Let me just say that I’m a Northern Virginian, born and raised and I went to grad school at Syracuse. Did I mention the Northern VA part? For those of you who don’t know, it’s distinct enough from the rest of Virginia to require a prefix (but that’s a discussion for another day). What you do need to know is that NoVa and cold precipitation are not a good mix. Blame it on the location – an in-between zone where we don’t quite get fluffy snow and when it rains in 30 degree weather it usually comes down on us in a nice “wintery mix.” Snow, not for me. My favorite winters are the ones where we don’t get any snow. In Syracuse, I wasn’t so lucky. I didn’t understand the concept of Lake Effect Snow until I saw it in action… that is constant snow from October through April.
Lucky for me, this year we weren’t as fortunate not to have snow. I woke up this morning to rain/sleet with a nice dusting of snow. Imagine how excited I was to get into my car and drive to work at 6:30am! That said, I spent the majority of the workday with my gloves on, counting down the minutes until I left so I could throw on my bulkiest, warmest sweatpants and have myself some mac & cheese and tomato soup.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 3 cans Diced Tomatoes, no salt added, undrained
- 3 Garlic cloves, smashed
- 3 cups Low Sodium Chicken Broth
- 2 cups Basil Leaves, chopped
- Salt, to taste
Instructions
- In a medium pot, heat olive oil then add garlic and sauté until fragrant.
- Add chicken broth, tomatoes, and salt. Stir well.
- Bring to a boil.
- Add basil, simmer for 20 minutes.
- Using an immersion blender, blend the soup to desired consistency.
- Serve warm with crusty bread.
