Tomato Soup with Super Easy Biscuits

On a day when it's starting to get a bit cool, you might not want to make a cold soup like gazpacho. Instead, how about some comforting and warm tomato soup and biscuits?
These biscuits are like magic. Not only are they super simple to make, they are healthier than regular biscuits with about 1/3 of the calories. Now I want to eat biscuits every day! And what better to pair with them than healthy and delicious tomato soup.
biscuit original recipe via cookinglight.com
soup original recipe via veganweb.com

Grocery list items:
1 30 oz can chopped tomatoes
1 can white beans (cannellini or other)
1 block veggie boullion
kale

The tomato soup is really delicious as well. I highly recommend dipping the biscuits in. The trick to the biscuits is that you use really cold milk and melted butter, so that it makes tiny butter blogs. That way, you don't have to worry about cutting in the butter to get that flaky texture. I wonder if this trick would work on other pastry. Anyway, I recommend starting by making the soup and leaving it on the stove to cook down while you make the biscuits.

Tomato Soup with Kale
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 30 oz can chopped tomatoes, with juice
1 can white beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup fresh kale, chopped
1 cube veggie boullion
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried parsley
salt + pepper
2 cups water

Start by sautéing the onion and garlic in olive oil until they are softened. Then add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer and cover. Add more water as needed to maintain consistency and season to taste. Cook 15 - 20 min. Can be served immediately, or cooked longer, or reheated and served later.

And now for the amazing biscuit recipe. I don't use buttermilk for these - I make my own substitute. I can never buy the small amount of buttermilk I actually need, so instead I add a bit of lemon juice to milk to create that sour flavor.

Super Easy Buttermilk Drop Biscuits
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup butter
1 1/4 cups very cold milk
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp canola oil

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix together dry ingredients and set aside. Mix together milk and lemon juice to create "buttermilk". Put it in the fridge to ensure it stays cold.
Melt butter in a microwave safe dish for about a minute, or until completely melted. Drizzle slowly into the cold buttermilk, stirring until little clumps of butter form. Stir in the canola oil.
With a rubber spatula, carefully stir milk and butter mixture into the flour mixture, until they are just combined.
Carefully drop about 2 tbsp at a time of biscuit dough onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 11 minutes, or until golden. Serve warm.

I spread mine with a little mascarpone, which was very tasty and spreads more easily than butter. I also dunked my biscuits in my soup for a very delicious and hearty meal. It's also a fairly healthy meal, as long as you can keep yourself from eating ten biscuits!