Health for life

Apologies for the excessive link compilations, folks. Well return to regular blogging on Monday. In the meantime - its the best of December 2009. Lots of liveblogging this month, including the Biggest Loser finale and the all-day Food Network marathon, from which the world may never truly recover. And by “the world,” I mean “my lower back.” (Hyuck hyuck hyuck.)

Happy reading, everybody, and thank you for making CHG as joyous as it is.

DECEMBERS NEW RECIPES
Almond Milk
Chicken Fried Rice
Lighter Baked Ziti
Mushroom Bhaji (Mushrooms in Tomato Onion Sauce)
Red Cabbage with Apples


DECEMBER ARTICLES

We watched Paula, Emeril, Alton, and company for 19-Hour Food Network Running Diary: The Whole Thing and Various Conclusions. Then we blogged about it.

First, we got some practice with The Biggest Loser Season 8 Finale: Livebloggin’.

If you ever wanted to eat healthier without a cookbook, then you might dig Lighten Any Meal: 10 Easy, Inexpensive Steps to Healthier Recipes.

Leigh clued us into faux flesh with Newsflash! Scientists Getting Closer to Lab-grown Meat.

In this month’s Ask the Internet, we answered a wedding beer question, brought up an ethical dilemma concerning bad produce, wondered about unused Christmas food, and suggested family recipes for a vegetarian, a meat-eater, and picky kids.


FOR MORE CHEAP HEALTHY GOODNESS...

1) Have your say!
We love creative comments and thought-provoking discussions. There’s even a fabulous new Ask the Internet column, where readers can write in with various inquiries and/or offer helpful suggestions. Sweet.

2) Spread the word!
Like us? Link to us! Refer us to a bookmarking site! (We have StumbleUpon and Digg buttons now!) Or just talk us up to your mom. That’s nice, too.

3) Behold our social networking!
Subscribe to our feed, join our Facebook page, or check out our Twitter … thing. They’re super fun ways to kill time, minus the soul-crushing frustration of Bejeweled.

4) Buy from our Amazon Store!
If you click on the Amazon widget (lower left hand corner) and buy anything from Amazon (not just what we’re advertising on CHG), we get a small commission. And that’s always nice. P.S. Thank you to EVERYONE who so generously bought for Christmas. It was much appreciated.

5) Remember: it’s “supposedly,” not “supposubly.”
With your help, we can stop this terrible affliction in the new year. Happy 2010!

With the dawn of 2011, there’s been a pretty neat uptick in traffic here at Cheap Healthy Good. If you’re visiting the blog for the first time, welcome! We’re so happy to have you. Bathroom’s on the left. If you’re a longtime reader, we love you! We’re not kidding. Its a little scary.

To get an idea of what CHG is all about, our FAQ and mission statement are good places to begin. To go a little deeper, these six posts give a pretty solid overview of what we do here:

1. Spend Less, Eat Healthier: The Five Most Important Things You Can Do
2. Dr. Veg-Love, Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Seasonal Produce
3. The Circular Game: Decoding Your Supermarket Weekly
4. How to Tell if a Recipe is Cheap and Healthy Just by Looking at it
5. Weekly Menu Planning for Singles, Couples, and Working People
6. Relax, Frugal Eater: A Measured Approach to Lifestyle Changes

Our master article directory of over 150 similar pieces can be found here. We also post one or two frugal, healthy, and delicious recipes per week, which are compiled here. There are over 400 right now, and we’re always adding to the list. Here are ten fairly simple favorites to get you started:

• Asparagus, Mushroom, and Parmesan Frittata
• Baked Apples
• Egg Drop Soup
• Honey-glazed Roasted Carrots
• Indonesian Curried Bean Stew
• Light(er) Macaroni and Cheese
• Pumpkin Orzo with Sage
• Roast Chicken with Two Lemons
• Sweet Lassi
• Wacky (Chocolate) Cake

Hope you’re enjoying the blog so far. We’d love to hear from you if you have suggestions, and best of luck with your resolutions!

UPDATE: We did it! We raised the $200! Thank you so much to everyone who donated!

Sweet readers! We’re going to try something a little new today, and we’d love your help in making it happen, if at all possible.

