We’re resting in triple digits here in North Texas and with that comes a lower desire to sit down to a hot meal (no matter how traditional and comforting) and more desire to sup on lighter fare. Especially with a beach vacation coming up at the end of the month… We’ve made an effort to bring more vegetables to the forefront of our meals out of a sense of better eating, but also since this is the perfect time of year when many are so fresh and flavorful.

A little while ago I mentioned how a friend had gifted me a beautiful sack of fresh green tomatoes from her thriving garden. I fried some of them, but a few ripened before I was able to fry the rest. (Aside: never having grown tomatoes, I really found it fascinating watching a few ripen in a bowl on my counter. The colors and subtle changes were so beautiful!) When she brought me a few more, I intentionally allowed a few big ones to ripen for the express purpose of making tomato soup.

You’re probably wondering at this last statement after confirming the heat in paragraph one… This is the part where I tell you I took a simple recipe for Tomato Soup from Better Homes & Gardens and served it in a slightly atypical way. This is also where I confess up front that I forgot an ingredient and — guess what — it still turned out beyond better than our initial expectations!

I imagine, everyone has heard the term Gazpacho before, but not everyone is familiar with what it entails. Gazpacho is by definition “a Spanish-style soup made from tomatoes and other vegetables and spices, served cold.” I took this concept and spun my own creation off of the main idea. I’m not claiming to have taken a “Spanish-style” tack with my soup, but I used the idea to produce what I would call a pretty dang good Summertime dinner!

For this recipe, I left off the bouillon granules in favor of Better Than Bouillon Roasted Chicken Base. I swear by this stuff if I’m not using homemade broth. I used both cilantro and basil for the herbs and I won’t apologize for it either! Using both added an entirely new dimension to the typical tomato soup flavor. As far as the ingredient I forgot… Tomato paste! I forgot all about the tomato paste, but I swear neither of us noticed and we polished off the whole soup! It still had a great consistency and smacked of fresh tomato flavor. For flourish and creaminess, I dropped in a dollop of Daisy at the end!

I served the chilled soup alongside cheese sandwiches (on classic white bread, thank you very much) to really turn the meal upside down. The Mr admitted that while he was skeptical at first, the chilled tomato soup actually was pretty good! What are some of your favorite recipe for tomato soup?