An older post but still a valid contribution. Sugars will help with sour and acidic foods. Apple is full of sugar, especially cider, but a natural sugar. I often us a bit of maple syrup. I just made a rhubarb chili. Very well knowing i would be dealing with a 'sour/tart' flavor. I used a couple grated carrots and an 1/2 apple i had leftover from a fruit salad... Still a bit tart and way too spicy by over-doing the chipotle, i sauteed another onion and a cup of edamame and a can of garbanzo beans...delish finally. With a dollop of yogurt, fetta, fresh cilantro cream, it paired well with the spicy tart chili. A left over chunk of parm rind is so good in the last 45 min of any hearty soup. I often add when i'm heating up a frozen qrt of homemade.

This is my mother's recipe for Spaghetti Sauce. It is wonderful! SPAGHETTI SAUCE Mix together: 2 Pounds Ground Beef 1 Cup Bread Crumbs 2 Beaten Eggs 1 Tablespoon Parsley Flakes 2 Teaspoons Salt 1 Teaspoon Pepper Fry a Clove of Garlic in 4 Tablespoons Olive Oil; then discard Garlic. Put large chopped Onion in Oil; stir around, almost to browning. Put Meat in skillet; break up, cook almost to browning. Then put in kettle. Add: 1-1/2 - 2 Quarts (3 small cans or 2 large cans) Tomatoes - put through sieve (throw seeds away) 2 Large plus 1 Small Cans Tomato Paste (plus couple of cans of water) 2 Teaspoons Italian Seasoning 1/2 Teaspoon Oregano 1 Bay Leaf Stalk of celery (chopped fine) 2 Teaspoons Parsley Flakes 1/2 Green Pepper (chopped fine) 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce 2 Cloves Garlic (discard after cooking) (Can substitute garlic powder) Little Basil Leaf (sift in) 1/3 Cup Sugar 1/8 Teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper (sift in) Cook 2-1/2 - 3 hours, until oil comes to top MEATBALLS 2 Pounds Ground Beef 2 Beaten Eggs 3 Spoons Parmesan Cheese (optional) 5 Tablespoons Bread Crumbs 1 Teaspoon Parsley Flakes 1 Chopped Onion Italian Seasoning Chopped Garlic Clove Salt and Pepper to Taste Mix and make meatballs; either bake or fry until they start to get a little brown.

The Bear Creek navy Bean soup is ok for a "once in awhile" soup. As posters above have noted, it is heavy on salt, but this can be diluted if you add stuff to the mix and the additions have little to no salt. It is improved with the addition of meat. Diced ham slices go well. Canned chicken breast is good also. Dice Spam works too, but this may not lower the salt load. I haven't checked the salt content of Spam. You can add no-fat milk, but be careful. Too much milk will increase the tnedancy to boil over during the cooking phase (about 10 minutes for altitudes under 2000 ft.) Adding liquids, milk, V8 tomato juice, or water, will thin the soup, but more about that later. At the end of the cooking phase, lower the flame to minimum and stir in potato flakes to thicken. Add spices to taste. The soup mix already contains spices and flavorings. Adding the wrong spices/flavorings can mess up the soup. Experiment to suit your taste. If you like strong spicy soups, add stuff like horseradish sauce, or your favorite pepper sauce. A little Louisana hot sauce adds a kick. If pepper sauce has not been added to soup pot, freshly ground black pepper added to taste in your bowl goes well. Low sodium soda crackers add a nice finish. Instead of regular crackers, try oyster crackers. These do wonders for a soup.

Your soup night sounds fab! We did a nod to it being Christmas Eve with a beaded tree for a centerpiece. Ann T., avoid your eyes, and skip the rest. :) Soup was minestrone flavored stone soup. I think the caterer left as much food as was served at our big party, so there were a lot of celery and carrots, grape tomatoes, cauliflower and broccoli left. Those were all diced for the soup, plus a couple of onions, half a head of garlic, some yellow vine tomatoes, a bag of baby kale and a white cabbage. So I didn't have to go down to the garage, the base was what I had in the kitchen freezer. That's three cups of low FODMAP chicken stock and three cups of beefy cabbage soup. I added a can of crushed tomatoes, a small can of fire roasted, and a smaller can of tomato sauce, plus vegetarian no-MSG bouillion and a little jarred soup base, for the salt. :) Some pepper, Tabasco (because I was too tired to clean serrano peppers from the garden) and mostly red wine. The starter was salmon salad made from the cranberry mustard salmon skewers leftover, broken up and dressed with what I think was the remoulade from the fried chicken drummettes. It had separated, and was a thick mayonnaise consistency and very herby, with a good acid sharpness that went well with the fish (which hadn't gone fishy). That was served with the leftover tortilla chips and relishes: baby corn, spiced baby carrots, pickle chips, raddishes and mixed olives. I also made some kale chips for something light. :) The soup was served alongside a leftovers casserole: a layer of latkes on the bottom (I thought they'd make it easier to serve but they fell apart), then layers of jewel rice, butternut curry, chopped broccoli, then filled with a bread pudding made from dry, bready donut holes, a (new) pretzel baguette, the chicken from the drummettes, the Moroccan beef cubes from another skewer, a couple of sundried tomato chicken sausages I had in the fridge to add more meat, and a couple of (new) leeks sautéed with a packet of small diced pancetta. There was cinnamon on the donut holes, the flavor of which came up more in the custard than it had on the donuts, but it went well with the garlic pepper I seasoned it with. Dessert was a tarte made from a sheet of frozen puff pastry that needed using. It was brushed with leftover passion fruit sauce, topped with leftover crème anglaise, and leftover fruit. :) There were also everybody's favorite freshly baked Toll House cookies from the Toll House cookie expert and party colored Dutch chocolate half dollars (leftover). The pudding casserole could have been improved upon (custard in the bottom layer under the curry to glue it together--the curry was a rich paste so I thought it would do the job, but it just softened everything--and cut up the donut holes smaller so they'd stick better), but everyone liked it and ate well of it. I heard a few "stuffed"'s. :) My fridges heaved sighs of relief to see so many containers removed! Most of all, we had a delightful evening with loved ones who couldn't be at the big party.