Spicy Tomato Soup and Cheese Toast

Tomatoes are probably on the list of veggies and fruit kids hate but it has been one of my favorite ingredients all my life. Tomatoes are so versatile; they are tasty fresh, sauteed, or roasted.

This tomato soup is good hot or cold. The chilled version is great to beat the summer heat. As always, I am a believer of substitutions and additions. There are some rules to be followed, I agree, but cooking should be flexible (and fun)! For example, this particular soup in the picture has mushrooms in it. I'm sure most tomato soups don't have 'shrooms in them. It may sound odd but mushrooms add a lot of flavors. Although it could be blended with the rest of the soup, I like them sliced to enjoy the texture.

This type of soup is a great way to hide veggies. My husband, a meat and potato guy who hates 98% of vegetables, loves this soup. He has no idea that this soup has celery and carrot in it. Ha-ha!

The best companion for this soup is a cheese toast. I'm sure grilled cheese is fantastic as well. I am addicted to rustic baguette, a baguette with sesame seeds (from a bakery nearby), so that's what I usually use. Use what ever the melting cheese you have in your fridge. Cheese toasts used to be one of my favorite breakfast items when I was in elementary school. It is good any time of the day!

Click "Read more" for the recipe.

Spicy Tomato Soup

Ingredients
1 can tomato, diced or whole (28 oz)*

2-4 cups Chicken stock (or vegetable stock)**
1/2 large onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 small carrot, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 serrano pepper, chopped (optional)***
1 tsp dried oregano****
2-3 bay leaves
1 can tomato paste  (6 oz) 5-6 crimini mushrooms, sliced
Salt & black pepper
Handful fresh oregano****
Garnish: fresh oregano, chopped yellow peppers, cherry/grape tomatoes, etc.

*If you are lucky enough to have a ton of ripe, fresh tomatoes laying around, use those (or give it to me)!
**Adjust thickness of the soup to your taste.
***More or less, or nothing at all.
****Use one or the other, or both. I like to blend dried oregano and add fresh oregano just before serving.

Directions

1. Place first 9 ingredients (canned tomato to bay leaves) in a pressure cooker (You can use a regular pot but it will take a lot longer to cook until the veggies are tender). You can adjust the thickness of soup later so go easy on soup stock(about 2 cups). Cover, cook over medium-high (or high, depending on your stove). Cook for another 10 minutes from the time the pressure cooker starts whistling. 
2. Remove the pot from heat. Remove pressure. Open the cover carefully. Remove bay leaves.
3. Blend in a blender or with a hand held blender. Puree. Add additional stock and tomato paste to achieve the consistency you like. It may be be necessary to work in batches.
4. Place the mixture in a pot. Add mushrooms. Simmer over low to medium heat, stirring often. When the mushrooms are done, add salt, pepper, and fresh oregano. 
5. Serve hot or chilled with garnish of your choice.

Addition/substitution Suggestions:
Yellow, patty pan, or zucchini squash
Roasted yellow, red, or orange peppers
Other spicy peppers
Fresh marjoram leaves

Cheese Toast

Ingredients
Bread of your choice
Cheese of your choice (e.g. pepper jack, havarti, white cheddar, etc)

Directions

1. Place the bread on a baking sheet and garnish with cheese. 
2. Bake in 400F oven until cheese starts to turn golden.