It's soup season! Actually...every season is soup season in my opinion, but as the days turn colder, and darkness sets in earlier each night, nothing is better than a warm bowl of soup.
At least once a week I look at what is in the cupboards and refrigerator, throw it into a pot...and cross my fingers for success. Then, if I feel that I could actually feed it to others, I give it a name and call it dinner (and usually a few lunches too). I think that once you make a few soups, you can pretty much tell what will taste good together - but be careful....I have made some pretty questionable combinations that I then forced myself to eat. My cousin and I have sometimes joked that we might think a recipe we made up is really good, but we don't really know that we would serve it to anyone but ourselves. Do you have any meal like that? In a future post I will tell you about the pesto with asparagus and an egg on top....
Don't worry, this is not one of those questionable recipes. Brendan and I have been eating it for three days and I am confident that you will like it. If you can tolerate dairy, I would suggest adding a little cheese to the top - but you are not missing out if you leave it off. I suppose if you were really motivated you could make a few little grilled cheese croutons for the top....but that would just be crazy (delicious)!
Tomato Basil Soup with Chicken
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Serves: About 5
Ingredients:
1 large yellow onion - chopped
2 large carrots - chopped
4 cloves garlic - chopped
1 28oz can of whole plum tomatoes with juices
1 15oz can of tomato sauce
4 cups bone broth or chicken stock
1 15oz can of coconut milk
3 large chicken breast - cooked and shredded
Fresh basil
Salt and Pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Cook the chicken (I boil it) and shred it into bite sized pieces. Set aside.
2. Saute the onion, carrots and garlic in a large soup pot with a small amount of coconut oil or ghee, and a bit of salt and pepper.
3. Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce and broth.
4. Bring the mixture to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer until carrots are tender - about 30 minutes.
5. Remove the soup pot from the heat source, and with an immersion blender, blend the soup until it is smooth.
6. Return the soup pot to the heat, and stir in the coconut milk, fresh basil and chicken.
7. Let the soup simmer to combine the flavors before serving, taste and add salt and pepper as needed.
8. Enjoy!