Lite Tomato Basil Soup

Serves 4

1 TBSP Butter
1 Medium Onion, Chopped
1 C Carrots, Chopped
3 Cloves of Garlic, Minced
4 C Tomatoes, Skinned, Seeded, and Diced
4 C Chicken Broth, Fat Free
1 TBSP Parsley Flakes
10-20 Basil Leaves, Chopped
2 Bay Leaves
2 TBSP Sour Cream, Fat Free

1. While chopping vegetables, boil to large pot of water for tomatoes.Once water starts to boil, drop in tomatoes and let them boil until the skin breaks. Then pull them out of the water and let cool. After they are cool, take out the stems, peel off skin, wash out the seeds, and dice.

2. In same pot, melt butter and add onions, carrots, and garlic and cook until soft which will take about 10 to 15 minutes.

3. Next add the tomatoes, chicken broth, parsley, basil, and bay leaves. Let it simmer for about 30 minutes.

4. Then remove the pot from the heat and the two bay leaves, and blend the soup together until it is a smooth puree. An immersion works best when blending hot soup.

* If you do not have an immersion blender, I suggest you cool the soup down a little before you add it to the blender. The hotter the soup is. The more ask risk you are for the soup to spit out of the blender.

5. Once the soup is a smooth texture, mix in the sour cream and serve. I added another dollop of sour cream to the soup and served it with a toasted cheese sandwich. (Toasting requires no butter, so it reduces the fat to the sandwich.)