This satisfying soup, which I served with brown rice, by the way, received rave reviews from adult and children alike who were used to eating only white rice. If that’s not a resounding vote of success, then I’m not sure what is!!

Ingredients:

8  large plum tomatoes

1 clove garlic

2  tbsp  oil

2 large onions, diced

½  cup brown rice or white rice

1  tbsp Kosher salt

2  tbsp agave, raw organic or granulated sugar

 Directions:

1. Cut the plum tomatoes in half lengthwise;

with your hands squeeze out the seeds and juice.

2. Place the tomatoes, garlic clove and ½ cup of water in a blender;

blend for about two minutes or until smooth. 

3. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a 6 quart pot set over medium heat. Add the onions: cook, stirring, until the onions are translucent.

 4. Stir in the brown rice for 30 seconds. (Be sure you only do this for about 30 seconds. Any longer and the brown rice won’t cook through. If you’re using white rice, the timing is not as critical).

5.Add the tomato juice mixture, salt, agave and 2-½ cups water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Lower the heat and cook covered, stirring occasionally, for 40 minutes.

Variation:

Although homemade tomato juice is simple to make, some taste testers remarked that despite the fact that the taste with the homemade tomato juice is superior (Yay!), for convenience sake, they would also prefer to have a canned tomato version. So here it goes. Use two cans of whole tomatoes, each about 13.5 oz. (about 4 cups). If the canned tomatoes contain salt, omit the salt from the ingredients list.

Yield  4 servings.