Last week I was sick. It was very very very annoying. Lucky for me it didn’t keep me down for too long and 2 things got me through the week.
1. The first was watching Julie and Julia for the first time ever and then proceeding to watch it 2 more times throughout the week in between reruns of NCIS, Law and Order SVU and The Real Housewives of Orange County (don’t judge me… its just always on!!!!)
2. This fabulous, amazing and delicious soup saved my life. I made it a tad bit spicier than normal in hopes that it would clear my head and it did just the trick! I was breathing out of my nose in no time (sorry if that was too much info!)
I am happy to report that I am feeling much better, I had an excellent weekend which included me cooking for 9 hours on Saturday (so I have tons of great ideas to share with you this week), Christmas is in 11 days and I haven’t even started my shopping yet. So in honor of my being lazy and putting off my shopping until the last possible week I have decided to host my first ever giveaway on What’s Gaby Cooking! Today I will be giving away 2 things!
A Cuisinart Food Processor – which will come in handy when making this soup. Its kinda my best friend in the kitchen – I have 3… a mini (which I use for making pesto and other small things), a 4 cup (which I use when I am making hummus or for chopping onions when I am super lazy) and 12 cup (which is perfect for soups or making different kinds of dough!) … and they all get used on a weekly basis… so they are happy campers!
Also – a copy of the Julie and Julia DVD or Blu-Ray (whoever wins can pick what kind they want depending on if they have Blu-ray or DVD)
So here are the rules. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite food memory from around the holidays and be sure to include your email address so you can be contacted if you win! The contest will end Tuesday (12/15) at Midnight PST. A winner will be announced Wednesday morning. So be sure to check back on Wednesday to see if you were the lucky winner! (Full disclosure – this giveaway is not sponsored by anyone except for me – its just my way of sharing my love for the holidays and food!)
Alright – back to the soup that is sure to clear up your cold!
Roasted Tomato Basil Soup (Recipe adapted from Ina Garten)
Ingredients:
- 3 pounds tomatoes, cut in half
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons good olive oil
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
- 2 chopped yellow onions
- 6 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 (28-ounce) canned plum tomatoes, with their juice
- 4 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
- 1 quart chicken stock or water
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Toss together the tomatoes, 1/4 cup olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread the tomatoes in 1 layer on a baking sheet and roast for 45 minutes.
In a stockpot over medium heat, saute the onions and garlic with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the butter, and red pepper flakes for 10 minutes, until the onions start to brown. Add the canned tomatoes, basil, thyme, and chicken stock. Add the oven-roasted tomatoes, including the liquid on the baking sheet. Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for 40 minutes. Use an immersion blender to make a smooth consistency. Adjust salt and pepper and serve!
{ 55 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m not entering the giveaway since I JUST bought myself that very food processor (the 14 cup one) and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it. I’ve been making bread dough, purees for the baby, and all sorts of other things with it. I broke my original mini prep so I want to get the elite mini prep now… Loving your website, that I discovered recently through twitter. Thanks for all the great recipes!
I just recently made my own tomato soup; and am now wondering why I had to run out of the canned version to make that happen it was so good. This looks delicious and adds another layer of both roasting the tomatoes and a bit of heat.
My favorite memory of the holidays is replicated each year when I make Pecan Butter Balls. I started baking with my grandmother when I was a little girl and I don’t recall a year that I haven’t had those cookies. I do love the cookies but it’s the remembrance of that experience with a woman who epitomized what we would hope from our Grandma. Sweet, nurturing, funny (and REALLY short), she was a character and made it such fun for this girl with five siblings who escaped to her house for some one on one time doing what she and I both loved…baking!
My favorite memories of the holidays are of my mother and I making traditional Norwegian cookies with my grandmother and my aunts. All of us sitting around the kitchen, rolling dough, cutting shapes, and gabbing. My Mother moved out of state 5 years ago and we hadn’t gotten together since to make cookies as she was the one who always coordinated the cookie making party. This year I decided it was time, and hosted it at my house – there was a huge learning curve for me as I gathered all the equipment, ingredients and recipes – but in the end it was a great day full of laughter and fun!
kristinpotpie@yahoo.com
How fabulous. My favorite food memory of the holidays is from when I was a kid and we lived in Belgium. We went over to Germany for a visit every Christmas to go to the traditional German Christmas markets – which was amazing. I just remember stall after stall of hot spiced nuts, fragrant pastries, hot sausages, hot chocolate…..Mmmm so good.
