Campbell’s Soup at Hand: Chicken & Stars

Well, it’s happening–holiday season is really upon us. For me, this means shopping for a sparkly dress I’ll wear once, drinking holiday cocktails (by which I primarily mean a glass of wine in the presence of a Christmas tree), and catching my annual holiday cold. Try as I might to stop it, every year my immune system lets me down around the holidays. Like, you’d think my body would have gotten used to wearing miniskirts in 30-degree weather by now.

Even worse than sniffling into my eggnog at night is dealing with my cold at work. Maybe Georgia wouldn’t understand my plight because she sneezes about 30 times a day on a regular basis (seriously…it’s concerning), but I don’t like to be sneezing and sniffling constantly throughout the workday. Not because it might bother my coworkers, but because reaching for a tissue every three minutes interrupts my OWN important thoughts, like what I’m wearing to dinner that night and how to trick my boyfriend into seeing “New Year’s Eve” with me. (Suggestions extremely welcomed.)

Hey, it was #1 last weekend--so what if it was the worst box office weekend since 2008?

So I obviously need to get rid of this cold pronto, and everybody knows the best way to do that is with some good, old-fashioned chicken noodle soup. That’s when I turn to Campbell’s Soup at Hand. Unlike normal soup cans, which you have to actually open and pour into a bowl, and then maybe even clean the bowl afterwards YOURSELF like some plebeian, Campbell’s Soup at Hand is in a convenient, hand-held, serving-size container that you can pop right into the microwave and pop right into the trash when you’re done. I love the Chicken & Stars kind because the whole thing is only 70 calories, and because I like chicken, and also because I am a star. For all those with my holiday ailment and my aversion towards preparing or cleaning up food, I have found your soupy savior.

And they thought Jesus was a miracle!

SkinnySubmission: E.A.T. Chicken Vegetable Soup

New Yorkers, listen up: Carbs, even chemically-flavored ones that come in unsatisfyingly portion controlled packaging, will make you fat. Chicken broth, on the other hand, is salty and filling and is 15 calories a cup which is the same as 1.5 pieces of Orbit. And there are no noodles in the E.A.T. soup–just vegetables and CHICKEN. The only problem is that E.A.T. is located at 82nd and Madison.

Totally worth the travel time.

Yes, I understand that unless you are a nanny, dog walker, or teacher at #dalton, your office is most likely a good 30-60 blocks from here. Which means you better put down those 27 chips, stop skyping your infant nephew, and start walking bitch!

Sisi, 24, political consultant 

Imagine Organic Creamy Broccoli Soup

Well, I officially lost my mind last night. I was at a wonderful event for the Make-a-Wish Foundation, and if I was capable of behaving like a normal person, the whole night could’ve gone very smoothly and I wouldn’t be sitting here blogging at 6:41am. But of course that didn’t happen. It all started when I walked in and was greeted with a glass of champagne and a tray of mini crab cakes. Anyone who shares my maniacal lust for shellfish knows that it’s impossible to say no to crab cakes, and blinded by my crustacean love, I overlooked the fact that each of these little gems has more calories than I like to eat in an entire day, stealthily slipped 5 deep-fried monsters into my hand, and headed over to the silent auction table.

I ate 20 times this. Whoops.

I swallowed the crab cakes whole– just popped them in my mouth like they were birth control pills– and wiped my greasy palm on my silk dress. You see, I didn’t want the pen to slip out of my hand as I placed bids on everything from 5 orchestra tickets to Anything Goes to Lasik surgery to 2 round trip tickets to London. For the sake of my integrity (and because I haven’t broken the news to my parents yet), I’m not going to reveal which prizes I won. But I’m pretty certain someone will be getting their wish this holiday season! (And it’s not my dad…)

Liquid Silk

100 crab cakes and two grand prizes later, I arrived home feeling a bit guilty about my overall overindulgence. In order to redeem myself, the only thing I will be indulging in today is Imagine Organic Creamy Broccoli Soup. With only 60 calories and 1.5 grams of fat per cup, I can eat an entire box of this soup and still not come close (calorie wise) to the Crab Cake Disaster of 2011. I really thought this soup would be watery– I mean, the first ingredient listed is filtered water– but Imagine broccoli soup is so creamy and smooth it actually tastes like silk. Elena and I first tried this soup yesterday at the office, and we spent about 15 minutes discussing its virtues. If you don’t have a microwave at work this isn’t the option for you, but if you do, it only takes two minutes to heat up and it’s a great snack for the cold weather. Also, the soup only costs about $5 a box so my credit card will be happy to get a break today!

If anyone else is feeling as generous as I was last night, you can click here to read more about or donate to Make-a-Wish. Thank god they don’t have any online auctions…I have enough problems with Shopbop.