Tomato Soup with Oven roasted Croutons

I don't know how many times I have professed my love for tomatoes on this blog and thats why when it comes to soups, my first choice is 'Tomato Soup'. I have already posted a few variation of tomato soup as, Tomato Noodles Soup, Tomato Baked Beans Soup and Tomato Black Eyed Beans Soup. But my favourite plain 'Tomato Soup' was long due to be posted. So, when I saw PJ's Healing Food -Tomatoes 

Event Announcement, I knew I am going to post this soon.

Tomatoes have immense benefits and it must be a very important part of a healthy diet. It is largely regarded as a fruit rather than a vegetable. If go for listing the benefits of tomatoes, the list will be a long one. So, very breifly, here are the benefits of tomatoes:-

• Tomatoes are rich in Lycopene,Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Fibre, Beta carotene, Potassium, Iron. Lycopene is the substance responsible for it's striking red colour.
• It lowers the risk of cancer.
• The lycopene in tomato prevents serum lipid oxidation, thus exerting protective effect against cardiovascular diseases. The regular consumption of tomato has proved to decrease the levels of LDL cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood.
•  It also improves eye health by aiding in improving vision, preventing night-blindness and macular degeneration.
• It is also responsible for protecting joints, muscles and brain cells.
• Lycopene guards against aging of the skin.

Due to its versatile heath benefits and versatile preparation option there is no reason to neglect this fruit/veggie in one’s diet unless you are found allergic to this wonder fruit/veggie. My mom was once allergic to tomatoes for many years, but Thank God, it was over after a naturopathy treatment.

Now, coming back to the recipe:

Makes 1 large bowl.

Ingredients:

4 medium tomatoes, ripe.

1 small carrot (Optional).

3/4 -1 Cup Water.

Salt to taste.

Freshly ground pepper to taste.

1 tsp Sugar or to taste.

Butter to taste, Optional.

Process:

 Boil the tomatoes and carrot in a pressure cooker or as sauce pan. Let it cool down and churn it in the mixer till it is smooth. Seive this mixture through a strainer. Now, add this into a saucepan and heat it. Add the salt, sugar and pepper. Stir occasionaly and heat till you get the desired consistency.

For the Croutons,

2 slices of bread chopped into peices, I used wholegrain brown bread.

Process:

Arrange these bread peices in a baking tray and bake in an preheated oven at 200 C for 3-4 mins. Toss the once in between for even roasting.

Serve the tomato soup, hot with these croutons for a healthy meal.

Sending this off to PJ's event Healing Food- Tomatoes. This event is the brain child of Siri.

 

Enjoy!