home roasted vegan tomato soup

Right now, in the depths of winter, there is nothing I love more than a bowl of hot soup. It's comforting and healthy all at the same time. I've made it a ritual to cook a giant pot of soup every Sunday during this time of year. What I do is freeze half, and then take the rest for lunches during the week. It's a great way to have easy, ready-to-eat meals around that aren't tv dinners. We all know how much I love chemically preserved resemblances of food.

Anywho, I made this guy the other day, and I have to say, I'm extremely proud of it. It tasted....orgasmic. I love creamed soups, but can't bring myself to ingest that amount of high fat dairy. So instead, I made a little experiment with some coconut milk, and it came out a vegan phenomen. There is something so satisfying about making something from scratch, and the added bonus points for making it vegan put me on cloud nine. This tomato soup is the ultimate comfort food, pair it with a piece of multigrain toast that has avocado smeared on top and your set. Your welcome. Enjoy.

Ingredients:

15 Medium Vine Tomatoes

2 Small Yellow Onions

1 Celery Stalk

7g Oregano

7g Basil

5 Sprigs Thyme

3 Garlic Cloves

1 Can Coconut Milk

1 Cup Orzo

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F

2. Cut tomatoes in half, and lay them out on a foil-lined cookie sheet that has been greased with a bit of olive oil.

3. Drizzle tomatoes with some more olive oil on top and then roast for about 20 minutes, until skins begin to shrivel and split.

4. While your tomatoes are roasting, finely chop your onion and celery keeping them separate  and then clean and chop the herbs. 

5. Once you take your tomatoes out of the oven, begin sauteing onions and whole garlic in a bit of olive oil over a low/medium flame.

6. Once your onions are completely see through, kill the flame, stir in herbs, and let sit.

7. Now you will want to peel the skins off of your tomatoes. Because you roasted them, they should come off very simply by just using your fingers. Be careful, they might still be a bit hot, but it's easiest to peel when they are.

8. Using a hand blender (or food processor if you don't have one) puree onion and garlic mixture.

9. Add in 2/3 of your tomatoes and coconut milk, and then puree until creamy.

10. Add the rest of your tomatoes, and then puree just a bit, so they are still a slightly chunky (if you like some chunk, if not, just add all of the tomatoes in step 9).

11. Put everything in a pot back on the stove over a low flame, and add orzo and celery.

12. Stirring constantly so that you don't get exploding soup, cook for another 15 minutes. 

13. Let sit until orzo is fully cooked, and then serve or let chill and freeze.