Tomato Basil Soup Recipe using Trader Joe's Organic Creamy Tomato Soup





One of my favorite grocery stores in the whole wide world is Trader Joe's.  I discovered TJs back in 2000 when I was traveling to the LA area on business trips.  At first I was confused because almost all the products are the Trader Joe's brand.  There were none in Oklahoma at that time and it was many years before they were even in Texas. Finally, they made it to Dallas and ever since when traveling to Texas there has been a stop at Trader Joe's.  

Finally, a couple years ago they made it to the Oklahoma City area.  Now I go there at least once a month.  A couple weeks ago I bought a carton of their Organic Creamy Tomato Soup.  While this soup is delicious heated right out of the carton, I wanted to up it just a little.  I experimented and found a WINNER!!!!  This is a keeper and both my husband I loved it.  Even reheated, it was delicious and a recipe I will making all winter.  Before I forget, I want to get it in print for my recipe box.  I thought I would share it here for all you Trader Joe soup fans.

(Pictured above)

Regina's Almost Homemade Tomato Soup

(using Trader Joe's Organic Creamy Tomato Soup)

1 large clove of garlic (diced)

1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil

1 14.5 ounce can whole tomatoes

1 carton Trader Joe's Creamy Organic Tomato Soup

1/4 to 1/3 cup garlic basil butter

In a medium saucepan, sauté the diced garlic in the olive oil; making sure to watch closely so it doesn't burn.  Yes, it happened to me.  Add the can of tomatoes, juice and all,  breaking up the tomatoes into small bits as you add.  Cook a bit to meld the garlic with the tomatoes.  Add the carton of TJs tomato soup.  Heat slowly.  Add the garlic basil butter.  Heat, but do NOT boil.

Ladle into bowls.

Garnish with shredded parmesan cheese and basil leaves. 

(I had frozen garlic basil butter on hand that I made.  Just soften some butter, add shredded basil leaves and crushed garlic to taste.  Make into rolls, refrigerate until set.  Cut into slices, wrap and freeze for later use.  I will be making more garlic basil butter for soups this winter.  My basil still looks wonderful this year.)

Sweet Friend

I had lunch today with a sweet friend.  We had a nice time catching up on family and mutual friends.  Sometimes I forget how refreshing it is to visit with long-time friends.  I tend to get in a rut, almost a woe is me rut.  After a two-hour lunch, I immediately felt better about life, about my home, about my family, about my future, immensely better.


So don't forget your friends.  Even though you may have many friends, each friendship is unique to the two of you;  whether it be work related, family related, relationship related, school related......a friendship based on the experiences the two of you have experienced together.


Remember the old Girl Scout song?


Make new friends, but keep the old
One is silver and the other is gold.


So thank you, dear friend, for sharing, letting me share, and all the laughter.  I needed it.


I love you.


    

A Long Glimpse Back

We had a nostalgic night.  Johnny decided he wanted liver and onions so 4:30 p.m. off we went.  We pulled into the diner parking lot along with four other cars so I guess we aren't the only seniors that eat so early.  The waitress told us to seat ourselves which is right down my control freak alley.  The feature of the days was goulash and since L&O didn't sound all that great, I decided to try it.  What a kick back in time............and it was good...............reminding me of the good old days when macaroni and ground beef could make a great meal for a lot of people.  Simple times, simple meals.   


Still in this "nostalgic mood", a drive up to Heritage Park Mall seemed in order.  It was here that my little family spent many happy hours when our lives were ahead of us.  So much of Oklahoma City to explore and the world awaited us.  Now, the mall is no more and the only remaining store is Sears...........BUT WAIT...........WHAT IS GOING ON?  Tons of cars there.  We hadn't seen that many cars since Christmas, 1988.  We must go in!


Sadly, we found out that they were closing their doors forever on 3 September 2017 and I guess people suddenly thought they were going to discover the bargain of a lifetime, but my thought ran along these lines; if you people (we) had been shopping like this all these years, then the store wouldn't be closing.


