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No, this post has nothing to do with those other soup books full of heart-warming stories and smile inducing quips. When I say "soup," I mean hot, liquidy meal. And when I say "soul," I mean my actual physical person, as well as that of my husband's. I suppose, if we are going to be honest - which I always try my best to be so with you all - I am not talking about soup at all, but rather chowder. The perennial New England favorite, with a slight twist.

The 99 Restaurant makes a delicious, creamy seafood chowder that my hubby just adores. Being the adventurous home-chef that I am, I decided to make a crock of it. The shrimp were tender, the scallops were sweet, the cod was beautiful. . .Now, because it's just the two of us and we are both very busy, without the pickiness of some other eaters, we don't mind leftovers in the least. When I cook, I make enough to last a couple of days.

This time I went overboard: I made enough to feed a small army. Or at the very least, twelve people in one sitting. By day three of soup, for lunch and dinner, we were chowdered out. I couldn't, however, bring myself to throw it out or even give it away. We are in the middle of a recession, and every penny counts. Including the $12.23 that went to just the scallops alone.

What's a savy cook to do?

Robin Miller, of Food Network fame, would know exactly how to approach my little dilemma, I assured myself. After all, her philosophy on her fabulous show, Quick Fix Meals with Robin Miller, is to take a few key ingredients, and basically reinvent them to create new meals throughout the week. Like my Argentinian mother always says, "Nada se tira, todo se transforma." (Nothing is thrown away, everything is transformed).

Okay, so I could see how I could take the remaining roasted chicken meat and turn it into chicken pot pie, but how does a girl reinvent chowder? I mean, soups and chowders are usually the final transformation of the week's leftovers, not the starting point.

Undaunted, I knew a solution was possible. That is when I remembered rice. "I like risotto," I told myself. "And the other half likes risotto," I continued, "so why not make a seafood risotto-esque casserole?" I was beaming when, an hour later, a creamy, seafood rich rice dish was pulled out of the oven. Not only did it smell and taste good, I only had half a chowder bowl left to contend with.

Two days later, still flying high on the wings of victory, I figured the chowder could be turned into a delightful alfredo sauce, if enough cheese were grated into it. Thirty minutes later, my darling and I sat down to a very tasty plate of thin spaghetti with a just-thick-enough seafood alfredo, topped with some fresh thyme. I was tickled pink.

And, come to find out, my foray into soup-turned-sauce isn't all that radical. Campbell's Soup has been promoting that route for years. Who doesn't have a fond memory for the green bean or tuna noodle casserole? All I did was sczhush it up a bit.

"Soup's on" has been given a whole new meaning, at least in the Lopes household.