rainy day recipe 2

Another rainy weekend day and we had to change our plans to go to the Storybook Festival at the Edaville Railroad (we will get there sometime this year, maybe even tomorrow if this rain clears up). Instead we took a trip to the outlets for some shopping. We spent a ton of money on new socks and I got a great deal on a fun new knit coat. It's definitely the transition into Fall.

Our mutant tomato plant took off again and we ended up with so many more - about doubling the batch that J had used for his buffalo tomato sauce. My neighbor said he had one tomato this year, so somehow we got really lucky. So before they rotted on the counter I managed to get my hot little hands on a food mill - either these are very popular or everyone already has one because I couldn't find one anywhere! I think that having the food mill makes this tomato soup creating sooo much easier than blanching and seeding, etc. (and we can use the mill for good apple sauce and even mashed potatoes)

Alphabet Tomato Soup

8 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
2 tablespoons-ish garlic herb spice
2 tablespoons-ish dried basil or fresh basil chopped
1 tablespoon onion flakes or one onion chopped finely and sauteed
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons white sugar, or to taste
1 cup whole milk
alphabet noodles

DIRECTIONS
In a stockpot, over medium heat, combine the tomatoes, onion, garlic herb, basil and chicken/veggie broth. Bring to a boil, and gently boil for about 25 minutes to blend all of the flavors. Remove from heat and run the mixture through a food mill into a large bowl, or pan. Discard any stuff left over in the food mill.
In the now empty stockpot, melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in the flour to make a roux, cooking until the roux is a medium brown. Gradually whisk in a bit of the tomato mixture, so that no lumps form, then stir in the rest. Add in milk. Season with sugar and salt, and adjust to taste. I then added almost a whole box of mini alphabet noodles and let them cook for about 7 minutes (so the noodles were al dente so that when it's reheated they won't be too mushy). It made a big batch for this week and two batches to freeze.
Total Time: about an hour! (poor J spent almost 4 and half hours on his sauce)

Yummy eating triangle cheese and alphabet noodle tomato soup for dinner (ignore the big discolored bumps on his head - especially if you are getting married in a week and you want your nephew to look cute - he had a run-in with a feisty new kid at music class - the kid hit each kid in the class with a shaker and his somewhat oblivious mother snagged him to go home within 20 minutes - rebecca felt terrible - it will heal in time for the big day - no worries):