Love, I am blown away by the transformation of your site, this thing looks absolutely amazing…I noticed TCDawson Designs in the bottom right corner, I must say I’m impressed with the two of you
Happy Holidays Love!
PS you missed SNOW in Moraga, wild!
I am glad you are better! Can’t wait to see your recipes, this soup looks great! My dad always makes his famous cinnamon rolls for the holidays. We give them away and eat them on Christmas morning. They are the BEST!
I have so enjoyed reading all your adventures and I love your recipes and ideas. Your “Winter White Chocolate Mix” has made it to the top of my Christmas list. So far I have made six batches to give out to the neighbors. Today I make four more for all my family. Thanks!
I love homemade tomato soup, and it is SO easy! Love this one & will give it a try soon. My faorite holiday memories are all centered on family of course – and not the parts that are a big deal, like opening gifts, or the meal, but those simple times of all being together to share a cup of coffee, play a game together or just sit around playing with the kids’ toys. Nothing better than that!
My favorite food memory as a child would have to be my Mom making Christmas candy. My parents did not have money when I was growing up, so making christmas candy became a gift for everyone. Every year a couple weeks before Christmas she would make homemade fudge, english toffee, pralines, chocolate balls (which consisted of a very rich chocolate with the consistency of soft fudge rolled in coconut or nuts), and sugar cookies. I remember watching her make all these and wanting to help, taste, and roll the chocolate balls. The smells are what I remember most vividly, of cooking chocolate, the sugar boiling, of butter (I mean who doesn’t love this smell!), and tasting everything after she was done. Now, I have continued the make all this candy also, and every time I do, I remember when I was younger. That is the amazing part of food and our senses. I hope I can now share this tradition with my daughter and family.
I just love this site and all the scrumptious and innovative recipes you bring to us – thank you !!
My favorite holiday food memory involves my Grandma’s devil’s food cake with white icing. It was a couple of days after Christmas, and I was eating the very last slice for breakfast next to the Christmas tree. I was savoring every morsel of the cake, and as usual cut the cake away from her oh-so-creamy homemade icing so I could enjoy the best of the cake (the icing!) last.
I briefly got up to go the bathroom, and upon my return I was mortified!!! The family dachsund was sitting on my chair, himself enjoying MY icing! The weasel!! The very last piece of cake, and the weiner dog outsmarted me and had a royal feast at my expense.
It wasn’t funny then, but the story gets told every few years and we all have a good laugh. I miss my Grandma and her delicious cakes that only she knew how to make with the right consistency… Fond memories.
What a great idea – thank you for doing this! My favorite holiday memory is decorating sugar cookies with my family. I’m deathly afraid of any recipe that involves a rolling pin, but last year I tried to overcome that with my stepson and carry on the tradition with him! The results were pretty good, and I’m looking forward to improving upon it next year!
What heartwarming holiday reads!!
Every Christmas morning, we would wake up to the scent of sweet gingerbread and spicy cinnamon rolls. Upon entering the kitchen, my mother would be floating around the kitchen, flipping omelets and monitoring gingerbread men and women. After just a one peek, our little bellies would rumble at the thought of cookies for breakfast. We would eat our eggs and bacon and tear through the gifts. After gifts, my brothers and I would run into the kitchen and fight for the fattest ginger people. We would decorate probably just for minutes with homemade cream cheese frosting, gum drops and peppermint candies. Despite looking forward to it all year and being more than ready for those decadent cookie people, enjoying cookies at 9 a.m. always felt like a Christmas miracle.
Wow, that soup looks amazing. The spice it gets with the red pepper flakes should give it a subtle yet spicy kick, not to hot, but just enough to let you know its there. I will sure be trying this in my Diner. Happy Holidays…..
My favorite food memory is eating the holiday ham with my family! And then of course all of the wine and the egg nog!
