Creamy Tomato Soup with Israeli Couscous

My husband loved this meal and decided that I needed to put it on the blog, so he took the picture above of his place setting! Sweet man!


One of our cold, cold evenings this week, I fixed this meal: homemade flax bread, salad with Balsamic Maple Sauce and Creamy Tomato Soup with Israeli Couscous. Israeli couscous is like tiny little balls of pasta. It is delish, my family LOVES it!



The recipe for the soup comes from one of my favorite cookbooks, Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker, by Robin Robertson. I really love this book and I normally don't like slow cooker cookbooks. I have found many slow cooker cookbooks use ingredients that we do not use, like cream of something soup. This recipe uses all whole foods and has dairy free substitutes for each recipe. This is the same book that my lentil soup recipe comes from.

Here ya have it....

Creamy Tomato Soup with Israeli Couscous
1tbs olive oil
1 med yellow onion chopped
1 garlic clove minced
3 cups veggie broth
1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 tbs tomato paste
pinch of sugar or natural sweetener
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper
1 c. Israeli couscous cooked
2 tbs chopped basil for garnish (didn't use)

1. Saute onion and garlic until softened, about 5 minutes. I added some crushed red pepper as well.

2. Transfer above to slow cooker and add stock, tomatoes, paste, sugar and bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

4. Remove the bay leaves and puree the soup, with with an immersion blender right in the slow cooker or ladle into your blender.

5. Adjust seasonings. To serve spoon about 1/4 c. couscous in the bottom of each bowl and ladle soup on top. Sprinkly with basil if you are using.

YUM!

I double this recipe for my crew and we had enough for lunch the next day with sandwiches. I purchased the couscous at Trader Joe's for $1.99 and used the whole package, but the rest of the recipe is very inexpensive and warms you up from the inside out.

I hope you enjoy! I shared this recipe at http://www.lifeasmom.com/ for her weekly recipe exchange.

From our home to yours,
Jennifer