Leigh and I have two friends, Betsy and Dolinda. For a few years now, these lovely ladies have been working closely with the Ubushobozi Project, an organization based in Rwanda that offers vocational skills training to impoverished, orphaned and/or head-of-household teenage girls, many of whom have very little chance of continuing their educations and/or making steady livings. One of the girls enrolled in Ubushobozi 17-year-old Aline.

Here she is!


Aline has been with Ubushobozi since 2008. Her parents have been gone for a long, long time, both under some pretty terrible circumstances. So, she takes care of her two sisters, Diane, 12, and Olive, 19. Aline also provides meals for several local children, and even allows them to sleep in her home. “She will feed five to six village kids at a time with just one big plate - just a giving, good, good, person,” says Betsy.

This is her kitchen.


Betsy says: “She must cook outside and when it rains, she either goes to an elderly friends house nearby to cook or, quite often, she cant cook at all and she and her sisters dont eat.”

We were thinking that we’d love, love to get Aline a new kitchen - a charcoal burner, some serving dishes, and a few cooking implements. The whole deal, plus labor, would run about $200 USD – less than a stand mixer.

And sweet readers, we’d love your help.

Think of it! Together, we can make a direct, wonderful difference in Aline’s life, not to mention all the people she feeds on a regular basis.

Here are some things to know:

• To donate, head to the Ubushobozi Donation Page (linked) and click "Donate" on the right hand side. Then, enter your information in PayPal, and on the 2nd page, write "For Alines Kitchen" in the "message" box. (I tried it! It works!)
• All 100 percent of your donation will be directly applied to Aline’s kitchen - labor and materials (tin, mud bricks, wood, etc.). Nothing goes towards administrative fees.
• Any donation amount - $5, $10, $20 – is totally great. No need to break the bank.
• We have until April 21.

Once we raise the fundage, Aline will photograph the entire process, from construction to the first meal she cooks, and I’ll post it on CHG. When Betsy mentioned the idea to Aline, she replied that, “Everyone come visit her new kitchen to eat. She will cook for everyone.”

What do you guys think? Let’s do this thing! As the Ubushobozi girls would say, “Everybody happiness!”

Another month, another fabulous round of posts and comments from readers. February is the greatest, and not just because of the Super Bowl, Valentine’s Day, the Olympics, and Pa’s birthday. It’s the greatest because y’all make it that way. I’m mentally sending warm fuzzies as a thank you gift.

FEBURARY RECIPES
Baked Loaded Potato Skins
Cremini Mushrooms, Roasted Red Peppers, and Feta on Ciabatta Bread
Gingersnap Oatmeal
Kasha with Root Vegetables and Dill
Ketchup
Oatmeal with Soy Sauce, Sesame Oil, and Scallions
Sardine Avocado Open-Face Sandwiches
Seitan Carolina Barbecue Bites
Southwestern Chicken

FEBRUARY ARTICLES

This month, we tackled CHG’s core mission with Food Money Matters: Why Healthy Eating Doesn’t Have to Be Expensive.

Then we spread the love with Eat Cheap and Healthy – How to Help Others?

Leigh taught us the ins and outs of our favorite cooking liquid with Olive Oil - Buying, Storing, and Using it, Demystified. Gotta love that lady.

Super Bowl Recipes: 50 Cheap and Healthy Party Foods guided us to the light.

We’re right in the middle of The $25 Food Project: One Man, Seven Days, 21 Meals. It should finish up Tuesday, with a full report on Wednesday. In the meantime, here’re the wrap-ups from first four days, :

• Day 1
• Day 2
• Day 3
• Day 4

This month’s Ask the Internet was all over the place. In a good way, of course. We addressed:

• Healthy Valentine’s Dinners
• How to Tip a Waiter
• Pink Foods and Recipes
• Three Food Choices – a Hypothetical Question

FOR MORE CHEAP HEALTHY GOODNESS...

1) Have your say!
We love reading comments and participating in thought-provoking discussions. There’s even a fabulous new Ask the Internet column, where readers can write in with various inquiries and/or offer helpful suggestions. Sweet.

2) Spread the word!
Like us? Link to us! Refer us to a bookmarking site! (We have StumbleUpon and Digg buttons now!) Or just talk us up to your mom. That’s nice, too.

3) Behold our social networking!
Subscribe to our feed, join our Facebook page, or check out our Twitter … thing. They’re super fun ways to kill time, and no one will ask you to join Farm Town or Mafia Wars or whatever.

