Dry Tomato Soup Mix Recipe (Meal In A Jar)

I created this recipe for Christmas gift giving. Thought I could easily convert a wet soup recipe into a dry mix recipe. Unfortunately, I was very wrong. With the idea and the fact that I had bought bulk tomato powder already, my mind said give up or figure out how to do it. Feeling like the show must go on, I started to do the home work/labor. After making and tasting a lot of soup I found a recipe that I liked and made it mine.

Ingredients:                              Serves 4

7 T. Tomato Powder (I got mine from beprepared.com you can also get it at Honeyville.com)

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

3 chicken broth cubes

3/4 tsp. dry basil

1 C. small dry pasta

1/2 tsp. salt

1 T. Pizza sauce spice blend mix (Got this from sfherb.com)

6 T. dry sliced carrots ( You can make them in a dehydrator or buy from beprepared.com)

Add mix to a medium/large pot with 7 C. of water. Mix and cover. Heat to a boil. Mix and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for 15 minutes stirring occasionally.

You can make this mix ahead of time by adding the ingredients into a glass pint jar with lid. If you want to suck the air out for longer storage. I use a Ziplic handheld pump sealer and a Food Saver jar sealer in a small/regular mouth or large mouth depending on the jar top you are going to use. Place the flat metal part of lid on top of filled jar. Leaving the ring off for now. Place the white Food Saver on top and take your Ziploc handheld pump and place over the hole on top of the Food Saver top. Start pumping until you feel pressure. Put the Ziploc pump down and gently take off the Food Saver top. The flat metal lid should be sealed to glass jar top. If it is not. try the process again. If it is sealed, you can now screw on the ring and place jar in a dark, cool dry place until ready to use.

How long will this stay fresh. I estimate only a year until nutrients start to be lost in the food and the taste compromised. I am only guessing of course.

To make the carrots in a dehydrator, I used a mandolin slicer and sliced the carrots very thin. then place them on dehydrator racks with silicone sheets on them. Dehydrated at 135F until carrot were dry. I bought my mandolin ceramic blade slicer at Cutleryandmore.com.

Another question that may come up is the, "Can I use a differrent spice mix like italian herbs or etc?" Try it. You will never know unless you try.