Well, Shoot

I was so excited to stumble across this Ham and Vegetable Chowder, and couldn't wait to add it to my menu.  It sounded like a great plan--yummy Reames noodles (I love how thick and chewy they are), plus ham, plus cheese (hello, cheese makes everything good), and veggies for the healthy part of me.

The half teaspoon of pepper should have been my first clue.  I'll admit that I'm not a big fan of pepper, but I don't usually notice it inside of a dish.  Not this time, way too overpowering.  Here are my other gripes with this soup

• Not cheesy enough.  I doubled the amount in the recipe and sprinkled some on top and still couldn't taste it.  I blame the pepper.
• The soup was thick.  I mean really thick.  I ended up adding an extra half cup of chicken broth just to thin it out to serve it.  And it was still much more stew than soup.
• There wasn't a lot to bring this soup together.  I know soups are generally better the next day, but this one didn't even show signs of being headed in the right direction.
• I used a veggie medley that included broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, zucchini, and squash (hello, Walmart, where was the straight up California blend?!).  It was not well received with my dinner companions.  The zucchini and squash of the frozen variety got a little squishy and unappetizing.

The lesson learned here is that things don't always turn out like they should.  No matter how much you want them to.