Homemade Tomato Soup

I've really be disappointed this week that Utah forgot about Spring after just one week of sunny skies. I've been tempted to slip back into winter mode, and I've been craving yummy soup. Steve and I just treated ourselves to a new Blendtec so I decided to try out a  fresh soup. One of my favorite meals is a good grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup so I asked my mom for some tips and this is what I figured out...

What you'll need:
A good blender - my soup turned out amazingly smooth and yummy in the Blendtec, but you can do this in any good blender.
2 cans of diced tomatoes OR 6-8 fresh tomatoes
1 onion (yellow or white)
1 - 2 cloves garlic
fresh or dried basil
extra virgin olive oil
heavy whipping cream (optional)
foil
baking sheet
salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 450*
If you're using fresh tomatoes you'll want to cut and seed your tomatoes. I wouldn't worry about peeling them unless your blender can't handle the skins. If you are using canned tomatoes, strain the juices into a bowl and SAVE the juice.
Peel and dice your garlic. I used a heaping 1/2 tsp of the bottled diced garlic. Use as much or as little garlic as you'd like.
Slice or roughly chop your onion. I used about 1/2 of a medium onion, but you can use as much or as little as you like.
Line a baking sheet with foil and spread out your tomatoes and onions. Sprinkle with diced garlic, and drizzle with olive oil. Salt and pepper everything generously. I like to use Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper.
Put your baking sheet in the oven for about 20 minutes (until your onions start to soften and brown)

If you used canned tomatoes, pour your juice into your blender cup. If you used fresh, you can either use extra chicken broth or tomato juice, but I had about 2 cups of liquid between my canned tomato juice and my chicken broth. Add your roasted veggies and a few leaves of fresh basil, or a tsp of dried basil. My blender has a "soups" button, but you'll want to run your blender on high for about a minute and 1/2. Check your consistency. I like mine nice and thick so I didn't add any more broth. I did run my soup cycle one more time with about 1/8 c of heavy cream, but that is purely optional. My soup turned our very creamy and smooth.

Taste your soup and adjust spices to your liking. I added about a tsp of Lowry's Seasoned Salt and a few more basil leaves and blended things up again and it was JUST how I liked it.

Unless you're running a Vitamix or Blendtec you may need to warm your soup a bit. I ran 2 soup cycles on my blendtec and my soup was plenty warm. The microwave is always an option but I would recommend pouring it into a pan on the stove and letting it warm up that way.

This recipe is another easy very flexible one. I've made this before with celery and carrots, but just didn't like the way the flavors got in the way of my tomatoes. If you're inclined to add more veggies, add about a cup of each (chopped and cooked til soft) to your blender cup. You may need a little more liquid to compensate.

This will keep well in the fridge for 2-3 days and reheats VERY well.

ENJOY!