Copycat Recipe: Dixie Stampede Creamy Vegetable Soup

Our family absolutely loves playing tourist and hoping over into the next county over and visiting the Dixie Stampede (the name has since changed to Dolly's Stampede). It is truly an experience our kids have NEVER forgotten.

For the longest time, our youngest daughter (2/3 yrs old at the time) thought that every American flag was called "Stampede". It is a cute memory we still laugh about today.

If you have never been, Dixie Stampede is a dinner theater show that is based in the Antebellum/Civil War era. While you eat, you watch amazing riders do tricks and competitions with horses, pigs, and more. Oh and it is the "north" side vs the "south" side (seating). That's where the competition part comes in.

You get to eat the most delicious home-cooked style meal- Cornish hen roasted, biscuit, potatoes, corn on the cob, drinks out of mason jars, apple turnovers for dessert, and the BEST creamy vegetable soup you'll ever pop in your mouth. Seriously, my kids, even the pickiest ones, fight over this soup. And I think part of the best experience is that you eat with your hands. Yup. NO SILVERWARE- A kid's DREAM! So you sup that soup straight out of the bowl. (Although if you ask my dad who is from MI, he will tell you that the North side gets silverware...which is a running joke in our home)

While we absolutely LOVE this meal, it can be rather costly for our large family to attend. (I'll let you look up the ticket prices for yourself.) My kids always beg to go for the soup! So I bought the mix in the gift shop and it was nearly $10/bag and we needed several bags to fill the bellies of our large family. In the end, the prepackage powdered soup mix just did not do the REAL DEAL justice. So after visiting several more times with friends and family and asking workers countless questions, I finally uncovered ingredient by ingredient what makes the REAL DEAL the REAL DEAL.

So I hope that this copycat recipe of Dixie Stampede creamy vegetable soup hits the spot in your soul that craves this comfort food.
And may your belly (and wallet) be full!