Homemade Tomato Soup

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

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!

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!

My husband loves to add a clump of shredded cheddar cheese to the soup. I just dip my grilled cheese sandwich in the soup. Enjoy.

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Projects, Projects and More

So with our 2,200 mile road trip a couple weeks ago and the first day of kindergarten this week, I have felt like I am running a race.  And I keep trying to get to the computer to write a few blog posts but have just been so busy and, frankly, tired. 

Can you guess where we went?

So when I finally got seated in front of the keyboard, my mind went blank.  Frustrated, I got up and took a walk around the house while I searched for my muse.  Apparently she was in the kitchen. 

It was when I walked into the kitchen I notice why I felt so busy.  There are projects everywhere.  So I thought I would show you a few of the things I have been up to.  Hopefully I will be able to reduce each of them down into a blog post with instructions soon.

Humming Bird Nectar

Nectar for the feeder along with a very attractive wasp trap (see below).  But given that my humming bird friend is drinking from the feeder immediately below the wasp trap shows that she doesn't care and that the trap is doing its job.  The wasps try to chase the humming birds away.  Up here in the northland we have Ruby Throated Humming Birds.  In the photo above and below is a little girl hatched this year.

One of my little friends.  I cannot believe my terrible camera got the picture.  I think she was posing for me.  She hung out with me for a few minutes talking to me.  Also in the picture are two wasp traps (see below) and my kitchen window (close up of the screen is also below).

Wasp Traps

Wasp Trap from a water bottle.  Pleasant photo I know.

Why we need wasp traps (there are usually dozens and dozens of these guys around).  Yes that is a white/bald faced hornet eating grape jelly along with a yellow jacket.

Why I have grape jelly on a plate on my patio.  That is a Baltimore Oriole (and a really great close up of my kitchen window screen).



Two wasp traps hanging from my Oriole feeder.  Those two bowls are full of grape jelly.

Crock (fermented) Pickles and by pickles I mean vegetables including cucumbers, onions, carrots and peppers.

Pancake and Sausage (or chocolate chip) Muffins

Cucumber and Tomato Salad
(recipe and photos coming)

Seed Saving Peppers, Tomatoes and Cucumbers

Yellow and purple peppers ready to go.

Dehydrating Tomatoes

Several pounds of tomatoes dehydrated and ready to store in the frig.

 Harvesting Corn

Ready to Pick

Corn Smut - in some places n the world this is considered a delicacy.  Not at my house, but some other places.

Browsing Pinterest - ok so you probably don't need a photo or instructions for this one.

Now I don't feel so bad about the shortage of posts.  I have been busy.  Have a great day!

Don't forget to follow me on Facebook and Pinterest.

Randomness

Since things have been rather slow outside given our extremely late start of the season, here are some random pictures from around our suburban homestead.

I thought I should start with pictures of some of the cats on our homestead.  This first one is Widgy Cat, my pseudo name.  

Widgy Cat

Given that I have an ongoing law practice and have disclosed here that we are working on making a big move to another state to start a new business and homestead out in the country, it seems reasonable to keep a certain amount of anonymity for now.

Chatty

Sparks

Grapevines are starting to bloom

Peppers!

Finally Tomatoes!

We hilled our potatoes with compost this weekend.