Have Fun with Tomato Soup!

Weekends can get busy, especially if you work outside the home during the week--the weekend becomes "catchup time" (and they're never long enough, are they?). With this in mind, I thought I'd share something quick, out of the ordinary, and fun you can do for a weekend meal:

Try a Tomato Soup Bar. Set up much like a baked potato bar, a tomato soup bar also calls for an wide assortment of fun add-ins. For instance, consider Italian herbed croutons, shredded cheeses, sliced black olives, fresh chopped basil, cooked black beans, diced fresh tomatoes, Fritos or tortilla chips, butter (one of my personal favorites), Spice Hunter's Deliciously Dill, chopped onion, diced avocado, sour cream, and so on. You're limited only by your imagination.

We've always employed a canned tomato soup (think Campbell's or your local grocery store house brand--they all seem the same to me), but if you want to get creative, homemade tomato soup is the bomb.com (although this undoes the "quick and easy" aspect of this meal)! In case you don't care so much about the "quick and easy" and have the time for "from scratch," here's a recipe for homemade tomato soup that we here at Cook'n highly recommend:

HOMEMADE CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP
3 lbs freshly picked or vine-ripened tomatoes (although I've used the greasy, hard as rock, hothouse Roma tomatoes)
8 oz. chicken broth or water
1 Tbsp flour
1/2 C chopped celery
2 Tbsp fresh basil
1/2 C chopped onion
1 C milk or half and half

Combine tomatoes and broth; stew for 30 min. on low heat. Strain into bowl, removing seeds and skins. Return to pot. Stir in 1 1/2 Tbsp flour. Add celery, basil, and onion. Cook over very low heat until mixture has thickened to desired consistency. Stir in one cup milk or half and half during last 10 min. of cooking. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (If a smooth soup is desired, process in blender before serving.)

Serve this soup with a variety of add-ins and enjoy the applause! Let me know what you think of this idea and if you try the recipe, share your thoughts on this as well. And until next time, here's to a fun meal and happy cook'n!