Throw in some grilled cheese and you’ve got a meal

One of the common things we eat around here is grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup. I used to eat it a lot growing up and it’s something we nearly always have everything on hand for at home…plus it always tastes great on a chilly day or one that is just otherwise yucky which I guess makes it one of our favorite comfort foods.

We’ve tried pretty much every brand of tomato soup on the market here in Germany and found one that we love, at the price of €2.50 a can. Quite steep, really, but it tastes better than all the others…even if it’s not quite enough soup for us to split with a couple grilled cheese sandwiches. We kept saying we were just going to make our own some day…and the day finally arrived on Saturday. I snagged this recipe from Oklahoma Prairie Mom – those of you homesteaders out there reading this, you might enjoy her blog. At the moment her family is transitioning to having a minimum of electricity at home. Not sure I could do it, but a great challenge to take on and I certainly admire them for it!

Cream of Tomato Soup

1 cup butter
8 tsp. salt
2 2/3 Tbsp. finely minced onion
6 quarts of tomato juice (or 3 of the large cans of tomato juice from the store)
1.5 cups flour
1.5 cups sugar
1 tsp. black pepper

Melt butter and saute the onion. In a bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, salt & pepper. Slowly stir this into the butter. The mixture will be very thick. Continue stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Once you have enough flour in that it is becoming thick, start alternating adding the flour mixture and tomato juice to prevent lumps. After all the four mixture has been mixed into the butter, add the remaining juice and stir until smooth and well blended. Cook 1 minute.

Pour the soup into prepared canning jars. Wipe the rim to remove any drops of soup that may have spilled onto them. Add lids and seal. Process in a waterbath for 1 hour. This recipe will yield about 11 pints (1/2 liter jars) of soup.

***This soup is nice and thick. You can use it as is or add a bit of milk to thin and give it a creamy taste. Before processing, the soup has a light color, but once it has been fully processed the soup is a dark, rich red color.

2 Responses to “Throw in some grilled cheese and you’ve got a meal”

1. Kate says:

   September 10, 2008 at 1:04 pm

   I grew up on grilled cheese & tomato soup, too, it’s comfort food and a bit of home for me while living in Germany. What brand is the €2.50 a can soup you like? I usually go to the English shop here in Cologne to buy Campbells cream of tomato, but they charge a fortune for all things American or English. I’ll definitely try your recipe, thanks!

   Reply
2. Tiffany says:

   September 10, 2008 at 1:11 pm

   Hey Kate,

   We can get Cambell’s condensed tomato soup here in Rewe…they also charge a fortune but at least it’s close by. They have Reece’s peanut butter cups, Old El Paso stuff…all kinds of American products. Not sure why they would have such a demand for it in our small little farming towns out here but it sure makes me happy lol

   The stuff we were buying is in a light beige can made by Lacroix (www.lacroix.de). It’s the Tomaten-Creme-Suppe “Pomo d’Oro.” Make sure you get the cream one, though, because the regular one tastes horrible.

   Reply