It’s a cold, gray, drizzly day here on the edge o’ the prairie – a fine time to sit down to a steaming bowl of zippy tomato soup (and mebbe a nice grilled cheese sammich).
I have tried a bunch of tomato soup recipes, but this one, from Sandra Lee, remains my favorite. I don’t love the fact that it all comes out of a can or a bottle, but I rationalize that by observing that the cans and bottles involved contain generally good-for-you stuff – and that the bread for the sammich is, at least, scratch made.
INGREDIENTS
•1 can condensed tomato soup
•1 can condensed cheddar cheese soup
•3 cups low-sodium vegetable juice
•2 tsp hot pepper sauce – I like Earl’s
•1 tsp dried basil
To be honest – I haven’t made up my mind about that dried basil. It was all right in this soup, but how much more better, I think, to use fresh – and I think I remember seeing a method someplace where you pulverize fresh basil with a bit of water, then freeze it into small green cubes of goodness, which would make using it in a recipe like this wicked simple.
Dried, fresh, or frozen basil – combine all the ingredients in a small pot and heat on medium until nice and steamy. I usually pop mine into a slow cooker and let it mind its own business for an hour or two while I get on with other stuff.
Mmmm, indeed.