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Roasted Tomato & Pepper Soup with Pumpernickel Croutons

I messed around with a soup recipe yesterday, and it turned out pretty well, so I thought I’d share. The boys slurped it up, and we are all addicted to the croutons. Plus, I love soup for sneaking in some extra helpings of fruit and veggies. I like the extra little ‘kick’ that the pepper-jack cheese adds to this meal. The recipe if adapted from Iowa Girl Eats.

I wish I could give you the calorie, fat, nutrition count, but I’m just not that sophisticated, and sometimes I just don’t want to know (that’s why I do a whole lot of Jillian Michaels’ DVDs).

Enjoy!

Roasted Tomato & Pepper Soup 

Ingredients:

  • 6-8 tomatoes, cut lengthwise (I used Roma, but I bet you could use whatever you have on-hand)
  • 3-4 garlic cloves, peeled
  • 4 red, yellow or orange (or a combo) bell peppers, seeded & cut lengthwise
  • 4 oz. pepper-jack cheese, cubed
  • 4 oz. fat-free cream cheese
  • 2-3 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth (depending on how thick you like your soup)
  • 1 15-oz. can reduced-sodium diced tomatoes, undrained
  • 1 tsp. thyme
  • 1 tsp. paprika
  • 1 tsp. oregano
  • big swirl of heavy cream
  • extra-virgin olive oil
  • sea salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F, and grease a large baking sheet.
  2. Place tomatoes and peppers on baking sheet, cut-side up. Drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle generously with sea salt and pepper. Wrap garlic cloves in aluminum foil, drizzling first with olive oil. Place on baking sheet with tomatoes and peppers. Put everything in the oven and roast for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Remove and allow to cool slightly.
  3. In batches, process tomatoes, peppers and garlic with chicken broth, pepper-jack cheese, and cream cheese until each batch reaches your favorite consistency (I used 2 cups of chicken broth, and pureed until thick & smooth).
  4. In a soup-pot, add can of diced tomatoes with juices, thyme, paprika, oregano and a swirl of heavy cream to the blender mixture. Stir to mix.DSC02890
  5. Heat through over low.
  6. Top with pumpernickel croutons and serve.

Pumpernickel Croutons

Ingredients:

  • 6-8 slices of pumpernickel bread
  • extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 tsp. oregano
  • 1 tsp. basil
  • 1/2 tsp. granulated garlic
  • sea salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and grease a large baking sheet.
  2. Roughly chop pumpernickel into 1/2 inch-sized cubes.
  3. In a large bowl, drizzle bread cubes with olive oil.
  4. Add oregano, basil, garlic, sea salt & pepper, and mix to combine.
  5. Place seasoned bread cubes in a single-layer on baking sheet.
  6. Bake for 15-20 minutes until bread is crunchy.
  7. Serve with soup.

As you can see, I don’t really have exact measurements for all the ingredients. I tend to add, drizzle, mix and taste until it seems right. You can easily play with the amount of each ingredient to suit your taste, or even add a little Tabasco to give the soup an extra kick!

Have fun experimenting! Share any changes that you make for the rest of us to try.

xo Naomi

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