Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Can the can! Homemade Tomato Soup!



This week I had a powerful craving for tomato soup!  Mmmm... I love the stuff.

Being the eccentric little cooker that I am, I - OF COURSE -wanted to try my hand at homemade!  Surely my ingredients would be simpler and better for me than these (which are found on canned tomato soup)!

INGREDIENTS

TOMATO PUREE (WATER, TOMATO PASTE), HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, WHEAT FLOUR, WATER, SALT, POTASSIUM CHLORIDE, FLAVORING, CITRIC ACID, LOWER SODIUM NATURAL SEA SALT, ASCORBIC ACID (VITAMIN C), MONOPOTASSIUM PHOSPHATE.


I searched around and found several variations of "copycat" tomato soup recipes.  Most called for canned tomatoes, some called for tomato paste, some even called for chicken broth.  My favorite canned soup had no chicken broth in it!  So, I kept looking.

I ran across a recipe found on a blog that is new to me but which I LOVE called "Produce on Parade".  Lots of good recipes!  And vegan recipes at that!  I'm always on the lookout for good and diverse recipes.  Katie's pictures are beautiful and so far I'm sold on the recipes!  Check it out HERE.  Katie's recipe (and pictures) for the tomato soup are HERE.

This tomato soup recipe is SO perfect and is even better than my old favorite canned soup!  The only things I really changed about Katie's recipe is that I used corn starch instead of xanthum gum and I added salt to the recipe.  I've never used xanthum gum but corn starch worked just fine for this purpose!  I believe from my reading that arrow root powder would also work.  

I don't personally have a blender that works right now so I used my food processor.  My food processor didn't blend out the tomatoes as velvety smooth as canned tomato soup, but I LOVED that about it.  It's a rich, deep tomato soup and I can tell you that I will probably NEVER buy another can of tomato soup after tasting this (other than to send with a college kid or something...).

Here's how I made "Can the Can-Homemade Tomato Soup" AT HOME MY WAY.  Try it!  And you'll be a believer!



Can the Can
Homemade Tomato Soup

  • 2 (28oz) cans of diced tomatoes
  • 1/2 cup COLD water
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar (not packed)
  • 1 Tablespoon tomato paste (not the whole can!  I had to buy a small can since my small town doesn't sell tubes of the stuff)
  • 1 teaspoon season salt (I used Lowry's)
  • 1 teaspoon corn starch
  • 2 whole bay leaves 
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • black pepper (I used about 1/2 teaspoon)


Instructions:

First, Mix the cold water well with the corn starch.  Blend until smooth.  Then place that and all of the other ingredients EXCEPT BAY LEAVES in a blender/food processor.  Blend until as smooth as you can get it.

Place this mixture in a pot on the stove.  Add the WHOLE bay leaves and simmer 10 minutes, stirring often so it doesn't scorch.

Remove BAY LEAVES BEFORE SERVING.

Serve piping hot with your favorite dipping selection (grilled cheese, crackers, pretzels, etc.).

I'm going to freeze single servings of this for my lunches.  Bye-bye canned tomato soup!

Here's a few pics of the process:




My ingredients!




All blended in the food processor.



Ready to start cooking!



Lunch at work, all made by me 
(homemade cracker recipe coming tomorrow)!


Enjoy!



Gina


No comments:

Post a Comment