Top of the morning to ya! Is it cold or chilly where you live? This soup is begging to be dinner tonight. I feel like after the Thanksgiving holiday I just cannot grab a hold of time. Anyone else with me on that? So much on my plate at the moment and it becomes a little hard to balance everything. I’m sure a lot of you can relate, this time of the year is definitely stressful! I know I’ve got several projects all going on at once – exciting things for sure. And I cannot wait to share with you here in the next couple of weeks! To top it all off, it’s been nothing but sad, dreary weather here in Houston lately. You know what that means right? Dinner in the slow cooker and comfort food it is! This past week, Anees and I celebrated our one year houseaversary. WHAT. Yes, a whole year just snuck by and amidst celebrating, the reality of a half decorated house slowly kicked in. Then panic stuck. And frantic web searches for a chandelier followed. And before I knew it, I found myself in the thick of decorating without any actual time to do it in. There I went, spreading myself even thinner. But with a to-do list that was just piling up without me having a chance to cross much off, I knew something had to give. Cooking is one of my favorite things to do but I really just don’t enjoy it when I’m rushed. And dishes, ouf! Yuck. So a slow cooker tomato soup was exactly what my lunches and dinners needed. A little grilled cheese action on the side and voila! A warm and comforting meal that would bring all the chaos around me to a crashing halt, if only for a few minutes. It was my favorite comfort food growing up. And albeit, I wasn’t as picky back then. Campbell’s was a winner and grilled cheese was all about that cheddar. The creamy, parmesan and basil tomato soup is totally worth it. Every bite of it. Anees and I love warm soup on Thursday evenings when he comes back into town after being away for work for a few days. It’s starting to become somewhat of a weekly routine. He gets home around 9:30 or so and with a late dinner time like that, we like to keep things light. Tomato soup with a sammy on the side is cozy, warm and kinda perfect for a late night meal. I have another roasted tomato basil soup recipe on the blog here and everyone that has made it is forever a fan. It does require a bit of time though as you slow roast the tomatoes, onions, garlic, and carrots in the oven. This clearly isn’t an option if you’re looking for a easier soup recipe. So i’ve reworked my favorite tomato soup recipe to bring you this slow cooker version that requires very little hands on time but provides you the same warm, hearty flavor. It all starts with a little butter, a cup of chopped onions, and 2 large diced carrots. I promise, this is the only part where you actually have to do any “cooking”. Melt the butter in a skillet and just sauté the onions until they are soft, add the carrots and let them go for another 1-2 minutes. Dump this mixture into the slow cooker. You’ll also need good quality tomatoes, roasted garlic cloves, dried basil, Italian seasoning, vegetable or chicken broth, a parmesan rind, bay leaf, a little sugar, balsamic vinegar, basil pesto, and some sun-dried tomatoes into the slow cooker. Basil pesto has become a staple ingredient for my homemade tomato basil soups. Since we aren’t stopping to roast our own tomatoes, i’m using sun-dried tomatoes to really help boost that tomato flavor. When the soup is done, I like to use an immersion blender to just blend the soup to my desired consistency. But before I blend it, I add in a whole handful of fresh basil leaves. The flavor of the fresh basil blended into the soup is so much better. Trust me on this. With every bite you can smell that glorious, bright basil. And half of what you taste is the smell right? So let the slow cooker make you tomato soup for dinner tonight and just catch up on a few things from your list. And whatever you do, don’t skip the grilled cheese sandwich. This soup was made for it.
For a dairy-free alternative try:
secret ingredient tomato basil soup SaveSave SaveSave SaveSave SaveSave
