Got Tomatoes?

I love tomato season. I always start thinking ahead about what I want to can with tomatoes. I've tried a lot of different things, just plain tomato juice, tomato ketchup, chili sauce, salsa, spaghetti sauce and a couple of different kinds of soup. My favorites are the chili sauce which is my sister-in-law's recipe and is divine and the one that I come back to most often is the Creamy Tomato Soup. This recipe I got from a friend years ago and it is a real winner. It is a little labor intensive but so worth it. Isn't it true that the things that we love the most we usually work the hardest to get.

I have made this soup with both tomatoes and canned tomato juice and I can't really tell much difference. It's just good food either way. If you have an excess of tomatoes in your garden this year, you might want to give this a try. If not, use canned tomato juice and make some of this. It makes about 12 quarts and when serving you can add browned ground beef or any other things you like in your soup. It's not a vegetable soup but it could be if you want.

I've always made it with alphabet macaroni which is next to impossible to find so this year I used orzo and it was okay, though not as good as the alphabet mac. You could even try it with rice if you want or pick your pasta. It's great to have on your shelves for a quick meal and is just plain delicious.

CANNED TOMATO SOUP
½ bushel tomatoes, juiced (about 8-9 quarts juice)
6 large onions
3 med. Green pepper
1 bunch celery
1 pkg. alphabet Macaroni
¾ lb. butter
2 c. sugar
1 c. flour
¼ c. salt
½ t. black pepper
Juice tomatoes. Grind onions, peppers and celery with medium grinder blade. Simmer in ¼ lb. butter till tender. Cream ½ lb. softened butter with flour, sugar, salt and pepper. Add 1 quart hot tomato juice to flour mixture. Blend till smooth. Add blended mixture to rest of hot juice and bring to a boil. Simmer 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add macaroni the last 10 minutes of the 30 minutes. It will stick to the bottom so stir well and often. Pack into jars. Put on hot lids and rims. Cold pack in canner. Y: about 12 quarts To serve, add a little water and heat.