Tomato Soup for the Soul

Winter came so hard and fast this year that we’re still reeling from blow.  Oftentimes there’s more of a gradual winding down to winter.  The autumn days slowly cool into the 50’s, then the 40’s, and finally dally awhile below freezing like a little caution sign and to temper our nerves.  But autumn inevitably returns awhile to warm our souls again, and even when the temperatures take a stronger liking to the lower digits, autumn will generally pay another visit or two before finally circling the globe to elsewhere.

Not this year.  Ol’ man winter had his date set on the calendar, with nowhere else to go after that.  He flew in and dropped us down to the shuddering teens with a knock-out blow that came outta’ nowhere.  Then while we were still fumbling for our snow boots and ice scrapers he set up shop in our corner of the ring.  Now the landscape is totally transformed with long icicles off the eves and snow stuck everywhere, stubborn-like, and we’re still scrambling to get plastic on the windows!

I never actually finished with autumn, or even summer for that matter.  There are still tomatoes stuck in Ziploc bags in the freezer waiting to be canned for the year.  Fearing the hard-won fruit will soon be burnt by their long stay in the deep-freeze, I recently resurrected a bag of the hardened, ruby globes and set them out to thaw.  Thawing tomatoes are not especially appetizing to look at and I tried to shield them from the wary eyes of my partner as she spied the pile of wrinkly, translucent mush.

“They’ll make good soup,” I assured us both.

Scrumptious soup, in fact – full with chunky things and herbs like you don’t get in a canned variety.  Now I sit in a sunny nook of the kitchen overlooking the frozen tundra outside while basking in rays that made the very fruit I’m eating ripen to perfection.  It’s like a little bit of summer’s past circling back ‘round to tarry awhile, and it’s warming me deeply from the inside out!

Recipe:  Scrumptious Tomato Soup for the Soul

• Saute’ some onion in a pot with a little olive oil.

• Add tomatoes.  Peeling is not necessary.  Neither is thawing.

• If add water, add only a very small amount.

• Allow to simmer a long time.  Mash the tomatoes as necessay.  It’s not necessary to remove the peeling.

• Add salt, pepper, herbs and sugar to taste.

• Add some of the broth to milk in a separate bowl.  Add slowly and with stirring to avoid curdling the milk.  Then return the milk mixture to the soup pot.

• ENJOY!