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I don't think I'd let tomato soup near anything that's to be consumed by humans. How about substituting a small can of tomato paste?

Scooby Tuba wrote:

Chuck(G) wrote:I don't think I'd let tomato soup near anything that's to be consumed by humans.

How can you not like tomato soup? How 'bout a nice Tomato Bisque?

I didn't say that I didn't like tomato soup. I said that canned tomato soup, particularly that stuff that C*mpb*ll's sells, is anything but tomato soup. To wit:

TOMATO PUREE (WATER, TOMATO PASTE), WATER, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, WHEAT FLOUR, SALT, VEGETABLE OIL (CORN, COTTONSEED, CANOLA AND/OR SOYBEAN), FLAVORING, ASCORBIC ACID (ADDED TO HELP RETAIN COLOR) AND CITRIC ACID.

As opposed to tomato paste (I'm reading from a can of Contadina):

Tomatoes.

I mean, if tomato soup is made with tomato paste and a lot of other dreck, why not leave out the dreck?

Chuck "Who put eight great tomatoes in that little bitty can?"(G)

duckskiff wrote:Hey Chuck(G)- If you try this recipe with just the paste, let me know how it turns out. I'm all in favor of avoiding dreck whenever possible (especially high fructose corn syrup, and Budweiser).

Will do. I've made a dressing that's very similar in the past, except I think I used lemon juice instead of vinegar. It was pretty good.

I think it's a semi-word if you spell it "tomato-y", but I'm not sure.

The same comment goes for canned "cream of mushroom" soup:

Water , Mushrooms , Vegetable Oil , Corn Oil , Cottonseed Oil , Canola Oil , Soybean Oil , Modified Food Starch , Wheat Flour , Cream , Salt Less Than 2% , Dried Whey Less Than 2% , Monosodium Glutamate Less Than 2% , Soy Protein Concentrate Less Than 2% , Dried Dairy Blend Less Than 2% , Whey Less Than 2% , Calcium Caseinate Less Than 2% , Yeast Extract Less Than 2% , Spice Extract Less Than 2% , Dehydrated Garlic Less Than 2%

I love a good mushroom soup, but the canned stuff isn't good.

Speaking of leafy greens, I made a salsa fresca last night and added about a cup of finely chopped (food processor ) fresh spinach. It definitely added something good to the flavor.

bloke wrote:Personally, I'm just not one who's looking for

1 cup sugar

in something that I'm going to put on a garden salad...

I'm not sold on the quantity of sugar, either. But sugar with tomatoes is very common to cut the slight bitterness and acidity of the fruit. It's in ketchup, spaghetti sauce, tomato juice, etc. So I'm not ruling grandma's recipe out quite yet...

Tomato juice here is always served with sugar, not salt. I choked the first time I tried it.

Scooby Tuba wrote:I think that's true. BUT, I grew up NOT having the sugar in pasta sauce. My mother (born in central Italy) never added it to the home-made stuff. Her's was much more savory and spicy than sweet.
Mmmmmm.....

I'll bet she complained about the quality of US-grown tomatoes, too--or grew her own.

I suspect a lot of sugar (and fat) that's put into mass-produced food now is to make up for the poor ingredients.

The local strawberry season is over, so my wife thought she'd give me a treat by picking up some supermarket strawberries. Great big perfect-looking California-grown things. Dead white in the middle and crunchy like an apple. Utterly flavorless. They're sitting uneaten in the refrigerator. Maybe the dogs will eat them...

Chuck(G) wrote: [I love a good mushroom soup, but the canned stuff isn't good.

Canned anything sucks!



Teubonium "Whose beer comes out of a bottle"