When it comes to meal planning, soups provide the eqivalent of culinary flextime. Soups can be prepared days or even weeks ahead of time, then reheated at your convenience. I like to make a huge pot on the weekends, refrigerate it for weekday lunches or freeze. The flavors of a soup improve the longer they sit and they freeze very well.  Tomato soup is my all time favorite. The rich and creamy flavors of the soup are fantastic and I like to add different things just to vary the taste. I start off with my base recipe, Creamy Tomato Soup and add other ingredients. Mezzetta  has always offered good quality products. Their Roasted Red Peppers are sun ripened in California and then flame roasted to sear in their smooth rich succulent flavor. I added a jar of these to my Creamy Tomato soup recipe and it added a great rich flavor.

Creamy Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup

Ingredients:

2 cups chicken or vegetable stock/broth (I like to make my own stock ahead of time and freezer. When I need it, I pull it out of freezer.)

6 cups crushed tomato or Italian stewed tomatoes with seasoning

1 jar Mezzetta  Roasted Red Peppers

2 cups heavy cream or milk

Salt and freshly cracked pepper

2 Tablespoons Italian seasonings

Directions:

Combine broth, tomatoes and red peppers in a large pot over moderate heat. When soup starts to bubble, stir in heavy cream or milk and reduce heat to low. Season with a little salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and simmer gently 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. With an immersion blender, puree soup. Serve bowls of soup with sandwiches, salad, bread or homemade baked potato fries.

Recipe Note: Soups usually include fresh or dried herbs. Fresh herbs tend to give up their flavors easily, so make to add them toward the end of your cooking time. Dried herbs and spices tend to hold their flavors and require lots of cooking time to bring their flavors out. Any  use of salt, should be added late and after you taste tested your recipe.

As always, my quick and easy recipes for Busy Moms can be found on my website Noel’s Kitchen Tips.