Our relentless record breaking summer is finally breaking. After setting 21 hottest temperature records in a row, we are finally getting close to normal temps. Hallelujah!
Sometimes you just need a big ol’ bowl of soup. I am a soup girl. I eat it year round, even living on the face of the sun in Arizona. And I love Paradise Bakery’s Fire Roasted Tomato Soup. But, they were bought out by Panera Bread. Nothing against Panera, but their version just isn’t the same for my taste buds. This soup was so good that even my tomato-hating husband liked it! That is a victory, let me tell you.
Sadly, not everyone in my house likes soup as much as I do. I end up making a batch while Mark is traveling and freezing what I can’t eat before it goes bad. I’ve had good luck with freezing soups. It’s funny, Mark will ask me what I’m eating while he’s gone and I’ll answer with whatever soup I have in the freezer. He often looks at me funny, especially in the summer when it’s 100+ outside. You should check out the board I’ve saved on my Pinterest page, Gimme a Soup Spoon.
But alas, I’m staring at cooler weather again without my beloved tomato soup.
Never fear, Chef in Training is here! Her website was the first I followed when I joined Pinterest. Her recipes never fail. Turns out, she loves PB’s soup as much as I do and is talented enough to figure out a copycat recipe. Best of all, it’s RV friendly!
I’m also a Pioneer Woman junkie. I like her easy going demeanor and how vividly she explains the recipes on her show. Many times I watch the show with laptop in hand, ready to pin recipes that look good. Like old episodes of Law & Order, I could probably watch repeats of her show all day long. She recently had an episode dedicated entirely to soups; it’s like she was talking directly to me. I pinned every recipe from that episode. She showcased a tomato soup recipe that looked divine, complete with home-made Parmesan croutons. I haven’t made her tomato soup yet as my love for Paradise Bakery’s version is so strong. I should give it a whirl this winter though.
The croutons were calling my name. I can’t completely tell you why, either. I’m the person at the table that flicks the croutons off the salad. For me it’s just a wasted starch. Here I was sitting on the couch, computer in hand, salivating at these homemade croutons. Maybe it was the Parmesan cheese or how easy the recipe was; I knew I had to make them. Even better, she talked about how easy they were to freeze. Wait, what? I can freeze them and put them on my soup for salad anytime I wanted? I’m in.
I made the croutons first, saved the several I would use for this week’s meals and froze the rest. I found a small baguette at the grocery store and figured that was a good size to try this recipe with. Since I’m not normally a crouton girl, I thought maybe the full round slice of the baguette would be too big so after slicing the baguette, I cut each slice in half.
After slicing, I laid them out on some foil then brushed olive oil on each one. I then put a small pile of Parmesan cheese in the heated pan and placed each slice on top of the cheese. While the bread was browning nicely with the cheese, I brushed olive oil and added Parmesan to the top side. It’s a careful flip; the first time I tried was too soon and I had random pieces of Parmesan scattered about the pan. It’s a gentle check for readiness before flipping. The entire process was under five minutes. I put the fabulous new croutons back on the foil for cooling.
Homemade Parmesan Croutons
Recipe Credit: Pioneer Woman
- Baguette Roll, sliced
- Grated Parmesan Cheese
- Olive Oil
Heat skillet over medium heat. Brush bread slices with olive oil. Place small piles of Parmesan cheese and gently press bread into it. Cook until browned to your liking and turn over for second side browning. You can freeze any leftovers in a freezer bag.
Time to make the soup. When I’m making something for the first time, I like to get all the parts and pieces set up in the order I’ll need them. It’s my new recipe assembly line. I opened all the cans, minced the garlic and diced the onion. The most time-consuming part of the recipe was finely dicing the onion. It’s not a pretty sight when I’m dicing an onion. I start out with high hopes each time that I’ll cut the slices perfectly straight and dice them just like you see on TV only to end up with lopsided cuts and random piles of onions that need extra dicing. I’m happy to say I am getting better with a more uniform cut, though. Must keep practicing.
I’ve learned when sauteing onions not to be in a hurry. It’s also the secret to sneaking more onions into food with my picky man. The recipe called for them to be translucent so I set the timer for five minutes. After they were ready I added the garlic for a couple more minutes. Man, the house smells so good when onions and garlic are involved. When that’s ready it’s all about the cans. I dumped the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and tomato paste in the pot followed by the water and chicken broth. I stirred it frequently until it reached a boil then covered it to simmer for 30 minutes. This is the hardest part for me when I make soup, the waiting. I admit that I did peek at it a few times while it simmered. I was ready to eat!
The last part is adding salt, pepper and cream then simmer for 10 more minutes. When the timer dinged I turned off the heat and pureed it with my handy-dandy emulsion blender. I knew Mark wanted to try this so I blended it more to almost eliminate any tomato chunks. He’s branching out of his food comfort zone and I don’t want a big chunk of tomato to derail that. The emulsion blender is the only extra appliance for this recipe. If you don’t have one in your RV, I’m sure a potato masher would work just fine. Or, you could carefully put it in the blender; doesn’t every RV have a blender for making margaritas? Her recipe calls for topping with some sour cream and tortilla chips but I was so very excited to try the fancy croutons I’d just made. Mark was in Charlotte for the week and I texted him a picture of the finished product. He said it looked delicious and couldn’t wait to try it. V for Victory!
RV Friendly Tomato Soup
Recipe Credit: Chef in Training
- ½ large onion, finely diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1-2 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1 (28 oz.) can diced tomatoes
- 2 (14.5 oz.) cans fire roasted tomatoes
- 1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
- 1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste
- 2 cups water
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1 tsp. salt
- ¼ tsp. pepper
- 1 cup heavy cream, milk will work too
- Sauté onion in olive oil in a large pot until almost translucent. Add garlic and saute a couple of minutes longer.
- Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, water and chicken broth. Stir to combine and until it reaches a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and let simmer for 30 minutes.
- Puree soup as necessary to reach desired constancy.
- Add salt, pepper and cream and simmer for 10 additional minutes.