My favorite food memory was when I was about seven or eight I think. My mom made a whole bunch of sugar cookies and my sisters and I all decorated them together. I wish we did more of that these days. It was a blast and I’m always thinking of that time.
Wow Gaby, what a great giveaway!! My favorite food memory around the holidays is definitely making these french pastries with my grandmother she calls “cigars.” They are incredible, creamy almond paste centers wrapped in sweet dough, rolled, fried and dipped in honey! Yikes, can’t wait to have some next week. Have a wonderful day!!
I am not waiting until I am sick to make this tomato soup! This sounds like the bomb for those chilly evenings!!!
As for my favorite food memory, I can’t see a tray of peel ‘n eat shrimp without thinking about Christmas. My mom is not a big cook and she always purchases a big tray of shrimp for Christmas Eve. My nephews still stuff themselves silly to this day.
My favorite food memory is making Christmas cookies with my grandma. When I was young she would bake them and I would decorate as I got older I was allowed to help bake and now I do all the baking myself. thanks for a great giveaway…
One of my favorite memories of food is that of leaving a plate of Oreo cookies and a glass of milk for Santa on Christmas Eve. Somehow that plate of cookies and glass of milk were always gone the next morning!
Thanks for the chance to win – I recently discovered your blog and have already made many of your recipes – this weekend I made the Winter White Christmas bark and it was divine! My favorite holiday memory is watching my grandfather make fudge for everyone – his recipe is great. He taught me to make it and now I make it in his absence each year but it puts a great big smile on my face.
Thanks again and Merry Christmas!
My favorite holiday memories are of running around with my cousins after we ate. The house always smelled of pumpkin pie and there wasn’t a care in the world. It was wonderful!
Glad you had the soup to help you get better!! Perhaps we should have it at a potluck
Fave food memory from Thanksgiving a few years ago is when we threw out all the traditional stuff and had lobster and shrimp instead. It was amazing!
Oh! The Holidays! My favorite food memory was smoked oysters! Yes, when we were little girls and Grandpa was still alive, my Mom always served smoked oysters as an app, as they were his most beloved food. As a little girl, I could not understand why anyone would like those ugly looking things, then when I was about 6 or so, he talked me into tasting one on a cracker and it was love at first bite! I have had smoked oysters every Christmas for 53 years!
The soup looks delicious! Maybe you can make it for me when you come visit in 2 weeks!! My favorite food memory is making all the christmas cookies with everyone and the smell of the chicken cooking!!
My favorite food memory for christmas if making candy cane cookies and frosting and decorating sugar cookies with my siblings. Such good times. Too bad we are all grown up now and it doesnt happen anymore!
My favourite food memory is the constant battle between savoury (Newfie) or sage (English) for the stuffing. My dad would try to bamboozle and say that we had has savoury at Thanksgiving so it was sage’s turn, knowing full well that we had had sage. This debate went on for days before Christmas. It never occurred to anyone to make two batches of stuffing. In the end the stuffing was good whichever won the battle.
This soup looks awesome, and seeing how we are all under the weather-it seems perfect.
My favorite holiday food memory is making scrapple for breakfast Christmas morning with my Dad. Scrapple is a cornmeal mush that you make in advance, boiling it forever on the stove (watch for the painful bubble bursts) and then adding crumbles of cooked sausage. Then you refrigerate it in bread pans, slice it up, and cook it on the griddle until it’s nice and crispy. Serve with lots of maple syrup. Yum
My favorite food memory for Christmas is making gingerbread houses with my mom. My mom and I would make big, elaborate houses every single year. We had a bit of a competition between us as to who could make the best one. She passed away 3 years ago and this is a tradition I hope to continue with my kids (when I have them!) one day!
this is so cool!!!! My favorite memory is, always going to my grandma’s house christmas eve, she would make cornish game hens and what we call “grama’s potatoes” which I still to this day make every single christmas, In actuality I think they were call Potatoes Romanoff, I’m still debating whether or not I’m going to Post this recipe on my blog, its kind of a treasured recipe in our family but I’m thinking about it!!! hehe…I miss her the most during Christmas!!!!
