Rainy Day Soup: My May learning Kelsey Nixon's Kitchen Confidence

One of my favorite things to do with a free evening or Saturday afternoon is to catch up on my weekly DVR'd shows while messing around in my craft room.  Cooking Channel's Kitchen Essentials hosted by Kelsey Nixon is always on my list of TV to watch.  Her approachable style & unique flavor combinations keep me coming back episode after episode.

Kelsey Nixon's Kitchen Confidence

So, when I saw that she was coming out with a cookbook, Kitchen Confidence, I was really excited.

For the entire month of May, I'm diving in & devouring Kitchen Confidence.  For 31 days, I'll be making dishes from Kelsey Nixon's book & writing about them here.

Roasted Tomato Soup & Cheesy Croutons

Most Memorial Days are sunny, BBQ filled days, but this year ours was rainy.  Like, flood watch rainy.  Ideal for laying low & hanging out at the house, which is just what we did.  And really, it was a great way to spend a long weekend.

For our lazy Memorial Day I decided to try the Roasted Tomato Soup with Cheesy Croutons from Kitchen Confidence, which really hit the spot on the dreary, somewhat cool day.

This cozy soup may have changed my mind on tomatoes never being the star of a meal yall.  I don't hate tomatoes, but I am normally not a big a fan.  For whatever reason, dishes that star tomatoes just don't do much for my taste buds.  But I thought if any recipe could change my mind, it might be this one.  Or maybe I just really wanted to try those cheesy croutons.

Either way, I ended up loving this soup.    And the croutons were nothing but toasty, cheesy goodness.  Andrew & I ate up two bowls of the soup for lunch & polished off the entire tray of croutons.  Yeah, we liked it.  

The soup was creamy enough to keep the tomatoes from overpowering the dish but not too heavy or rich.  Pesto added a zing that kept me going back spoonful after spoonful.  And pilling the crispy, buttery cheddar-filled croutons onto the soup & letting them get a little soppy, oh wow, it was addictive.     

I even had leftover soup today with a ham sammy for lunch, sans croutons & it rocked.  The flavors were more powerful & a much better (and more nutritious!) accompaniment to lunch than chips.  I only wish I had made a double-batch of this tasty soup so that it could be the star of lunch all week long.