Tonight we have A Very Special Bareass Cupid: Creamless Creamy Tomato Soup, courtesy of a cooking mag for whom I have volunteered to be a recipe tester. As an extra bonus, it comes with a crouton-making recipe.
(Nope, it's not from the Betty Crocker cook book, and nope, I haven't been cooking Betty Crocker six nights a week. It turns out that an all-vintage menu doesn't make the Cupid family all-happy. So the rules have changed; the recipe schedule is whimsical, and the source of the recipes may vary. Life's like that.)
The "cream" factor in the soup is--wait for it--bread! Ordinary white bread, soaked in crushed tomatoes and then pureed. Add some chicken broth, seasoning, garlic, onions, and ta-dah! you have a creamy soup. Well, "creamy" as in "a thickish texture". Not "creamy" as in "mellowing out the bright tomatoey taste". It's brightly tomatoey, all right, and though it's quite good (going-back-for-seconds good), I can''t shake the feeling that it's only a teaspoon full of Italian seasoning away from being a quite good spaghetti sauce. I'm tempted to throw the leftovers over some ziti . . .
The croutons were made of the same white bread that thickened the soup. Cubed, drizzled with olive oil, salted and peppered, and toasted lightly. I think they'd have been much tastier with some garlic salt and grated parmesan.