This is a great recipe if your fridge is out of control! I used the recipe as a base and made a few changes because of what I needed to use up. I started by using 8 cups of low-sodium chicken broth, 1/2 cup of rice (this is the thickener). I didn't have onions, so I used scapes (flowering tops of garlic), I tripled the carrots, and used at least 2 cups each of lettuce and spinach. I also added lovage (about 1/4 cup). I needed to use the lovage and it has a natural salt flavor, so I didn't need to add any salt to the recipe. I used a giant pot, so I did not have to wilt the lettuce and spinach separately, I just added it in at the end and covered for approx 2 minutes. I ended up pureeing only 3/4 of the soup. I thought that a little texture would suit my family. I put the sour cream in a plastic bag and cut off the end to squeeze and swirl on top of this soup. My ENTIRE family loved it(even my kids ages 3 & 5). It is a very fresh tasting, perfect for summer soup! Serve hot or cold! Thank you so much for this great recipe!

This soup is really good, although I thought it tasted better hot. It was easy to make, though, and it's very pretty, too.

Admittedly, I was bit skeptical but delivered a bunch of butter lettuce that I didn't know what to do with, so I found this recipe. I am glad I tried it, this recipe is awesome. The flavor is amazing and this recipe is extremely flexible. I made this even though I was missing a few components: parsley, cayenne pepper, and celery. I used only 2 cans of broth, and about the same amount of spinach and butter lettuce as required by the 7 servings recipe. I added about 1 tbs butter, thyme and oregano spices, and otherwise followed the recipe as indicated. No doubt this would be even BETTER with the celery and parsley as the recipe states. I wonder what this would taste like with brown rice instead of white (for a different texture, nuttier flavor). IMPORTANT: PLEASE BE CAREFUL WHILE BLENDING HOT ITEMS. The pressure will cause the hot soup to shoot through the blender top AND the peephole cap, even if fully secure. You may want to let this cool some before blending (not sure if this will affect the recipe) or put a towel over the top and cap. I got a pretty nasty burn on my hand and was fortunate that it didn't shoot into my face.

I started making this recipe, intending to do as it says and blend the soup. Then realized that I didn't have a blender available!! (cooking at my boyfriend's condo) So I threw a little more rice in, and we ate it without blending it. It was delicious and filling just like that. That being said, I will definitely try this again when I actually have a blender!