Tomato Soup

One more fantastic selection from my new cookbook Cooking Light - Soups and Stews Tonight (Melanie's Garden-Tomato Soup). I swear this cookbook has some of the most delicious recipes I've come across in quite a while - I highly recommend owning this one! Ok, nothing fancy behind this recipe - I just LOVE tomato soup so I thought I'd give this recipe a whirl and yet again, it's a keeper. It's super easy, super low maintenance, and only takes about a half hour from start to finish which is great at the end of a long day! Enjoy!

Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano or basil
2 garlic cloves - minced
5 cups diced tomato
1 1/2 cups water
2 1/2 tbsp tomato paste
2 tsps sugar
1/4 tsps salt
1/4 tsps pepper
thinly sliced fresh basil
french baguette - optional, but not if you're Italian - it's required lol

Directions:
Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until it starts to turn translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes, then add the oregano and stir so that it doesn't burn. Stir in the tomato, water, tomato paste, sugar, salt and pepper and stir so that nothing is sticking to the bottom of the saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil and then smash the tomatoes with a potato masher, or a food processor whichever you prefer. Cover the soup and let it simmer for a good 15 minutes. Serve it up with some warm french baguettes or with croutons - it's scrumptious!

Pictures:

 Onions, garlic, oregano...a.k.a. Italian heaven!

 Pre-simmer...

 Accompanied with fresh french baguette slices and a glass of Merlot - YES PLEASE!