Roast Tomato and Red Pepper Soup

Ah, tomato soup. When paired with grilled cheese, it may be the ultimate comfort food. However, unlike when I was eight, opening the condensed soup can and adding water just doesn't cut it anymore. (And, having just checked the can in the pantry, high fructose corn syrup does not a tasty soup make...)

This recipe contains no high fructose corn syrup (let the masses rejoice!), and contains no fat, either! Again, utilize our friend, fat-free chicken or vegetable broth!

I use cherry tomatoes, especially during non-tomato season, because they provide the best flavor concentration. If you are using any other type of tomato, squeeze the seeds and accompanying gook out, leaving just the flesh.

• 6 pints cherry tomatoes
• 3 large red bell peppers, seeded and quartered
• 1 white onion, peeled and quartered
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled
• Nonstick cooking spray
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, chiffonade
• Salt and pepper, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and spray a large baking sheet with nonstick spray. (There is a large amount of veggies to be roasted, so you may have to go with two medium-sized baking sheets.)
2. Spread tomatoes evenly on baking sheet. Try to get them in a single layer. Add pepper slices, onion, and garlic cloves. Spray liberally with nonstick cooking spray. Salt lightly.
3. Roast for 30-40 minutes, or until most of the tomatoes have burst and there is some color on the peppers and onion.
4. Remove from oven and let cool slightly.
5. Place all vegetables in a medium-sized pot. Add ~2 cups of broth and begin to puree with immersion blender. Continue adding broth and pureeing until mostly smooth and thick.
6. Add basil chiffonade and mix. Reheat over low flame, stirring frequently.
7. Add salt and pepper to taste once heated.

**I most recently served this paired, in the same bowl, with tomorrow's soup, Fresh Pea and Parsley. With a bowl that's half red and half green, a white dollop of sour cream or creme fraiche in the center made for a perfect Christmas first course!

Roasted Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

The keys to this super-easy recipe are cooking spray (in the amounts used, it only adds a negligible amount of fat) and fat-free vegetable or chicken broth or stock, from a box, from the grocery store. While I do love homemade stocks, to assure that meat stocks are fat-free, ya gotta go with the box!

To puree this soup you can either use a traditional blender or an immersion blender, which my mother affectionately calls "the outboard motor". Both will work just fine, so whichever you've got will do!


Roasted Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

• 2 Large butternut squash, sliced from head-to-toe (lengthwise) and seeded
• 3 Granny Smith Apples (or other tart cooking apple), peeled, quartered, and seeded
• Fat-free vegetable or chicken stock or broth (whichever your taste prefers)
• 2 cloves garlic, skin removed
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 pinch yellow curry powder (optional)
• 1 pinch nutmeg (optional)
  
• Nonstick cooking spray, such as Pam
  

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray.
2. Place squash, cut-side up, on baking sheet, along with apples. Place garlic cloves in hollows of squash (from where you removed the seeds). This will help the garlic to roast evenly without burning.
3. Spray squash, apples, and garlic with nonstick spray. Lightly coat with salt and pepper.
   
4. Roast in oven until squash is fork-tender; anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the thickness of your squash. Remove and let cool until squash can be handled.
5. Using a large spoon, scoop the cooked squash out of its skin and place it in your blender (or, if using an immersion blender, in a pot), along with the apples and garlic. Make sure you leave all the skin out of the blender, as the skin does not taste good.
6. Add approximately 1 cup of broth or stock to your squash and begin pureeing. Add more as necessary, until a smooth, thick, and creamy soup has formed. Reheat on stove-top over low heat, stirring frequently. Add optional spices now.
7. Once hot, adjust salt and pepper to taste. Serve with crusty bread.