Homemade Tomato Soup -- Good for your soul!

I first made this soup when I picked a lot of fresh tomatoes and green onions at Alsion Montessori. We have a fair amount of basil growing at home, thus I figured I would learn how to make tomato soup. It has been a good winter meal, that is special and helps boost the vitamin C during these cold months.

Step 1: Get a lot of tomatoes!

6 big tomatoes and 3 small tubs of little tomatoes makes a big pot. The type of tomato isn't really too important, in fact I have found adding in different types of tomatoes to the same soup makes it taste better! It isn't an exact science on how many tomatoes, but rather how much soup you would like. Slice the tomatoes and put them on a cookie sheet sprayed with any type of oil you prefer. Put salt and pepper on top of the tomatoes.

Side note: Thank you to these three people from Nature Sweet for being apart of the chain of agreements to get the tomatoes to me so I can make soup!

Step 2: Roast them tomatoes!

Put the prepared tomatoes in the oven at 350 degrees for at least an hour. I go until some of them start to turn a little black on the foil.

Step 3: Blend roasted tomatoes.

Add to the blending process your basil (I like a lot, but you can add as much or a little as you would like) and two stalks of green onions.

Step 4: Caramelize the onions and garlic.

Chop some yellow onion and garlic. I use about 1/2of a medium sized yellow onion and 4-5 cloves of garlic, depending on the size of the cloves. With some olive oil (or any type of oil that you prefer) caramelize the onions and garlic in the pot that you will make the rest of your soup in. Once caramelized add your tomato mixture from the blender.

Step 5: Make it into a soup!

Slowly add chicken stock (or vegetable stock if you prefer) to the pot. Constantly stir the soup. I add about four to six cups of chicken stock made from bullion. Add your can of diced tomatoes -- this gives your soup a little chunk because we blended everything before. Afterwards, turn it on low and let it simmer for about 20-30 minutes.

Step 6: Make it creamy!

Add your heavy whipping cream at the end to your liking. I like my soup on the creamer side, thus I add about 1-2 cups of heavy whipping cream at the end. Coconut milk is a good substitute if you can't have heavy whipping cream.

I like to serve mine with a little cheddar cheese on top and some freshly diced basil.

What is your favorite winter time soup?