Roasted Tomato Soup

Well, Christmas came and went without any significant snow. It was the first Christmas for as long as I can remember where we didn't have any, it was weird. And totally awesome. I loved not having to worry about the roads when trying to get to all of our family Christmas events. This year we even got to play outdoor games - bean bags, and ladder golf. It was a great time.

Now that it's January... it's getting colder. Winter is totally going to kick our butts when it finally gets here... and summer won't start until July... not the point. It's been cold (not even THAT cold) just cold enough to where I'm craving SOUP! Something that warms me up from the inside out.

So, I made an old favorite - roasted tomato soup.

*Recipe adapted from Ina Garden

Ingredients:
5 giant tomatoes
4 cloves of garlic
1 large white onion, diced
1 tablespoon of crushed red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon of adobo sauce - you can skip this if you don't like things spicy
3/4 cup of basil, chopped.
1 can of fire roasted tomatoes
2 cups of chicken stock
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Chop your tomatoes haphazardly however you see fit, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Lay them out on a cookie sheet, and roast at 400 for about 45 minutes.

While those are cooking, prep the rest of your ingredients. When they have about 10 minutes left, put a little bit of olive oil into a large pot and cook your onion, garlic and red pepper flakes until the onions are translucent. Add in the rest of the ingredients. Stir them up, and then use an immersion blender to combine all the ingredients. If you don't have one just transfer the soup to a blender, blend it up and add it back to the pot. Bring to a boil, and serve.

I garnished with a little bit of cheese and extra basil.

Enjoy!