Tomato And Bread Soup – We Love God!

Here are some reasons it is okay to celebrate Christmas: 1. The day itself is not really the day Christ was born. Nobody actually has the exact day down, but most believe it was not during this time of year at all. Probably it took place in the spring, not on a “cold winter's night that was so deep.” 2. Diversity over the years has taken away much of the “Romish” flavor to the holiday. Our Catholic friends do as they wish on the night before and the day of Christmas, that is granted. But we do not have a state church. There are so many other ways Christmas is celebrated that no one really thinks about it the way the Puritans did so many years ago. The problem is not so acute because of so many years of varied expressions. At least this is true in our part of the world. 3. God can be honored in gift-giving and generosity as well as in singing carols and telling the story. They’re both important if done in the right spirit. We don't have to make something spiritual out of giving gifts. You may make a birthday cake to Jesus if you wish, but you don't have to. We do need to be Christian, however, about everything we do. Emphasizing the giving part of the day can heal lots of wounds, open calcified hearts, stir up gratefulness, and just be plain fun. God's not against fun is He? 4. There may be better things to be different about. In other words, we might show our radical difference better in the way we treat other shoppers, the kindness we show to retail clerks, the warmth of our hearts, the largeness of our generosity, the thankfulness we express and really feel. 5. There are admittedly some great opportunities to make Christ known during Christmas. With all that is bad about it, we can still make our point. And we will have some sympathy for our message. For years I've led Christmas Eve services, short ones of only 45 minutes, but packed with meaning. The building will be full and all kinds of our friends and family will hear the truth as clearly as we are willing to express it.

Jim Elliff

CATEGORY	CUISINE	TAG	YIELD
Meats, Dairy	Italian	Italian, Low fat, Main dishes, Side dishes	9	Servings

INGREDIENTS

2	T	Olive Oil, Note 1
1		Onion, Chopped
5		Cloves Garlic
1/4	t	Oregano
1	lb	Stale Bread, Cubed
2	lb	Plum Tomatoes, Chopped
28	oz	Canned Tomatoes, Chopped
2	c	Nonfat Veg Chicken Broth
		Low Sod Note 2
1/2	t	Salt, Note 3
1/4	t	Pepper
3	T	Chopped Fresh Basil
		Romano Cheese, Optional
2	c	Water, Note 4

INSTRUCTIONS

Note 1: Original recipe called for 5 Tbsp olive oil. This much was
totally unnecessary.  Note 2: Original recipe called for regular
chicken stock  Note 3: We didn't add in the salt  Optional: 2 Tbsp
Romano cheese.. we didn't use it  Note 4: This water wasn't in the
original recipe. Why we added it is  because the bread we used was
really dry. So the extra water is really  dependent on how dry your
bread is...if not to dry then you can try it  without adding any
water...just use the liquid from the tomatoes and  broth. But check
it!! This is very, very important.  Heat soup pot with oil to hot. Add
garlic, onions and oregano and cook  about 8 min on medium-low heat.
The onions will be translucent. Make  sure to stir so that the garlic
doesn't burn.  Before cubing the bread wipe individual slices on each
side with  clove of garlic to give the bread more flavor. I cubed the
bread into  about 1 1/2" cubes. I wanted to make sure that when the
dish was  completed that the bread would still be in chunks not totally
disintegrated into the mushy glob.  Add bread cubes into the soup pot
and stir to coat bread. Add canned  tomatoes, fresh tomatoes; mix well.
(You have fresh and canned in this  recipe so that you will have the
different textures of them for  contrast.) Add salt and chicken broth,
cover, bring to boil, reduce  to simmer and cook 1 hr. VERY IMPORTANT
that you stir it every 5 - 10  min to avoid sticking to the bottom of
the pot. The original recipe  said to stir it every 10 min but we found
because we had lowered the  oil that we had to stir it every 5 min.
Keep a close watch on it at  this point.  After the soup is cooked
about 30 min add the basil and mix well.  Cook for another 30 min. It
will look more like a porridge then a  soup. Can add optional grated
Romano cheese on top after it is plated.  Serving Size: 1 C If you want
it for a side dish then I would use the  1 C as a serving size and it
would serve 9 people. If you want it for  a main dish then I would go
at least 2 C and then it would serve only  4 people.  This was
absolutely incredible!! Jeff and I ate 2 servings each. I  don't often
make anything more then once but I will make this many,  many times in
the future.  Entered into MasterCook and tested for you by Reggie &
Jeff Dwork  <reggie@reggie.com>  NOTES : Cal 206.1 Total Fat 5.4g Sat
Fat 0.9g Carb 34.4g Fib 3.4g Pro  10g Sod 665mg CFF 21.3% Recipe by:
Cucina Amore, Nick Stellino  Posted to EAT-LF Digest by Reggie Dwork
<reggie@reggie.com> on May  17, 1998

A Message from our Provider:

“I don’t know why some people change churches; what difference does it make which one you stay home from?”

Nutrition (calculated from recipe ingredients) ---------------------------------------------- Calories: 53 Calories From Fat: 28 Total Fat: 3.2g Cholesterol: 0mg Sodium: 258.9mg Potassium: 233.7mg Carbohydrates: 6.1g Fiber: 1.7g Sugar: 2.7g Protein: 1.3g