Cold Tinned Tomatoes

"They ate stale cornflakes and cold tinned tomatoes on toast for breakfast the next day"

(Sorcerer's Stone, 42).

Like yesterday, today's food item is.. well... kind of icky. Which, of course, was Ms. Rowling's intention. So if you'd like to recreate the lovely breakfast shared by Harry and the Dursleys, pop open a can of tomatoes (diced, whole, whatever you prefer), and snack away.

Or, if you're like me, and that sounds pretty much awful, you could make a delicious (and pretty healthy!) Cream of Tomato Soup with only a few more ingredients! 

I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com, but the way I've written it below contains a few small changes I think will improve it a lot (the spice ratios are a little wonky in my opinion, so I'm hoping my changes fix that). Again, somehow the photo I took of the ingredients was corrupted, alas. But here we go!

You Will Need:

2 (14.5 oz) cans diced tomatoes (not drained)

2 Tbs chopped onion

1 1/2 Tbs granulated sugar (to combat the tomatoes' acidity)

1 tsp salt (or to taste)

Dash ground cloves

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1 (12 oz) can fat-free evaporated milk

1. Pour tomatoes with their juice into a saucepan, and mix in onion, sugar, salt, cloves, and pepper.

2. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the onion is tender, about 10 minutes.

2. Pour the soup into a blender (if your blender is plastic, you might want to let the soup cool a bit first). Don't fill the pitcher more than halfway full. Hold the lid down with a folded kitchen towel, and carefully start the blender, using a couple quick pulses to get it going before leaving it on puree. Puree in batches until smooth, and pour into a clean pot. If you have a stick blender, you can blend it right in the cooking pot.

3. Return blended soup to the saucepan, and stir in the evaporated milk. Heat over low heat just until hot.

4. Serve, garnish with some parsley if you wish, and enjoy!