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!

Ketchup

There isn't a more American condiment than ketchup.  To be perfectly honest, I don't think I've ever had a homemade ketchup - it's always been Heinz style for me.

I got the ketchup recipe from Julie Von Rosendaal (The Family Kitchen):

drizzle of olive oil
1/2 purple onion
1 garlic clove
5 medium tomates (1.5 lbs)
7.75 oz tomato paste (half can)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup red wine or apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
pinch of dried red chili flakes

To make it, add the onion to a hot sauce pan with the olive oil.  Cook about 5 minutes and then add the garlic.  Another minutes later add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to a simmer, and let the sauce reduce for about an hour. 

Once you have a thick sauce, use a hand immersion blender to puree the sauce until smooth.

And the final product:

So how did it taste?  I have to say, it was AMAZING.  It had a little spice from the chili flakes, and it was so tomato-y tasting.  I went light on the sugar, and it was perfect.  Tasting side by side, the Heinz tasted really salty in comparison.  When we were done with our burgers and tater tots, the homemade bowl was scraped clean, and there was lots of Heinz left.

Nutrition-wise, the homemade wins, hands down.  The Heinz was made with high fructose corn syrup and has scary high sodium levels.

What about the cost?

	Size	Cost	Cost/Oz
Heinz	20 oz	$      2.19	$      0.11
Homemade	33.8 ounces	$      4.75	$      0.14

It does cost a little more to make the homemade batch, but $3 of the $4.75 was tomatoes.  If I made a couple batches of this when I make my salsa, I could easily cut that tomato cost to ~$1 and then I could can pints of ketchup for use year-round for less than store-bought.  The recipe also states you can freeze the ketchup for up to 6 months.  Too bad I didn't think of this a couple months ago during tomato season!

So - Bake or Buy? BAKE!