One of the things I miss most about working in an office (maybe the only thing?) is access to a variety of different food options at lunch. Unless we have leftovers - and sometimes not even then - I'm forced to come up with lunch using whatever we have in our fridge. Depending on how much time I have, sometimes this means I cook. It also means that sometimes I just eat lunch meat & cheese.
As I looked around our pantry today I saw nothing that would qualify as quick or easy, much less something I wanted to eat. I encountered the same thing in the fridge. Then I saw some tomatoes hanging out on our window sill and wondered what I could do with them that would constitute a full meal. That's when I decided to make a quick & easy tomato soup. Only, in the end, things did not go my way. You see, like most tomatoes that aren't canned, my tomatoes have skins. And I did not remove the skins. So while the flavor was great, the texture was completely wrong and I hated eating it and after a couple of bites I threw it away. What a waste of perfectly good lovely tomatoes.
I'm now cooking frozen chicken meatballs in the toaster oven. Not exactly as appetizing as a bowl of hot, homemade soup with garden fresh tomatoes but it is what it is.
If you'd like to make your own homemade tomato soup for one, here's how you can make it.
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons of olive oil
4 basil leaves, washed & chopped
2 cups of peeled & chopped tomatoes (these were Bloody Butchers)
1 cup of chicken stock (we used homemade from this weekend's roasted chicken)
1/8 cup of cream
Instructions:
Saute the chopped basil in olive oil
Add tomatoes & let simmer for 10 minutes
Add chicken stock & simmer for another 10 minutes
Add cream & simmer for 5 minutes
Mix using an immersion blender
Serve and enjoy
