Creamy Tomato Basil Soup

I'm tuning out election news and choosing to blog on cooking instead.  It makes me much happier.  I'm sure some of you can empathize with me.  As I said in my last post, I'm planning on making one soup recipe a week through the winter.  I love soups but never cook them in the summer.  Hot soup with 100 degree weather?  It just doesn't jive.  But let it drop to 70 and we have a different story...  Also mix in this teacher fighting off all of these germs my students are trying to share with me and soup sounds pretty darn good.  This one was delicious, so I figured I'd share the recipe.  The key is fresh basil - don't skimp on this ingredient.

 picked fresh from my garden

Creamy Tomato Basil Soup

4 servings

Ingredients:

-2 28oz cans of whole tomatoes, peeled (I really like the Cento San Marzano brand)

-1 cup chicken broth

-14 fresh basil leaves

-1/2 cup butter

-1 cup of heavy whipping cream

-salt & pepper to taste (I used about 2 tsp of both)

Directions:

1. Empty cans of tomatoes along with juice and chicken broth into a large pot.  Bring to a low boil over medium heat and let simmer for 30 minutes.

2. Once it's done simmering, transfer to a food processor or blender and blend with basil leaves until smooth.

3. Return to pot over low/medium heat and add butter and heavy whipping cream.  Stir well until butter is completely melted.  DO NOT bring it to a boil.

4. Add salt and pepper to taste.

 

5. And of course, you know the 5 year old in you wants to add a grilled cheese sandwich to make this one great meal.  Or maybe that's just me. :)

I hope you'll try this out and love it as much as we did.  I'll leave you with a brief, to the point word of encouragement as we all await our country's decision...

Be blessed, my dears!  I hope you have a wonderful week! XO