Creamy Tomato Soup

I got this out of the USA Weekend in mid-December. I made it last week when Traci came to visit. It was delicious and thought I'd share with everyone.

Creamy Tomato Soup
Makes 10 cups, Serves 8
Only 136 calories, 8g protein, 3g fat, 21g carbs, 4g fiber

INGREDIENTS
1 TB olive oil
1 large onion, chopped (I just used 1 cup of sweet/vidalia onion chopped)
1 1/2 TBS italian seasoning (will include my recipe mix after the soup recipe)
2 28oz cans crushed tomatoes (I used 4 15oz cans fire-roasted diced tomatoes)
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups chicken broth
1 12-oz can evaporated milk (whole or 2%)
Salt and pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS
Heat oil in a Dutch oven (or a big stockpot) over medium-high heat. Add onion; saute until tender, 5-7 minutes. Stir in Italian seasoning; cook until fragrant, less than a minute. Add tomatoes and baking soda, then chicken broth; bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and simmmer, partially covered, to blend the flavors, about 10 minutes.

Working in batches, pour soup into a blender; puree (be sure to vent blender by removing pop-out center and draping a kitchen towel over the top) until creamy smooth, 30 seconds to a minute. Return soup to post, stir in milk, and heat to simmer, seasoning with salt and pepper. (Soup can be refrigerated up to 3 days before serving.)

Ladle warm soup into bowls and serve.

NOTE: If you like your soup chunky like we do, save one of the four 15oz can of tomatoes to add after the blended portion is added back to the pot and the milk is added. It was still tasty and creamy but with some pieces to chew! (this would also work fine to just add a 5th can for the chunks...it's a very forgiving recipe.)

I could not for the life of me find my black pepper the night we made this...so we only added salt to taste. (it's been found since.) For my Italian seasoning recipe below, I didn't add the black pepper for the same reason and I liked it...I may leave it out from now on!)

Italian Seasoning Mix
Make and store in air-tight container for all Italian seasoning needs. Make sure you label it so you know what and when you made it. :)

3 TB basil, oregano, parsley
1 TB garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder, thyme, rosemary
1/4 tsp black pepper, red pepper flakes