Lips and Soups

It seems like I'm doing an awful lot of winter whining already. Maybe it's because winter has come so darn early this year. Or, maybe I'm just a whiner. Whatever. . .

My favorite thing to eat in winter is soup. To me, it's the ultimate comfort food.

As a kid, I never really liked Campbell's Tomato Soup very well. It was weirdly sweet. My mom used to feed my sister and I grilled cheese sandwiches and the kind of tomato soup that had chunks of tomatoes still in it. I always picked at it and tried to leave the tomato chunks in the bottom of the bowl.

Our job was to do the dishes after every meal. I always washed and my sister Cindy always dried. After washing out the soup bowls there would be pieces of uneaten tomato chunks floating in the dishwater. I would pick up the chunks and toss them at Cindy while screaming, "They look like LIPS!! Ewwwwwww! Lips!!!" She would scream and general chaos would ensue – until a parent intervened and we both got in trouble.

To this day, I don't like chunks of tomato in food. And, to this day, when I wash dishes I look for "lips."

All this came to mind this weekend when I wanted some tomato soup that didn't taste weird and was pureed super smooth. Here's what I did:

• sauteed one chopped onion with two cloves of minced garlic in some olive oil until the onions were nice and soft.

• added two cans of whole tomatoes with juice and two cans of fire roasted tomatoes with their juice. 

• simmered for 45 minutes

• pureed the soup in the blender

• added two cups of whole milk

• seasoned with salt and pepper

Super easy. Really, really good.

DISCLAIMER: If you have a weak stomach don't read any further!

Am I the only one who thinks that tomato soup smells like vomit?? How can something that tastes so good smell so bad?? Especially when you reheat it. . .