Tomato Soup That's REALLY MMM MMM GOOD!

I was so surprised last night at the New Weigh meeting how many people have NEVER tried to make their own tomato soup. It's so easy and versatile. You can used canned tomatoes, garden tomatoes, roasted tomatoes... and don't get me started on the variety of vegetables and herbs you can throw in there! Here is the very basic recipe I use. Feel free to do whatever you want to this - herbs, garlic, salsa, hot sauce, roasted red pepper, sun-dried tomato, cheeses - you name it.

First off - this is a list of the ingredients in a bowl of Campbell's Tomato Soup (c)

Ingredients

Tomato Puree (Water, Tomato Paste)Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup,Wheat Flour, Salt, Vegetable Oil (Corn, Cottonseed, Canola and/or Soybean)Flavoring, Ascorbic Acid, and Citric Acid.

Seriously???? You want to feed this to your family?

Let's try this easy peasy recipe.

Joni's Basic Tomato Soup

1 small onion diced

1 tbsp canola or olive oil

2 14 oz cans diced tomatoes (or about 2 pounds fresh)

2 chopped carrots

2 c chicken broth

1 tsp dried parsley flakes

1/4 tsp dried thyme

1/2 cup fat free half and half (fat free evaporated milk would work too)

salt and pepper

Parmesan cheese for topping (optional) 

Heat oil in a stockpot and add the onion, cooking until soft. Add the spices and cook until fragrant. Add the tomatoes, carrots and broth. Bring to a boil and then cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes. Puree with an immersion blender or carefully transfer to a blender to process in small batches. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add the FF half and half to make as creamy as you desire. Top with cheese.

Yummy Italian Casserole

This is almost three ingredients, if you don't count the topping. I used to have a three ingredient cookbook and most the dishes were meat, noodle, and some sort of cream of whatever soup. I can guarantee you this is MUCH healthier and better tasting.

1/2 pound of lean hamburger or ground turkey browned
1/2 cup of chopped onion browned with the meat
1 can of diced Italian tomatoes, drained
2 cups of cauliflower florets
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Place the browned meat/onion mixture in the bottom of an 8x8 casserole. Place the cauliflower in a microwave safe bowl, cover with plastic wrap and cook on high for 3 minutes. When it is done, dice it small and mix into the meat. Top it all with the tomatoes and mix up a bit in the dish.  Top all of this with the cheese and bake at 350 for 25 minutes until the cheese is browned.

My ten year old said "It tastes like spaghetti". That's a pretty good compliment when you take into consideration her love affair with spaghetti :)

Sausage - Bean Casserole

I guess, if this had chicken and duck and you used dried beans and soaked them overnight and then you roasted you're own meat and cooked it in an earthenware dish, then the French wouldn't yell at you for calling it a "Cassoullet", but I'll pass! This was quick and tasty and a great way to use of the last of the tomatoes from the garden. You could easily add some chicken to this. I just didn't have any thawed. Tweaked a recipe from recipezaar for this.

1 lb of chicken sausage (I used a spicy sausage from Trader Joes)
1 diced onion
2 cloves garlic, diced
1/2 cup red wine
2 large or 3 medium tomatoes chopped
1 tsp Herbs de Provence seasoning (or 1/2 tsp dried thyme and 1/2 tsp dried rosemary)
1 can white or great northern beans (I found some Bush's beans that were a mixture of both) - drained and rinsed
2 heaping tsp REAL bacon bits (not those crunchy orange things)
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs

Brown the sausage in a skillet. Remove and saute onions and garlic in the drippings (add a little canola or olive oil if needed) until soft. Add the wine and reduce by half. Add in the tomatoes and seasonings. Saute until tomatoes are softened. Then add beans, real bacon bits and sausage. Transfer to baking dish and top with bread crumbs. Bake at 325 for about 1 1/2 hours.

This is SO much better the next day. So make ahead if you want and pop in the oven when you get home from work.