Tomato Soup

This tomato soup is simple and tasty! If you love tomato soup, you will REALLY love the flavor and ease of this recipe. I grew up on Campbell’s, and although I always LOVED the soup, I never knew the incredible goodness of HOMEMADE Tomato Soup until adulthood. One of my client-friends turned me onto her stovetop recipe, while another enlightened me to her crockpot recipe. I decided to take the two, along with my OWN additions, and what I had on hand, and found a marriage of flavor and simplicity that is most complimentary. Let me just say, this ain’t yo’mama’s Campbell’s, but I bet you’ll have a hard time going back to it once your taste buds experience THIS! My kids have offered this a “TWO-THUMBS UP “award, and I hope yours will too! When I discover a recipe that is not only tasty, but easy, it’s a win-win AND a no-brainer! I hope you and yours enjoy this lycopene-rich dish as much as ours does! Please leave your comments about YOUR experience with this recipe- I value your feedback! b’OMMM’appetite!

Place in a LARGE crockpot while on “LOW”

4 cans tomatoes

Handful of Spinach

¾ Sweet YELLOW onion; skinned; quartered

5-10 Carrots, broken in half

5-10 Celery stalks, broken in half

5-10 Cloves of garlic; skinned

1.5 Quart of Broth

(use what you desire here; vegetable OR bone)

1 C Green Tea (this is completely optional, but one of those inspired additions that wound up adding a subtle enhancement)

Sea Salt as desired

 (I usually add 3 T; 2 T if salt was added to tomatoes)

Pepper as desired

 

Once all ingredients are added, turn to “High” & allow to cook for 4 full hours. You may leave this soup on LOW if you are unable to attend it throughout the day and will not be returning to it for several hours. Before serving or canning, blend with emersion blender and add any additional spices you may feel it lacks.  You will need to blend for 2-3 minutes to ensure you thorough chop and blend all the produce. If you don’t have an emersion mixer, a large food processor will do. Just be cautious when transferring hot contents from one location to the other. I know it SHOULD go without saying, but soup splatters AND burns! I like to blend, add my butter, prep enough for dinner, and set aside the rest for immediate canning.  If you prefer to freeze your additional portions, be sure to allow for ample cooling PRIOR to bagging in FREEZER BAGS. This will prevent any bags from melting, as well as preserve the flavor without leaving that plastic bag after taste. See that you label with the CONTENTS & DATE.

VARIATIONS:

Should you prefer the taste of a Tomato-Basil soup, follow above, but add fresh Basil (aprx. 1-2 hardy handfuls, stem and all) after soup has rested and BEFORE reheating. The robust flavor and powerful impact from the ingestion of the oils is more PUNGENT if it can be released after MINIMAL heat exposure and closest to the time of consumption. YOU CAN add the basil right before blending and prior to canning, but I find it tastes best to add the Basil at the time you plan to serve it, even if that means two years after canning, but do what works for you in way of time and taste.

Should you wish to “bulk up” your soup, add one stick of butter to the pot, along with aprx. 1 Cup of flour before blending the veggies. This addition really depends on your texture preference. The pureed veggies will have already provided a fairly thick base, but some prefer a thicker, creamier soup. If after blending the butter and flour, you STILL wish it to be creamier, slowly add aprx. ½ C-1 C heavy cream or whole milk. I would hold off on adding the milk or cream should you plan to store.

Serve this with whatever goodness you prefer. We LOVE tomato soup with popcorn at our house. A grilled cheese is always satisfying and pleasing to add to the plate, too. Crackers, croutons, chips or cheese, you will find the simplicity of the soup can be complimented with JUST ABOUT anything.  b’OMMM’ APPETITE!