Tomato Basil Parmesan Soup

I grew up eating condensed tomato soup (aka "pink soup"). My kids love it. It's just delicious, especially with a grilled cheese sandwich (aka "toasted cheese"). I felt like I was giving my kids a healthy lunch. But then I took a quick look at the ingredients and was not super excited about what I saw. So I've been wanting to make my own.

What better time to make soup than the best season of the year??

I pinned this recipe on Pinterest and one evening (while Derek was out of town because he doesn't like tomato soup) I made it. YUM.

Unfortunately, Marie's weird texture aversion made her not a huge fan, but my parents, Jack, and I loved it!

First, I'm going to walk you through how I made it, then you can go to where I found the recipe for more details. You can make this a slow-cooker soup, too!

Chop up some celery, carrots, and onions, and sautee in just a Tbs or so of olive oil.

Then add 4 cups chicken stock, Tbs dried basil, tsp dried oregano, half a bay leaf, and 2 cans diced tomatoes with juice.

Bring to a boil then let simmer until carrots are tender. 15ish minutes.

In a separate pot, melt a stick of butter over low heat then add 1/2 c flour. Stir constantly for 5 min.

Then slowly (I forgot the slowly part) add one cup of soup and stir. Add another 3 cups of soup and stir until smooth.

 Transfer this roux to the large pot of soup. Stir constantly until soup thickens.

Add 1 cup Parmesan cheese, 1.5 cups skim milk, 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, salt and pepper.

Let simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Dish some out, top with croutons, and thoroughly enjoy!

Go HERE for the original recipe. Then make this deliciousness. Then come back and tell me any changes you made, especially if you find a way to not use a whole stick of butter!

By the way, I had about a serving left so I stuck it in the freezer for lunch later. Much better than buying a can full of high fructose corn syrup!