tomato soup with candied bacon

sounds enticing, doesn't it? i got the inspiration here

candied bacon

ingredients:
-bacon (whatever amount you want. i did 4 strips for 2 people)
-brown sugar

directions:
1. preheat oven to 400 degrees F
2. lay bacon onto foil and bake until just at desired crispiness
3. sprinkle with brown sugar and continue baking until the sugar has melted and turned into kind of a glaze.
4. allow to cool and then chop

easy enough, right?


tomato soup


ingredients:
-2 tbs butter
-a drizzle of olive oil
-1 small onion
-3 cloves garlic
-1 1/2 tbs tomato paste
-2 tbs sugar
-1/2 tsp paprika (smoked paprika is better)
-1tsp salt
-1/4 tsp black pepper
-1/2 c white wine
-2 cans 15oz. chopped tomato
-1/4 c orange juice
-2 c water
-5 tbs sour cream
-1/2 tsp dried basil

directions:
1. chop onion
2. in a large pot melt butter and olive oil and cook onions until tender
3. add garlic and cook for 30 sec.
4. add tomato paste and stir until darkened (about 2 min)
5. add sugar, paprika, salt and black pepper and cook for 30 sec
6. add white wine and bring to a boil
7. add chopped tomatoes
8. bring to a simmer and take off stove
9. stir in orange juice and water
10. stir in 5 tbs sour cream and dried basil
11. let cool a bit
12. in batches blend in blender until smooth
13. return to pot to heat through

when serving don't forget to toss in your candied bacon. it's kind of necessary for life happiness. it's pretty standard to serve tomato soup with grilled cheese, so bust out your George Foreman grill and make some magic! i used ciabatta with havarti, just cause that's all i had in the house. don't forget to butter your bread when you grill it. it's good without butter but it's grand with. and PLEASE use a crusty kinda bread, none of this Iron Kids or Wonderbread stuff unless you're serving it to a child. oh, and dunking is not an option, it's a must!