I stood transfixed in front of the refrigerator, door opened, and pondered the scene before me. Now understand that my refrigerator is often dangerous territory while searching for the unknown or for some science project. But on this particular day, I was looking for something else. I had started a pot of soup with a chicken broth base and a few potatoes, tomatoes and meat tossed in the mix. Surely there was something in the fridge I could add to the pot. Soon my refrigerator was roomier as I emptied containers of left over veggies, gravy, tomato sauce, and even a few mashed potatoes. I took the “taste test” and the soup passed with at least a 9. It was ready to take to the church Family Night Supper. One of the ladies declared the soup was delicious, asked what kind it was, and wanted the recipe. Hmmmm. “Well,” I said, “I don’t have a recipe, but I call it refrigerator soup. It’s different every time depending on what’s in the ice box. Just start with a broth base and you never know what you might end up with.”
That is just a prelude to my new soup recipe I recently fixed a couple of weeks ago. It actually started a couple of days prior. One night I made burgers and wanted baked beans to go with them. The cupboard did not give me any pork ‘n beans, but I did find a can of mild chili beans. How would that taste all doctored up like baked beans? There was only one way to find out. I dumped the beans in a pan, stirred in some ketchup, a little squirt of mustard, garlic, brown sugar, a shake of Worcestershire Sauce, homemade sweet pickle juice, and various spices. The beans turned out acceptable. The few leftovers joined the other containers stashed away in the fridge.
A few days later, my oldest granddaughter came to visit. In preparation for more company, she was helping in the kitchen. I had her cut and seed tomatoes to roast them in the oven with garlic, basil, and olive oil. After they were roasted, she chopped them up and placed them in covered dish in the fridge.
The next day, the menu was Creamy Tomato Basil Soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. Yum! Garlic sauteed in oil to which juice was added along with fresh basil and other ingredients. All I lacked was the roasted tomatoes and cream. I grabbed the container out of the refrigerator, dropped it into the mixture, and poured in some cream.
I served the soup with freshly made croutons. My daughter took a few bites and said, “this tastes a bit sweet.” Well, I had not added any sweetener. My grandson said, “Does this have beans in it?” How ridiculous is that? Someone else dipped into their bowl and presented the spoon on which was a bean. “How did that get there,” I proclaimed with innocence. It was truly a mystery.
Later that evening I opened the fridge and stood quietly eyeing its contents. How did beans get in the soup? I shifted and rearranged the containers. There in the back on the top shelf was a dish holding a red substance. I opened the lid and took a sniff. Ahh Haa! It was chopped roasted tomatoes! So, what did I put in the tomato soup? Then it came to me! You guessed it – baked mild chili beans sweetened with brown sugar. To redeem myself, a few days later, the roasted tomatoes went into meatloaf.
End of the mystery of the Creamy Tomato Basil Baked Chili Bean Soup!
End of the Tale!
…unless you want the recipe….