Soup's On!

Campbell's tomato soup was a "comfort" soup of my mom's when I was growing up, so I remember having it frequently.  Many years ago I experimented to see if I could make my own homemade tomato soup that would be a bit more nutritious.  I think I combined a couple of recipes and came up with this that I really like.

Whenever I make it, I always double the recipe and then freeze half of it to have on hand for later.  Because it's a "cream" soup which will sometimes (but not always) curdle after being frozen, I've chosen to freeze half the portion of the tomato mixture and then add the milk when I defrost and heat up the soup.  When I made it yesterday, I threw caution to the wind (I know, scary, huh?) and added the milk to the whole batch I made.  Now it will be interesting to see if that was a good (or bad) idea when I use the soup (with the milk already in it) I froze.

Anyway, here is my recipe, not doubled, which makes three or four servings.

Comfort Cream of Tomato Soup

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons chopped onion

3 tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper (less if desired)

A dash each of garlic powder,

dried basil, dried oregano, and

dried thyme

1 - 14.5 oz. can stewed tomatoes

(Or 2 cups home canned tomatoes)

2 cups milk

Saute the butter and onion in a large

saucepan.  Blend in flour, sugar, salt,

pepper and herbs.  Remove from heat.

Put the (undrained) tomatoes in

a blender and blend until smooth.

Gradually stir into mixture in

soup pot.  Bring to a boil,

stirring constantly.  Boil for 1

minute longer, still stirring.

Stir milk into hot tomato mixture

gradually.  Put this whole mixture

back into the blender and puree

to make the soup very smooth and

creamy.

Return mixture to soup pot and heat

until very warm, being careful not

to boil.

Serves 3-4.

I always use whole raw milk when I make this soup.  If you wanted to be really decadent, you could us some half and half or even cream.  Enjoy!