College Girl Meal with an Adult Twist...

Confession: This is one of my favorite meals of all time. It's not exclusive to my days as an up-till-3-am college student who doesn't cook, although it was a weekly staple then. But, I LOVE tomato soup and grilled cheese. For me, it's also not exclusive to wintery days, though, I admit that's when its the yummiest.

Before today, I had yet to try my hand at homemade tomato basil soup. But I came across a recipe for it that I wanted to try. Hands down, the best tomato basil soup I've ever had. It's fresh and delicious with a kick of spice that is perfect with a fresh-mozzarella grilled cheese. I kind of consider myself a connoisseur in this area... trust me on this. I also got two large thumbs up from my husband, who does NOT love tomato soup as much as I do. So maybe he's the one you should trust. **Adapted from annies-eats.net.

Roasted Tomato Basil Soup

Ingredients:
3 lbs. ripe tomatoes, halved with seeds scooped out
¼ cup plus 2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. kosher salt
1½ tsp. black pepper
2 tbsp. butter
2 cups chopped onion
6 cloves garlic, minced
½ tsp. red pepper flakes
1 (28 oz.) can whole tomatoes

1 (15 oz.) can tomato puree or sauce
2 cups fresh basil leaves, torn
1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
4 cups low-sodium chicken stock

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400˚ F. Combine the tomato halves, ¼ cup of olive oil, salt and pepper in a large bowl; toss well to combine. Spread the tomato halves out on a large baking sheet. Roast the tomatoes for 45 minutes.

In a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat, combine the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil with the butter and heat until the butter is melted. Add the onions, garlic and red pepper flakes to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly soften, about 7-10 minutes. Add in the canned tomatoes, roasted tomatoes, basil, thyme and chicken stock. Bring the mixture to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, uncovered, 40 minutes.

Use an immersion blender to puree the soup until completely smooth. (I don't have an immersion blender, so I used my standing blender. It was a little more work and I dirtied a few more dishes, but it worked just the same. Just make sure you have proper ventilation of the soup so it doesn't explode, and don't spill it! It's hot!)

Enjoy!

I also think this would be DIVINE with cream to make more of a bisque, but I decided to go with the low-fat version for tonight. We'll save the creamy experimentation for the colder months. :)

In case you were wondering, the current count-down is 27 days until this little Bee is supposed to make her debut. Don't worry, every strange feeling, foreign cramp or pressure sends me into a "get your watch out and make sure you have everything packed" frenzy. I'm currently worried that my house won't be spotless when we come home from the hospital. I guess my somewhat lax house keeping has to up the ante over the next 27 days. Bring it on, little one! We're ready to meet you!