I Dare You To Eat It

The above shot is a bit of false advertising. Me and everyone else. My excuse is that I originally wanted to share a recipe for fresh tomato bacon soup but then I tried a different recipe tonight and liked it so much more. In fact tonight’s version was easier to prepare and then gone so quick, the thought of taking a picture didn’t even cross my mind. Ignore the bacon bits and sour cream.

It all started when my amazing friend, Linda, who happens to be a bottling FOOL, gave me the recipe for her famous bottled tomato soup. It calls for a half bushel of fresh tomatoes? What is that? I had to Google the term “bushel” to find out. Then…I divided her recipe by EIGHT, added one of my own secret ingredients, and made a wonderful, yummy, healthy, rich, pot of  fresh from the garden tomato soup for the family’s dinner tonight. Next summer…we are going to have this soup once a week.

Fresh Ingredients

3 lbs. of fresh tomatoes, washed and quartered

1/3 cup onion, course diced

2 tablespoons butter

Storage Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons sugar

1-2 tablespoons salt

1 tablespoon flour

1 can evaporated milk (12 oz.)

All you do is pour the olive oil into your crock pot. Add the onion, tomatoes, sugar and salt. Cover and cook on high for approximately 3 hours. The amount of time is totally flexible, which I love. When you’re ready to eat, melt the butter and stir in the flour before adding it to the crock pot. Then pour in the can of evaporated milk and puree with a stick blender. That’s it. It’s wonderful.

I had my husband run a couple cups of the hot soup across the street to my neighbor. After tasting the sample she phoned to ask what I had done to flavor it so well. Yes! Good old sugar and salt…and canned milk.

This is THE way to enjoy lots of tomatoes, without lots of work.