Black House Blue Sky |

Are you like us and feel like there are just certain things that belong together? Like chocolate and peanut butter (Easter candy still on the mind!)? How about rainy, cold April Mondays and tomato soup? As unpredictable spring weather goes here, we’re back in the 40s. When you have a recipe for an easy one pot homemade tomato soup, it just seems like the perfect antidote for this cooler than anticipated April day.

We’re coming off of Easter yesterday with the most spectacular weather, an enormous amount of chocolate consumed and a day spent with family. It was a beautiful day in every way. Today, our kids are still out of school for spring break, and we definitely needed a low-key day to rest and recover. I guess you could say we didn’t mind the rain and cooler temps. Just a good excuse to stay inside.

This tomato soup recipe is easy to prepare with minimal chopping. It’s basically just throwing everything in a pot, a quick simmer and an immersion blender. And if you don’t have one of these, I highly recommend purchasing one. We have a Vitamix, but you absolutely cannot beat the convenience of an immersion blender when you’re cooking soups and sauces. It’s quick and definitely reduces clean up. I’m all about that! This tomato soup is a classic version with a slight twist. For our soup, I added some unsweetened vanilla almond milk for some dairy free creaminess. You could also use dairy if you prefer.

Our lunch was on the table in about thirty minutes. This included preparing the grilled cheeses for my guys too. Most of the time, we don’t have the opportunity to sit together for lunch so this was a nice treat. The smiles and thank yous confirmed this was exactly the comfort meal we all needed today! Hope your week is off to a great start!

SIMPLE ONE POT HOMEMADE TOMATO SOUP

Serves: 4-6 Prep Time: 30 minutes Cooking Time: 20 minutes 20 minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Ingredients

1 yellow or white onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons basil
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon parsley
salt + pepper
3 cans diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 tablespoon tomato paste
32 ounces broth (I used chicken but could use any type)
Optional:
1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (you could use a dairy based milk or cream too)

Instructions

Heat olive oil in a large sauce pan or dutch oven over medium heat.
Add onions and cook 4-5 minutes until soft. Add garlic and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes.
Add salt, pepper and spices and cook for another minute.
Add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste. and broth Stir and cook until boiling.
Reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
Remove from heat and blend in pot with an immersion blender until smooth.
Stir in almond milk.
Serve with grilled cheese or crackers.

Even though our guys are older, they still enjoy dying Easter eggs. We’re an arts and crafts kind of family so it’s an activity right up our alley. We had missed dying Easter eggs the past couple of years so I decided I wanted to make this happen this year. When the stars aligned this week and the grocery store wasn’t sold out of all the white eggs as I’ve experienced in years past, I was excited to return to Easter egg dying. Once I boiled the eggs, and we were set to go, I realized we didn’t have any dye. Ruh-roh! We don’t use dye so we don’t keep it on hand. Instead of journeying back out to the grocery store, I decided we’d make our own natural dyes with what we already have at home.

This is where the experimentation, creativity and fun began. We looked around our kitchen to see what we already had for making some natural dyes. My first thought was what typically stains my hands when I’m cooking. The guys helped me brain storm. The most obvious two ingredients we decided are beets and turmeric. If you’ve worked with these two roots before, you know they don’t typically wash off easily. They actually create pretty stubborn stains. Coffee and tea also came to mind as they leave stains on lighter colored surfaces (unfortunately, our teeth being one of those surfaces!). Looking for a blue and green to add, we decided to experiment with blueberries and a greens powder we usually put in our smoothies. In the interest of time, we decided to stop here, but I’m sure there are so many other options yet to be discovered. You really can get creative with natural dyes for your Easter eggs.

WHAT WE USED

Beet Juice (left over from a jar of picked beets) – PINK

Turmeric Powder (1 T. dissolved in 8 oz. boiling water) – YELLOW

Espresso (6-8 oz. brewed) – TAN

Passion Fruit Tea (1 bag steeped in 8 oz. boiling water) – GREEN (yes, we were also surprised it turned out green!)

*As mentioned above, we tried blueberries and a greens powder we had on hand, but did not have good luck with these two ingredients producing any color on the eggs. Next time, I think I’ll use more of the fruit and powder. Or perhaps I’ll try something different.

HOW TO MAKE

In smaller bowls, add 1 T. white vinegar to each of your liquid dye solutions.

Add a couple of eggs to each bowl and allow to process. With natural dyes, it takes longer for the eggs to take the color. If you want deeper, more vibrant colors, it will take hours (3-4 or for some perhaps even over night). We wanted softer, more muted colors so it took our eggs about an hour or so to process.

Once desired color depth is achieved, remove eggs from dye solution and allow to dry on paper towels.

I consider our little experiment in making our own natural dyes for Easter eggs a big success! We’ll definitely make our own dyes again. And when next year rolls around, we look forward to playing around with some different ingredients to concoct other colors to add to what worked well this go around. I’m definitely in search of a natural blue and orange, maybe a purple too. Let us know if you have any brilliant ideas! Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate!