Fresh Tomato Soup with Cheddar Soldiers

This was so simple to throw together, I think total it took me about 30 minutes start to finish. It was very hearty and I'd choose this over canned soup anytime!

Throw a carrot peeled and quartered, garlic, fresh basil, and some soft almost over ripe tomatoes into a food processor (or in my case my Ninja.  I love that it's called a Ninja! Makes me feel all tough... I'll show these tomatoes who's boss!) and give it a go until it's liquidized as much as possible.

Pour into a large sauce pan and let it bubble away on medium low for about 20 minutes.  Give it a heavy pinch of salt and pepper.

In the meantime, slice some crusty bread into rectangular strips.  Drizzle with olive oil, worcestershire, some bruised fresh thyme and give it a toss.  Grate some cheddar over top and throw that into a 350 degrees fahrenheit oven for 10-15 minutes or until the bread is beautifully crispy and sort of crouton-ish.  I never would have thought to put worcestershire on bread but oh man was this good!

After the soup has been bubbling for 20 minutes add a few tablespoons of cream (I just used half and half), a good splash of white wine vinegar and taste it to make sure the seasoning is spot on.  I put it back in the Ninja just to make it that much smoother and it made a huge difference!

Garnish with a few small basil leaves and a little drizzle of cream and olive oil.  Dunk those little babies in this soup and it's so delicious!  I made it this morning thinking I would freeze a lot of it but we wound up having it for breakfast!

To Matt tomatoes are the devil manifested in vegetable form but he wolfed this down very quickly, and so did I!