Tomato Soup for a cold day

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Up until last week, its been unusually warm (I think it might have been 50+ just a couple days before Christmas).  That changed on Monday when the winds came to town and brought single digit temps with them ("lucky" for me I had returned home from the holidays, because my parents home experienced below zero temps).  In weather this cold, soup is the order of the day.  A grilled cheese with a side of tomato soup is one of my go-to winter meals, but since I was off work, I went with home made soup instead.  Only took about 20 minutes!

3 cans of diced tomatoes (I had some tomatoes from my garden I had roasted and frozen this fall, yum)
3 T. olive oil
1/2 c. diced onion
1 T. dried basil (use fresh if you've got it)
1 tsp. chopped garlic
1 c. chicken broth
1 c. water
1 tsp. sugar (opt)
salt and pepper to taste

In a saucepan, saute the onion in the olive oil until transluscent (about 5 minutes), add the garlic and stir for about 30 seconds and then dump in all the rest of the ingredients except the sugar.  Taste your soup and decide if its too acidic for your liking, if so, add the sugar.  Let simmer for about 15 minutes while you get the grilled cheese sandwiches going.  I prefer my soup more smooth, so I used my immersion blender to puree it right in the cooking pot (you could put it in the blender, but be careful, blending hot soup can create a disaster, so use a dishtowel instead of the lid).

Enjoy your hot soup.  I know I did.