on hold

are you sick of seeing that picture of tomato soup every time you log into my blog? well it's gonna be here for a while. this blog is low on the list of priorities right now.

at the coleman house right now: we are sick. we are on medication. we are making money and paying down are debts. we are taking turns with making dinners and doing housework.

regular posting should return sometime after april 15. you can always give me a call if you are curious about what's new.

Tomato Soup Success

Stress level on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the highest): 10.

Just so you know.

What was I thinking?

Anyway, after years of testing different tomato soup recipes, I have finally created the ultimate, perfect recipe. It is so good it makes me want to cry. And it only takes 15 minutes, with about 1 minute of prep work. Try it and weep.

Basil Tomato Soup

2 28 oz. cans crushed tomatoes

1 tablespoon chicken base

1/2 cup pesto

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

3 tablespoons sugar

1 cube (1/2 cup) butter, chopped

1 12 oz. can evaporated milk

Directions:

In a large stock pot, combine tomatoes, chicken base, pesto, salt and sugar. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes. Add butter and milk and heat through.

Notes:

I buy my chicken base at Costco in the spices/pantry section and use it with water added as a substitute for chicken broth or stock all the time.

Great food storage item.

If you don't have it, you can substitute 3 boulion cubes, but don't add any salt (and sorry to say, but your soup won't be as good). I use homemade pesto that I freeze at the end of every summer in gargantuan batches. (Ask my kids about picking basil last fall. I think we had 3 laundry baskets full.)

photo from here