Traditional Tomato Soup

When I grew up, Fridays always meant Traditional Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches for dinner. Over lunch this past week, at least a dozen of my co-workers admitted that one of their favourite food memories from their own childhood was the tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwich combo.

Now that I am grown up, but don’t want to grow out I’ve made some changes. I rarely eat grains at all, so that generally eliminates the grilled cheese sandwich. Bummer. They really were delicious.

Of course, if you do eat grains, stone ground whole grain bread with a slice of organic cheddar cheese can make one beauty of a gourmet grilled cheese sandwich. However, the best way to ruin a Maximized gourmet style soup and sandwich combo is to open a can of condensed tomato soup containing very few tomatoes and many additives, preservatives, bad fats, and sugars. This tomato soup recipe is made with fresh tomatoes, and takes very little time to prepare.

Traditional Tomato Soup Recipe

Serves 2-4

Ingredients

• 4 peeled, seeded, and roughly chopped fresh tomatoes
• 1 roughly chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic, grated or diced
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 3 to 4 cups of organic chicken stock
• 2 to 3 tablespoons tomato paste (no sugar – check the ingredients on the label)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk, organic cream or milk, or a combination

Directions

1. Remove the core and cut an “x” into the bottom side of each tomato. Drop them into boiling water for approximately 1 minute and then remove. The skins will literally fall off the tomatoes. Chop them into quarters and squeeze out the seeds.
2. In a soup pot with 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, gently saute onion and garlic.
3. Add the chicken stock and the tomato paste.
4. Bring the soup to a boil; season to taste, and simmer for approximately 15 to 20 minutes.
5. Puree the soup in a blender, in batches if necessary.
6. Return soup to pot, add the almond milk, cream, milk, or a combination.
7. Bring the soup back up to heat and serve.

Gallery

Original recipe available on GoodFood.

About Lin Hardick

Lin Hardick is a teacher, food writer and recipe developer, passionate about the health benefits, as well as the pitfalls, of the standard Western diet. "I have very definite ideas about what good food must be. Food brings people together. GOOD FOOD must look good; it must taste good; and, most importantly, it must be good for you. Enjoy." Learn More