Sick Day Tomato Soup

I used a gift card from my birthday to buy an immersion blender last month, and have been antsy to try it out! I came down with a cold this week, so tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches sounded like the perfect dinner, and I thought I would try out making my own tomato soup instead of using the canned stuff.  I loved it!  I was really simple to make, very flavorful, and could easily be adjusted with more herbs to fancy it up!  I got the recipe from Eating Well, and as is almost always the case, they didn't disappoint!

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme or parsley
• 1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes, with juice
• 1 14-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes, with juice
• 4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth, “no-chicken” broth (see Note) or vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup half-and-half (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground pepper to taste

Note: I used 3 14 ounce cans of diced tomatoes, and added 4-5 sundried tomatoes chopped in as well!

The How-To:

1. Heat butter and oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat until the butter melts. Add onion and celery; cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 4 to 6 minutes. Add garlic and thyme (or parsley); cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 10 seconds.
2. Stir in canned tomatoes (with juice). Add broth; bring to a lively simmer over high heat. Reduce heat to maintain a lively simmer and cook for 10 minutes.
3. Puree the soup in the pot using an immersion blender or in batches in a blender. (Use caution when pureeing hot liquids.) Stir in half-and-half (if using), salt and pepper.

In the future, I will puree the soup a bit longer, as it wasn't as smooth as I would have liked it, and adding basil would be great!  Grated parmesan and crackers are excellent on top, but I always prefer a grilled cheese sandwich!