A Tale of Two Chowders

A has been blogging about a lot of Hale and Hearty soups lately, and it's time for me to start writing about some of my recent soups there.  I usually try to go for healthier soups (I love that the menu boards tell you which soups are dairy-free, low-fat and vegetarian), but over the past couple of weeks, it seems I have been focused on chowder.  I think the combination of the chilly weather and frenzied days led me toward creamy comfort food.

This week I tried the smoked turkey corn chowder over a late lunch.

This was a really creamy chowder that had corn, smoked turkey, and sweet potatoes, according to the description.  I definitely saw corn and turkey (as well as some other veggies and herbs), but didn't notice the presence of the sweet potatoes at all and forgot they were supposed to be there until I re-read the description.  I guess they are used in part to thicken the soup (and hopefully that means a little less cream!) but I didn't get any of that sweet potato taste.

I thought this was a decent soup, but it's not one of my favorites.  It was very rich and creamy, which is good for the winter, but I didn't find that the corn or turkey flavors were strong enough to match up against the creaminess, which just seems to outweigh everything else. I'm not sure if I would get this again especially if something like the next chowder is an option...

Last week, at the height of my illness, I decided to go for Hale and Hearty's curried chicken chowder, which was described as a creamy Indian-style chowder, loaded with diced potatoes, white meat chicken and spices.

As soon as I got my sample of this soup (another thing I love about Hale and Hearty is that they give you samples), I knew I was going to order this.  Even though I was sick and congested, and the soup had heavy cream and butter.  It was that good.

It reminded me a little of mulligatawny soup, and a little bit of yellow curry chicken.  The spices and curry flavor were intense (in a good way), and the soup was full of chicken and vegetables.  It was comforting, flavorful, and smelled fantastic. (I was working in an open office area that day and got questions about what smelled so good!)  This chowder, despite the heavy cream and butter that I don't usually like, definitely goes on my list of favorite Hale and Hearty soups.

Inbetween those 2 chowders, I also got the Yucatan chicken, lime and orzo soup that A previously reviewed, which was fantastic.  I agree with his glowing review!

Excited to see what other new soups 2013 will bring!