4) Buy from our Amazon Store!
If you click on the Amazon widget (lower left hand corner) and buy anything from Amazon (not just what we’re advertising on CHG), we get a small commission. Maybe shilealagh for St. Patrick’s Day? Thatd be nice.

5) Go see Shutter Island!
But don’t bring the kids. Some guy in our showing had his three-year-old in tow. I like to think that CPS was waiting for him outside the theater.

April: there were showers. There were flowers. There were even the New York Mets, exercising their baseball powers. And here at CHG, it was a lovely month. Let us now look back on 30 days of local produce, questionable food photography (see: recipe #1), and the best little ol’ posts you ever did see. To borrow from the great Stan Lee, excelsior!

APRIL RECIPES

Breakfast Couscous Custard with Peaches
Crustless Spinach Mushroom Quiche
Lemon-Ginger Dressing
Roasted Asparagus with Chickpeas
Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
Sweet Potato Kugel
Tofu Bahn Mi
Whole Wheat Pasta with Asparagus and Turkey Sausage


APRIL ARTICLES

‘Twas a month of lists here at CHG, and it all started with The 10 Cheapest, Healthiest Foods Money Can Buy.

Then we moved on to Cheap, Healthy Asparagus: 81 Recipes for the Springiest of Spring Vegetables.

And ended up at … oh, wait: Couponing for People Who Hate Couponing: A Zero-Stress Guide to Clipping Big Bargains isn’t a list. We’ll mention it anyway.

Hey! Remember On Progress? No? In retrospect, a more descriptive title would have helped. But dont be afraid to resh your memory!

Leigh told us all about Vegetarian Meal Planning for Meat Eaters, which was super helpful (as she tends to be).

Jaime asked: Why Eat Local? Then she answered her own question! Girl knows her stuff.

As for Ask the Internet, we wondered about all sorts of things. Like, f’r instance:

• Favorite Wedding Foods?
• Grain Recipes for Vegetarians? (No Beans.)
• I Can’t Believe This Food Product Exists.
• Recipe Help?

FOR MORE CHEAP HEALTHY GOODNESS...

1) Have your say!
We love reading creative comments and participating in thought-provoking discussions. There’s even our fabulous Ask the Internet column, where y’all can write in with various inquiries and/or offer helpful suggestions. Sweet.

2) Spread the word!
Like us? Link to us! Refer us to a bookmarking site! (We have StumbleUpon and Digg buttons now!) Or just talk us up to your Girl Scout Troop. That’s nice, too.

3) Behold our social networking!
Subscribe to our feed, join our Facebook page, or check out our Twitter … thing. They’re super fun ways to kill time, minus the guilty feeling that youre missing something much more important!

4) Buy from our Amazon Store!
If you click on the Amazon widget (lower left hand corner) and buy anything from Amazon (not just what we’re advertising on CHG), we get a small commission. And that’s always nice.

5) Remember: Don’t spill Nerds (the candy) into a baby’s diaper while you are changing him.
Don’t ask me how I know.

With the dawn of 2010, there’s been a pretty neat uptick in traffic here at Cheap Healthy Good. If you’re visiting the blog for the first time, welcome! We’re so happy to have you. Bathroom’s on the left. If you’re a longtime reader, we love you! We’re not kidding. Its a little scary.

To get an idea of what CHG is all about, our FAQ and mission statement are good places to begin. To go a little deeper, these six posts give a pretty solid overview of what we do here:

1. Spend Less, Eat Healthier: The Five Most Important Things You Can Do
2. Dr. Veg-Love, Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Seasonal Produce
3. The Circular Game: Decoding Your Supermarket Weekly
4. How to Tell if a Recipe is Cheap and Healthy Just by Looking at it
5. Weekly Menu Planning for Singles, Couples, and Working People
6. Relax, Frugal Eater: A Measured Approach to Lifestyle Changes

Our master article directory of over 135 similar pieces can be found here. We also post one or two frugal, healthy, and delicious recipes per week, which are compiled here. Theres something like 300 right now, and we’re always adding to the list. Here are ten fairly simple favorites to get you started:

• Asparagus, Mushroom, and Parmesan Frittata
• Baked Apples
• Egg Drop Soup
• Honey-glazed Roasted Carrots
• Indonesian Curried Bean Stew
• Light(er) Macaroni and Cheese
• Pumpkin Orzo with Sage
• Roast Chicken with Two Lemons
• Sweet Lassi
• Wacky (Chocolate) Cake

Hope you’re enjoying the blog so far. We’d love to hear from you if you have suggestions, and best of luck with your resolutions!

