My Favorite Tomato Soup

(source)

I have always had a special place in my heart (or I suppose in my stomach!) for tomato soup. My mom would cut up little chunks of cheese and put those in our bowls and then ladle the hot tomato soup over the cheese...it would get all melty and delicious...yum. Nothing better than grilled cheese and tomato soup. So, with all this lovely SNOW and freezing cold weather this week I have been craving soup. Have I mentioned even once or twice how much I dislike winter?? Seriously, the amount of snow at the end of our driveway from the town plow is ridiculous! We live on a corner so Mr. Plow Dude gathers up all this snow coming around the bend and deposits it in the first driveway, which is, of course, OURS! These are the things no one tells you when you are buying your house! And the problem here is that I get up at 5:30 am to get Lulu on the bus but the Mayor doesn't have to get up until 8-ish for work. I feel bad waking him up so early to snow blow the driveway so Lulu and I just shovel a path. Well, then the crazy, perfectionist part of me can't leave the driveway with just one path, so I end up shoveling the whole thing! It's not too bad until you get to the icy, chunky part left at the end by Mr. Plow Dude. And all while I shovel I think about all the people who are at Disney wearing their flip-flops and capri pants. JEALOUS!

Anywhoo, back to the soup. This is my favorite, favorite soup in the whole entire universe. It is a Wegmans recipe and they sell it already made...sometimes...not much anymore because it is an older recipe and has been replaced by newer (and less delicious) soups! When this was on the soup bar, I would get it for lunch and it may have been the only time I was excited to go to work! They printed the recipe in the Wegmans Menu magazine and it is definitely worth trying. It is a textured tomato soup because of the veggies and pasta and it does have a little cream in it. I will "un-Wegman-ize" the recipe in case you don't shop there...wait, do people actually shop other places? Inconceivable.

Tomato Basil with Orzo Soup

1 pkg (8 oz) cleaned and cut Mirepoix which is a fancy French word for onions, carrots and celery so, if you want to do this yourself use 1 cup onion, 1/2 c celery and 1/2 c carrot all finely diced

2 Tbsp oil

1 Tbsp chopped garlic
1 can (28 oz) Kitchen Cut Roma Tomatoes with Basil

1 can (28 oz) Crushed Tomatoes with Italian Herbs (use 2 of these if you can't find Roma Tomatoes with Basil)

1 carton (32 oz) vegetable stock

salt and pepper
2 roasted red peppers, diced (available in a jar or from the olive/Mediterranean bar)
1 cup orzo soup pasta
1 cup light cream
2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil

Add mirepoix and oil to large pot on med-high. Cook, stirring, 6-7 minutes. Add garlic. Cook 2 minutes, until vegetables are tender.

Add tomatoes, simmer 10 minutes. Add stock, return to simmer. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Add red pepper and pasta. Simmer 8-10 minutes, stirring often, until pasta is firm but tender. Remove from heat.

Temper cream...pour cream into a medium bowl, add a few ladles of hot soup to slowly raise temperature of cream. Add cream mixture to soup, fold in basil. Serve.
Makes 13 cups. About 170 calories per cup.

If you decide to make some, just let me know what time to come over! The recipe also says it freezes very well if 13 cups of soup seems daunting.

Nel's smile for the week: We made Mar's knee-high baby Jesus in 4 year old Cubbies this week! Some of the faces on baby Jesus were very original!!
Nel's frown for the week: How many weeks until Spring??

Lulu's smile for the week: No school on Monday! Honors to you MLK!
Lulu's frown for the week: The Christmas tree must finally come down this weekend...yes we are the weirdos who still have our tree up, we're busy, okay? Back off people!