Favorite Tomato Juice Food

HOMEMADE TOMATO JUICE

Steps:

• Combine first 6 ingredients into Dutch oven, bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat.
• Cover and simmer 30 minutes.
• Remove from heat.
• Put vegetable mixture through a food mill or sieve.
• Stir in salt, paprika and sugar.
• Chill thoroughly.
• Serve over ice if desired.

TOMATO JUICE - CANNING

Steps:

• Core and peel tomatoes (Often, the day before, I will wash and core the tomatoes and freeze them first. Then just dunk them in a sink full of hot water and the peel falls right off). UPDATE: This year I didn't even bother to peel them, just core them and continue. The peel will come out in step 4.
• Place the tomatoes in a large stock pot and as you fill it, bring them to a rolling boil, stirring regularly (They will burn if you don't). I usually squish the first few with a potato masher to cover the bottom of the stock pot with liquid in order to get the boiling process kick started.
• Sterilize your jars (I do this in the dishwasher).
• Once you have all your tomatoes in the stock pot and boiling up a storm, ladle them into your food mill and grind out the mixture into pots, scraping the good stuff off the sides of the cone into your juice.
• Throw out the remaining pulp and return the juice to the stock pot.
• Bring back to a rolling boil.
• Add salt. (I usually add 1 tsp to each litre/quart). This is optional of course.
• Pour into jars leaving 1/2 inch air space.
• Place jars into canner and boil for 25 minutes.
• DONE!

BEST TOMATO SOUP EVER

Steps:

• To begin, dice the onion. Melt the butter in a large pot or Dutch oven. Throw in the onion and cook until translucent.
• Now dump in the diced tomatoes and stir to combine. Add the tomato juice.
• Next - and this is important - in order to combat the acidity of the tomatoes add 3 to 6 tablespoons of sugar. Now, you'll want to start on the low side, then taste and add more as needed. Some tomatoes and juice have more of an acidic bite than others. (For what it's worth, and I realize it's not worth much, I use 6 tablespoons of sugar.)
• Next, add 1 or 2 tablespoons chicken base to the pot. I added 3, and it wound up being a little too much.
• Now you can add lots of freshly ground black pepper. Stir to combine, then heat almost to a boil. Then turn off the heat.
• Add in the sherry if desired. Stir in the cream. Add the basil and parsley and stir.
• Serve the soup warm!