Tomato Basil Soup

I don't know why, but I've always linked soups with lunch. Sometimes, on a cold winter day, it's nice to cuddle on your couch with a bowl of soup in your lap (or t.v tray if you don't like the hot liquid to spill all over you). My favorite way to eat it, is for lunch. Depending on the soup it can be a nice light lunch, and heavier soups can be for supper. Either way this tomato soup recipe I found on All Recipes is AMAZING!
     So lets get started.

     So, first, you are going to need 2 28oz cans of crushed tomatoes. Any kind of crushed tomatoes is fine. Mix that with 2 cups of chicken broth. Bring that up to a nice boil, turn the heat down, and let it simmer for about ten minutes.

     In this bowl I have mixed 1 tablespoon of sugar, and 1 1/2 tablespoons of dried basil. The original recipe called for fresh basil, but the dried worked just fine. 

          After the tomato broth has finished simmering, add the sugar and basil.

     Go ahead and give it a quick stir.

     Next, measure 1 cup of whipping cream. 

     Add the cream and stir.

     The original recipe calls for 1/2 cup butter, but we felt like that was too much, so I added 5 tablespoons. You can actually add 1/2 a stick of butter, but this was sitting in the fridge, and I didn't want to cut off the extra tablespoon. It came out great anyway.

     Add the butter to the pot.

     Stir the pot, and turn the pot down to low. Let the butter melt slowly, giving it a stir now and then, and when the butter is melted you are done.

     You can eat the soup as is, or you can serve it with grilled cheese sandwiches. When we ate it today, I made homemade bread to go along with the soup. You can serve it with a salad as well.

Tomato Basil Soup

Servings: 9

2 28oz cans crushed tomatoes

2 cups chicken broth

1 Tablespoon sugar

1 1/2 Tablespoons dried basil

1 cup whipping cream

5 Tablespoons butter