Tomato Basil Soup and then some :]

 In honor of the cold weather, I made soup. Yes, we may be the ONLY state without snow, but Florida's still pretty chilly . . . for us thin-blooded tropicals, at least.

When Chris and I first got married, we used to eat Campbell's tomato soup all the time paired with grilled cheese and anime. Just the thought of tomato soup still gives me warm fuzzies.
So when "what to make for dinner?" came up, I risked life and limb--ok, more like my kitchen and wardrobe--to be nostalgic. A blender is needed for the recipe, and mine decided it was an explosive device. Twice. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.  Fool me thrice . . . well, that just ain't gonna happen. By try three, we had soup, but it was too late to save my just-scrubbed kitchen (always ALWAYS after a good cleaning haha). It seems my blender just can't handle it's own "Liquefy" setting. Figures. Luckily, the soup turned out great despite the fact that my kitchen looked like it had been nuked.

Any who . . . The soup itself is yummy, but the main attraction is the "and then some:" Sausage and Tortellini. This just takes this simple dish to a whole other level. It goes from "good soup" to "OMG MORE."  The hubs loves it . . . and so does everyone else. It also makes superb leftovers.

Go ahead. Give it a try. You know you want to. ;]

Photo from Website and another tomato soup recipe--I combined the two recipes to get my new favorite :]

(be ye warned, this makes A LOT of soup)

Ingredients:

• 1 lb sausage (I love Publix's Mild Italian)
• 12 oz tortellini pasta
• 2-15 oz jars of seasoned diced tomatoes, do not drain (I used Del Monte's garlic and basil diced tomatoes)
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 48 oz bottle of tomato juice
• 1 1/4 cup diced onion
• 1/4 cup of butter (1/2 a stick)
•  5 cloves of garlic
• 1/4 cup fresh basil (chopped)
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley(chopped)
• 2 cups heavy cream
• Salt, pepper (lots of this!), and other seasonings (Italian, Oregano, etc) to taste 
• Sugar (about 1 tsp) to battle the acidity of the tomatos
• Grates Parmesan cheese to taste (optional)

1.  Put butter, oil, garlic and onion in large pot. Cook on medium low until butter is melted and onion is translucent.
2. Add tomato juice and broth. Allow to cook (but not boil) on medium-low for 15 minutes. 
3. Add spices. Allow soup to reach boiling for about two minutes then return to medium-low for 10 minutes.
4. Slowly pour in cream, stirring as you go
5. Now, take the two small cans of tomatoes and blend them in the blender until liquefied (but be wary of that setting on your blender! haha). Mix them into the soup. This adds more tomato flavor and thickens it a bit.  
6. If you'd like, now is the time to put your soup through a strainer. It will catch all of the onion or any other goop in the soup so that it's just that rich, creamy, tomato-basil awesome. 
7. Taste your soup, if something seems off (for me it was like TOMATO overload and made me thirsty--weird),  sprinkle in the sugar until the soup tastes rich and creamy. It doesn't take much sugar to balance out the acidity of the tomatoes. I added about a teaspoon and my soup was magically fantastic. Acidity all gone!
8. Add Parmesan, if you like. 
9. Remove sausage from casing (I know, super gross, but you gotta do it). Cook separate from soup, breaking into little chunks as you do so. It should look more like ground hamburger than sausage when you're finished. Add to soup. 
10.  Cook Tortellini  according to package (I used Barilla cheese and spinach tortillini--boil a pot of water, add pasta, boil for 10 minutes, strain, and voila!). Add to soup.  
11. Serve with a crusty baguette, and you are in for a treat!