Soup!

It's soup season!  Okay, every season for me is soup season.  I love soup, especially homemade soup!  What's so great about soup you ask?  Let me detail the amazingness of this versatile meal for you:

1. It can be hot or cold
2. It can be heavy or light
3. It can be rich or bland
4. It can be made to fit any and every season
5. You can throw just about anything into a pot (including 6-day old leftovers and whatever else is stuck in the back of the fridge), add stock, and it's suddenly soup
6. It can be made quickly
7. It's a one-pot meal (this in itself should sell the idea of soup to you)
8. Anyone, even those with food allergies like myself, can eat a huge variety of soup
9. You don't have to measure anything
10. You don't have to chop anything too perfectly
11. You can add any spices to make it tasty yet healthy
12. Lots of fabulous leftovers

A few years back, my mom and I took a trip up to Door County and ate at The Summer Kitchen.  I scoffed a little at this restaurant going in but then I saw the soup bar.  I was instantly sold!  You sit down and say, "I'll have iced tea and the soup bar" and the waiter will bring you four to six sturdy little teacups.  You take these and get as many different types of soup that you want at the soup bar.  The best part is that they will keep giving you more and more cups and they don't judge you for your soup consumption.  My mom is all about their chicken and dumpling soup.  I, on the other hand, typically stick to the creamy mushroom and tomato dill.  Both are rich and decadent and I could sit there all day refilling those little cups.

Unfortunately, I can't eat like that everyday.  To top it off, I had to cut gluten out of my diet last summer.  So what was this soup lover to do other than develop my own recipes? 

Now, to be a little less than modest, I make a mean minestrone, a splendid split pea, a superb chicken and potato, a tremendous turkey sausage and kale, a perfect pumpkin and black bean.  For a lot of years, I ate strictly vegetarian and I still don't love cooking with meat so the perfect solution for me is a veggie soup.  Plus, how much healthier can you get than a vegetable soup?  I am still working on the mushroom soup but have perfected the tomato dill.  It's less rich than the soup at The Summer Kitchen but probably much healthier and I know I can eat it without getting sick. 

I specifically save this soup for summer because it makes me think of being in Door County with my mom.  I made my first batch this past weekend and have been living off of it for days.  The leftovers taste just as good as when it was first made.  I like to make this with my dad's canned tomatoes but when I'm out of those, I'll use canned from the store.  I highly recommend spending the extra dollar and buying the San Marzano tomatoes, they are so much sweeter and really add to the soup.  I hope to post photos in the near future when my camera is working again.  So, I conclude my wordiness with the recipe below.  I hope you enjoy!


Tomato Dill Soup
Serves 4
Ingredients:
2 tsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 cloves garlic, crushed or chopped
1 28 oz. can of whole, peeled tomatoes -or- crushed tomatoes
3 cups chicken -or- vegetable stock
2 Tbsp. fresh dill -or- 1 tbsp dried dill
Salt and pepper to taste

Add oil, onion, carrots, celery, and garlic into a medium sized pot and cook on medium-low heat for 6-8 minutes or until the onions are translucent.  Add the stock, tomatoes, dill, and salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes.  Use an immersion blender to puree the soup until smooth.  A regular blender can be used to puree but make sure to allow the soup to cool first so that it doesn't end up on your ceiling instead of in your stomach.  Enjoy!