How to Make Easy Garden Fresh Tomato Soup

My sister gave me a basic version of her tomato soup. I made a few changes and put my own spin on it. This was my first attempt at tomato soup. Enjoy! I definitely did. I can't get enough of the stuff now.

Things You'll Need:

* 8 large tomatoes(4 cups skinned and chopped fine)
* 4 cups of milk or equal to tomatoes after chopped.
* 1 large yellow or white onion(not sweet)chopped fine
* 3 green bell peppers chopped fine.
* 1 garlic clove chopped fine.
* 1 tbsp baking soda
* 1 tbsp Olive Oil
* 10 medium sizes basil leaves.
* sea salt and pepper to taste
* 1 large cucumber peeled and chopped fine.
* 1 serrated knife
* 1 potato masher(optional)
* 1 large pot
* 1 blender(optional)
* 2 tbsp butter

Step 1

Peel the skin off of the tomatoes with a serrated knife and cut off the top leafy core. If you want you can blanch the tomatoes for a few minutes and the skin comes off more easily but I was too lazy for this so I just peeled them and chopped them fine with a knife and discarding the peelings into the trash.

Step 2

Combine 1 chopped onion, 3 chopped green peppers, 1 chopped garlic clove and 2 tbsp of butter to large pot. Heat on medium to medium high,stirring occasionally, until ingredients are soft and they start to caramelize.

Step 3

Next add your fresh skinned and chopped tomatoes into the pot with carmelized onion,green peppers, and garlic. Add 1 tbsp of baking soda. Allow tomatoes to cook down and get a little softer. Use potato masher to help breakup the tomato pieces and mix all of the flavors together.

Step 4

Reduce heat and add 4 cups of milk or equivalent to volume of tomatoes. Then add 10 medium basil leaves. Let simmer on medium low for about an hour to an hour and a half, but do not let it boil. Stir occasionally.

Step 5

Once the simmering is done and ingredients have started to meld together, it is time to mix in the large skinned and finely chopped cucumber. Add sea salt and pepper to taste and 1 tbsp of olive oil. Makes about 8 servings. You can serve it fresh or let it cool down and chill it over night in the fridge. Ladle the soup into a blender(be careful if it is still hot) and puree if you want a creamier soup. I prefer the soup puree. I hope you'll try this out for yourself. It goes perfect with a grilled or toasted cheese sandwich. Enjoy.

Tips & Warnings

* After chilling over night, the soup can be ladled into bowls or tea cups and microwave for about 2 minutes depending on your microwave.

*If you blanch tomatoes to remove skins easier, be careful to rinse them with cold water to cool them down before removing the skins.

* Be careful when pouring hot liquids.

* Be sure to cover the soup while microwaving to avoid splattering.

* Soup and container will be hot after microwaving. Use a pot holder or similar item to remove soup from microwave.