Tomato Basil Soup

Ah, tomato basil soup. I have avoided you for almost 30 years because I don't like tomato soup. How could I have been so wrong??

I ordered some up for the baby at this restaurant we were at, since he loves tomatoes. I tasted it myself out of curiosity and it was delish!! So then I had to try and copycat it at home. All that is in it is a big can of whole tomatoes, a ton of basil from my garden and some cream. I decided to put some onions in it too. Once it cooked for awhile, I buzzed it with the hand blender and it was good to go! Parents and babies alike think it is a keeper!

Ginger soup

Last night we had what may be (I hope) one of the last cold nights, until next winter. We celebrated it with soup. This time the recipe came from a Martha magazine. It is super easy. All you do is simmer some ginger and scallions in chicken broth (or in our case, not-chicken broth), and put in whatever you want. We used carrots, mushrooms and pad thai noodles. We topped it with some more scallion and Sriracha and it was really good. This is going to become a new staple, no matter if it is cold out or not!

Vegetable soup

We went for a couple of weeks where it was REALLY cold out. Not like, duh it is winter cold, but single digit high's cold. That means soup for dinner! The biggest success I had was this vegetable soup. I used adzuki beans, carrots, onions, green beans, celery, mushrooms, and tomatoes. The base was not-chicken broth, and the tomato juice that is in the cans of the tomatoes. I seasoned with mostly oregano, and some thyme. Basically, I threw it all in the pot and cooked it for, oh I don't know. Maybe 1-2 hours. However long it took to get the baby to sleep that night, really. MMMM it was so good, if I do say so myself!

Snow day

We had 2 snow days this past week, so I made soup, of course! This time was lentil soup with rosemary. In the dutch oven, I sauteed onions , then added carrots, celery, and tomatoes (one of my own cans!). I cooked all of that for just a few minutes, then added a bag of lentils, a bunch of rosemary, and a box of broth. I cooked it for maybe 45-60 minutes, till the lentils were cooked, and presto! It was good. and the rosemary cooked down so soft, it didn't matter if you ate it or not. The recipe called for fresh, but I used dried, and I forgot to crush it first. We have tons from a rosemary tree we had been growing, that died. Dead=dried for you!