We took a long glimpse back taking time just to look around, not for bargains, but looking back...remembering.  There was a display of folding trays and a lump formed in my throat remembering the time when my parents had them on their Christmas list.  What a wonderful memory.  Looking at the clothes I was reminded that when I was a child, Sears was pretty much the crème de la crème.  Another lump.  Craftsmen tools were purchased every Christmas for at least one man since I started shopping on my own.  Appliances were never purchased until we had compared them with the Kenmore.  A new Sears school coat was a must for our children until they got old enough pick out their own.  We poured over the Sears catalog for days at a time with my sisters and me picking one outfit per page.  Even mom had fun doing this.  We didn't start our Christmas wish list until we'd seen the Sears ad in the Thanksgiving Day paper.  When I was a child the Sears Santa was the best......and did I tell you that my Grandpa Dawkins knew him?  Huge lump!! 


Johnny said our little walk through Sears reminded him saying goodbye to an old friend who you no longer have much in common.  So with that we will say goodbye to our local Sears store. 


I love you.


The mall has been closed for years now, but if you go to Sears before 3 September, you will see a glimpse of the mall through the curtains.  A tiny sliver that draws me......oh I wish I could go through that sliver, walk the mall even with the dust and cob webs before the cob webs cloud my memories.  So tonight we had our last glimpse of the mall, we had our last glimpse of the Midwest City Sears, we had our last glimpse back. Soon the curtain will be closed forever.



After we left Sears we drove slowly around the mall.  Why couldn't somebody save it?  The huge parking lot that used to be completely filled at Christmas now has grass and weeds in the cracks.  The glass windows and doors boarded up.  How could anything so vibrant now be just an ugly eye sore?  Sad. 


“But I also knew that there was no going back.  One can never go back; nothing and no one is ever the same.  All that remained was an occasional evening of sadness, the sadness that we all feel because everything passes and because man is the only animal that knows it."  "Shadows in Paradise", a novel by Erich Maria Remarque.

She's Okay.. I Liked Her.

Have you ever wanted to tell someone something?  Have you ever wanted to tell someone that everything turned out okay?  Today I ran into my deceased friend's son and his new bride.

Joyce, she's okay.

So many times over the years my friend (especially after she was diagnosed with breast cancer) would lament about her son and fact that he hadn't married.  "Was he was ever going to find the right girl.  What would she be like?  Would she like her?  Would she be my daughter?  Would she love my son enough?"

Today I met her, Joyce, and I liked her.  No, I don't know anything about her, but she made a great first impression; a little shy, but charmingly so.  I liked her.

As I walked to the car, I told my husband that I just wanted to tell Joyce that everything turned out fine.  No way to do that, but I can write it down.

Maybe we (I) should stop trying to figure out the future, and concentrate on the here and now.  Everything will be okay.

I wish you could have met her, Joyce.  You would be proud.  She's okay.   I liked her.

I love you.

Road Trip

Good afternoon everybody.

Welcome to the Petrified Forest.

Can you say Road Trip?

We just got home from our Grand Canyon trip with Blaine, 13 years old, and what a trip.  I will be writing about it for the next few days.

Today I want to write about days gone by.  Look at the old car above.  Just beyond the car are the telephone lines that ran along Route 66, the ROAD, the mother ROAD.  From Chicago to LA.  We can only imagine what a journey people had making that long, hot trip in most dessert without air conditioning.  The hubby shared with Blaine some about his trip when he was 12, just about the same age as Blaine is now.  In a station wagon without air conditioning there were five adults, two 12 year-olds, and a baby, making their way from the middle of Arkansas to LA.  Coming back they added another adult and another baby.  Would you consider making a trip like that today?  I can answer that!  NO!  He said they planned their timing to cross the desert in the middle of the night.

Times are different these days....air conditioned cars, expensive, repeat, expensive hotel rooms, expensive gas, more expensive food.......or so it seems.........compared to the days when we were first married and taking road trips.

Johnny and I and our kids made a lot of trips over the years.  We saved and saved for these trips and thought they were important for the culture of our children.  We set aside our money each month, scrimping by just to make those trips.  (In fact, it was kind of amusing how I managed our money back then, but worthy of its own blog post so I will save that memory for another time.)

