Sparkler Soup

My sweet friends liking my Sparkler Soup on Instagram.  Follow me @MadreMinutes

Recently I was asked if ever thought about writing a cookbook.  I said I had thought about it, but just post here instead.   To me isn't this what self publishing is about?  So, I guess the answer is yes I am writing a cookbook and its here starting with the archive recipes dating before this post, to today's post and beyond......welcome to Madre"s Kitchen.  What I post takes time to savor, nurture and make public before I pass it off as an official recipe..... like I was some sort of Julia Child, Barefoot Contessa or Paula Deen, I am not, but  here goes!

The Sparkler Soup:   I took a store bought tomato basil soup HEB brand they have for sale in the glass jars.  I decided to add some things to it.  I had gone into my garden to see if there were any tomatoes to pick and there weren't that many so I put them into the soup.

The haul for the day.

My tomatoes are really doing well and have taken off now that the heat is here.  I have a variety of sizes from the beef steak, cherry, grape and yellow bells.  The yellow bells are so sweet and just great to eat right off the vine.  This is about as much as I wanted to add so it was the perfect amount.  I have been gone for a couple days and now have so many I will make a salsa or gazpacho soup.

Once you wash your veggies cut them into pieces and place them in a Mexican mortar and pestle called a Molcajete.  I like these because of the roughness of the bowl really grinds well.  Really takes care of the tomato skins. I also put some fresh basil leaves in there to add vitamins and its pungent flavor.  Then I place some Murray River Salt to help with flavor but also to act as an abrasive to grind.  Then I threw in some dried herbs of my own design that consists of oregano, basil, rosemary, thyme, parsley, sage, and lavender.

Grind those together to make this mushy liquid.

Then I add this mixture to my soup that is heating on the stove.

When I am thinking of what to add to different dishes somehow the tastes are in my mouth if that makes sense.  So I was thinking what can I add to thicken the soup and I thought of pecans.  Every time I would go to Houston the Hwy 290 way I stopped in Ellinger, TX and picked up some pecans from the Tobias Pecan Co.  They are some of the best pecans I have eaten.  I eat a lot of pecans so trust me when I say they are good.  I always get a bag of the pecan mash or finely ground to put on fish to crust or mix into my rosemary shortbread cookies or pie crusts.  So I put the rest of the bag into the soup just to try and it thickened up nicely.  About two handfuls to be precise.

 
I let it heat up for a bit more then it was ready to eat.  I call it my Sparkler Soup cause what I put into just an ordinary jar of soup made it sparkle with flavor and savor.  I hope you will try it or a combination of this.....fresh sage would also be nice added to this soup.  Enjoy!