Tomato Soup and Coupons

It's time for a different soup.


Recipe: Tomato Soup
This is the most basic tomato soup, modeled after the kind my mother served me when I was young, paired with a Grilled Cheese Sandwich. If only.

If you don't have a blender or food processor, cut the onion, carrot and celery into small pieces and serve as a chunky soup. It's very important to add the yogurt or milk after the soup has cooled somewhat, or it will curdle.

Yield: 8- 10 cups

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 teaspoons dried basil
4 16 ounce cans diced tomatoes
4 cups water or chicken stock
1/2 cup yogurt or milk
Kosher salt and black pepper

Place a soup pot on the stove and set the heat to medium high. When it is hot, add the oil. Add the onion, carrot, celery, garlic and basil and cook until everything is tender, about 15 minutes.
Add the tomatoes and water or stock and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to low and cook, covered for 20 minutes.
Remove the cover and cook an additional 20 minutes. Set aside to cool. Add the yogurt or milk, salt and pepper and stir well.
Place a small amount in a blender and blend until smooth. Repeat until all the soup has been blended. Transfer to a container (or containers), cover and refrigerate up to three days.

Coupons:

Tomato Soup ready for the freezer. 

While the soup was cooking I had a brilliant idea: search the internet for coupons. Stonyfield has them: Barowsky's bread (which I like but hadn't yet bought) has them. Starkist had a bunch but only for tuna in pouches which I can't wrap my brain around. Yet. My advice: although most of the coupons I found were either for organic products or junk, check out anything you want to buy.

I found a site called Nature Box that boasts "Healthy Snacks Delivered to Your Door" for $19.95 but was offering a trial for $4.95 (they have since stopped). Ordered. Can't wait.