Linked several previous discussions and recipes below for you. One the most popular is called Katie C's Roasted Tomato Soup. Keep in mind that you cannot add any milk, cream, butter, or thickeners until AFTER opening. Thus the easiest, most basic recipe is to just make your favorite approved tomato sauce recipe for canning and then turn it into soup after opening the jar. Dave Here is a link that might be useful: tomato soup discussions & recipes

Muffins and breads freeze well, as does cookie dough or baked cookies and cupcakes without frosting. Pizza freezes nicely, as do calzones, cabbage rolls, savory pies like chicken or beef pot pie, meatballs and pot roast! Anyway, soup. One of my favorites is beef vegetable, but I have no recipe. I take every vegetable that I can get my hands on and chop them up. Chop up some beef into bite sized pieces, brown in the pan with some onion and celery. Add a couple of quarts of water and all the vegetables and cook until everything is done. Add salt, pepper, herbs. I like tarragon. If I have a jar of tomatoes open I'll add that, or leftover spaghetti sauce or whatever is in there. Leftover gravy? In it goes. Part of a jar of home canned beef stock? Double bonus, into the pot. I've used hamburger in this, venison, leftover steak, Italian sausage, kielbasa or a mixture of things, it's all good. I keep adding to the pot, adjusting seasonings, until it tastes good and the refrigerator is cleaned. (grin) It's never failed, but sometimes it grows quite large, which is how I know it freezes well! Good luck to your friend, I hope she comes through with flying colors. Annie

Here are a couple I have copied and pasted. Lpink's Black Bean Soup with Red Paprika Sauce (This is Lori from near the Battle Creek area) Serves 8 1 lb. bag dried black beans (soak in 4x their volume of water overnight. Drain before cooking) 8 cups water or broth, (I always use broth. For me it's veggie bouillon, but you could use chicken or beef I guess.) 2 med. onions, chopped 2 ribs celery, diced 2 cups chopped tomatoes (I use canned) 2 TBSP paprika (I use Penzey's brand, I have both sweet and hot and I mix the two, but use whatever kind you like to your taste.) 2 tsp. ground cumin 2 bay leaves 1/2 cup cilantro, finely minced (Note: I just add a TBSP or so of dried cilantro or parsley, because I rarely have fresh stuff around, it goes bad on me before I can use it up) 1/4 tsp. pepper 1 cup corn Note: DON'T add salt while the beans are cooking, this toughens their skins. Simmer beans in the broth until soft. Could take 1-2 hours on the stovetop. I do my beans in the crock pot on high for about 5 hours minimum, I add the veggies and spices right at the beginning, except for the corn, which I use frozen so it doesn't need to cook. If you're making the soup on the top of the stove, add veggies and spices during the last hour of cooking. Add sauce (recipe below) before serving. Adjust the seasonings to suit your taste. Red Paprika Sauce 2 TBS olive oil 1 large red pepper diced or sliced thin 3 scallions, minced 2 tsp. paprika, or less, to taste 2 tsp. salt 2 TBS lime juice Saut� pepper and scallions in the olive oil. Add the paprika and other seasonings. Add lime juice just before taking it off the stove. Additonal note: You can add browned turkey sausage to this soup along with the veggies with excellent results. That's how I make it to please the meat-eaters. Use hot or regular sausage, depending on your taste. The soup is delicious served with a dollop of low fat sour cream or yogurt. You can stir in the sauce to the soup and then freeze. You can leave out the corn, but it is colorful with the red pepper. You can puree some of the soup before adding the veggies or pepper sauce or sausage. It's just a great mixture of flavors however you adapt it. You could even add a little garlic, good for the heart. I like to make the soup in the crock pot, except for the peppers. Don't cook peppers in a crock pot because they get bitter. I have made this soup for a crowd and it was very well received. Laurie ____________________________________________________________________ Jayne's Black Bean Soup (Jayne hails from Indianapolis) 1 pound bag of black beans (soak overnight and rinse very well) I put them in a crock pot to cook all day. I add vegetable stock (or water if I don't have the stock). Then finely chopped garlic, onions, celery and carrot and pepper (green or jalapeno or both). I usually don't add meat, but sometimes will add small cubes of very lean ham. I season with salt, pepper and cumin. I've wanted to try adding sherry (per a friends instruction), but haven't tried that yet. Today, I read a recipe that called for adding balsamic vinegar, but I haven't tried that either. Near the end of cooking, I take out a cup or so and puree it, then add it back to the pot so it's nice and thick. I serve it over brown rice, although yellow is good too. I top it with hot sauce and chopped onion. Sour cream sounds good, but I don't need the extra calories (I would have to have a huge dollop). Angie's (Opkikid) Black Bean Soup (Angie is from Chicago) This makes a lot � you can cut the recipe in half or more. This can cook all day at a simmer, if you like. � lb bacon 10 carrots, diced 6 cloves garlic, minced � tsp cayenne pepper � cup (yes, cup!) of each: ground cumin and oregano 6 15 oz cans of black beans, drained 5 (20 cups) quarts of chicken broth � cup sherry or white wine

I don't see Linda here everyday. So just in case she does not respond I will weigh in. Soup bases are not usually dry bouillon. They are more like a dry paste or thick molasses. They contain real meat products. Penzey's makes great soup bases. My favorite line is Better than Bouillon. I have attached a link so you can see what the jar looks like. They aren't found everywhere....... but the Walmart in my area carries the beef and chicken. They also come in low salt versions, and their turkey base is marvelous. The Byerlys stores here in Minnesota carry almost all of the 11-12 varieties. Good luck. I might have to make Linda's soup after viewing the soup thread. Teresa Here is a link that might be useful: Better than Bouillon