It’s tough trying to find something really good to eat when you are doing your best to stay alive. For the last almost three months now I’ve been doing what has been referred to as “healthy keto.” I don’t get to entertain myself with food any longer. No more celebrating with a special meal or drown my sorrows with piles of hot steaming comfort. Nope, I simply eat to stay alive. I know, boring right? I am still alive though, so I guess my diet is working. But I’m not having much fun, until today.
This has been the most productive garden I’ve grown since we moved here eighteen years ago. And I have proof. We have tomatoes the size of eastern Idaho watermelons. At least the size of the ones I’ve managed to grow. Anyhow they’re huge and there are tons of them. And they have been great. But eating bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches without bread is just not the same. For one thing it’s really messy. I did, however, find a way to use up a bunch of them. I made soup.
The wife and I have been stopping at the Perkins restaurant in Idaho Falls for lunch, here of late and I discovered their cream of tomato and basil soup. It’s outstanding. So I thought I’d give it a try. Why not? Old man Perkins ain’t got nothin’ on me. At least that is what I was thinking when I started quartering up a couple of gallons of red ripe tomatoes. Of course we had to locate the wife’s giant stock pot before I really got rolling. You would think that something four times bigger than most normal people’s largest pot, would be easy enough to find but somehow we misplaced it. Anyhow after an extensive search through the entire house including garage and basement we finally found it in the kitchen. Imagine that, the pot was in the kitchen.
So once I got the pot on top of our largest burner I dumped a quart of turkey broth, that we had previously canned, and the leftover drippings from a couple of outstanding lemon roasted chickens, I cooked up the other day, into the gargantuan stock pot. I quartered one large onion and chunked up one large clove of garlic throwing it all into the pot along with about a heaping teaspoon of basil. I brought the stock to a boil and then slowly added the approximately one and half to two gallons of quartered and mashed tomatoes. I have tried bringing the whole mess to a boil all at once but sometimes the bottom will burn. So go slow.
Once all the tomatoes are in the pot and boiling turn the heat down and simmer for about three to four hours without covering. It should reduce to about half or even less than what you started with. Run tomato muck through blender and then back into the pot. Add one can of evaporated milk and one pint of cream. You can adjust the cream and milk anyway you want for desired creaminess. Add salt and sugar to taste. That’s it. You now have something delicious to add to your healthy, life, prolonging diet.
