Tomato Basil Soup with a Kick!

Another busy day of running errands and chores left me wanting to create something. My crochet hooks weren't inspiring me so I got to work in the kitchen to make a fun lunch.

Tomato basil soup with a grilled cheese sandwich in the background. I'll take credit for the soup, but the grilled cheese was all my husband!

I looked in my fridge to find some leftover evaporated milk from a Mac and Cheese recipe and then realized I have a can if tomato sauce AND fresh basil!  So my own version of tomato basil soup was born!

Husband's grilled cheese on whole wheat.

The husband added on a nice grilled cheese sandwich which was wonderful to dip into the soup.

The recipe is as follows:

Tomato Basil Soup with a Kick! 

Serves 4, Cook & Prep 30 minutes

1 can of tomato sauce

1 can of diced tomatoes

1 cup of evaporated milk (or substitute cream for a creamer version)

3 tablespoons of butter

A dozen large basil leafs

6 fresh oregano leafs

2 teaspoons red pepper flakes (leave out if you don't want it spicy)

2 teaspoon garlic powder (or one clove fresh)

1 teaspoon onion powder

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a sauce pan on th stove combine the tomato sauce, evaporated milk, butter and start to heat on medium-low heat while you prep everything else.

Open the can of diced tomatoes and drain the liquid out of them, a strainer might be nice to use. The diced tomatoes I tend to buy are large so I put the tomatoes on a cutting board and chopped them up finely. Next time I'll probably just use a food processor to get them finely chopped. I also tried to strain as much liquid out of them as I could because otherwise it'll make the soup more watery than creamy. At least that's my trick.

Next, I plucked about a dozen large basil leafs from our love basil plant on our kitchen table along with about 6 oregano leafs. Fresh basil really makes this soup shine so try to use fresh basil leafs if you can get them. The oregano on the other hand does not have to be fresh, I just happened to have some. If you use dried oregano I would just use about a teaspoon or so. 

Lastly, toss in the rest of the spices, red pepper flakes, garlic, and onion powder and then salt and paper to taste. 

Heat on medium high till slightly bubbly, then turn heat on low and cover. Let it simmer for about 20 minutes for the spices to blend.

Lastly, I topped the soup with a little bit of mozzarella cheese. Yummy!

Bubbly goodness!

For the grilled cheese we used whole wheat bread, sliced cheddar cheese and a bit of melted butter on the outside of the sandwich. He grilled it up old-school style and it was wonderful to dip into the soup! 

Easy to make and delicious lunch! Enjoy!