Skip to main content

Fun With Tomato Juice

This blog entry has quite a backstory, but I'll sum it up quickly.

In making the mega-batch of Red Sauce, I drained roughly 32 oz of juice from a large can of diced tomatoes.  "Waste not, want not", so I froze the leftover liquid, to be used at a later time.

That time was today.  My original thought was to concoct a chili or similar, but then...I had ideas!

Searching online, I found a recipe for Tomato-Basil soup at www.allrecipes.com.  With slight modifications (I had no crushed tomatoes or fresh basil) to the soup, today's lunch was soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.  Raves all around, and I guess now I can say goodbye to Campbell's Tomato Soup.

Thank you - allrecipes.com!
That left me with another 20 or so ounces of remaining tomato juice, and I was hankering to do something crazy with it.  And what would be on the other end of the tomato usage spectrum, if innocent, comforting tomato soup is on the another?

The Bloody Mary, of course!  Bloody Maries make me think of my mom...not in an alcoholic, Mommie Dearest-type way...in an one-adult-enjoying-a-drink-with-another-adult type way.  So, another search online turned up a recipe for "Kick Ass Bloody Mary"...and I was sold.  The result?  Very, very good.  Spicy.  Tomato-ey.  Definitely a keeper...not to mention, cheaper than anything I'd find in a bar or buy in a store.

Pic courtesy of www.formerchef.com
Huzzah to lycopene goodness!

Comments

  1. Love the creative uses of a "scrap" ingredient. Are these actual pictures of your creations? If so I must compliment you on your photographic presentations, very nice.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks - it was quite gratifying to be able to use the leftover juice!

    And, double thank you, as your question reminds me to give photo credit here photo credit is due! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. HD, I looked at the allrecipes site and found a number of choices so I don't know which tomato basil you made. We don't eat dairy or meat, so we would choose the one with vegi broth and in place of cream or milk add soy or almond milk. My experience has been (I was a cook in a German/French restaurant in Germany) that the flavor can come out rather close to the same. Have you ever made the Spanish or Portugese version, along the line of gazpacho, those normally do not call for dairy or meat broth.
    Like you blogs.
    Thanks

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Go Placidly

My food truck business started back up this past weekend, and from here until November, the weeks will be packed.  Sandwich-slinging Thursday-Saturday and bartending work Monday-Wednesday.  And Sunday, I guess, is the day to sleep in and hide in my house. Hiding out is the one thing I feel like doing a lot of these days.  My food truck's ReOpening wasn't the only thing happening in my hometown this weekend past.  A 13-year-old boy was accidentally shot and killed on Saturday and then yesterday, the police department busted one of the biggest meth labs in a long time. Both are tragic...one is a sad loss, one that will devastate a loving family for the rest of their lives.  One is tragic only because of the profound stupidity/ignorance/addiction of a few people who happen to be living in a town mostly filled with good-hearted, hard-working people. And if it's not drama at the local level, then there's the constant bombardment of news that seems to be vividly...

From Government Regulations to Chicken

So, I really wanted tonight's post to be whippy and biting and highly intelligent...and I've even got the perfect topic - government wine regulations: Europe vs. the US (subtitle: European Governments Seem to Trust Their Citizens A Whole Lot More The US, Otherwise Why Don't French, et al., Wine Labels Have the Surgeon General's "Pregnant Women Should Not Drink This/This Beverage Impairs Your Brain" Warning). But, I realized that to begin a post like that, I should probably know the answer to the question, yes?  Why do American wine labels include the warning, when, I don't know, isn't just common sense?  A quick search of this very query lands me at Wikipedia, which is good enough for a rude overview, but nothing that indicates why it's a law in the first place. Hence, more reading is required.  I hope to get to it soon.  It's almost August, two-thirds of this year is nearly gone, and sometimes I feel as I am moving very, very quickly along...

A Burst Bubble (Sort Of...)

My first class of the day starts at 7 a.m.  I have a half-hour drive to school.  I leave my house around 6:15 a.m.  I wake up at 5:30 a.m., shower, get dressed, complete my morning toilette, and get my school materials together. Guess what I don't usually have time for?  A sit-down breakfast.  Enter this essential item right here: I won't ever skip breakfast.  I just won't do it.  There are some things I believe to be sacred.  But, because of time constraints, I'm obligated to take my breakfast on the road.  In a sippy glass. It's not a SlimFast shake.  It's not water.  It's not orange juice.  It's not chocolate milk. It's a homemade veggie-fruit smoothie.  And I love them.  By the time I arrive to school, my glass is empty, and I'm totally full.  And, I've had a good whopping serving of my fruit and veg for the day.  However, with every good thing, it needs to be evaluated from time to time....