Homemade Tomato Basil Soup

Want to warm up fast?  Eat some homemade soup.  I could eat soup everyday and never get tired of it.  It's easy to make, warms you up from your head to your toes and fills you up.  Add a side of crusty bread to soup and you have a great healthy meal.  I have a lot of favorite soups, Tomato being one of them.  Served up with just bread or a grilled cheese sandwich it's a comfort food for me.  I made this Tomato soup yesterday, it was rich, savory, fast and easy.  Recipe below.

I used crushed tomatoes and vegetable stock, you could also use chicken stock.  Minced some garlic and diced an onion.

 Sauteed the garlic and onion in olive oil and then added the rest of the ingredients.

Toss in some fresh basil, stir it all up, and let it cook for 2 1/2 hours.

 Here comes the fun part.  I used an emulsion blender (stick blender) right in the pot to give the soup a really smooth consistency, it also thickens the soup.

 Tasty, flavorful Tomato soup. I added some croutons on top.  You can also add a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese, and dinner is served. Another great way to serve this soup is with a grilled cheese sandwich or grilled cheese croutons.  All you have to do is make a grilled cheese sandwich, cut it into small, bite size pieces and sprinkle them on top of the soup, can you say Y-U-M-M-Y.

Homemade Tomato Basil Soup

Ingredients

3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

1 large onion, diced

6 large cloves of garlic, minced

2 - 32 oz. boxes of vegetable stock (or chicken stock)

4 - 28 oz. cans of crushed tomatoes

8 - 10 fresh basil leaves, chopped

1 1/2 tablespoons of kosher salt

1 1/2 teaspoons of black pepper
2 tablespoons of sugar (cuts down the acid in the soup)

Croutons

Parmesan cheese

Directions

In a large soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the onions and cook just until tender, about 15 minutes.  Add the garlic, and cook for about a minute.  Stir in the stock, tomatoes, basil, salt, pepper and sugar.  Bring the soup to a boil, then lower the heat to medium low. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 1/2 hours (see note). Serve with croutons and Parmesan cheese.

NOTE:  After cooking the soup for about 2 hours, I used an emulsion blender to make it smoother and thicker.  If you don't have one, you don't really need it for this soup.  PLEASE SAFETY FIRST - You could also use a blender, but be sure to cool the soup first before putting it in the blender, the heat will shatter your pitcher whether it is glass or plastic! (you will then have to reheat the soup before serving).  If you do have an emulsion blender, read instructions carefully before using it in the pot of soup. After using the blender continue to cook for the last half hour so everything blends together.

An Italian Making Golumpki - WHAT!

We have a tradition in our house, I think I mentioned this before, that the birthday person gets to pick the meal that will be served for dinner and they get to pick what kind of cake they want.  My oldest, who's birthday is in September, always wants Golumpkis.  Golumpki, Go wompki, Golabki, however you pronounce them or spell them, are delicious.  I was taught how to make these by her Polish grandmother many years ago.   They are a little time consuming, but well worth it because they're good.  One head of cabbage makes alot, so if you can't eat all of them, freeze them in a baking dish and serve at a later time.  Everything is in them, vegetable, meat and rice, so the only thing I would serve with them is a big salad and some warm bread.  Smacznego!  (Enjoy your meal!  - in Polish)

Cutting the core out of the cabbage and into a pot of salted water.

Cook the rice.

Pull the steamed leaves off of the cabbage head.  Cutting the vein off.

The meat and rice mixture.

Getting ready to roll! 

Stack them in the baking dish..... 

And uumm uumm GOOD! 

Golumpkis

Ingredients

Cooking Spray

3 - 10 1/4 oz. cans of Campbells Tomato Soup

1 - 8 oz. can of Hunt's Tomato Sauce

1 large head of green cabbage

2 tsp. salt

2 lbs of ground beef, uncooked

2 1/2 cups of white rice, cooked

1/4 cup of  bacon, cooked and crumbled

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup of minced onion

1 tsp garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Spray a  9 x 13 baking dish with cooking spray.  Mix 2 1/2 cans of the soup and the tomato sauce with 1 can of water.  Pour 1 cup of soup mixture into the baking dish. Core the cabbage by cutting out the stem on the bottom.  Using a pot big enough to hold the cabbage, put in enough water to fill it halfway.  Add the 2 tsp. salt and put the cabbage in, cover with a lid.  Cook on medium high heat until it starts to boil.  Lower the heat to medium. As the leaves steam inside the pot, pull them off and place in a large bowl.

Meanwhile, mix the ground beef, cooked rice, bacon, eggs, onion, garlic powder, salt, pepper and remaining 1/2 can of tomato soup.  Prepare the leaves by thinning out the large vein at the bottom of the leaf with a sharp knife. Take about 1/4 cup of the meat mixture and put to one edge and spread it out to fill the leaf.  Depending on the size of the leaf, some are larger than others, the amount of meat mixture to put in the leaves will vary.  Roll up the leaf starting at that edge and tuck in the sides as you roll.  Layer the Golumpkis, rolled side down, in the bottom of the baking dish.  Pour the soup mixture over the top. Cover with foil,  place on a cookie sheet so it doesn't spill over.  Bake in a pre-heated 375 degree oven for 1 hour 30 minutes, basting with soup mixture in the pan every 30 minutes.  Take the foil off the baking dish for the last 15 minutes of baking.