Easy Tomato Soup

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp butter (or oil)
• 1 onion, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 can of tomatoes (32oz), pureed, diced or whole
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp dried parsley
• 1 large bay leaf (optional)
• Black pepper to taste
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1 tbsp fresh basil
• 1 tbsp honey
• Whole milk to serve if desired (about 2-4 tbsp per serving, depending on how you like it)

Directions

1. In a small to medium sized pot, melt the butter(or just heat the oil) over medium heat.
2. If you have no way to blend your soup once cooked, finely chop your onion and very finely mince your garlic, otherwise, just slice it to saute it quickly.  Add the onion to the pot, stir well and saute for 5-6 minutes before adding the garlic. Again, stir well and saute for 2-3 minutes.
3. Add the tomatoes, baking soda, parsley, bay leaf, salt, pepper, and basil.  Bring up to a boil, then turn down to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes or so over medium low heat.  The baking soda will foam up, just make sure your pot as a couple inches of extra room until it calms down.  The baking soda will help neutralize the acids from the canned tomatoes and you wont taste it at all.
4. Remove the bay leaf from the soup and puree.  I use my immersion blender, but you can also transfer the soup to a blender to blend it until smooth, or if you chopped your onions and garlic finely enough and used tomato puree you can omit this step for a soup that isn’t as smooth.
5. Once blended, stir in the honey and check for seasonings, adding salt as needed.
6. Serve while hot with a splash of milk if desired.