Ina Garten Shares Her Easy Trick for "Better" Tomato Soup

If there's one person who can get us through these unprecedented times, it's Ina Garten.

As fate would have it, the release of Garten's latest cookbook Modern Comfort Food ($21; Amazon.com) just so happens to coincide with one of the most difficult periods in modern history. Amid a deadly pandemic, social unrest, and political discord, the Barefoot Contessa's simple, wholesome approach to comfort food feels like the salve our souls have been craving.

The opening line sets the tone for Modern Comfort Food's restorative capabilities:

"I often say that you can be miserable before eating a cookie and you can be miserable after eating a cookie, but you can never be miserable while you're eating a cookie."

And as Garten explained to NPR: "There are times when you know, you feel like a really good salad, but not now."

The Food Network star knew her new cookbook would be released right before the election and anticipated that Americans would be stressed.

"So, I thought, why don't I do something about comfort food? But like with a modern twist, and that's how it started," she recalled to NPR.

In her mission to bring us the comforting recipes we need, Garten revisited the flavors from her childhood and set about improving them.

"I just took a remembered flavor that was familiar. And I just thought, how can I make it better? How can I make it easier to make?" she explained.