goat cheese tomato soup

Hope you all had a very merry Christmas! I don't know about you, but I seriously cannot look at one more sweet treat. I'm pretty sure I'm one piece of fudge away from diabetes. Just thinking about the quantity of cookies, candies, and booze I'm devoured in the last few days makes me slightly ill. I don't regret one bit of it though! Well, maybe I regret all that Toblerone I just dominated. But we won't go there.

Nevertheless, all I want in my mouth for the foreseeable future is health food. Fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. It's a rare moment that I have such cravings but I'm gonna roll with it. My current distaste for sweets combined with all this cold Kansas weather is giving me crazy cravings for soup.

This goat cheese tomato soup is one of my favorite go-to soups. It's hard to beat tomato soup. Not "out of the can" condensed tomato soup. I mean homemade, freshly pureed tomato soup. Delicious, no doubt. But add heavy cream and goat cheese? Now we're talking my kind of soup. This plus grilled cheese is one of my favorite cold weather meals.

Plus, this is the perfect antidote for the current sugar overdose we're all suffering from. For anyone who ate one too many candy canes the past few days, I prescribe a big ol' bowl of this immediately. Enjoy!

Goat Cheese Tomato Soup

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup yellow onion, diced (about 1 onion)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 (28 ounce) can of whole tomatoes (in juice)
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1/2 tsp sugar
3 cups chicken stock
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup heavy cream
3 ounces goat cheese, softened

Directions:
Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium-low heat. Add the onions and saute for about 5-7 minutes, or until translucent and tender. Add the garlic to the top of the diced onions and cook for about 1 minute, or until fragrant.

Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, chicken stock, salt, pepper, and stir. Cook the soup for 15 to 20 minutes.

In batches, carefully transfer the tomato mixture to the blender. Blend on low, being sure to let steam escape. When you’re done blending it all, transfer it back to the soup pot. Alternatively, you can blend the mixture in the pot using an immersion blender. (Note: This soup has a little texture. If you don’t want that, simply place a sieve onto the pot and pour the mixture through–it’ll be much smoother with no tomato pulp.)

Reheat the soup just until hot. Mix in the heavy cream and goat cheese. Serve.

Yield: 4-6 servings

Source: A Cozy Kitchen