With the dawn of 2012, comes the dawn of many a resolution. If you’re visiting the blog for the first time, welcome! We’re so happy to have you. Bathroom’s on the left. If you’re a longtime reader, we love you! We’re not kidding. Its a little scary.

To get an idea of what CHG is all about, our FAQ and mission statement are good places to begin. To go a little deeper, these six posts give a pretty solid overview of what we do here:

1. Spend Less, Eat Healthier: The Five Most Important Things You Can Do
2. Dr. Veg-Love, Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Seasonal Produce
3. The Circular Game: Decoding Your Supermarket Weekly
4. How to Tell if a Recipe is Cheap and Healthy Just by Looking at it
5. Weekly Menu Planning for Singles, Couples, and Working People
6. Relax, Frugal Eater: A Measured Approach to Lifestyle Changes

Our master article directory of over 150 similar pieces can be found here. We also post one or two frugal, healthy, and delicious recipes per week, which are compiled here. There are over 400 right now, and we’re always adding to the list. Here are ten fairly simple favorites to get you started:

• Asparagus, Mushroom, and Parmesan Frittata
• Baked Apples
• Egg Drop Soup
• Honey-glazed Roasted Carrots
• Indonesian Curried Bean Stew
• Light(er) Macaroni and Cheese
• Pumpkin Orzo with Sage
• Roast Chicken with Two Lemons
• Sweet Lassi
• Wacky (Chocolate) Cake

Hope you’re enjoying the blog so far. We’d love to hear from you if you have suggestions, and best of luck with your resolutions!

Oh, sweet readers. Remember October? Looking back, it was a good month, wasnt it? We laughed. We cried. We had a crazy hailstorm that punched monster holes in all our hydrangeas. (Or maybe that was just us?) Lets reminisce together.

OCTOBER RECIPES
Kale and Balsamic Tofu Salad
Low-Fat Apple Coffee Cake
Malt Vinegar Oven Fries
Pasta with Butternut Squash, Sage, and Pine Nuts
Pumpkin Butter
Savory Squash Pie

OCTOBER ARTICLES

We named The #1 Rule of Personal Finance, and were wondering if, frankly, you agree.

Leigh declared, “As for Me and My House, We’ll Serve the Veggies!” And we liked it.

She also created a neat little spreadsheet to help you with Converting Those Pesky Weights and Measures.

Serving Sizes and Portion Control: A Primer ... uh … primed you … about stuff.

I got to yammer about good pasta and vicious chickens in What I Learned About Food in Italy.

We got all zen with When NOT to Eat Cheap, Healthy, and Good (Er, Well).

Winter Squash 101 (Plus 18 Recipes!) discussed everything you always wanted to know about said vegetables, but were too tremulous to ask. (Yes, tremulous!)

And rounding out the month, we Asked the Internet about:

• Best Kitchen Tips?
• Best Meals to Bring the Laid Up?
• Thanksgiving Recipes That Travel Well?

For more Cheap Healthy Goodness…

1) Have your say!
We love reading creative comments and participating in thought-provoking discussions. There’s even a fabulous new Ask the Internet column, where readers can write in with various inquiries and/or offer helpful suggestions. Sweet.

2) Spread the word!
Like us? Link to us! Refer us to a bookmarking site! (We have StumbleUpon and Digg buttons now!) Or just talk us up to your mom. That’s nice, too.

3) Behold our social networking!
Subscribe to our feed, join our Facebook page, or check out our Twitter … thing. They’re super fun ways to kill time, without any accompanying not-so-fresh feeling.

4) Buy from our Amazon Store!
If you click on the Amazon widget (lower left hand corner) and buy anything from Amazon (not just what we’re advertising on CHG), we get a small commission. And that’s always nice.

5) “I lost my mood ring. I don’t know how I feel about that.”
Hee.

