Viola Brown from La Pointe, Ind., was looking for a good and easy recipe for making tomato basil soup. She said she is 82 years old and has a hard time finding things she still likes to eat. It’s not surprising that she would be in search of a recipe for homemade tomato soup, as it’s a classic comfort food no matter what the season.

Jenny Garcia from Santa Rosa, Calif., shared a recipe that she and her husband came up with that she said was inspired by a similar recipe in the “Barefoot Contessa Cookbook.” What makes this soup special is the roasted tomatoes. This simple step brings out the best flavor of the tomatoes and gives the soup real depth. The soup is easy to prepare and it freezes very well. Add to that the fact that it is both vegan friendly and lactose free and you can’t really go wrong with this one. Pair this soup with a grilled cheese sandwich and you have genuine comfort food at its very best.

Request

Mary Quinn from Baltimore would like some help locating the recipe for the Louisiana Ring Cake that was sold by the long-ago closed Rice’s bakery in Baltimore. As she recalls, this slightly orange-flavored ring cake had a crunchy outer “crust” on all sides. She said “back in the good old days” the bakery would deliver wonderful fresh breads and cakes to your door. She has never found a bakery version that comes close to the flavor and texture of the Rice’s bakery cake and was hoping someone might have their recipe.

Recipe Finder

Looking for a hard-to-find recipe or can answer a request? Write to Julie Rothman, Recipe Finder, The Baltimore Sun, 501 N. Calvert St., Baltimore, MD 21278, or email baltsunrecipefinder@gmail.com. Names must accompany recipes for them to be published.