Roasted Garlic Tomato Soup

So.... you all know that I'm really bad at following directions.  And I didn't have any real garlic Monday night when I was making this soup.  I pretty much use the chopped jarred stuff exclusively.  I can't understand why you'd want to spend all that time peeling and chopping garlic when the stuff in the $5 jar from Casa Italiana is so much easier to use.

But I suppose when your first direction is to "roast the garlic" and the recipe even calls for "roasted" you should probably have some on hand.  I don't, I skipped that step and roasted just the onion.  And it was fine.  Really.  You can get all fancy if you want to, but the chopped stuff is just fine.

Anyway- here is the recipe:

INGREDIENTS

6 large garlic cloves, slightly flattened
6 onzes shallots, peeled and halved  2tablespoon olive oil 
2(14 1/2-ounce) can Italian-style stewed tomatoes, undrained
3 cups chicken broth, divided
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Pinch of ground red pepper
3 tablespoons minced fresh basil 

DIRECTIONS

Place garlic and shallots in an 8-inch square pan lined with aluminum foil; drizzle with oil.

Bake at 450° for 15 minutes, stirring twice; cool.

Process garlic, shallots, tomatoes, 3/4 cup chicken broth, and next 5 ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides.

Cook tomato mixture and remaining 3/4 cup broth in a medium saucepan over medium heat 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Stir in basil; serve immediately with Basil Pesto Toast, if desired.

Note: To serve 4, double all ingredients. Process half each of garlic, shallots, and tomatoes with 1 cup broth in blender; repeat. Heat tomato mixture and remaining 1 cup broth in a large sacucepan for 8 minutes. 

Makes 4 servings

VERDICT

When I first entered this recipe to get the nutrition information, it came back at 87 calories per serving.  And I was nervous.  How can anything that healthy be filling or taste any good?

I was wrong.  It is great soup.  I didn't make it as smooth as the recipe called for (I guess I should have left it in the food processor longer) and it had chunks of onion and tomato.  And I used entirely too much hot sauce and cayenne pepper.  I'd definitely keep it that hot next time as well.

I added a few Garlic Rosemary Parmesan Biscuits and the whole meal was still under 400 calories.

Overall, the soup is easy to make, healthy, and packs a punch with all that spice!    

NUTRITION

87 calories per serving!