Potato, Spinach and Artichoke Soup from the February 2008 issue of Every Day with Rachael Ray.

It tastes better than it looks, I promise...
Substitutions: Surprisingly, I only made one ingredient substitution for this recipe! My silly supermarket didn’t have any frozen artichokes (but had more kinds of frozen broccoli than anyone could ever need), so I bought a can of un-marinated, “ready to serve” ones. As far as I can tell, they worked just fine.
Recipe comments: I made a pretty big mess of the kitchen with this one. Honestly, that’s par for the course, but this one seemed especially bad. I neglected to thaw the frozen spinach, so I spent a while thawing it in the microwave, which somehow resulted in a lot of it getting all over the kitchen. Furthermore, even though this recipe was found in the 30 Minute Meals section of the magazine, it took me over an hour to prepare. I don’t know why. Either Rachael’s crazy or I’m slow. Maybe both.
Reaction: I liked this soup a lot, though I’ll amend that by adding that I love soup, especially when spinach and potatoes are involved. At any rate, it was pretty light and tasted great. Even my dad, who I’d been harassing for days about the fact that artichokes were included (“eww…”) had two bowls.
Also, I just need to share this photo of the bread I made, from a Pillsbury can:
I have no idea why it came out that way…I just popped the can and put it in the oven, as per the directions. It tasted fine and added some humor to the meal.