We looked for inexpensive hotels (motels as we knew them back in the day) and often we would find one for less than $30--remember this was in the 70s and 80s.  I'd fry chicken before we left and we'd have a picnic everyday along our route.  When the chicken ran out, we'd grab some luncheon meats and bread.  Those picnics gave the kids a chance to run and burn off a little energy before hitting the road again.  If it was too hot for a picnic at noon, then we'd hit up a restaurant and save our "picnic" for our evening meal (spreading out the tablecloth {oh yes, I packed a tablecloth} on the bed, piling on and enjoying the Olympics or a political convention on TV--they always seemed to be on at the time we were traveling.)

We traveled but on a thin dime, but nonetheless, the trips are etched forever in our memories and hopefully in our children.  Times were simpler back then or so it seems.  Maybe our expectations were less and our wonder greater. 

Take a road trip....they are the greatest............

I love you.



Cheers Everyone

Cheers Everyone.  Happy Tuesday to each and everyone of you out there in cyberland.  Just had my first half cup of coffee and I now have one eye open regardless of the fact that I have been up for over an hour.  Speaking of coffee..........did you see the news last night?  Just one cup of coffee helps you live longer and three cups helps by 18%..............so today I will have three cups, please.  Don't quote me on the statistics.  Go look it up.  Oops, my other eye just opened.


I've been told I don't write in my blog anymore so I am going to try to remedy that so I can go on to become the Pulitzer prize winner that I am destined to be.  (And yes, it can be awarded for online journalism.)


So.........this summer has been a very, very busy one for me and I am enjoying it to the fullest.  Soon I will be on my fourth trip (or vacations as my grandchildren like to call them) in as many weeks.  Been so many places, even the credit card folks are calling.  When will this fun ever end?  Never, I hope. 


One thing I have noticed after these trips is how much better I feel physically.  Seriously.....I can walk better, my aches and pains have subsided, and certainly my mental health is way better.  For a few years I have been giving in to a certain kind of depression (I guess you could call it depression.....not a psychologist).  I could only see the disadvantages of getting older.  I assumed we couldn't do anything or travel because we had these ailments and maladies that come to us all.  Well, guess what?  I am seeing the light. 


I have many blessings that I had NOT been counting.  The ability to travel is one of them so with that, get in the car!


There's a commercial that runs on TV that says "a body in motion, stays in motion".  There's truth in that statement.  So here's to another trip..........Cheers everyone.


I love you and thank you for letting me just chatter away on this blog 

Sunshine on My Shoulder

Good morning everyone.  I am up a tad bit early and enjoying a cup.....maybe two......maybe three......okay, three cups of coffee in my sunroom.  It is quiet and the sun hasn't even made its appearance, but I feel a glorious day ahead.  Right now I see flowers that need to be potted so that will be my goal.  Tomorrow it is suppose to rain and rain the rest of the week............so no better time than now to pot them.


I hear the hubby rustling around so my "quiet" time won't be long, but really, I don't want it to be.  My three......count them.......three....... grandkids will be here in less than an hour so they will have me busy.  I told them yesterday that I would take them to the grocery store to stock up on snacks so they will be chomping at the bit (when's the last time you heard that?) to do just that.  Those flowers can wait for a couple hours.........


There's lots to do this summer with these kids.............and it is my pleasure to do lots of things with them.  I am blessed.


I love you and hope you have a beautiful day soaking up all the blessings bestowed upon you.


"Sunshine.........
on my shoulder..........
makes me happy........."

Stand By Me

Good evening.  It's been a rather quiet evening.  A perfect evening to listen to Pandora. I happen to choose John Denver Radio. Oh man!!  I have forgotten what a unique voice he had.  "Rocky Mountain High", "Country Roads Take Me Home", and the list goes on and on.  And then there is Elton John, Neil Diamond, Billy Joel............

I hope your evening is as mellow as mine.  I hope you are having a good life.  It has been a longtime time since I have blogged, but I hope to turn this around even if it's only to say hello--like tonight.  Hello!!