It’s been a banner month here at Cheap Healthy Good, with record subscribers, more than 200,000 pageviews, and enough oatmeal to turn us all into Mr. Ed. Thank you, sweet readers. So much. You are, as always, the freakin’ best.

JANUARY RECIPES
Dijon Roasted Potatoes
Lemon Pudding Cakes
Palak Paneer (Indian Cheese and Greens)
Paneer (Fresh Indian Cheese)
Roasted Delicata Squash with Thyme
Sweet Potato and Chickpea Puree
Tomato-Avocado Salsa
Veggie Burgers

JANUARY ARTICLES

This month, we learned How to Lose Weight and Keep it Off: 10 Rules to Live By.

A good way to accomplish those goals: make Cheap, Healthy Master Recipes: Eight Versatile Dishes Entirely Adaptable to Your Tastes.

A good way to not accomplish those goals: follow the recipes in Vintage Cookbook Hoedown: The Quick Cook Book (1961) by Lois S. Kellogg.

Of course, maybe your family likes that kind of stuff. Or maybe they don’t. Maybe they hate food! In which case, Overcoming Your Cooking Obstacles, Part II: So, Your Family Doesn’t Cook is for you.

And if you want to save some cash on it all, try Meal Planning – An Experiment and Conversion.

Remember, though: the internet is always here to help. In this month’s Ask the Internet columns, we explored:

• Favorite Oatmeal Recipes
• Indoor Herb Garden Advice
• Kitchen Wedding Registry How-tos and last, but never least,
• Light Super Bowl Snack Ideas

FOR MORE CHEAP HEALTHY GOODNESS…

1) Have your say!
We love reading creative comments and participating in thought-provoking discussions. There’s even a fabulous new Ask the Internet column, where readers can write in with various inquiries and/or offer helpful suggestions. Sweet.

2) Spread the word!
Like us? Link to us! Refer us to a bookmarking site! (We have StumbleUpon and Digg buttons now!) Or just talk us up to your mom. That’s nice, too.

3) Behold: our social networking!
Subscribe to our feed, join our Facebook page, or check out our Twitter … thing. They’re super fun ways to kill time, minus the soul-crushing frustration of Bejeweled.

4) Buy from our Amazon Store!
If you click on the Amazon widget (lower left hand corner) and buy anything from Amazon (not just what we’re advertising on CHG), we get a small commission. And that’s always nice.

5) Use the word “literally” correctly!
Because when you dont, bunnies die.

It’s been our BME (Best. Month. Evah.) here at CHG (Cheap Healthy Good), both in terms of traffic (over 450,000 pageviews!) and comments (whee!). Thank you, sweet readers, both old school and new wave. Here’s hoping we can keep the streak alive. (Crap! I mentioned the streak! Somewhere, Joe DiMaggio is tut-tutting me all classy-like.) One more article coming tomorrow, and then it’s on to April.

MARCH RECIPES

Banana Oatmeal Muffins
Broccoli with Roasted Red Peppers
Chickpea Cutlets
Curried Apples and Acorn Squash
Dal with Rice and Ginger
Rice Pudding
Salsa Couscous Chicken OR Moroccan Chicken
Vegetarian Chili
White Bean Dip


MARCH ARTICLES

Remember when we fed the Husband-Elect for $25 that one week? Thems was good times. There’s even a clip of our Early Show appearance here! We ended the whole deal with The $25 Food Project Finale: Recipes, Conclusions, and an Exit Interview

Our greatest bombs were documented in CHG Hall of Shame III: Return of the Breadi.

Leigh asked and answered: HOW Old is that Oatmeal? When to Clean Out the Pantry.

Then, she exclaimed mightily, "I Want to Be a Tofu Butcher!"

There was that two-part series on the Junk Food Tax, starting with Reasonable Public Health Measure or Evidence of a Nanny State? and ending with Reader Ideas, Opinions, and Solutions.

Oh, and hey: Need a Weekly Meal Planner, a Grocery List, or Price Books? We Have 36 of ‘em.

Ask the Internet, was ever-so-lovely, as always. We inquired about the following:

• $25 Grocery List from Scratch?
• CSA Reviews, Ideas, and Experiences?
• Fast Breakfast for Students?
• Food Funny?
• Hominy Recipes?

