Cream of Tomato Soup

Cold again this morning, -22C when I looked out the kitchen window early this morning. There was no wind, so no wind chill, which made it feasible to venture out on a walk. We bundled up with many layers to keep warm on our walk. I wore so many layers, including my Cowichan sweater, that it was a challenge to get my coat done up!

It was beautiful out there, the snow deep and white all around us, the sky blue above us, and the steady squeak beneath every step on the snow covered road, to accompany us as we moved slowly down the road. Neither of us felt the cold but for our fingers. This was easy enough to remedy by moving our fingers out of the finger compartments in our gloves, to make fists with our fingers tucked into our palms, inside the gloves.

At one point in our walk it becomes very hard going. A house on a corner has a machine come in to plow their driveway and pile up the snow. The pile by the sidewalk always spills boulders of ice into the sidewalk, along with lots of snow. Sometimes it is impassable, and we have to resort to walking on the road to get around that section. Other times Attila is able to lead the way through, removing the largest obstacles so that I can follow comfortably. These private plowing companies have no consideration for keeping the public way open to the public. So far no one has complained, which is surprising. And it is interesting because the people who own this property openly express left leaning political views “for the people”, while ignoring the public good in their actions. There are a lot of people espousing the public good, for whom “we” means “me”.

I have had a craving for cream of tomato soup. I used to just open a can of commercially sold tomato soup, no more. Commercially canned soups are extremely high in sodium, and so I avoid them. So I rooted around on youtube and google for tomato soup recipes, found a few that sounded promising, and saved copies. This morning I decided to give it a try, so that I could have tomato soup for lunch. I started to follow one recipe and soon decided that making a whole recipe of soup with milk just did not make sense for one person. Recipe tinkering was called for.

The result was creating a tomato soup base, to refrigerate or freeze, that included all needed ingredients except the milk. I melted margarine, then added an equal amount of whole wheat flour, some pepper, baking soda, and a pinch of salt. I cooked this for a few minutes. I had a can of crushed tomatoes, that once opened turned out to be a tomato puree, no need to put it through the blender. The tomatoes were stirred into the ingredients in the pot, cooked for a while longer, then distributed into 1/2 cup portions for storage.

Not knowing how much to use for a single bowl of soup, it seemed wise to start with one portion of the soup base, adding 1/2 cup of milk, equal measures of both, to test the consistency and taste. That worked out very well! It makes a very pleasant, low sodium, cream of tomato soup. Here is the recipe, I hope I haven’t forgotten anything!

Maggie’s Cream of Tomato Soup Base
1/3 cup butter or margarine
1/3 cup whole wheat or all purpose flour
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 can or litre of tomatoes, pureed
Melt butter in a saucepan over a medium heat, add flour, pepper, salt, and baking soda. Mix well and cook for a few minutes. Add tomatoes, mix well, cook for another 3 to 5 minutes. Divide into eight 1/2 cup measures.
To make cream of tomato soup, add 1/2 cup of the soup base to a bowl, add 1/2 cup of milk, stir to mix well, heat to desired temperature in microwave. This base and milk may also be combined in a saucepan and heated on the range.

I will freeze the portions of base. On the days I want to have cream of tomato soup for a quick lunch, one portion can be put out on the counter to thaw in the morning!

What about Attila you might ask. He does not eat breakfast, so I enjoy a leisurely breakfast on my own. Attila loves his own homemade soups, or leftovers, for lunch. The only meal of the day where we eat the same thing is supper/dinner, which we plan, and sometimes prepare, together. Attila does not feel restricted by my dietary restrictions, as they only come into play at supper/dinner time, and he freely chooses everything else he eats.

Cooking for one is a thing at our house, even though there are two of us.

P.S. It warmed up to -8C! The downside is that the warmer weather brought clouds and more snow!

Worldly

Weather

-22°C
Date: 7:00 AM EST Wednesday 28 January 2026
Condition: Mainly Clear
Pressure: 101.9 kPa
Tendency: Rising
Temperature: -17.0°C
Dew point: -19.1°C
Humidity: 84%
Wind: WNW 10 km/h
Wind Chill: -24

Quote

“You must pray that the way be long, full of adventures and experiences.”
Constantine Peter Cavafy
1863 – 1933