Fabulous Tomato Soup

Tomato soup is tomato soup, right? Wrong!  I was invited over to a friends house for lunch and the husband made some tomato soup that was awesome!  I will never eat canned tomato soup again!  He was kind enough to share his recipe.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Tomato Basil Soup

1 large onion, chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped
1-1 1/2 Tbs dried basil
1 49 oz. chicken broth
2 lg cans diced or whole tomatoes cut up
1 c. heavy cream
1 c. half & half
3 Tbs butter
salt & pepper to taste

Melt butter in a soup pot.  Saute onions until soft, about 5 min.  Saute garlic until fragrant, about 1 min.  Add basil and stir in.  Pour in tomatoes and chicken broth.  Cook on a soft simmer for 20-30 min.  Puree soup in a blender* or with a stir stick.  (If using a blender be EXTREMELY careful of the hot liquid!)  Place soup back in pot and add heavy cream and half & half.  Stir to blend.  Heat soup and serve.

Add toppings if desired - parmesan cheese, sour cream, chives, croutons

*Please be extremely careful with hot liquid, I found out the hard way.  No matter how tightly you think you can hold the lid on the blender, hot liquids will spray!  Let mixture cool off before blending!