Healing Garlic Tomato Soup
Last weekend I was nursing (pun intended) an infection due to a clogged milk duct. Thankfully my temperature never spiked too high, but I had all the symptoms of an infection – achy body, achy head, tired all over.
Along with rest and lots of nursing, I went through plenty of echinacea, vitamin C and garlic. On Saturday my husband and toddler were kind enough to supply me with an extra dose of garlic in my lunch. By Sunday I had a bit of pep back and was anxious to get back into the kitchen. I wanted to make a healing soup for lunch with lots of garlic – both cooked and raw. One of my favorite ways to eat raw garlic is with tomatoes, sea salt and a drizzle of olive oil. This soup is a simple variation of that with the added healing benefits of onions and chicken broth.
After two full mugs of this soup I felt both warmed and healed.
Healing Garlic Tomato Soup
1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 large carrot, diced
2 stalks of celery, diced
1 small onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2.5 cups chicken stock
28 oz. can whole peeled tomatoes
4 more cloves of garlic, minced
sea salt & pepper to taste
extra virgin olive oil for drizzling
In a medium size soup pot, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Add carrot, celery, onion and a pinch of salt. Cook until nearly softened. Add first four cloves of minced garlic and cook for a couple of minutes. Stir chicken stock and canned tomatoes into the softened vegetables. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer. Allow it to simmer for 20 minutes to allow flavors to blend.
After 20 minutes, remove the soup pot from the heat and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes. Stir the remaining garlic cloves into the soup.
If you would like to leave the soup chunky, use kitchen shears to cut up any larger pieces of tomatoes. If you would like it blended either use an immersion blender and blend to your desired consistency or blend in batches in the blender. Drizzle bowls or mugs with extra virgin olive oil and enjoy.
Yikes, I have had mastetis and it is no fun! I do love garlic though and it has amazing healing powers. I usually mince it up into a spoon full of honey and swallow it all raw. Followed by a lot of water. Tough on the stomach until you get used to it, but it totally works! I hope you feel better quickly.
I hope you are feeling better. The soup looks so good.
Jennifer – I’ve heard about taking raw garlic and honey together like that. I’ll have to try it sometime. Thanks for the tip.
Denise – I am feeling better. It was pretty much gone by last Monday so I am thankful!
Tomato soup with a grilled cheese make everything better. Glad to hear that you’re feeling like your old self again.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe! I was only able to use 4 cloves of garlic, but it was still really good.
This sounds like it will fill the bill for dinner tonight. My husband is fighting an infection and I’m making it. I don’t have any chicken broth at the moment so I’m going to try it with beef bone broth instead, but I think it’s gonna be wonderful just the same. Thank you for sharing!
How do we who love garlic and its amazing qualities, convince those we love and who live with us (who have to smell us) that it is a good thing? My husband hates the smell! He says our sheets even smell like garlic. Any tips?
To those who want to eat the raw garlic and honey- NEVER eat 2 cloves at a time! I did it…not a good thing! My mouth burned and nostrils burned! I bet any bad germ in my body left immediately!! Ha And, yes, it does bother your stomach, so you must take on a full stomach.
I made this last year sometime, and this week I have been very sick and this soup is all I can think of today that sounds good. Had to do a google search, b/c I couldn’t remember where I found it. Thank you!