Homemade Tomato Soup from My Fresh Canned Tomatoes or Store Bought Canned Tomatoes, FAST, EASY, DELICIOUS, sand LOW CALORIE TOO.

Ladle up a bowl of delicious tomato soup you made in minutes in one pan.

I just told my sister this soup has it all, flavor, easy, comfort food, and low calorie to boot!  I came upon the recipe this morning on  "The AM Blog" called Barbara Lynch's Spicy Tomato Soup.  It caught my eye because I have 50 quarts of canned tomatoes from this summer,  we love tomato soup, the recipe may be the easiest I have ever seen, and I don't see how it could be anything but good.  I was right!  It is delicious although I have adapted it and will give you my version with notes.

Home canned tomatoes fir the bill if you have them.

Fast and Easy Spicy Tomato Soup:

1 T. olive oil
1 T. butter
1 diced red onion (or any onion you have)
1/2 t. red pepper flakes (or more to taste)
2 quarts home canned tomatoes with garlic, basil, and onion (or use 2, 28 ounce whole store bought tomatoes or 2 quarts plain canned tomatoes and add 2 cloves fresh garlic, 1/4 C. packed loosely fresh basil leaves)
1 1/2 C. water
kosher salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 T. sugar (optional, I do this because my Mother always added a little sugar in all of her tomato recipes)
Shredded mozzarella cheese, for garnish (optional but yum!)

Heat the oil and butter in the bottom of a large heavy bottomed kettle and add the onions and red pepper flakes.  Saute over medium low heat until tender.

Smells like heaven.

Add in everything else but the cheese and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer 20-30 minutes.  Remove from the heat. 

A stick blender is the perfect tool for pureeing soups.

A stick blender is the perfect tool to use or place into a regular blender in batches.  Blend until smooth.

This is a pan of summer if you ask me!

Reheat the soup until piping hot and serve topped with shredded cheese if desired.  Yield 9 cups of soup.

Note:  If you can bring yourself to skip the cheese or at least go sparingly this dish is very low calorie and just right if you are dieting.