Creamy Tomato Soup

“I felt that I breathed an atmosphere of sorrow.” - Edgar Allan Poe

That melancholy quote above is essentially how I feel every time I step foot outside my apartment this winter. In a stunning turn of events, winter is cold, it keeps snowing, and I've been snowed into my apartment 2-3 days a week this year. I'm really quite over it.

I shovel the front walk just for an excuse to step outside, only to immediately regret the decision. It does feel like I'm in an endless cycle of shoveling the front walk...

Anyways, I have a predisposition for seasonal depression. It is the primary reason why I left Wisconsin at the height of last winter and never looked back (until summer that is). I need sunlight to thrive. I'm like a plant that way. And if it's too cold to do something outside, my brain seems to think I can't do anything inside either. This leads to day after day in bed with Netflix and baked goods. Basically, I'm getting rather unhealthy in my winter slump.

So I'm looking for ways to keep myself occupied and productive through this frigid season. I've taken up scrapbooking again, I try to bake on snow days (which isn't helping me stay healthy at all), I clean and reorganize and clean again. I'm trying (and failing) to establish an indoor workout routine. I do what I can to stay active, but some days I'm perfectly content curling up in my bed and marathoning Marvel's Agent Carter and snacking on popcorn.

Creamy Tomato Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 ripe tomatoes, chopped

• 1/2 cup tomato paste

• 1/2 onion, chopped

• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

• 6 cups chicken/vegetable broth*

• seasonings (salt, pepper, basil, cayenne)

• 1/2 cup heavy cream

• 1/4 cup flour

Instructions:

1. In a large pot, heat tomatoes, onion, garlic, and tomato paste. Mix in broth.

2. Bring to a boil, and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. When tomatoes are soft, lower heat.

3. In a small saucepan combine flour and cream. Stir over medium heat until thickened.

4. Add cream mixture to soup and stir until fully incorporated.

5. Separate out 1/2 of soup mixture and strain until smooth. Return full mixture to pot on medium heat. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 5 minutes. Season appropriately.

Serve immediately or freeze for later.*

*I made a concentrated version of this recipe and separated it into smaller freezer containers. That way, I can take out one container at a time, add some water and broth, and voila! homemade soup at any time. This strategy will work with most recipes. Just reduce the amount of broth in the original mixture.

#food #winter #soup #tomato