Gluten Free Tomato Soup

One of the “regular foods” I miss the most in the winter time is canned tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches. I’ve tried a few recipes for tomato soup and never quite loved it. This is a mix of several recipes I’ve tried and I think it’s awesome. I made this with my 4 year old daughter one afternoon last week and we had so much fun.

Tomato Soup

3 (15 oz) cans tomatoes (you can use whole, diced, whatever…it’s just going in the blender)

1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce

1 cup chicken broth

1 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp dried basil

1/2-1  cup chopped onion (I only did 1/2 cup but next time I’ll do more)

4 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup skim milk

Put all ingredients except the milk into large pot and bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 20 minutes. Pour soup into a blender (I did this in 2 batches) and blend on low for about 30 seconds, until smooth. Return to pot and add milk. Eat with grilled cheese sandwiches. =)

Crockpot Potato Soup

My favorite part about this cold weather is busting-out all the soup recipes we love so much. This is one of my favorites. You can kind of play around with different ingredients and quantities so it's really easy.

Crockpot Potato Soup

Mix these ingredients in crockpot and cook on low for 6 hrs or on high for 4 hrs.
5 cups chicken broth
8-10 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
2 large carrots, peeled and diced
2 celery stalks, thinly sliced
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
Salt & Pepper

Using a measuring cup, scoop about 2 cups of cooked soup from crockpot into blender and puree until smooth. Then pour pureed soup back into crockpot. This makes it really creamy without adding cream/fat. Then add any of these optional ingredients:
1/2-1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 slices bacon, cooked & crumbled
2 green onions, sliced

Amy's Finnish Soup

My friend Amy brought this soup in to work a week or two ago and between the amazing color of it and the report that her family all loved it, I decided it was something I needed to try.  It absolutely did not disappoint!  This soup was so good.  Katie ate as much as she could fit in her little belly.  We loved it.

Finnish Soup

1 head of cauliflower, chopped

3-4 potatoes peeled chopped

1 large purple onion, chopped

4-5 carrots peeled, chopped

*I also added one yam, peeled and chopped.  Amy said it was also good with butternut squash.

Put in a large stock pot with about 8 cups of chicken broth (enough to cover veggies) and salt and pepper.

Cover with lid and cook until veggies are really soft, about 30 min.  Puree soup in blender a little at a time. Return to pot and put in 1-8 oz. block of low-fat cream cheese.  Heat until melted and smooth!

Sausage & Lentil Soup

Ok, so it’s been a while.  Our 2nd baby girl was born in December, and in the months leading up to that event I wasn’t super into trying new foods.  My husband found a recipe similar to this on http://www.allrecipes.com/ and we modified it just a smidge.  It turned out fabulous!

SAUSAGE & LENTIL SOUP

1 (16 oz) package dry lentils (rinsed)

1 (16 oz) can diced tomatoes, drained

2 cans beef broth (or water/bouillon to make 4 cups)

2 cups water

2-3 large carrots, chopped

1 pound kielbasa sausage (I cut the whole thing in half lengthwise and then cut it into 1/2-1 inch chunks)

2 stalks celery, chopped

Put all ingredients in the crock pot and cook on low for about 6 hours.  We ate it with biscuits (Pillsbury for gluten-eaters, and the recipe on the back of the “Pamela’s pancake & baking mix” for non-gluten-eaters) and it was delicious!