Magical Tomato Soup

Hello Soup lovers! It's been a while, I know! There's this thing called life (and three other blogs) that tends to get in the way of not only making soups, but posting about them! So here is a magical soup to tide you all over! The magical part is the lack of 8 million ingredients! Normally this soup takes like...45 minutes TOPS to make. But if you're taking photos along the way (and by yourself, mind you!) then it takes more like...an hour and a half....oops? This soup is thick, delicious, and easy to make! I hope you like tomatoes, because this is nothing but! And if you grow your own Pomodoro (or Amish Paste) this recipe is perfect for them!

   Alright lets get this party started! First, grab yourself a glass of wine like I did--because cooking starts with a good glass! Tonight I had this!

Now to introduce to you the cast of characters! I forgot to add the Chicken Broth into the picture! Oops!

 Now the easy part! Take a sip of wine and get to work! Chop up the onions--you don't have to chop 'em up small, you'll be putting it in a blender--and mince the garlic! That's about the only actual work you have to do! 

See how easy that was?! I know chopping and mincing is strenuous, so go ahead and take another drink or two of wine! Next you're going to do the even easier part! Heat up the 2 T of olive oil. As you can tell I added 1 T of butter. This is because butter makes everything better (but it IS optional)!

Then throw in the garlic and onions for a minute or two, then add in the Herbs, Bay Leaf, and Cayenne pepper! let it cook until the onions are soft--about 3 minutes.

Now add in your can of Whole Tomatoes, chicken broth, sugar, salt, and pepper! Stir it, bring it to a simmer, then lower the heat and cover it for 30 minutes! 

 

Whew, you did it! Pour yourself another glass in conradualtions! Now you only have three more things to do! Make the lemon mint yogurt (if you want it. This soup is good without it as well, but the lemony yogurt just tastes sooooo good!). First you need your ingredients!

 Now don't fear this part, I promise it isn't scary! But take some liquid courage if you're the kind that faints easily. Open your yogurt and pour it into a small bowl and mix it around. Then cut your lemon and remove the seeds and put the juice into the yogurt (don't worry if it seems watery, when you put it in the fridge it thickens up again!). Then chop up your mint! 

To mince the mint you get your leaves in a pile then roll them up. Slice them thinly in one direction (aka julien them) and they'll look like this. You CAN just leave them like this. But I like to mince mine. To do so is super easy! Just cut them the opposite direction and you get this!: 

Then add them into the yogurt, give it a stir, cover, and put in the fridge! Once this back braking manual labor is over you just wait for your soup to finish!

 

Once the 30 minutes are up, blend your soup with either a immersion blender or a normal blender! At this point you can (if you want) put in the can of diced tomatoes and let it heat up for a few minutes. I made this before and I personally felt it needed a bit more 'chunk'. 

Pour in bowls, add in the lemon mint yogurt, and you're done! Enjoy with your glass of wine and some crusty bread! This soup is super easy to make and makes 4 bowls! Unless people want seconds. Then you might have to double the recipe--which is what happened to me! Enjoy!

Magical Tomato Soup: 

2 cups chicken or vegetable broth (personally I use chicken, because it gives more depth of flavor)

1 can of  28 oz. whole peeled tomatoes

1 12 oz. can of diced tomatoes (optional)

1 yellow onion

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tsp of sugar

a TINY dash of Cayenne pepper (less than 1/8 tsp. just trust me on this.)

Salt & Pepper

1 Tablespoon Herbs de Provence or Italian Mix (or to taste)

2 large bay leaves

2 Tablespoons olive oil

Lemon-mint Yogurt: 

1/2 cup plain greek yogurt

2 Tablespoons fresh mint  (or to taste)

Juice of 1 lemon

Directions: 

Chop up onions roughly, mince garlic. In large soup pot heat up 2 tablespoons olive oil (extra 1 T of butter optional but yummy!). Throw in garlic and onions and let soften, 1 minute. Add in Italian herbs, bay leaves, and tiny dash of Cayenne better. Let soften 2 to 3 minutes. Add in can of whole tomatoes, salt, pepper, then chicken broth. Turn up heat to bring to a hard simmer, then put on low and cover for 30 minutes. When finished use immersion blender or blender to puree it. Add in additional can of diced tomatoes if you want them.

For the yogurt, use 1 cup (I just use one cup of Trader Joes) greek yogurt and put in small bowl. Cut lemon in half and add the juice to yougurt and stir. Mince fresh mint and add into yogurt. Cover and put in fridge until ready to use.