Last year, I spent Christmas Eve with my then three year old niece making sugar cookies. It was so much fun to have her sit on the counter and mix the batter. Even better was watching her spill sprinkles everywhere and get icing all over her face. You can’t beat that.
I’m glad you’re feeling better!
I’m glad you’re feeling better!
My favorite food memories is that every Christmas morning hen I was little I would get to use my special plate that had a really pretty picture of a little girl praying (I think it was precious moments or something, and I would probably find it hideous now, but I loved it then and ONLY go to use it on Christmas) and I would eat walnut cake for breakfast… which is one of the fattiest, most decadent things ever.
yumm-o! Can’t wait to try a new soup recipe. The food that reminds me most of the holidays is bacon wrapped dates stuffed with Gorgonzola cheese. Although I don’t eat meat anymore, anytime the holidays roll around or I hear the first Christmas song of the season my mouth waters for the babies! These days I leave the meat eating for my husband and family.
my favorite food memory of the holidays is thyme twice stuffed baked potatoes – i love them. and the memory of them being made w/ loved ones in the room.
As a child, I loved watching/helping my mother make “cream cheese rolls”. Its a Czech style strudel that is just amazing. I hope to make some myself next week.
Glad to hear you are better!!
and the soup looks delicious, I can already taste the soup and the big fat grilled cheese I’d eat with it! Yum!
My favorite food memory….going to my grandparents house for the holidays and having so much food at the table that we couldn’t even all sit down! And of course everybody taking pictures of the food because they are so in awe of it!!!
Ok, it’s a more recent memory, but my favorite food holiday memory is one with my dear friend and colleague, Beth, who has now passed on. Every year we would set up the holiday decorations around our office area [after work] while we mowed through some sausage balls and a bottle of wine. I couldn’t eat another sausage ball [until the following year]…now that she’s gone, no matter how I make it to her exact recipe, it still doesn’t taste quite the same.
That soup sounds like it could cure the worse of colds. Looks so warm and comforting.
When I was little my mom would but out snacky stuff on Christmas and we would just munch whatever. I remember my dad always had a can )or two) of oysters and him and I would be the only ones too touch them. I wont wat them now. Yuck.
Very nice giveaway! Happy holidays to you!!!
Love your site and your tweets, but hate, compared to all the other folks fond memories of baking with family, that my most distinct holiday memory is the year that Mom brought the gravy to the (folding card) table for dinner in a Pyrex dish, but dropped it (it was HOT!) and it sounded as if the ceiling had cracked, and in fact, the gravy splattered all the way up to the ceiling. It had to be re-painted. Good times …
My favorite holiday food memory is making candy cane cookies with my mom and brother. We would roll them out and twist the dough into candy cane shapes. It was a great time. It doesn’t really feel like Christmas until I start to make those cookies.
Your tomato soup looks great. I love tomato soup – can’t wait to try it!
My mom always baked chocolate chip pan cookies and I used to sneak them when she was not looking. I found out later she always left a small plate out so I could ‘sneak’ them.
They are still my favorite cookie during the holidays!
my favorite food memory is eating 4 yeears ago eating w/ transplants in LA. since then i always try to make sure to hang out w/ people who don’t have family in LA and it has led to some great friendships!
That is so sweet you are doing your own giveaway (and with fabulous prizes!).
I have many fond holiday memories especially of our yearly New Years Day tradition of having a big German feast. But one of my fondest memories was the year I cooked Christmas dinner for my entire family. It was the Christmas following my graduation in spring and I was waiting until January until I started my first full time job. My grandparents who usually hold the holiday at their place had just moved and were not ready for that chaos yet. So I set out and completed the meal myself and have never felt so accomplished!
Glad you are feeling better – the soup sounds awesome!
Thanks for the great giveaway! My favorite holiday food memory involves watching my sister-in-law inadvertently blanket a window with cranberries she was attempting to strain. Probably wouldn’t have been as humorous to me if I’d been the one to do it but I think even she can look back and laugh now.
