Roasted Tomato Soup

Today tomatoes were on sale for .49 agrout per kilo which is a few pennies per pound so I bought the 3 kilo I was limited to. I decided to make some tomato soup. I believe this recipe originated in a South Beach Cookbook. I doubled the recipe since it doesn't make a lot and I had a lot of tomatoes. I still have a bunch so if you have any good tomato recipes you'd like to share I am happy to receive them!

2 1/2 pounds plum tomatoes(about 10 tomatoes), cut in half lengthwise
1 medium onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
1 Tbls. dried basil
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. salt
black pepper
1 Tbls. olive oil
1 cup vegetable broth or chicken broth

Preheat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Arrange tomatoes, cut side up and scatter onion and garlic in a single layer around the tomatoes. Sprinkle with basil, oregano, salt and pepper; drizzle with oil. Bake on middle rack until tomatoes are golden on the bottoms and start to collapse, about 40 minutes. Remove from oven and put in pot, add 1/2 cup of broth and puree until smooth. Stir in remaining 1/2 cup of broth and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Season with salt and pepper, if desired. Serve warm.
Makes 4 (1 1/4 cup) servings.

Roasted Cauliflower and Red Pepper Soup

Remember a while back I told you about Cauliflower Carrot Soup? Well I have another cauliflower soup recipe for you. Today's recipe is similar to the Cauliflower Carrot Soup but kicked up a notch. I have actually been making this recipe for quite a while and it is good! I based it on this recipe from Closet Cooking but mine is a little simpler, healthier and a lot less fancy. That said it is really good.

1 head fresh Cauliflower, cut into florets OR 1 large bag frozen Cauliflower(which is what I use)
1 Tbls. Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Pam
1 Onion, Chopped
2 cloves garlic, Chopped
2 Roasted Red Peppers (I roast them using this technique from Closet Cooking)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne (optional)
4 C. Water

Put cauliflower on cookie sheet and sprinkle with olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Roast the cauliflower in a preheated 400F oven until lightly golden brown, about 20-30 minutes. Spray soup pot with Pam and saute onions until tender about 5 minutes. Add garlic for 30 seconds. Add the cauliflower, roasted red peppers, cayenne and water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer until the cauliflower is tender, about 20 minutes. Puree with a hand blender.

This one isn't such a kid friendly recipe as it is quite spicy however it is so good.

Stay tuned for a mash up(no pun intended) of the 2 cauliflower soups....

Simple Split Pea Soup

I found this recipe on the Weight Watchers website years ago. It originated as a crock pot recipe- just toss all in the crock pot and cook on low for 6 hours or high for 2 hours.

Simple Split Pea Soup:

12 Oz. Bag of dry Split Peas*
1 Clove Garlic(I use the frozen)
2 Carrots, cut into chunks
1 Onion, Diced
8 C. Chicken Broth*

Put all ingredients in large pot and simmer on low for 2-3 hours until smooth. You may need to add water when you reheat as the peas absorb the water.

This is always a hit and I often double or triple the recipe.

*I use either 500 grams of split peas with 10 C. broth OR I double and use 1 Kilo split peas and 20 C. broth and double everything else.

Cauliflower Carrot Soup

A friend of mine gave me this recipe for Cauliflower Carrot Soup. I am not sure where it originated but we loved it.

1 head of cauliflower or 1 bag frozen cauliflower
1 Tbls. Olive Oil
3-4 cloves garlic
4-5 Carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
1 Parsnip
1 Onion, diced
2 Celery ribs, sliced
8 C. Chicken Broth
Salt
Pepper

Roast cauliflower with olive oil, salt and pepper at 350 for 30-45 minutes or until soft. Saute carrots, celery, parsnip and garlic. Add cauliflower. Add 8 cups chicken broth and bring to a boil. Simmer for 45 minutes. Puree with immersion blender. Add salt and pepper to taste.

I would like to add that while this is the recipe I didn't have a parsnip so I didn't put it in and I went out special to buy the celery and forgot to add it, so don't worry if you forget it.

Carrot Soup

My sister passed along this Carrot Soup Recipe which is adapted from The South Beach Diet Parties & Holidays Cookbook. We all really liked this one and it was so simple to make. Also, I loved that it was a really quick soup.

3 Tbls. olive oil
1 med onion, roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
2 1/2 pounds carrots, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
6 cups water plus 4 tsp. chicken soup powder
pepper

Heat oil in large saucepan. Add onion and garlic, stir to coat. Reduce heat to med-low and cook, stirring occasionally until they soften about 5 mins. Add carrots, stir to coat, and cook 10 minutes. Add water and chicken soup powder and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to med-low and simmer until carrots are tender-approximately 25 minutes. Puree. Season with pepper to taste.