Our tiny backyard garden is producing more tomatoes than it EVER has in the past, not due to much we've done differently! Thanks God for your abundance. These tomatoes start out as seed (that I save from the previous year) in the cold of February on a windowsill inside the house, and the baby plants are gently added to our homemade compost-filled raised beds outside when it gets warm in May. Then the kids watch them explode with bounty in the late summer! This is better than organic — not a single synthetic chemical, no pesticide, fungicide, herbicide or even chlorinated water! And think of all those trillions of microbes we get to ingest with every bite!

We’re using tomatoes daily in every way we can, but it’s at the point where we need to make sauces and soups to freeze for fall and winter! Years ago, before we got rid of cable TV, Jeff and I used to like to turn on football on autumn Sundays and make tomato soup and grilled cheese, and then nap with the game playing on low volume in the background. Pre-kids! Ha.

We ate my homemade tomato soup (recipe below!) outside on our patio the other night and made it a memory. All of my kids adore it — our absolute favorite soup, with all its associations with one of the best months and times of the year. We ended the night with story time and roasting marshmallows in our fire pit.

The following recipe can be made dairy-free (paleo and GAPS) if you use avocado oil instead of butter, and skip the cream at the end. It's still perfection without the dairy! Also, like most of my soup recipes, this one uses the immersion blender, which is extra-necessary for this one because it purees the seeds and skins of the tomatoes, leaving only the slightest seed texture in the final product.

Best served with gooey melty grilled cheese. I used Three Bakers GF bread here with organic raw cheddar!

Fresh Garden Tomato Soup Recipe

22 fresh Roma tomatoes, cut in quarters
22 fresh grape tomatoes, cut in halves
(or about 7 cups chopped tomatoes of any kind)
1/8 cup avocado oil
1 T balsamic vinegar
3 tsps salt
sprinkle of pepper
3 T butter
3 large carrots, peeled and chopped
2 medium onions, chopped
5 garlic cloves, minced
2/3 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped in half
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp oregano
2 bay leaves
4 cups homemade chicken broth, unsalted
1/2 cup raw heavy cream

Preheat oven to 450. Cut the tops off the bigger tomatoes, then chop, leaving skins and seeds in place! In a mixing bowl, combine the chopped tomatoes with oil, vinegar, 1.5 tsps of the salt and pepper, and stir. Dump the mixture on a large rimmed cookie sheet (jelly roll pan) and roast for 17 minutes.

While tomatoes are in the oven, chop other veggies. Melt the butter in a large stockpot and add the onions and carrots, and look over medium-high heat for several minutes until the onions are translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and stir for a minute. Add in the roasted tomatoes with all their juices. Add the broth, basil, thyme, oregano, bay leaves, and the remaining 1.5 tsps salt. Bring to a boil, then cover and lower heat to a simmer, and cook for 30 minutes.

Remove bay leaves. In the pot, purée soup using an immersion blender until basil leaves and carrots are not visible. Stir in cream. Salt and pepper to taste. ENJOY again and again!