My weeknight dinner efforts are fair at best. Everybody is worn out by the time we make it home and roll through the door. We have many cereal and scrambled eggs nights (much to TheRoomDad’s frustration). One weeknight dinner I can handle is tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. I usually have all of the ingredients on hand even if I have not been to the grocery store, and it takes minimal effort and time to prepare. We ate tomato soup twice last week with toasted sandwiches in the panini maker.

Ingredients

• 2 T. olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 c. canned, diced tomatoes
• 1 T. fresh basil leaves, minced (or 1 t. dried)
• 1-2 c. chicken stock

Directions

• Heat the olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion and carrot. Season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until the onion begins to soften (~5 minutes).
• Add the diced tomatoes and basil. Simmer about 10 minutes.

• Add 1 c. of chicken stock. Return to a simmer.  Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
• Using an immersion blender (or regular blender), puree carefully until smooth.

• Taste and add salt and pepper if desired. Reheat if needed before serving.

Notes

• If you do not have whole carrots, dice a handful of pre-cut carrots sticks if you have a bag of the snack carrots in your refrigerator.
• You can replace the basil with thyme.
• We like the soup with grilled cheese strips and/or Goldfish.