edition that I have, and not just the 1855 version we covered. A Civil War poet will certainly have things to say that mirror today.

• Why Read Moby Dick? by Nathaniel Philbrick — We also read Moby Dick last month, which was very fun to do as a group. Someone mentioned this book during our discussion, and the library had it available via Libby, so I’m giving it a go.

• On the Hippie Trail: Istanbul to Kathmandu and the Making of a Travel Writer by Rick Steves — I got the audiobook via Libby, and if you’re familiar with Rick Steves’ show, you’ll get something out of this. It’s interesting to see how far he’s come, personal growth-wise, since this time in his life.

• The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing — Catherine Lacey mentioned this book in her newsletter, and though the post is behind a paywall now, her argument was convincing enough for me to check out the print book from the library, as it was not on Libby. It’s interesting so far. Love a book with an interesting format.

*not affiliate links, but Bookshop.org and Libro.fm are non-Amazon sources, should you be wanting to limit your exposure to that behemoth.

Until next time!