Do you miss John Denver like I do?  Time waits for no one.

I love you.

Now for a little "Stand By Me" by Ben E. King.......they don't write them like they used to.

45th Anniversary

Yesterday was our 45th wedding anniversary.  No, we didn't go on a trip, but then again maybe we did.  We took a long ride down memory lane.  We drove down May Avenue.............just drove down May Avenue and talked about some of the great places we shopped or ate back in the day.  I am sure the memories are much sweeter than the actuality at the time, but isn't that what memories are for............sweet memories--isn't that the name of the song?


As far back as our dating, we had fun exploring places. Saturdays were almost always out seeing what OKC had to offer.  Sadly, a lot of these places are no longer; French Market Mall, Continental Theater--actually almost all theaters have closed, Enchanted Doll, Glen's Hickory Inn, Tony's Via Roma, Captains Table, Shepherd Mall.......the list could go on and on.


Yesterday, we even walked through the old Crossroads Mall building.  We could spend hours there and not spend one dime.  Our babies turned to toddlers to children to teens there.  What fun............visiting Santa, window shopping...........people watching............enjoying our lives.  And did I mention, we didn't have to spend one dime there.


Sometime during our nostalgic day, I started second guessing our decision to stay at home for our celebration rather than go on a fantastic trip.  Were we making it special enough?  I even started worrying that the restaurant we chose for this special day wasn't going to be memorable enough.........."was it something to remember?" and that's when the hubby turned to be and said..............


"It's about us.  It's not about the restaurant.  It's not what we do on this day.  It's about us.  We are all we need--each other."  Oh he has a way of keeping me grounded.  I love him.  Happy 45th!


That's all I have.  I love you.

March 7, 1939 Diary

Monday, March 7, 1938 -- Knitted on skirt this morning.  went to classes this afternoon.  Went to town at 4 o'clock.  Got reprints of Kodak pictures at studio.  Came home - played piano, knitted, helped Mother with dishes, put pictures in album.


Tuesday, March 7, 1939 --  Had my P.M.  Went over to see Grace 3 times today.  She seems much better.  Finished letter to Mother & Dad & mailed it.  Mailed baby set to Morton's.  Washed and set hair.  Tried on ne crocheted hat.  Really like it with my hair this way.  Class 12:30-1:30.  Study hall tonite.  Listened to radio.


Those are two entries on a diary I have just finished reading.  I found this diary about 3 years ago at a flea market, put it in a drawer and forgot about it.  While I was cleaning closets a couple weeks ago, I came across it and started thumbing through it.  It was so intriguing that I couldn't put it down.  Last Sunday night I finished it and must say, I was sorry it ended.  I learned so much about the time and what it was like during those two years for a young girl.  My mother was a year older than this young woman so I made lots of mental comparisons and wondered if Mother's life was anything like Cherrie's (diary writer). 


But that's not the end of the story.  We live in internet times and if you dig a little you can be your own sleuth.  We found that she went on to become a nurse at St. Anthony's, right here in the city.  In fact, St. Anthony's published an essay she wrote and it is on Ancestry.com. 


My plan is to transcribe this little diary for my own rereading, but to find her relatives to see if they might be interested in having the diary back.  I'm not sure if her own sons want it back, but I am hoping her niece does, the one who put information about her on the site.


In the next few days, I hope to tell you a few things I learned about how wonderful a simple life can be in a much simpler times........a time when setting out on the lawn visiting can be the highlight of one's week.


I love you.


As a bit of fun, I thought I'd tell you what it was like on:


March 7, 1963.  Dear Diary.  I - dishes.  Went to school.  We had National Honor Society practice last hour.  Cut some more on my dress.  Walked back.


March 7, 1964.  We worked today.  Saturday


March 7, 1965.  Went to church.  Went to Aunt Geneva's for dinner.  Dad let me take car to Prague.  Nancy, Joyce, Karen S. & I went.  Joyce was washing her car.  Nancy was helping.


I had first hand knowledge of these events.  Wink - wink!