Tomato Soup at Sunset

A friend of mine recently had lap band surgery and has been on clear liquids for the last three weeks. Finally she was able to eat slightly more solid food. So I made her some homemade tomato soup. I don't have any pictures of the step by step instruction but I can tell you that this soup was souper good! LOL!

All the ingredients were fresh and ripe. I had never made homemade tomato soup before but it was surprisingly easy and it turned out delicious.

I served mine with a dollop of ricotta cheese, some fresh ground pepper and I crushed a few Ritz crackers onto the top (which I don't have a picture of).

While I was making the soup, Little Butt was eating dinner and talking to me. The next thing I know, I look over and...

The poor thing had fallen asleep eating dinner. I had to pick her up and go lay her down on the couch where she took a good nap. What a good little helper she was!

Anyway. Here's the recipe. I got it from a Good Housekeeping Soups & Stews cookbook:

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon butter or margarine
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 stalk celery, finely chopped
• 1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped
• garlic clove, crushed with garlic press
• 2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
• 4 pounds ripe tomatoes, cut into pieces
• 1 can (14 to 14 1/2 ounces) chicken broth (I used low sodium broth)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 cup water
• snipped chives (optional)

Directions:

1. Melt butter in 5-quart Dutch oven over low heat. Add onion, celery, and carrot and cook until tender (about 10 minutes). Stir in garlic and thyme and cook for an additional minute.
2. Add tomatoes, broth, salt, pepper, bay leaf, and water; heat until boiling over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, about 45 minutes. Tomatoes will break up and mixture will thicken slightly. Remove from heat and discard bay leaf.
3. Spoon 1/3 of mixture into blender and puree until smooth. Place in separate bowl and repeat with the rest of mixture 1/3 at a time. 
4. Soup can be refrigerated and served cold or placed back in Dutch oven to reheat and serve hot. Sprinkle with chives immediately before serving, if desired.

Each serving (1 cup): About 80 calories, 3g protein, 13g carbohydrate, 3g total fat (2g saturated), 4mg cholesterol, 405g sodium (unless you use low sodium broth).