For more Cheap Healthy Goodness…

1) Have your say!
We love reading creative comments and participating in thought-provoking discussions. There’s even a fabulous Ask the Internet column, where readers can write in with various inquiries and/or offer helpful suggestions. Sweet.

2) Spread the word!
Like us? Link to us! Refer us to a bookmarking site! (We have StumbleUpon and Digg buttons now!) Or just talk us up to your mom. That’s nice, too.

3) Behold our social networking!
Subscribe to our feed, join our Facebook page, or check out our Twitter … thing. They’re super fun ways to kill time, minus the soul-crushing frustration of Bejeweled.

4) Buy from our Amazon Store!
If you click on the Amazon widget (lower left hand corner) and buy anything from Amazon (not just what we’re advertising on CHG), we get a small commission. And that’s always nice.

5) Remember: when a neighborhood kid drops an empty Papa John’s pizza box on your front stoop, it’s within your rights to pelt him with water balloons.
Oh, Brooklyn.

Today on Serious Eats: Moroccan-Style Chickpea Soup. I give it three snaps up in Z formation.

Every few months, instead of highlighting a newly beloved edible, we at CHG will compile a list of dishes that totally bombed. Sometimes the recipes themselves are bad, but mostly, it’s my own fault, since I’m semi-literate and terrible at improvising. Seriously, there’s a French Onion Soup at the bottom of this post that didn’t just make me doubt my own skills, but the existence of god.

The reasons for the Hall of Shame pieces are threefold:

1. This way, you know we don’t post everything we make. Dishes can’t just be cheap and healthy. They have to taste like actual food. That people would eat. Without accompanying upchuck.
2. Bad food is funny.
3. I forgot reason #3.

So, without further ado, here’s the very best of the very worst. Please respect me in the morning.

Parsnip Fries
Okay, you know how one of the basic tenets of food prep is chopping ingredients into similar-sized pieces, so they cook evenly? I ignored that rule here. Some parsnips burned, others didn’t heat through. I think the one in the middle is giving me the finger.

Turkey Meatballs
Giada DeLaurentiis’ turkey meatballs are widely known and well reviewed. “Hey,” I thought, “Why not ignore her directions completely, add more egg, and chop the onions into something resembling hubcaps? Then, I’ll burn the meat beyond recognition and cover the carnage in red sauce.” Bad plan, me. Bad plan.

Lime Basil Sorbet
It turns out, when a recipe calls for an ice cream maker, you can’t substitute an 8x8 Corningware baking dish. Doy. This block of lime and basil ice haunted our freezer for a month before I finally sacked up and tossed it. Apologies to Cooking Light, which deserves better from its readers.

Parmesan Steak Fries
This one wasn’t me! At least, I don’t think it was. No, it was probably me. Either way, this Everyday Food recipe tasted like nothing. They’re usually infallible, so I shoulder the blame. Martha, please forgive me. Don’t hit me with your ornamental loom.

Watermelon & Feta Salad
When an excellent, competent food blogger asks you to cut up a block of feta, and you use cheap pre-crumbled cheese complete with anti-caking agent, you deserve whatever weird Watermelon-cheese soup you end up with. Which is what I did.

Pureed Broccoli Pasta
Sigh. Again with the feta. I don’t think I added enough liquid, either, meaning the only thing grainier than my picture was the sauce itself.

French Onion Soup
Once upon a time, there was a culinary nitwit who wanted French Onion Soup, but didn’t have the time to make one from scratch. So, she opened a can of Progresso, crumbled up an old roll, and melted a hunk of about-to-go-bad mozzarella on top. This all occurred in the microwave, which actually yelled at her for attempting such a travesty. Then she died of bad food. The end.

The cookies. THE COOKIES.
A few months before Christmas, I received an e-mail from a major food publication asking me to enter a baking contest. Ecstatic and newly motivated, I devised a recipe for Double Chocolate Cherry Cookies, which was supposed to whet editors’ appetites, revolutionize cookie making, and bring about world peace. Eight slightly different batches later, they still sucked and I gained seven pounds. We’ll get ‘em next year, Buttermaker.

And that’s the whole shameful bunch. Readers, what dishes have you mucked up lately? Do tell.

~~~
If you like this piece, you might also dig:

• Alas and Alack: The CHG Hall of Shame
• CHG Hall of Shame II: Even Shamier
• Chicken Noodle Soup for the Failure’s Soul