Full of flavor homemade tomato basil soup recipe made with roasted fresh tomatoes, garlic, basil, olive oil, and onions. It uses no canned stuff, and is perfect for a vegan, gluten free meal.
I have shared the recipe for this tomato basil soup before on the blog as a part of my roasted tomato pasta sauce. That recipe is a a great base for so many different dishes. Its great as a tomato sauce for pizzas. Add a little pasta water/ veg or chicken stock and it makes a great base for pasta. You can also use the base recipe like I do to make this roasted tomato basil soup.
Every time I make this soup (and I have made it plenty times) and post pictures on social media, I just direct people to the sauce blog post and thought its high time that I have a dedicated post for the soup. With August here, soon its going to be daily soup weather, and this tomato and basil soup should definitely feature in the must-know soup list.
SLOW ROASTING THE TOMATOES
This recipe benefits from the oven doing most of the work here in developing the flavors. Slow roasting the tomatoes releases the sweet juices in them and imparts a lovely flavor. Roasting a red bell pepper along with the tomatoes gives the final sauce that lovely red color you see in store bought sauces, without adding any canned tomatoes to the sauce. And to it, if you add roasted garlic, the sauce becomes absolute perfection in terms of flavor.
You can cook the onions separately in the pan and then add the roasted tomatoes, and occasionally I have done that too for my sauce, but these days I just roast the onions along with the tomatoes and then blitz everything in the blender. So much more convenient, and I do not have to pay attention to the stove in the kitchen heat.
An easy from scratch paneer makhani pizza recipe with a homemade whole wheat crust. A great vegetarian option for pizza and paneer lovers.
The recipe for the Paneer Makhani Pizza should have been posted last week. Last week and most of this week has been a little stressful and as a result I could not. I also missed my 10 year blog anniversary which was on 27th July. Yup, its been 10 years of blogging on novicehousewife.com ! I was supposed to do an update post which was not going to be a recipe post but more personal. Instead life came in the way and I could not get the post up. I will definitely do that post but it will take a few days to have it live.
We had to go to Chandigarh for my passport work last week. It was great seeing my parents after 5 months, the longest I have gone without seeing them after I got back from the US. I also got to see a few of my Chandigarh friends and family after a very long time, and it was nice to get a glimpse of how life was back when things were normal. We still took our precautions but I didn’t realize how much the both of us had been missing company and the joy of a small get together.
We have done absolutely no socializing the last 5 months. With the exception of Anubhav’s brother and dad, it has just been the two of us in the house day in and day out. And while there were issues too personal to talk about on the blog during our Chandigarh visit, it was nice meeting our family and select friends. I also got to meet my darling niece who is staying with my parents, and we baked cupcakes together. These chocolate cupcake recipe with vanilla frosting, and it was so much fun.
Once back, we learnt that Anubhav has got a kidney stone. Since the pain was so severe the first day, we were scared it could be appendicitis. Fortunately it wasn’t but not that having a kidney stone has been any better. And its been a constant worry for both of us as he is not sleeping at all during the night. In the midst of all this I had my first outside shoot after 5 months of working from home.
Since Anubhav still is experiencing pain, mentally it has been exhausting. Pain killers help but once their effect wears out the pain returns. I am reading up on home remedies that can help break the stone- lots of water of course is one. Adding lemon juice in the water, basil, pomegranate juice plus working on including horse gram in our diet.
Meanwhile the house is in a mess.
I haven’t been able to unpack and sort out all the props. The shoot was a tiring 10 hour long shoot with only a small lunch break in between. Styling jobs even though for the client might seem like a one day job, in reality even with limited sourcing/pre production are 3 day jobs for the stylist. One day before the shoot goes in sourcing ingredients, sorting props and packing them. The day after the shoot goes in unpacking props and placing them back. Shoot day, besides the 8-10 hour on set shoot, 2 hours go in packing and unpacking the props, and another hour or so goes in loading and unloading the car. Traveling time is additional. Effectively it becomes a 12-14 hour day. And in some cases, not only are you styling the shoot, you are also donning the cap of the art director for the shoot.
But that’s enough of the reality check, and a small explanation why I have been away and why this post for paneer makhani pizza got delayed. Let’s get to the recipe then.
Mixed berries coconut popsicles made from frozen berries blended with a bit of honey, and then layered with creamy homemade coconut milk
Recipes that are quick and easy to make are always welcome in my kitchen, especially in summers. When such recipes are dessert recipes, I never let go of them. Enter mixed berry coconut popsicles.
Popsicles as a dessert option are whimsical enough to impress your guests, and easy enough for you to whip them up without breaking a sweat. They are loved by kids and adults both and when made with healthy ingredients they can be perfect for breakfast too ;). These mixed berries coconut popsicles are just that- you can enjoy them as a dessert or eat them for breakfast too.
I love coconut milk. I love coconut in my savory dishes- like the pumpkin soup, khao suey from the blog but also use coconut milk generously in my desserts. Coconut milk has a hint of natural sweetness, it’s super creamy, and it goes well with most fruits, making it perfect for desserts. The chia seed pudding is a delectable dessert/breakfast made even better when using coconut milk. Today’s recipe is also a coconut milk recipe.
MAKING COCONUT MILK AT HOME VS STORE BOUGHT
Up until recently, I have mostly been using coconut milk from a can. Read: store bought coconut milk. Only because I thought it was more convenient than making it at home. But did you know you can easily make your own coconut milk at home with only two ingredients. Plus, when you make it at home, you end up with pure coconut milk without any preservatives, weird ingredients or any additional added flavors.
While quite a lot of recipes online use shredded coconut, I recommend using a fresh coconut as the flavor is more coconuty and creamy. If you have a good powerful blender, you can get creamy coconut milk by using very little water and fresh coconut. I use the Hamilton Beach JMG– and although expensive it has been worth it (disclaimer: this post is not sponsored, but if you click on the link to buy, I might make some affiliate money- its not much just enough to pay for an ingredient or two 🙂 )
HOW TO MAKE COCONUT MILK AT HOME
For me, the hardest step when making coconut milk at home is breaking the coconut. I am not a pro, and always ask Anubhav to do it. Once you have carefully broken the coconut (reserving the liquid), take a butter knife or spatula and remove the coconut meat from the outer shell.
You can use a peeler to peel the thin brown skin from the coconut pieces but since it doesnt affect the taste or consistency of the coconut milk, I let the skin be.
Cut your coconut meat into 1-2 inch pieces and add it to your blender. Again, I recommend a good high speed blender that can easily cut through the coconut pieces. Add hot water to the blender and blend for 1-3 minutes until you end up with a smooth consistency paste. You could also use the coconut water that you extracted to make the milk.
Remove the paste from the blender and pour into a cheescloth/kitchen towel, or strainer and squeeze out the coconut milk. And there you have it creamy coconut milk.
TIPS AND TRICKS
While easy to make, there are certain things I like to keep in mind when making coconut milk at home.
I do not like adding too much water to the coconut milk, especially if using for desserts as the result is more rich and creamy. You can always dilute the milk later if required.
In case you are making coconut milk specifically for this recipe, you could add in a date or two to sweeten your milk while blending the coconut meat. Minimalist baker does that.
When making these popsicles, I prefer to let the milk sit for a few hours in the refrigerator, so that the coconut cream can separate from the rest of the milk- resulting an even more rich and creamy popsicle. You could avoid this step, but I get better results when I do so.
You can check the video I made in collaboration with Hamilton Beach for these popsicles on my instagram:
