Creamy Tomato Soup

I love soup. A lot. Even when it was 110 degrees outside this summer, I was more than happy to curl up with a bowl of spicy black bean soup.

Over the past couple of years, I've shifted gears from heating up soup from a can to making my own. Tonight was the first time I've made tomato soup. And I hate it for Campbell's, but this soup knocks the canned stuff out of the park. I pinned this on Pinterest a while ago, and I hate that it took me so long to make it!

This soup was fantastic. It was so easy to make, and it is such an economical meal. You can't get much cheaper than what is basically just a few cans of tomatoes and a can of chicken stock. With coupons, I spent about $1.50 on tomatoes, I already had the chicken stock on hand, I always have onions and garlic on hand, and I had to buy some heavy cream, which was about $1.50. So, for around $3.00, I got five good sized bowls of incredible soup.

Creamy Tomato Soup
(Recipe adapted from Everyday Occasions)

Ingredients:

• 1 small onion; diced
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 t. of crushed red pepper flakes. 
• 1/4 white wine (I used Gnarly Head Pinot Grigio)
• 28 ounce cans of crushed tomatoes
• 1 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes
• 1 14.5 ounce can of chicken stock
• 1 tsp of sea salt
• 1/2 tsp of fresh ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup of heavy cream
• shaved Parmesan cheese & fresh basil to garnish

Directions:

1. In a saucepan, saute onion in olive oil on medium heat for about 5 minutes or until soft. Add the garlic and saute for another minute, being careful not to burn the garlic.
2. Add the wine to deglaze the pan, scraping up some of the browned bits from the bottom.
3. Add the crushed tomatoes, the can of diced tomatoes, chicken stock, salt, and pepper. 
4. Cook the soup on medium and let simmer for 10 minutes. 
5. (This step is optional, but I wanted my soup to be smooth and velvety, so I used my immersion blender to puree some of the pieces of tomato.)
6. To finish, reduce the heat to low and stir in the heavy cream.
7. Serve with Parmesan cheese and a gooey pesto grilled cheese on the side =)