Balsamic Tomato Soup

January 30, 2015

Long days. Long week. Can I get a TGIF? There’s something about snowy, cold days that make days drag on for me. And I feel like bring out the worst in people. I’ve had more unpleasant interactions with people in the last few days than I care to recount — can we all just gather around a steaming hot bowl of tomato soup, maybe with a side of grilled cheese, and just forget our troubles?

Tomato soup is a food I just can’t resist. It’s hot, it’s creamy, and it’s surprisingly versatile. There was a time in my life when I’d make sure to have cans of tomato soup on hand for sudden cravings for fear of reliving the dreaded taco milk soup incident. One cold, rainy day in college my roommate Katherine and I just needed tomato soup but really didn’t want to go outside. Despite the fact that there was a grocery store basically in our backyard. We had a handful of tomatoes on hand, so we mashed them up and added milk in a pan and expected it to taste amazing. The result? Basically hot, slightly pink milk. For some reason our answer was to add a generous helping of taco seasoning, which really only make it taste like hot milky tacos. Not a flavor you need in your mouth, trust.

Now I’m older perpetually 22 and wiser and I know the benefits of keeping a pantry well stocked with versatile ingredients. Normally, I used canned diced tomatoes for my soup cravings but somehow found myself out of my #1 go to ingredient. I dug out a can of tomato paste, an ingredient I stock up on but never use, and now I have this recipe in my arsenal. It’s everything tomato soup should be plus a little something extra from balsamic vinegar. Happy to report it’s not the least bit taco milky, and I’ll never need to travel down that path again.

Tagged with: Dairy Free • Egg Free • Gluten Free • Hidden Veggies • Nut Free • Soup • Soy Free • Vegan • Vegetarian