Weekending

We had one of those rare and glorious weekends where Daddy was home with us for longer than a few hours.  Noah helped me make a loaf of bread (and if you've never tried a fermented bread, I highly recommend it), but mostly we just laid around watching the Olympic Games.  I did also make tomato soup, and there's just something so delectable about making something from scratch with ingredients you plucked from your own backyard (or you already had on hand).

Tomato Soup

2TBS butter

2 TBS olive oil

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 stalks celery, finely sliced

1 small yellow onion chopped

1 quart homemade tomato sauce

2 cups homemade chicken or turkey stock (or water)

3/4 cup heavy cream

salt

pepper

basil

Melt the butter and oil in a large soup pot.  Add garlic, celery, and onion.  Cook for 15 minutes or until vegetables are soft.  Add tomato sauce and stock.  Simmer for 15 minutes.  Using an immersion blender (or small batches in a regular blender), blend until smooth.  Slowly add cream.  Season to taste.  

**I also added a packet of slow-roasted tomatoes that I made and froze last year.  To make these, slice tomatoes into halves or quarters depending on the size, drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and bake at 200 for 3 or 4 hours on a foil lined baking sheet.  If you're in a hurry, you can increase the oven temp and decrease the time.  They just won't be quite as sweet.

If you want to make this in larger batches to freeze, simply complete all of the steps except adding the cream.  Add the cream once you've thawed the soup and are ready to serve it.