tomato soup- from scratch!

"Do you have a kinder, more adaptable friend in the food world than soup? Who soothes you when you are ill? Who refuses to leave you when you are impoverished and stretches its resources to give a hearty sustenance and cheer? Who warms you in the winter and cools you in the summer? Yet who also is capable of doing honor to your richest table and impressing your most demanding guests? Soup does its loyal best, no matter what undignified conditions are imposed upon it. You don't catch steak hanging around when you're poor and sick, do you?"
~Judith Martin (Miss Manners)


Put down that condensed soup can! You will never need it again. I promise you. No more processed soup for you!!!

I saw this recipe on pinterest but adapted it a bit.....what a perfect bowl of love on a rainy seattle day! What you will need is:

-2 cans crushed tomatoes (you can go fancy and get a southwest or Italian style)
-2 cups soup stock (veggie, chicken, whatever you like- though I would steer away from bouillon cubes since it contains lots of MSG and sodium)
-clove of garlic, minced
-splash of olive oil
-splash o milk, cream, buttermilk (whatever you have on hand)

optional:
-handful of freshly choppped basil
-cheese please! I threw in some feta in mine to mellow out the flavors- but its up to you!
-any other addings you would like : frozen corn, goldfish crackers, herbal seasonings, red pepper flakes, Tabasco sauce ect

what to do:
put on some sweet tunes. seriously! we have been listening to some records of fleetwood mac and it makes all the difference in the world. well...maybe not..... but i like it ;)

heat up your olive oil in a deep skillet on low, then add garlic and saute for a minute- dont burn it though!!! add your tomatoes and simmer for a few minutes.....get that broth ready! put broth in a medium sized pot with any seasonings you would like (salt, pepper, ect) and add tomatoes from skillet. stir together, and of possible- use immersion blender to smooth out soup. add splash o milk/cream/buttermilk to smooth out flavor and add any other ingredients you would like and serve! I would say this would go perfect with a grilled cheese...but I like cheese on everything.

until next time- happy cooking and lots of love
~r


ps- special shoutout to e-liz and jesse! thanks for your blogging encouragement! ;)