I made another recipe from the “Forks Over Knives” cookbook and once again it came out great. When I browsed through this book at my sister Lyn’s house I knew it looked good, but it is actually exceeding expectations. So far everything I have made from it has been a winner.

Yes, I know it is not actually summer — it just feels that way outside (60 degrees in February!). But my store has fresh corn all year long so why not? I was too lazy to chop up tomatoes, plus it actually ISN’T summer so I am skeptical of all fresh tomatoes, so instead I used one 28-oz can of whole peeled tomatoes (I mashed them in the pot with a potato masher) and one 14.5-oz can of no-salt diced tomatoes. I also only used two ears of corn because at my store they come in packs of two. I didn’t have vegetable stock so I used 1 teaspoon of Vegetable “Better Than Bouillon.”

Ingredients:

1 large yellow onion, peeled and chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
6 medium tomatoes, chopped [I used canned]
2 medium zucchini, diced
1 yellow squash, diced
3 ears corn, kernels removed (about 2 cups) [I used 2 ears]
6 cups vegetable stock or water
1/2 cup finely chopped basil
Zest and juice of one lemon
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Place the onion in a medium saucepan and saute over medium heat for 7 to 8 minutes. Add water 1 to 2 tablespoons at a time to keep the onions from sticking to the pan. Add the garlic and saute for another minute.
2. Add the tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes, or until the tomatoes start to break down slightly.
3. Add the zucchini, yellow squash, corn and stock. Bring the pot to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to medium, and cook until the vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes.
4. Add the basil and lemon zest and juice. Season with salt and pepper.

The results:

OMG it is so good! The basil really makes it. It tastes like summer in a bowl!

Also I didn’t “finely chop” the basil, I left the leaves in large pieces. To me there is less chance of bruising the basil that way and I like seeing the pretty leaves distributed throughout the soup.