Tomato Soup

It was a cool, rainy weekend in the coastal Carolina area and I was craving some warm, creamy soup.  I was about to heat up a can of tomato when I thought, what the hey, I have lots of canned tomatoes from last summer, let's make some from scratch!

The store brand:  Campbell's Tomato Soup

My Recipe:
1 28 oz can whole plum or diced tomatoes
1 tsp olive oil
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp tomato paste
3 cloves garlic
1/2 medium onion, diced
1/2 cup half and half

Easy to make - saute your onions and garlic in olive oil for about 5 minutes until translucent. 

Add your tomato paste and flour and then slowly add some water from the tomatoes while stirring to get out the lumps.  Once you get a smooth consistency add all the tomatoes.  Simmer 20-30 minutes.

 

Puree with a hand blender or blend it in a blender/food processor.  Add the half and half and enjoy. 

Optional: Garnish with fresh basil and croutons.  I used some homemade croutons!

I can't even begin to explain how much better the homemade soup was.  My husband said in comparison the Campbell's tasted like ketchup, but bad.  I made mine with half skim milk and half water.  The homemade was just so much more tomato-y and had some texture to it.

The price didn't come out much different.  My recipe made more soup - you could easily half this if you are making it for yourself and use a small can of diced tomatoes.  It costs a little more to make your own, but TOTALLY worth it in my opinion.

	Size	Cost	Cost/Cup
Campbell's Tomato Soup	21.5 oz	$       1.12	$            0.42
Homemade	32 oz	$       1.92	$            0.48

Overall, the homemade tomato soup took about 40 minutes from start to finish, but only about 10 minutes of hands-on work.  I have to say it was really, really easy.

Bake or Buy?  BAKE!

Vegetable Stock

The weather is getting colder here, and it's about to be soup season.  Buying cartons of stock is so very easy and it's great to be able to keep it on hand in the refrigerator.  But the question is: should you be making your own stock?

The store brand: Kitchen Basics - Natural Vegetable (no salt added):



And my recipe (taken from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/basic-vegetable-stock/detail.aspx):

1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion
2 stalks celery
2 large carrots
1 bunch green onions, chopped
8 cloves garlic
8 sprigs fresh parsley
6 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
1 tsp salt
8 cups water

First off, i cleaned the veggies and cut them up in 1 inch pieces.  Add the olive oil to the pot and then throw everything in except the salt and water.  Let it go for ~10 mins.

 

Now add the water and the salt (I used celery salt since I was fresh out of celery).  Let it simmer for 30-60 mins and then strain the liquid out and you're all set!

So, how did it turn out?  Alright, mine is on the right, and the first thing you'll notice is the obvious color difference (the store brand had tomato paste).  Taste wise they were both tasty - I think the biggest difference was mine was a little saltier (I bought the no salt added version at the store).

 

The great thing about vegetable stock is that although there is a recipe, you can add in clippings from any vegetables you've used lately - ends from carrots or asparagus, stalks from all your herbs you would normally toss, etc. You can keep a ziplock bag in the freezer and throw your ends in there, then when you're ready, voila - free stock ingredients!

And the cost breakdown?

	Size (fl oz)	Cost	Cost/oz
Kitchen Basics	32 fl oz	$      3.65	$      0.11
Homemade	48 fl oz	$      3.60	$      0.08

Even if you are using all fresh ingredients to make this stock, it's still a little cheaper to make your own.  If you are using "recycled" vegetable pieces, then even better!  Nutrition wise, they came in about the same, since I purchased the all natural, no salt added.

So will I bake or buy in the future?  I can't get over the convenience of stocks cartons.  And the price isn't very far off, so I'll let those recycled vegetables hit the compost.  I think I'll make a point of it to stock up when it's on sale... PUN INTENDED!

Bake or Buy?  BUY!