I think I can speak for many parents when I say that keeping your mouth in check is of new importance when you have a toddler in tow. I’m not just talking about cussing, but really about watching my words. Making sure I’m not complaining too much, using positive words towards others, and also not cussing ;)

Still, there are two types of phrases that I find myself using too frequently.

The first is “I’m sorry.” I’m all for a good apology, but there is that insignificant utterance of “I’m sorry” all the time that really gets annoying for everyone around you. It’s a nasty cycle; first you’re sorry for something, and then you’re told that you don’t need to apologize – so you apologize, and then you apologize for apologizing, and eventually you’ve shamed yourself into feeling sorry for too many things. It’s a terrible way to model proper interactions for my children – always being penitent and guilty. And really, it’s all rather obnoxious, but not nearly as damaging as the second type of phrase.

I’ve become a lot more conscious in the last few years about not apologizing so much, but I’m still terrible at turning around a compliment. When someone praises something I’ve done or offers me kind words I’m all too quick to defer credit, or discredit the complimentor completely. “I don’t feel pretty,” or “Well, it’s a good recipe,” or “You can thank chef so-and-so for that meal,” or “You don’t mean that,” or more hurtful (and often sarcastically) “Suuuure,” and “Yeah, right.”

A few days ago my amazing husband complimented me, and I was quick to dismiss him. Even though I brushed it off like I normally would he stopped me. Jokingly (and probably not so jokingly) he retorted with something like, “If you’re just going to negate my compliments, I’m just going to stop giving them.” I laughed it off, and moved on. And then it happened again. Less than 24 hours later he sent genuine admiration my way, and I denied him. Now I noticed it.

How hurtful that I would be so ungrateful and assume his sentiments were false. How low is my self-esteem that I can’t take a compliment from the man I married? Do I really not trust his judgement or kindness?

I’m telling you this for two reasons: one – I need to remind myself daily that it is good to be grateful for the people that appreciate you, and two – I need to share this recipe with you (this is still a food blog, right?) because it came with some really high compliments that I happily accepted as we gobbled it up at dinner last night :)

You’ll have to forgive me for really only having one photo (sorry :P) – I really didn’t plan on putting this up here, but it’s just that good. You’ll just have to enjoy looking at the finished product.

Or you could look at it from this angle…

Does it look more regal next to a lion?

Anyway…

The Best Tomato Soup EVER
adapted from this recipe by Ree Drummond

1 medium onion (white or yellow), diced
6 Tbsp butter
2 14.5oz cans of diced tomatoes (no salt added)
1 46oz can of tomato juice
3-6 Tbsp sugar
1-3 Tbsp chicken bullion seasoning (I like the powdered kind, but you could probably use up to three cubes)
1 c white wine (I used Pinot Grigio)
1 1/2 c heavy cream
1/4 c chopped, fresh basil

This is a really easy soup to put together – start to finish I probably spent 30 minutes on this meal, and that includes the time I took to make the grilled cheese sandwiches we used to sop up some of this glorious soup.

1. Melt your butter in a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat.
2. Stir in your diced onion and sauté for about 5 minutes, until translucent.
3. Stir in your two cans of diced tomatoes, and then stir in the tomato juice.
4. Add 3 Tbsp of sugar. I promise this won’t make the soup sweet, but it does help cut the acidity of the tomatoes. Taste your soup, and if it feels too acidic you can add up to 3 more Tbsp of sugar. I only used 3.
5. Add the chicken bullion. Start with 1 Tbsp, and taste. Our soup ended up with about 2 1/2 Tbsp after a few delicious sips.
6. This is where I added the wine. You can wait until the soup is almost boiling, but I wanted to cook off a little of the wine before serving it – we’re not big drinkers, but I loved the flavor the Pinot Grigio imparted to the soup.
7. Bring your soup almost to a boil (if you haven’t already), remove from heat, and stir in the cream & basil.
8. You could stop here, but we like a smooth soup. If you’re like us go ahead and blend up your soup in batches and serve immediately.

This soup makes enough to feed a small army, and keeps really well in the refrigerator too – you may just need to stir it up before reheating incase there’s any separation.

That’s it! So delicious!! I hope you are able to appreciate all the compliments you’re going to get for this soup ;)

And hey, where else on the web are you going to get advice about life and tomato soup all in the same place?