Soup

I had a very sick two year old on my hands all of last week. High fevers, a cold, a touch of a stomach bug. It was also sub zero temperatures most of the week, with wind chills hitting -30 far more than once. It was a long week, for sure. The kind of long week that always seem to fall during the darkness of winter when you’re resisting the need to take down your holiday decor and already longing for spring. One of those. Basically, it was a “warm bowl of soup and all the wool blankets” kind of week, a week that practically begs for my favorite homemade veggie soup with vegan dumplings. This is the very best “chicken soup” recipe for those of us who don’t eat chicken, but still need that warm, yummy hug of a dish to make you feel better on crappy winter days when your kid’s fever won’t break and the air outside hurts to breathe.

An alternative title to this post could easily be, “Best Ever Vegan Tomato Soup.” Because it is indeed the best ever and it is indeed vegan. It’s also about the easiest thing to make that there ever was, even if you wanted to make a big pot on a weeknight. The basis is a bunch of roasted tomatoes, onions and garlic. Drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with salt and pepper and bursting with flavor. I like a variety of tomatoes (such as tomatoes on the vine, cherry tomatoes and little heirloom tomatoes) for little extra depth of flavor, but truly you can use whichever kind of tomatoes you have on hand or that look good in the grocery store. A big bowl topped with French bread croutons makes a meal unto itself or the perfect accompaniment to a grilled cheese sandwich. (I’ll be sharing one of my favorite grilled cheese recipes next week! Yum!)