CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP

Cream of Tomato Soup--Lynne Snyder --I adapted this recipe from one I found on the Internet and now I can't find it to give them credit.

Today was a rainy October day and I wanted a good homemade soup so I fiddled with a recipe I found online. It was very tasty. Phil said, "This is a keeper," and Elizabeth said it was good too. It was a good way to use up surplus tomatoes.

2 medium or 1 large onion, chopped

6-8 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

lots of ripe tomatoes--I didn't measure but I think there were at least 8 to 12 cups

4-8 cups broth of your choice, depending on how many tomatoes you use--I used water and the "Better than Chicken" base sold at Costco, I probably used at least 2 tablespoons, maybe a bit more

1 Tbs. of olive oil

1 Tbs. butter

2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. sugar

white or black pepper, if desired

the original recipe said 4 cloves. So I put four cloves in but later wondered if they meant four cloves of garlic as they also said "One onion slice" which I thought probably meant one onion, sliced. So did they mean 4 cloves? I added them PLUS garlic and took the cloves out at about 3/4 of the cooking time. You can put them in or not. I did not blend them with the rest of the soup.

1 (8 oz.) block of cream cheese

Saute the onion and garlic a few minutes, add tomatoes, broth and salt. Simmer thirty minutes to an hour or until you can tell it will be a good consistency when blended.

At this point the mixture needs to be put through a food mill or a blender but be careful if using a blender and only do a couple of cups at a time and use a thick towel to hold the blender lid on. I used an immersion blender but there were bits of tomato skin which Phil didn't mind, but I did. I later used a food mill so the soup would be smoother.

Return soup to the pot and add one tsp. of sugar, taste and add other teaspoon if it needs it. Add pepper if desired.

Add an eight ounce block of cream cheese and stir until melted. Next time I would add half of the cream cheese to the soup and mix the rest of the cream cheese with chopped basil, put a spoonful in each bowl, and pour the hot soup over. OR you could eliminate the cream cheese and add whipping cream to each bowl, even canned milk would do in a pinch.