Day 132 / Day 40 - Seeing off the Basil Aerogarden in Style

You know how at the end of Fourth of July fireworks, they always shoot off all of their remaining fireworks at the end in a blaze of glory? I decided to do the same thing as the swansong of my Basil Aerogarden.

I printed out the same recipe for basil and tomato soup I had before. Or more appropriately, cream and butter soup with a touch of tomato and basil. I considered cutting back on the butter this time, but figured, eh, in celebration of the basil's 132 days of glory, I'd let the recipe ride.

First step was harvesting the basil. The recipe calls for 14 leaves. I decided to go all out and pick as much lemon basil, Thai basil, Napolitano basil, French Marseilles basil, Italian Genovese basil, Globe basil, and Red Rubin Basil as I wanted. Just for fun, I added some Italian basil which I saved from my original Aerogarden. I ended up with about 40-50 leaves of all different sizes and colors.

Same shpeal as last time: simmer the tomatoes in tomato juice, puree them in a blender with the basil, add it back to the pot with lots of cream and butter, add salt and pepper, and indulge.

It looks a lot better than the washed-out picture my Canon camcorder took. And it tasted like heaven. And I'm not going to think about the fact that the tomato soup I just made has about double the fat and calories than the Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream I made yesterday.

Oh, here's a cooking tip. Never, ever fill a blender to the top with hot tomato soup and tomato chunks and press the "puree" button. Ouch!

And with this, it concludes my Basil Aerogarden adventures. Tune in next time when I'll be showing you how I transplant my Aerogarden herbs into pots and convert them into self-respecting houseplants. And wait'll you see what I'll be growing next!

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