Happy Saturday! You know what I love about winter? It’s totally normal to eat soup numerous times a week. I adore soup. I even crave it during summer…although Peter usually doesn’t go for the idea of hot soup in a Georgia summer. What can I say? It’s easy to cook, flavorful, light, and pairs perfectly with sandwiches – which are another favorite of mine.

Yesterday for lunch we had some homemade tomato soup. Love. Is there anything quite as comforting as tomato soup on a cold day?

Ingredients

• 6 vine ripe tomatoes
• 2 medium red peppers
• 1 medium onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2-3 sprigs fresh thyme
• olive oil
• 1 - 6 oz can tomato paste
• 2 boxes of organic vegetable broth

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice tomatoes in half and remove all seeds. Slice and rough chop the red peppers into large pieces. Quarter the onion.

Place the tomatoes cut side up on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper along with the other vegetables.

Drizzle everything with olive oil and cover with fresh thyme sprigs. Roast in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes.

In a large pot, put 2 tablespoons of olive oil on medium heat. Add tomato paste and allow to heat for a couple of minutes. Add all the roasted vegetables and thyme (remove from sprigs!) and stir for another few minutes until blended.

Add the vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Then, reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes.

Ladle into a blender 2-3 cups at a time and blend to a smooth consistency. Be sure not to overfill the blender. Repeat as necessary.

A perfect wintry soup dinner served. We had ours alongside some light chicken salad sandwiches for a delicious lunch.

This recipe is courtesy of my father. He actually just started a blog as well. I apparently am rubbing of on the family. 😉  His blog is a political one though, so I got the pleasure of sharing this recipe. I assure you it is GOOD!

Now we are off to a busy day with a few errands and a visit with Peter’s family.

Question of the Day – What are you up to this Saturday?

1. It may be hard at times, but I can love my body at any size. It produces beautiful children, after all. Heck – I even “exposed” myself with a pregnancy bikini picture!

2. Men like to play games. Little Braedon teased me over and over with false labor. Then, he took me for the ride of my life with the crazy labor & delivery at the most unexpected of times.

3. I have crappy mother’s intuition. I woke up certain I would be going into labor certain days, but my gut instinct would always prove wrong. The one day I knew I wouldn’t go into labor….my water broke. 

4. The pregnancy card rocks. It scored me a better deal at the gym and helped us get out of a crowded Christmas event without a problem Score!

5. People search crazy stuff on Google. I have seen some interesting hits to my site based off pregnancy-related things I discussed. I can only hope it was a preteen girl searching “bloody panties”.

6. You all are quite the supportive bunch to listen to me talk about bloody panties, crazy stunts like eating eggplant parmesan to induce labor, and my endless pregnancy rants.

7. Patience is tough, but a valuable lesson in trust. Only God could have worked everything out like it did.

8. Old wives tales don’t work. Although they can be fun.

9. Sometimes there are no greater things in life than feeling pain or wetting yourself. I would have jumped for joy if I could have after my contractions started with the “pre-water” breaking.

10. Sugar is addictive. Those pregnancy cravings were brutal! Although I didn’t mind satisfying them with my fair share of sweets.

Question of the evening – What is something you have learned recently?

Giveaway Updates: The $100 Visa Gift Card giveaway from Blogher and Jimmy Dean on my site ends in 2 weeks. ENTER NOW!

I finally have the winner to the CSN Stores giveaway chosen – Reader Henria O! Congrats and I will get your info to CSN right away!