Freezing the Storehouse: Roasted Tomato Soup

It's getting chilly here in Utah as autumn falls into town. (Falls, get it? Huh? No? Oh well...)

And there's nothing better than a nice hot soup on a chilly day.

Mother Nature is funny though.  The day you decide to make a soup, she decides she wants to warm things up a little.

Now what?

Or you're used to the warm, so you have a meal planned on that, and you wake up to frost on the trees.

Ah, women. (I can say that, I am one.)

Your freezer can help you!  Freeze that soup you made for later, and pull it out when Mother Nature pulls a cold, fast one on you.

Here's a soup you can have prepped and frozen, ready for that unexpected chill. Or have it ready for a day in a series of cold days that you don't feel like putting in the extra work. :)

Roasted Tomato Soup

5 lbs fresh tomatoes
2-3 onions
1 can evaporated milk
Water
Salt and pepper to taste

Cut up tomatoes into quarters, and peel onions and cut of ends, then cut in quarters.  Place on foil lined baking sheet and broil on hi 30-45 minutes until tomatoes and onions are black on the surface and tender inside.  Allow to cool.  In blender or processor, add some tomatoes and an onion quarter or two and blend until smooth, adding just enough water to encourage blending.  Repeat in batches until all tomatoes and onions have been blended.

To freeze, pour blended mixture into gallon size freezer bag.  Lay flat to freeze, then you can move it to the vertical position for long term storage as necessary.

To heat and serve, thaw in a bowl in the fridge overnight and put it in the crockpot in the morning, on low for 6 hours or so.  Or let it thaw all day, and just heat it on the stove to a boil, bring it down to a simmer, and cook for 30 minutes.  After it's all hot and cooked, remove from heat and stir in the milk, then season to taste.  Can be served with cheese or sour cream, or whatever fresh herbs you might have from your garden or dried herbs from your spice cupboard, like basil or oregano.  If you have some, add some bulbs of garlic to the roasting pan... Yum!

It's actually quite filling, but you could serve biscuits, crackers, or crispy quesadillas with this too.

Dairy free people: Skip the milk altogether; it's still good!  Or you can add some non-sweetened, plain flavored almond milk if you have it on hand.

Bon appetit!

What's your favorite soup?  Have you ever tried to freeze it?