Easy Veggie: Cream of Tomato Soup – raw cashew version

Yesterday I spent a bunch of time on the computer emailing Rose working out the details on the Healthy Cooking Challenge. We had many ideas but weren’t certain how to proceed. Although now that so many of you have expressed interest we will get the details nailed down today so you can all get started. I must say I am really looking forward to this. I think it is going to be great fun and a good learning experience for all of us.

We started our day with a mixed berry smoothie. For lunch we had a big salad with fat-free hummus and salsa, with cucumber, tomatoes and hempseeds and leftover stir-fry from the prior day. For dinner we had this cream of tomato soup and another green salad with hummus and salsa. Overall it was healthy food day, but a little boring.

This soup recipe goes out to Oraphan at Easy Veggie. She is having a contest on her blog and since she is sweet enough to comment regularly on my blog I knew I wanted to participate in her contest. Oraphan, this is my easy veggie cream of tomato soup for you!

I love to make soup when it is cold outside. This specific soup came together in less than 20 minutes, and most of that time it was simmering while I did something else. I have tried to make other low fat cream of tomato soups and have not been pleased by the results, which is why you didn’t see them. This version of the soup however is excellent, so I knew I had to post the details. Here is what we had last night as part of our dinner.

Easy Veggie: Cream of Tomato Soup – raw cashew version
Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 cup red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced (allow to stand 10 minutes before heating so allicin can develop)
¼ cup of water or dry white wine (I suggest pinot grigio)
1/2 cup raw cashews
28 ounces of canned tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste
½ teaspoon of basil oil for garnish, optional

Directions:

Sauté the red onion and garlic in water or white wine until soft. Place the onions, garlic and any remaining liquid in your blender. Add the canned tomatoes and process until smooth.

If you have a Vitamix you can cook the soup in the blender in a few minutes (which is what I did). Otherwise you can heat the pureed soup in a saucepan on the stove or in your microwave.

I served ours with a drizzle (about ¼ teaspoon for each serving) of basil oil. If you don’t want to use basil oil add a little basil or oregano to the soup while heating.

Nutritional Information (does not include optional ingredients):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 292.4
Calories From Fat (33%) - 97.62

Total Fat - 11.68g
Saturated Fat - 2.03g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 530.56mg
Potassium - 1338.02mg
Total Carbohydrates - 43.79g
Fiber - 9.7g
Sugar - 1.45g
Protein - 11.95g

Comments:

This soup really reminded me of the cream of tomato soup we ate as children. My mother has never been much of a cook so I ate the familiar “canned tomato soup” as a child.

Each serving of this soup contains approximately 2,275IU of vitamin A, 40mg of vitamin C, 170mg of calcium, 7mg of iron, 60mcg of folate, 275mg of phosphorus, 150mg of magnesium, and 8mcg of selenium. This soup is a little higher in fat than many of my recipes. However, since other than a few hempseeds on our salad and flaxseeds in our morning smoothie, our overall daily fat percentage was quite reasonable.

If you are looking for a quick dinner this is a nice soup. I will definitely make it again. Both the hubby and I enjoyed this soup quite a bit.

Unrelated note:

I have been very pleasantly surprised by the initial interest in the Healthy Cooking Challenge. Today I am going to finalize the details so I can get it posted. I am looking forward to seeing what you all come up with. I love to share recipes and can’t wait to see all of yours.

For now I am off do to a little cleaning, exercising and need to catch up on my blog reading. After that I will be back with the post on the Healthy Cooking Challenge details. I hope you are all having a wonderful day.