February Recipe: Creamy Tomato Soup

This recipe was a stand-by for me when I lived at my parents. I loved this soup, and therefore loved to make it. Unfortunately, I've gotten out of the habit since I moved out. Living on one's own means having to eat the entire pot of soup by oneself, and I haven't yet figured out a way to downsize it appropriately (or in a way that's worth the effort.)

So, now I've been resorting to heated V8. Nutritious, but not quite as delicious. And then I made this with my Food & Nutrition class again yesterday. They made it perfectly & I was won over once again.

This soup tastes best when made with home-canned tomato juice, but if you're not the type of person to have home-canned on hand (I'm not usually), then store-bought is just as well.

  Ingredients:

• 1/3 c. hard margarine (or butter)
• 1/2 c. flour
• 1 large can/bottle of tomato juice (48 fl. oz/1.38L)
• 1 can of water (I use tomato juice container)
• 2 tsp beef bouillon
• 1 tbsp dried parsley
• ½ tsp pepper
• ½ tsp salt
• Saltine crackers
• Grated cheddar cheese.

Directions:

1. Melt butter over low heat in bottom of soup pot, stirring constantly.
2. Slowly add flour, stirring constantly, until you have a thick yellow paste (roux) in the bottom of your pot. Do not burn!
3. VERY slowly, add tomato juice a little at a time, whisking constantly to avoid lumps.
4. Your soup will thin as you add the tomato juice, but if you add it too quickly, your soup will be lumpy.
5. Once it is thin enough that you are sure there are no lumps, add remaining tomato juice & water, stirring continually.
6. Add bouillon cubes, salt & pepper.
7. Turn heat to medium & stir constantly until the soup comes to a rolling boil.
8. Once soup boils, turn to low & add dried parsley
9. Serve with saltine crackers & grated cheese. Or, do as we did & serve alongside some baked mac'n'cheese!

Mmmmm.
We made this soup in class as part of this meal:
Theme: Kid-friendly.
Appetizer: Veggies & Lemon-Dill dip (I'll share the dip recipe at some point - I made it up one day when I ran out of the Victorian Epicure dip mix...)
Main Course: Baked Mac'n'Cheese & Creamy Tomato Soup
Dessert: Chocolate Chip cookies (also delish - the kids LOVED them :)