Tuscan Tomato Bean Soup

 Day 16: What's your favorite late summer food? 

Topic of the day: my favorite late summer food. Hands down - it's freshly grown tomatoes from my garden. You simply can not beat the flavor of a Michigan tomato, picked in September, still warm from the sun.

Lucy agrees about a fresh tomato. 

Today I made Tuscan Tomato White Bean soup from "Food Network Magazine" September 2014. All the tomatoes came from my garden, the beans from my pantry. I even grew the rosemary. That's very satisfying. I actually made a triple batch and froze many meals for winter lunches. That's another very satisfying way to use up the tomatoes from the garden.

Straight from "Food Network Magazine"

3 T olive oil (or less, to taste)

1 large onion, chopped

5 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed

2 T tomato paste

2 pounds fresh tomatoes, chopped

2 cans white beans

1 quart vegetable broth

1 sprig rosemary

1/4 t red pepper flakes

Sweat the onion and garlic in the olive oil being careful not to brown them. Add the remaining ingredients. Simmer for a while. When cool, remove the rosemary sprig and  carefully blend in a high speed blender. Serve with tasty croutons, crusty bread, and maybe a drizzle of olive oil. I served mine with a roasted tomato, chopped in small pieces. This gave the soup a nice punch of tomato.