Home[made] Comfort Food: Fire Roasted Tomato Soup

Have you ever had Paradise Bakery's Fire Roasted Tomato Soup?  It is so good!  I don't even like tomato soup either.  Campbell's tomato soup is so yucky.  But this soup is full of flavor!  Not too tomato-y and just the perfect comfort food.  Add a dollop of sour cream!

We had it tonight with grilled cheese sandwiches on homemade bread and sharp cheddar cheese. 

I found this knock-off recipe on this website.  It makes a huge batch, so I always half the recipe and we still have plenty.  And for the tomatoes, I use Hunt's canned "Fire Roasted Tomatoes" (and when I half it, I use 3 cans total).  And instead of blending the soup in a blender, I use a hand blender and just leave it in the pot, so much easier (if you don't have a hand blender, you should definitely invest in one!).  Here is the recipe:

Fire Roasted Tomato Soup

1 large onion, diced

6 cloves garlic, minced

olive oil

2 -28 to 32 oz cans tomatoes (use ready cut to simplify)

1 -32 oz bottle fire roasted tomatoes (or sun-dried tomatoes)

2 -8 oz cans tomato sauce

2 -6 oz cans tomato paste

8 cups water (add 8-10 bouillon cubes)

2 tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

2 cups milk or cream

- In a large soup kettle, saute onion in olive oil until almost translucent

- Add garlic and continue to saute a few minutes more

- Add tomatoes, sauce, and paste—along with water

- Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to simmer for 30 minutes

- Puree in blender until desired consistency (use hand blender)

- Add milk/cream and seasonings and continue to simmer for another 5-10 min