Garden Fresh Tomato Soup

I have tomatoes from my garden, I got some from my mother yesterday and from my neighbour this morning.  We love fresh tomatoes and eat them every day, but now I was overloaded.  I could have stewed and frozen them for the winter or made salsa, but I wanted to try something new.

It was cool and cloudy this morning and I decided to make soup.  I love tomato soup but have never made it.  This recipe is fast, easy and delicious.  I think the cloves are the secret ingredient.  My only complaint was that there was nothing left over!  Next time I will double the recipe.

This recipe is from allrecipes.com

Ingredients

4 cups chopped fresh tomatoes

1/2 sliced onion

4 whole cloves

2 cups chicken broth

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon white sugar

Directions

In a pot, over medium heat, combine the tomatoes, onion, cloves and chicken broth.

Bring to a boil, and gently boil for about 20 minutes to blend all of the flavours.

Remove from heat and blend with a hand blender.  Pour through a sieve into a large bowl.  Discard the remnants left in the sieve.

In the same pot, melt the butter over medium heat.  Stir in the flour to make a roux, cooking until the roux is a medium brown.  Gradually whisk in a bit of the tomato mixture, so that no lumps form, then stir in the rest.  Season with sugar and salt.

Freezer Rolls

We had such a lovely hot summer I was convinced the heat would stick around for at least another month.  Unfortunately, with September came the cloudy, windy, rainy and cool weather.  Of course this means I pull out my fall and winter recipes.  It also means Thanksgiving is around the corner.

I therefore thought I would share with you my dinner roll recipe.  It is handy because you prepare them and freeze them.  You do not bake them until you need them.  I also like this recipe because it means you can have just one or two fresh rolls for dinner whenever you need them.

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups warm water
2 packages traditional yeast (4 1/2 teaspoons)
1/2 cup warm milk
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
5 1/2 to 6 cups all-purpose flour
2 large eggs

Directions
Place 1/2 cup warm water in large warm bowl.  Sprinkle in yeast, stir until dissolved.  Add remaining warm water, warm milk, butter, sugar, salt and 2 cups flour.  Beat 2 minutes at medium speed of electric mixer.  Add eggs and 1/2 cup flour.  Beat at high speed for 2 minutes.  Sir in enough remaining flour to make soft dough.  Turn out onto lightly floured surface.  Knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes.  I knead mine with the electric mixer.  Cover with plastic wrap, let rest for 20 minutes.

Punch dough down.  Shape into desired shapes for dinner rolls.  Place on greased baking sheets.  Cover with plastic wrap.  Freeze.  When frozen I put them into freezer bags until they are needed.

Remove from freezer, place on greased baking sheets.  Cover, let rise in warm, place until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden.  Remove from baking sheets and cool on wire racks.

To bake without freezing: After shaping, let rise in warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.  Bake according to above directions.

How to make crescent shaped rolls: Divide dough in two.  Roll each half to a 14 inch circle.  Cut each circle into 12 pie-shaped wedges.  Roll up each wedge from the wide end.  Curve ends slightly to form crescents.