Your soup looks delicious! And since I come from a cooking impaired family, my memories are all of bought treats – marzipan strawberries in little wooden crates, chocolate oranges that came apart into sections (yum! lots of chocolate!), pecans and kumquats from my childhood years in the South, and thin, thin, New England ribbon candy that jingled as you cracked it apart. Such lovely memories!
Wow, looks like a great soup and a great give-away. I’ve wanted a food processor for forevah–fingers crossed.
My favorite food memory is a big fish dinner on Christmas Eve–different fish every year, but there’s always plenty of shrimp and clams and tuna. My mom makes mac n cheese too–just a delicious, big family meal. This year, I’m the only one from the family not at my childhood home–and I’m making the Christmas Eve meal for my new girlfriend and her family here in LA.
Happy holidays!
Hello!
Wonderful recipe. This will be perfect for a rainy Seattle evening.
My favorite Holiday food memory was from last year. My family owns a cabin in the San Juan islands, way north of Seattle. I took my friends up there and they were in for a shock when they discovered the lack of indoor plumbing and electricity. In the summer this wouldn’t be a huge deal, but this wasn’t summer. This was the middle of winter and a cold winter at that. The only way to the island is by my very small boat and we were traveling in some pretty nasty weather. By the time we made it out, it was too late to cook a big dinner so we focused on getting the cabin warm and cooked hot dogs in the airtight fireplace.
The next morning we got up and the storm was raging around the cabin but it was warm! I made breakfast for everyone and then we set off to go exploring. By lunch time, everyone was ravenous. We cooked some of the crab we had caught and the oysters we gathered, and then embarked on dinner. I had taken advantage of post thanksgiving turkey deals and bought a turkey. I began roasting it the oven on the old wood stove we used for cooking. Soon everyone else joined in with the cooking and that night we had a roast turkey, mashed potatoes, roasted elephant garlic, creamed onions, and fresh baked bread on the table. Along with fresh seafood we’d caught earlier that day. It’s one of my favorite dinners ever. It was great. The weather was so bad we mostly stayed inside and cooked. The food was amazing and the setting made it even better. Food always tastes better to candle light.
You give us another great recipe and a giveaway?! You are so awesome! My favorite holiday food memory was making and decorating spritz and sugar cookies with tons of icing, green and red sugar, silver dragees, and red hots.
My favorite holiday food memory is always of my dad making a homemade seitan roast. I was raised vegetarian so there was never a Thanksgiving turkey or a Christmas ham. It was always seitan roast. My dad always starts the night before and spends a lot of time carefully creating the roast out of two different types of flour. Then on Thanksgiving morning or Christmas morning he puts it in the oven with all the spices and potatoes and baby carrots and we can smell it roasting all day. Its heavenly.
WOW!!! I’ve always wanted a food processor!! My favorite memory from the holidays is baking with my mom. this year we’ve done a TON of baking and i have loved every second of it!
Around Christmas, my grandmother always makes her famous spice cookies and eggnog. Covered in powder sugar, the spice cookies smell, look, and embody all things Christmas to me. Not to mention, the egg nog surprisingly has a good heaping serving of alcohol in it to leave anyone feeling merrier and bright after a cup. I’ve always enjoyed helping her make the cookies and hope to carry on the tradition, and the recipe, to my children some day.
my favorite memory was when my family had thanksgiving last year. We make a fruit salad to go with dinner just because it’s tradition. But when we sat down to eat we forgot to bring it out.
Favorite memory, my mom putting frozen pumpkin pies in the oven to bake, and then being so exhausted from working full time, and cooking for a family of four, that she’d fall asleep before the pies were cooked, or actually, long after they were cooked. I can recall many a carbon-pie for Christmas and how much we laughed with joy at the product. It always had a place of honor at the table. We loved her effort.
My favorite food memory is making ginger bread houses with my mom growing up. Oh the icing! And the candies! Great kid memories!
My favorite food memory, is every year decorating gingerbread cookies with my fiance’s family. All of the brothers have a contest of who can make the most random and deformed gingerbread characters ever!
The southern side of my family always has a salty Virginia ham at Christmas, and my favorite part of the meal was always sneaking downstairs at midnight–after everything was over–and making a sandwich with leftover ham and a cold biscuit.
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