Tomato Soup

The original recipe for this soup came from my wonderful friend Wendi (who I am hoping will soon be adding her awesome recipes to the list on here) but I made a few small changes. This is such a great soup and it has been a frequent here at our house lately. My kids love it. I can't wait until our tomatoes are on this fall so I can use fresh from our garden to make it.

Tomato Soup:

3 cans Italian stewed tomatoes

2 medium carrots

1/2 of a medium onion

2-3 stalks celery

1 clove garlic

1 red pepper
6 cups chicken broth
bay leaf
olive oil
1/2 cup cream

preheat oven to 400 degrees. drain the tomatoes reserving the liquid. Place the tomatoes on a cookie sheet and coat with 1/4 cup olive oil and place in the oven 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile in your soup pot melt 2 Tbsp butter and 2 Tbsp and saute onion, celery, red pepper and garlic. Once onions are translucent add chicken broth, carrot and bay leaf and simmer until carrots are tender. about 15 minute. Then remove bay leaf, add reserved tomato juices and tomatoes. Using immersion blender (or transfer to a blender if you don't have a stick blender) blend until it is smooth and has no lumps. Add the cream and serve.

note: the original recipe calls for fresh basil which is a GREAT addition, I found when I use the Italian stewed tomatoes that I don't need the basil so I don't stress if I don't have any. But when you use fresh tomatoes or plain diced canned tomatoes, it really needs some other flavor. I have found if I don't have the fresh basil a few tablespoons of prepared pesto is really yummy.

White Chili

This was a huge hit on a cold fall day. I like to do soups all in one pan, it saves me dishes. That's always a good thing. lately I have been extra lazy and been buying rotisserie chickens at the grocery store. They have great flavor, but I just used baked chicken breasts for this one. So I guess I didn't just use one pan for this soup... either way, it's easy and so yummy. A great change from regular red chili

4 Tbsp butter

1/4 cup flour

1 small onion

2 small cans green chilies

4 cans white beans

2 boxes chicken stock

4 chicken breasts

1 cup half and half

1 pkg cream cheese

Dice the onion. In your soup pan melt the butter and add your onions. Saute on medium heat until almost transparent. Then add the green chilies DON'T DRAIN THEM. saute for a few more minutes until it is all tender and gooey looking. Then add the flour to the pan and stir until smooth. Then add the chicken broth slowly stirring as you add. ( so you don't have lumps) once you have a smooth broth up to near boiling temperature add your chicken and your drained and rinsed beans. Get the whole pot good and hot and add the half and half and cream cheese (cut your cream cheese into cubes unless you want it to take all day) once your cream cheese is all melted in it's ready to enjoy.