Three super easy 1950s soup recipes for rainy spring days

It's a very wet day outside as I sit here and type this post. The sort of slate gray morning that makes it feel as though someone has put a dimmer switch on the sun and turned the knob way, way down. Sometimes on days like this I find energy comes to me in spades and I work like a madwoman, on others - like right now - it seems like the rain almost lulls me back to sleep and leaves me in the mood to little more than curl up with a good (history or vintage) book, the cat nestled on my lap, as my thoughts take on a meditative quality between the steam of pages and raindrops.

This is not a day for complex meals or anything that involves reams of intense activity. It's the sort of damp springtime Wednesday that calls for, to my mind, one food perhaps more than any other: a steaming, alluringly fragrant, delightfully tasty bowl of warm soup.

Whether on the coldest of winter eves or a drizzly May afternoon, there's nothing quite like soup to comfort, nourish, and relax the mind, body and soul - which no doubt accounts in part for why this dish - in its countless iterations - has remained such a beloved classic the world over for thousands of years.

While we aren't reaching anywhere near that far back in time today for today's vintage soups, this trio of 1950s recipes (quartet if you count the suggestion of cooking frankfurters in your soup) featuring Lipton soup mixes that one jazzes up to turn into more exciting lunch or dinner fare, certainly harkens back a few decades and brings with it all the timeless appeal that soup has held since day one.

 

 

{Circa 1950 Lipton Soup recipe booklet page featuring fun ways to enhance packaged soup mixes, from the terrific Flickr stream of alsis35.}

 

Of the three recipes above, I think that the Chinese Noodle Soup appeals most to me at the moment, but the Tomato Fish Chowder and Milky Way Soup both certainly have their merits, too (I'm not the biggest seafood fan though, so I'd be included to turn that recipe into Tomato Chicken or Turkey Chowder if I was cooking solely for myself).

Aside from the ultra easy mid-century soup recipes themselves here, I'm drawn to - and just adore - the wonderful ice cream and coral inspired colours of this charmingly illustrated cookery page. Talk about fabulous vintage decor - or wardrobe - inspiration!

I can feel that book - and the cuddle bug cat - calling my name, so as raindrops pounce off the roof and restoratively turn the grass - at long last - verdant once more, I'll mosey on for now. But not before wishing each of you a peaceful, lovely Wednesday - no matter your weather!