There’s a threat of ice and snow sometime between midnight and 3 am, and when it snows around here everything completely shuts down. (I’m keeping my fingers crossed about work tomorrow.) We really need groceries (like, haven’t bought groceries since before Christmas), but whenever there’s a winter weather warning everyone runs to the store to stock up on milk and bread, and I didn’t feel like fighting with all of those people when I got off work earlier. Instead I decided to come home and throw any and everything we had edible into a pot and see what happened, and I’m pretty pleased with the results!  I’ll definitely be making this again, even on days when I have groceries in the house.

If you're in special need of comfort food, add a biscuit.

To make this soup, you’ll need:

• 1 T butter
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 or 4 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 T red wine vinegar
• 2 28 oz cans of tomatoes (whole, diced, crushed… whatever you have on hand!)
• ¼ C tomato paste
• 6 sun dried tomatoes
• 1 C vegetable stock
• 1 t red pepper flakes
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 T brown sugar
• 1 t basil
• 1 t oregano
• 1 t parsley

In a large stock pot, cook the onion and carrot in the butter (over medium heat) until everything is almost caramelized. Add the red wine vinegar, making sure to scrape all the tasty bits from the bottom of the pot. Next, add the tomatoes and tomato juice. If you’re using whole tomatoes, you might want to crush them with your hands (I did), but I’m not too sure this step is necessary since everything will be pureed later. After adding the tomatoes and juice, add the tomato paste, sun dried tomatoes, stock, red pepper flakes, bay leaf, and sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil and then cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for at least 30 minutes. (This is a good time to wash the dishes or whip up some biscuits. Mine probably simmered more like 45 minutes or an hour, and I think it was got better each time I snuck a taste.) After adequate simmering has occurred, remove the bay leaf and puree the mixture with a stick blender (my preferred method) or food processor. Be warned: there will probably still be tiny bits of carrot, and overall this is a pretty chunky soup. If you don’t like chunky, leave the carrots out. Anyway, once the mixture has been pureed, add the herbs and return to the heat until you’re ready to serve it (probably no more than another 30 minutes).

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