Tomato Soup

I am attempting to do something crazy for the year 2012. I am going to attempt to eat healthy. I know, I know. It's crazy talk. The point is though, if I keep eating pasta covered butter, I am going to turn into a really chunky monkey.


So to begin my healthy eating, I decided to get lots of fruits and vegetables and yogurt. Because those things are healthy. I think. Adam bought me a blender for Christmas, so my grand plan is to make myself drink smoothies chock full of the things I don't like but mask the flavors of apples and stuff with things I do like, like bananas and strawberries.


Of course, in the grand scheme of things, I am not really tricking myself. I will definitely know that there is stuff I don't like in my smoothies. But maybe, just maybe, I can turn a blind eye and eat things that give me the stuff I need, like vitamins and minerals!


And with such thoughts in my head, I decided to make Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese. Looking back on it now, it probably wasn't that healthy. But when I was making it, I definitely felt like I was being some kind of health food guru.


I started off sautéing some onions and garlic in vegetable oil, (much healthier than butter, right?) and then dicing up my tomatoes and super mashing them in the new blender. I dumped the pulped tomato into the saucepan, added the garlic and onion, and then poured in two cups of chicken broth.


I let it heat up while I added salt, basil, and two whole cloves. Then I covered it up and let it boil for twenty-ish minutes. My apartment smelled like garlicy-tomato love. I was super excited.


I strained out all the chunks of tomato and seeds and whatnot and put it off to the side. Then I dropped in two cubes of butter into the hot pan and a handful of flour to make a roux. Once I got the flour mush all nice and golden brown, I added heavy whipping cream and whisked it until it was all mixed up.


I dumped the now strained tomato stuff back into the pan and whisked it all together.


It ended up a weird orange color. It looked like I had made carrot soup or something.


Regardless, when I tasted the finished product, I was delighted to find how yummy it tasted. I mean, I am sure that the butter and heavy whipping cream and extra salt really helped. And using almost a cup and a half more tomatoes probably did too.


I made my grilled cheese, sat down to eat, and was perfectly happy to have attempted to eat healthier.


Even if I really didn't.