I meant to comment on your purchase of the dressing too. I had no idea we could buy the dressing. I'll look for it at my next shopping trip.
this sounds like me and anything stroganoff or goulash related, had waaay too much of that as a kid/teen and would not / could not subject my own little family to them - to this day, i don't think my nearly 16yr old has ever had stroganoff or goulash, not that she'd even try it ('no' was probably one of her first words and still used mroe often than not!)
I’m not a big salad person, even though I need to eat them a lot to get my veggie quota in for the day. I recently participated in the (virtual this year) Jane Austen Summer Program, and the banquet dinner they had us all make was called Salamongundy. Basically, a mix of things thrown together! It was amazingly yummy. The best part is you can substitute all you want (for example, I used shrimp instead of chicken). I’ll have to make it again! Here’s a blog post about it from the Jane Austen Center in Bath: https://janeausten.co.uk/blogs/snacks-and-sides/to-make-salamongundy
I forgot to add my favorite of all time soup which I still need to find a recipe for: cream of asparagus champagne. Oh, it was amazing! I had it at the Good Earth restaurant in Santa Barbara, CA back in the 1970s, and I’ve never forgotten it! I do make a lot of soup in the winter, everything from Swedish split pea, butternut squash, potato, or whatever recipe I happen to find on Pinterest that day. Soups are great for me to cook because I can make it the way I can eat it, then others can add in the things they want, like meat or cheese. And they’re easy to freeze in individual serving sizes, too!