You guys.

I hate when recipes begin with “you guys,” but I feel like saying it is something every food blogger has to say at least a half a dozen times throughout their blogging career. Now that I have gotten it out of my system, I can get into today’s recipe that is the ultimate in cozy Sunday Supper dinners. 

For as long as I can recall, I have had a weakness for tomato soup. It typically doesn’t matter if it's homemade or from a can, I just can’t help myself. It’s like the chocolate of the soup world for me, especially if there happens to be a grilled cheese nearby… 

Growing up, tomato soup consisted of opening a can of soup and popping it into the microwave. It was such a comfort for me, especially after the hour commute home from swim practice in the evening. Since I wouldn’t get home until after 8, soup from a can was the easiest option for everyone. It wasn’t until very recently that I actually began developing my own tomato soup recipe. 

Last summer on a rare sick-in-bed day, I got sucked into watching a Barefoot Contessa marathon on the Food Network app. While I don’t quite recall what the theme of the episode was, or all of the lovely things she cooked, I was mesmerized by her take on tomato soup. It seemed obscured to me that she used *gasp* canned tomatoes to make her soup. But what was even more shocking (and mind blowing), was her last minute addition to the soup just prior to serving: little grilled cheese croutons! 

Since I am sensitive to saturated fat (hellllllo crippling headaches), my take on tomato soup doesn’t have grilled cheese croutons, but plain croutons instead. My husband claimed that since I intentionally made croutons to go in my tomato soup my version isn’t technically a tomato soup, but a bread and tomato soup instead. So it’s like a panzanella soup. Whatever you want to call it, it’s delicious. 

Unlike the Barefoot Contessa, this bread and tomato soup used fresh tomatoes. If you can’t find any ripe tomatoes locally, canned San Moranzo tomatoes will also work — I use approximately 3 pounds of fresh tomatoes to make this soup, so just make sure you get enough canned tomatoes, otherwise your soup is going to be mostly broth, croutons and garlic.