Cats On The Homestead: soup

Tomato soup and sandwich, perfect for winter

This is the time of year when I am happy that I canned all those tomatoes!

78 pounds of unripe tomatoes for canning

78 pounds of tomatoes harvested before the first black frost

Homemade tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich is a very satisfying and nutritious winder meal. And surprisingly, both the soup and the sandwich can be made in less than 30 minutes!

Simple and nutritious tomato soup ingredients

For the soup you will need the following:

2 Tablespoons butter

3 cloves of garlic

2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

2 cups stewed tomatoes (optional)

6 cups tomato sauce

2 teaspoons dried basil

You may also want some some shredded cheese and some baking soda... read on to learn why.

If using, drain the stewed tomatoes into a colander. I like to add the stewed tomatoes to the soup to give it a variety of textures. If you want a thin liquid soup, leave them out.

I canned these tomatoes in one pint jars but I use two jars for the soup. After draining off the liquid, there are only about 2 cups total of the tomatoes. Apparently I am not very good at packing my jars tight while canning.

Add the butter and garlic to a medium sized pan. Saute the garlic until it is light brown and makes everyone in the house hungry.

To the pan add two cups chicken or vegetable stock. If had had any homemade stock on hand I would have used that. Time to get a whole chicken! Also add the stewed tomatoes (if using) and all the tomato sauce. Stir and heat over medium heat for 10-15 minutes.

While the soup cooks, make those grilled cheese sandwiches. No recipe provided...yet.

After your 10-15 minutes of cooking time, the soup should be boiling lightly. Taste the soup. If it is too sour, sharp, acidic, or however you want to describe it, add a small pinch of baking soda to the soup and stir. It will bubble and fizz for a moment. The baking soda is neutralizing some of the acid in the tomatoes. Taste again. If still too acidic, add another pinch. I find I often add three small pinched (which is probably less than 1 teaspoon of baking soda). If you add too much baking soda the soup will taste really salty and flat and basically need to be tossed in the trash. So don't do that.

Turn off the heat and add your dried basil and stir. Let the basil sit in the soup for a couple minutes before serving. If you have fresh basil chop it up fine and add as much as you can stand. Seriously fresh basil is awesome and healthy!