Never underestimate the power of warm soup, soft bread, and melted cheese.
Specifically the bread and cheese part.
But as much as I would love to dedicate this entire post to bread and cheese, I must move on to the only thing I actually made here. The soup.
But please note how well this soup complements warm bread and melted cheese, and how cute all of it looks in a handmade mug?
Lucky for you, there’s more pottery where that came from!
Back to the bread and cheese. And soup. It was relatively easy to make, it had a little kick of balsamic to it, and it was just creamy enough to be wonderful – but still “light”.
Speaking of light, I have a bone to pick with this new Cooking Light cookbook. The recipe told me that it would make 4 servings, each serving being a half cup. Like, four ounces. What in the world?! When was the last time you served yourself a half of a cup of soup for lunch? Sheesh.
Fortunately, even people like myself, who need to double the serving size, can keep it at less than 250 calories (leaving plenty of room for the bread and cheese)!
(Obviously, this picture is less aimed at convincing you that this soup is awesome, and more aimed at making you jealous of my awesome mugs. And making you wonder why my hands are red.)
- 2 cups beef broth
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 6 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 cup coarsely chopped onion
- 8 garlic cloves
- 4 (28-ounce) cans whole tomatoes, drained
- 1 cup half-and-half (or heavy cream)
- Cracked black pepper
- Combine 1 cup of broth, sugar, vinegar, and soy sauce in a small bowl. Place onion, garlic, and tomatoes in a 13 x 9-inch baking pan coated with cooking spray. Pour broth mixture over tomato mixture. Bake at 500° for 50 minutes or until vegetables are lightly browned.
- Place tomato mixture in a blender. Add remaining 1 cup broth and half-and-half, and process until smooth. Strain mixture through a sieve into a bowl; discard solids. Garnish with cracked black pepper.
- Serve with bread and cheese!
What are your favorite complementary soup foods? Maybe – just maybe – I can be convinced that there is something better with soup than bread and cheese. It’s a long shot, though.
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Salted Toffee
I just made this tonight and have only been getting tastes as I transfer the ingredients to the blender and back. So far, it seems a bit too sweet (my balsamic might be on the sweeter side and I generaly like things less sweet), but very robust (which I also like)! I did add a few shakes of marjoram and basil in with the tomatoes while they were roasting. I’m so excited to have this for lunch tomorrow and I don’t even have extra cheese and bread! Oh, the shame! Lol