Fresh Tomato & Basil Soup

This is a simple soup that's tasty & low cal, this recipe makes 2 meal-sized servings or 4 side-servings.  This is a good lunch option, and some ideas follow the basic recipe to pump it up into more of a dinner option.

Ingredients

  2 tsp Better Than Bouillon Vegetable *

  2 cups water *

    (* optionally, 2 cups vegetable stock)

  4-5 Roma Tomatoes cut into 1/2" cubes

  1 cup grated Yellow Squash (Crook Neck or Zuchinni)

  Italian Spices (I like Penzeys Tuscan Sunset) & Salt & Pepper to taste

  2 Tbl (6-7 leaves) chopped fresh Basil

Throw everything but the Basil into a pot, bring to a boil then lower temp to simmer, simmer 1/2 hour. After cooking stir in chopped fresh Basil. Can be garnished with fresh grated Parmesan.

Variations:  Have Fun With It & Break The Rules!!!

I love to take recipes and then stubbornly refuse to follow them as written... that's how I ended up with this basic soup which was much better & used fresher ingredients than the original recipe. I also like breaking my own rules and frequently don't bother to measure when dealing with fresh vegetables, so vary things as you like.

One recent variation on this recipe was as follows: I sautéd a thin-sliced shallot & minced garlic clove in a pan coated with Butter Flavored Pam, I cut the kernels off of 2 corn cobs (adds a bit more calories), and I added these to the basic recipe above. About 5-7 minutes before I was done simmering I added up some cubes of raw lobster tail meat (lean, low cal protien). This variation turned the soup from a side item into a main course once I added a couple slices of artisan bread on the side.

Another variation for this soup adds 1/2 pound pre-cooked chicken meat (we frequently have leftovers), some diced Bell Pepper, some Corn kernels (I like to cut mine off the cob), some sautéd diced onions, and perhaps some sautéd seeded & minced jalepeno.  I modify the spices to be more southwest in nature (I like Penzeys Southwest) & eliminate the Basil for this version.

A Cajun variation adds 1/2 pound of raw shrimp (about 5-7 minutes before the end of the simmering, some diced Bell Pepper, perhaps some greens like Spinach (added toward the end of the simmer, just long enough to wilt), some sautéd onion, and some pre-cooked rice.  I modify the spices to be more Cajun in nature (see my Cajun Spice recipe) & eliminate the Basil for this version.

If you come up with additional ideas feel free to add them in the comments... I’m always looking for new ways to “mix it up”.