Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Cafe Zupa's Tomato Basil Copycat Recipe


  • 1 1/4 cup Pesto sauce from Costco
  • 5 1/2 cups diced/ stewed tomatoes - three 14.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 2/3 cup diced onion
  • 2 stalks celery, sliced
  • 3/4 tsp dried oregano
  • 2 tsp sugar (cuts down on acidity)
  • 1 1/3 cup half and half or 1 12-oz. can of evaporated milk
  • Orzo pasta

Directions: 

Set crockpot on high so that it can begin warming up while you assemble the soup. If you don't want to use a crockpot, feel free to use a saucepan instead. 

Wash and slice vegetables. 

In a frying pan (or just use the saucepan if you're not using a crockpot) melt butter over medium-high heat. 

Add in onion and celery. Cook until vegetables soften, about 5-8 minutes. 

Transfer to the crockpot and add in all remaining ingredients, except the cream. At this point the soup doesn't look very pretty. Don't worry- it will cook down and all the veggies will meld together. 

Crockpot: Cook on high 6-7 hours total

After soup has cooked for most of the time, I then use an immersion blender to get rid of the remaining chunks of vegetables. 

After it's smooth, return to pot and cook for the remaining time~ I generally blend it about an hour before serving. 

During this last step, cook orzo pasta.

Just before serving add the half and half or milk. 

Add cooked orzo ENJOY!

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