Tomato Soup
Last night tomato soup and grilled cheese were on the menu, except between being sick and taking Henry to his various pre-schools, I had no desire to go to the grocery store to procure cheese or soup. This is one of Henry's favorite meals and he was greatly looking forward to it, probably because there was little to no chance that carrot or any other food of the vegetable persuasion would show up on his plate. When I broke the news to him that we didn't have any tomato soup, I happened to be holding a can of crushed tomatoes. He asked what it was, I told him, and he asked me to make tomato soup out of it. So I did. I used this recipe. It was absolutely delicious. I made two adjustments: the first was, I didn't have any carrots so I didn't put them in; the second was, I grabbed what I thought was black pepper from the spice cabinet, but realized after I had already sprinkled it somewhat liberally (~ 1 teaspoon) over the tomatoes that it was actually a bottle of cinnamon. Oops. It was serendipitous because it definitely added to the flavor of the soup; I will be making that mistake again. I skipped the optional cream and dumped the works into a regular blender because I'm not cool enough to own an immersion blender. The finished texture was along the lines of a bisque. It was easy to make and absolutely delicious. It took a bit of coaxing to get Henry to try it, and what I'd really like to tell you is that he absolutely loved it, but instead I get to tell you that he threw up. He drinks his soup with a straw and the thick texture triggered his gag reflex because he wasn't expecting it. I'd also like to tell you we were disappointed, but Dave and I told him how proud we were of him for trying it, then proceeded to hover over his uneaten soup like vultures.
After the meal was over, I told Dave how cool it was that we had just had homemade tomato soup and grilled cheese with homemade bread. He agreed. Then I said "If only we could start making our own cheese." That sound you heard last night around 6:45 was the sound of Dave rolling his eyes. He can be *so* dramatic.