Cream of Tomato Soup

Venus Alert: If  skies are clear in your area tonight you can expect...

A planetary meet-up that will create a potentially dazzling celestial display this evening (Sept. 8), a cosmic show involving the two brightest objects in the nighttime sky: Venus and the moon.

The planet Venus, which has been languishing low in the dusk all summer, at last manages to stay above the west-southwest horizon as late as the end of evening twilight. About 45 minutes after sunset on Sunday (Sept. 8), look toward the west-southwest horizon to see Venus hovering rather close to a waxing crescent moon — an eye-catching tableau in spite of the pair's low altitude in the night sky.

Sunrise

Cook's notes: Lake cooking often involves being flexible and using some creativity. With the nearest store 10 miles away you think twice about driving 20 miles round trip for an ingredient or two. That being said I had to deviate a bit from the recipe to use what was on hand. The Cream of Tomato Soup does have a few prep steps but well worth the effort. Even though I know you can buy prepared soups at places like Traders Joe or Costco, nothing beats using fresh ingredients to give soup a homemade flavor.   

The pile of picked tomatoes have been piling up on the counter. I knew something had to be done soon with them.  This recipe was the perfect choice.

FYI: I really liked the addition of the Bloody Mary mix instead of V-8 juice as it gave the soup lots of favor.  

  Cream of Tomato Soup

Ingredients:

• 4-6 cups chopped tomatoes, drained on paper towels
• 1 cup sweet onions chopped
• 3/4 cup minced carrots
• 3/4 cup minced celery
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 1 TB tomato paste
• 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp. thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 can (14.5 oz) and 1/2 of another can chicken broth-low sodium
• 2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
• 1 TB. sugar
• 1 cup V-8 juice (I used Bloody Mary mix so no need to use added salt for this recipe) 
• 1/2 tsp. butter
•  3/4 cup half and half
• 2 TB. olive oil
• garnish with fresh parsley

Directions:

• In a soup pot add 2 TB olive oil, heat oil adding in onion, celery, garlic cloves, carrots, tomato paste and seasonings
• Saute mixture about 5 minutes till tender and add in bay leaf and tomatoes-simmer 10 minutes
• Add broth, tomato juice, lemon juice and sugar-bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes
• Remove bay leaf
• Puree soup 2 cups at a time in food processor and return mixture back to soup pot
• Simmer 10 minutes add in half and half and cook on low heat 5-8 minutes (do not let mixture boil) Add in butter and stir heat 2 more minutes

Serving ideas with soup; bread sticks or  cornbread muffins/squares