Garden Fresh Tomato Soup

Sometimes, nothing is better than a simple meal straight from the garden.  This soup recipe is just that. We had almost all the ingredients on hand with the exception of tomatoes. Ironic, no? Our tomato plants didn't produce as well as we'd hoped but our local farmers market had plenty to take up the slack.  This recipe is from a tomato soup thread on chow.com, one of our favorite recipe stops on the internet.

Louise’s Fresh Tomato & Basil Soup
6 servings
4 T. butter (or 2 T. butter + 2 T. vegetable oil)
1 large onion, chopped
1 carrot, grated
5 medium-large tomatoes (or equivalent), peeled and quartered
½ C. fresh basil, chopped fine.
1 t. salt
¾ t. pepper
¾ t. sugar
2 C. low sodium chicken broth

Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and grated carrot. Saute until onion is limp.

Add tomatoes, basil, salt, pepper, and sugar. Stir. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

Place mixture in blender or food processor and blend until smooth (or you can use an immersion blender). Heat chicken broth and add to tomato mixture and mix well. Heat until soup is hot.

Soup can be frozen without the chicken broth to save space in the freezer. Add chicken broth after thawing.

 If you try this recipe, let me know.  I'd love to know how your family liked it and how you "doctored" it to suit your tastes.  I'm forever fiddling and doctoring with recipes.  I've already made a note to myself to make a few batches for freezing.