Summer in a Bowl

We moved last week to Carson City, Nevada. Moving is always stressful but we tried to do it in easy stages. I started packing up as much as possible about 3 months ago when we decided that we were going to move by October 1. Each week I bought some boxes, washed and dusted everything and packed by seasons.

This is one of the reasons we moved...can you see the snow on the Sierras in the background? 

Anyhow, the move is the main reason I've neglected my blog- although I have been harvesting a ton of beautiful vegetables from our Klamath Falls garden and cooking up a storm! 

When we moved, I knew there would be a hard freeze shortly after the move and I didn't want to sacrifice all of the beautiful tomatoes that were just about to ripen...so I picked all the green tomatoes I could gently pack between newspaper in a couple of huge boxes and stuffed them into some space in my car. 

Needless to say, I now have an overabundance of ripe beautiful tomatoes...and I already have pints of canned tomatoes! So, I decided to go to a tried and trusted recipe for dinner tonight....Ina Garten's Fresh Cream of Tomato Soup

It's very easy to make, delicious and perfect on a cool Fall night! 

I started with a chopped red onion, 3 chopped and peeled cloves of garlic and 2 peeled and chopped carrots in a little olive oil in my beautiful red Lodge Dutch Oven...

 After 10 minutes, I added 5 German Giant tomatoes from my garden, chopped, 1 tablespoon of tomato paste, 1/5 tablespoons of sugar, 1 tablespoon of salt, 1/4 cup of packed fresh basil leaves and 1 teaspoonful of black pepper. 

I let this cook for a few minutes, and added 2 cups of chicken stock...

I brought this to a boil, then turned it to a simmer; I covered it and cooked it for about 30 minutes. 

I blended it with a stick blender and added 3/4 cup of heavy cream and re-heated the soup. 

Then, the best part: I made a grilled cheese sandwich with parmesan and cheddar cheese on sourdough, cut it into crispy 'croutons' and topped the soup with the grilled cheese croutons and some chiffonade fresh basil. 

Summer in a bowl!