Crock Pot Creamy Tomato Soup

Once it starts to get cold I just love soup for dinner. Eric would probably be happy eating soup for dinner a couple times a week even. When I saw this recipe on skinnytaste, I had to try it. I am a sucker for anything healthy and in a crock pot!

After reading the comments on the original recipe I made a small adjustment to mine which is reflected in the recipe below to ensure it tastes plenty like tomato. It looks like a lot of ingredients but don't worry... a lot of it you probably already have on hand. NOTE: you need an immersion blender or a regular blender at the least. I had already put in the crock pot and was reading what I would do later when I realized I needed a blender so I ran out to buy an immersion blender. It worked great though and I'm glad we own one now.

Crock Pot Creamy Tomato Soup
adapted from Skinnytaste, serves 6 with 1 1/2 cups per serving, 177 calories per serving

Ingredients:

- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 cup finely diced celery
- 1 cup finely diced carrots
- 1 cup finely diced yellow onion
- 28 oz can whole plum tomatoes, with juice
- 6 oz tomato paste
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1/4 cup fresh basil
- 3 1/2 cups reduced sodium chicken broth (or vegetable)
- Parmesan or Romano cheese rind (optional)
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1/3 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese
- 1 3/4 cups reduced fat (2%) milk, warmed
- salt and pepper to taste

Heat a large skillet over medium heat, then add the oil, celery, carrots and onions. Cook for 5-6 minutes. Add to crock pot. Pour in juice of plum tomatoes then roughly crush the tomatoes with your hands (or I used a spoon) and add to crock pot. Then add tomato paste, broth, cheese rind, thyme, basil, pepper and bay leaf.

Cover and cook on low for 6 hours. Remove the cheese rind and bay leaf. Use an immersion blender to blend the soup until smooth.

Melt butter over low heat in large skillet and add the flour. Stir constantly with a whisk for 4-5 minutes. Slowly whisk in about 1 cup of the hot soup. Then add the warmed milk and stir until smooth. Pour what is in skillet back into the slow cooker and stir. Add cheese and adjust salt and pepper to taste. I found that it doesn't need much salt at all honestly.

Cover and cook on low 30 more minutes then serve garnishing with basil. This is really delicious with salad and a chunk of wheat bread to dunk into the soup or with grilled cheese. Really what soup isn't good with grilled cheese?! I found it to be filling and just as I hoped tomato soup would taste and not missing the heavy cream or lots of butter that other creamy soup recipes use. I haven't tried to make any and freeze it but I would suspect it would freeze just fine.

 

This is before using the immersion blender.

 

 

And this was after.

 

 

Hope you get to enjoy some delicious soup soon!