It’s split pea or ham and potato for me.
In my mind, soup is just a technique that’s really about the stock. This is just me suggesting that you all should adopt traditional French cooking technique.
For me, it’s saving old chicken scraps and certain veggies and then cooking them until they are mush in water. Grocery store rotisserie chicken skin, bones, and juice; carrots, onions, celery, garlic. Anything getting past it’s prime. No brassicas though. I’ll throw a t bone in there, but while really good beef broth is amazing, good beef bones cost as much as real beef.
Clam juice or shrimp/crab/lobster shells sauteed in butter with water (or the aforementioned stock…) Is also awesome.
Once you’ve got that, just put anything in it. That’s good soup.
Make sure that you put the correct amount of salt in it. If there’s no salt, stock tastes terrible.
Queso
I’m trying to find my recipe but serious eats has a good one for not having to use Velveeta. Use evaporated milk and cornstarch with your shredded cheese. That’s their recipe. Then I throw in some cumin and rotel and diced chiles. Maybe taco meat if it’s the main dish. Sometimes avocado.