Lovely tomato soup

I, like so many children of the 80's, grew up with Campbell's tomato soup and Kraft American grilled cheese sandwiches. Well, since then a lot has come out about high fructose corn syrup (present in Campbell's tomato soup, at least the last time I checked), and processed cheese just skeeves me out now (possibly because when my oldest was 3 she got sick after having a "grilled cheese sandwich" at her preschool, aka saltines and a slice of American cheese, in my car on the way home. The smell still haunts me.) I've been on a quest for a really good tomato soup, and found some, but the sodium content is always through the roof! I was looking through my Whole Foods for the Whole Family cookbook from the La Leche League (freecycle score!) and found an interesting recipe. Here it is:

Tomato Soup

4 large tomatoes
2 slices onion
1/4 small green pepper
1 carrot
1/2 tsp salt
Dash of pepper
2 c thin white sauce

Seasonings:
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
Dash of ground cloves or allspice
Basil, parsley, thyme, marjoram, garlic or oregano to taste

Plunge tomatoes into boiling water for 20 to 60 seconds. Cool slightly. Peel and chop. Combine with vegetables and seasonings in large saucepan. Simmer for 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender. May puree or straing through food mill for finer consistency. Prepare white sauce with milk, stock, or water. Stir mixture into white sauce slowly to prevent curdling. Cook until heated through. May omit green pepper and carrot. Yield: 5 servings.

Approx per serving: Cal 135; Prot 5g; Carbo 12g; Fiber 2g; Total Fat 8 g; 53% Calories from Fat; Chol 26 mg; Sod 530 mg

Tomato Rice Soup: Add 1/2 to 3/4 C cooked brown rice. Some of the rice may be processed with tomato mixture.

Tomato Vegetable Soup: After pureeing vegetables, add 1 to 2 c other vegetables and/or cooked dried beans. Simmer until tender. Or add leftover cooked vegetables and heat until warmed through.

Thin White Sauce

1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp flour
1 c milk
1/4 tsp or less salt
dash of pepper

Melt butter in saucepan over low heat; remove from heat. Blend in flour until smooth. Add milk gradually, stirring constantly. Cook over medium heat until thickened, stirring constantly; reduce heat. Simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. This same method may be used to thicken stock or any other liquid. The method avoids lumps but may burn if made in a thin saucepan. May substitute cornstarch for flour, adding 1 1/2 tsp for thin sauce. Yields 1 cup.

This is what we ended up having for lunch:



I made the grilled cheese sandwich with sourdough bread, butter, swiss, colby jack, and cheddar cheese. I spread the insides with garlic and herb laughing cow cheese, and on mine I had some Trader Joe's garlic aioli mustard. It was very tasty, but I'm thinking the laughing cow wasn't really necessary, and thinking of focusing on one cheese instead of 4 that were in that one sandwich.

I left out the green pepper in the soup, didn't have cloves or allspice, but I did add some garlic, a bay leaf, and basil. I did try it with the cinnamon simply because I was intrigued. I liked it a lot, but next time I'm going to leave out the cinnamon and add more garlic and basil. The great thing about this recipe (or any recipe for that matter) is you can truly make the soup your own, just run with it!

The girls really seemed to enjoy the soup. My oldest remarked that it wasn't red like all the other tomato soups she's had, and I said that's because it has other things in it. She accepted the orange-y hue to the tomato soup and ate it with gusto. I'm wondering if I could sneak some spinach into it and get a good whopper of some iron and a leafy green in on her.