Tomato Basil Soup

Gathering the Ingredients for Tomato Basil Soup

Ingredients:

Barley
Brown Rice
Plenty of Water
Canned Tomato Soup
Red Wine
White Wine
3 Bulbs Garlic
Yellow Summer Squash
Leftover hamburger patties
Dried Basil
Garlic Powder
Fresh Basil

Cooking the Barley and Brown Rice

I normally don't put Barley or Brown Rice in my Tomato Basil Soup, but I was "Cleaning House" and wanted to use them up.

Adding the Meat and Wine to the Soup

I also "Don't Normally" put Wine in my Tomato Basil Soup but again, I wanted to use it up since all the "old " stuff had to go!

Chopping up the Squash

I thought some yellow summer squash would be a great addition, and it was. I love the taste and the added color made the soup look even more appetizing.

Cleaning the Garlic Bulbs

I use an assembly-line method to cleaning my garlic. First I separate all the cloves in each bulb.

Crushing and Peeling the Garlic

Next is crushing time! I use a knife to crush each clove gently. After they are all crushed, I use a paring knife to cut the stem area off while at the same time pulling the skin off. With this method, the skin comes off very easily. Just be sure to rinse your hands and knife every so often, because as my youngest son said, "I didn't realize how sticky garlic was!"