Homemade Tomato Basil Soup

*This soup is ridiculously easy to make. Why bother buying the canned stuff ;-)

Homemade Tomato Basil Soup

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. EVOO, or Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
2 Tbsp. Butter
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 vine ripe tomatoes, chopped/diced
28 oz. can whole peeled or diced tomatoes
2 tsp. dried basil (or 1 Tbsp. basil paste))
1 tsp. dried oregano or thyme
1 Bay Leaf
1/2- 1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1 cup chicken stock or veggie broth
1/2 cup canned Evaporated milk or room temp. heavy cream (optional)

Directions:
Heat oil and/or butter in a skillet on medium heat. Saute onion and garlic up to 10 minutes. Add vine ripe tomatoes and fresh basil if using that. Saute a few more minutes. Transfer to a 4-quart slow cooker with the rest of the other ingredients except milk/cream. Cook on LOW 4 hours or High 1.5 hours. (Could also just saute veggies and add everything to simmer the soup on the stovetop in a Dutch oven or big pot for 30 minutes.) Add milk/cream and cook 15 more minutes if you want a creamy soup. To make the soup smooth, take out Bay Leaf and puree in a blender (or use a handheld stick blender like I do).

Note: We LOVE this soup with homemade grilled cheese sandwiches. Have you tried grilled pimento cheese? If you haven't, you don't know what you're missing. I don't care for the store-bought kind. Give me the homemade stuff any day. We also kick our grilled cheese sandwiches up a notch and have sauteed onion and mushrooms stuffed inside with the cheese (use Swiss, Gouda, or Provolone cheese in these). Man, these are umm umm good! Sorry Campbell's but my way is the BOMB!!!