Creamy Tomato Soup

I asked my son what he wanted for dinner yesterday and he told me, rather quickly and emphatically, that he wanted tomato soup. So I obliged and whipped this up and served it with the classic grilled cheese. Then today my son (and husband) took the leftovers for lunch. Needless to say, it's a favorite around here.

Once again this recipe is from Mel's Kitchen Cafe with only a few changes. The first time I made this soup, I got all the way to the end when I needed to add the cream and realized I forgot to pick some up at the grocery store. Feeling panicked I searched in my fridge for a replacement and spotted some leftover cream cheese from another recipe. I figured it couldn't hurt, so I threw in 4 oz. The results were so good that I now use cream cheese instead of cream for this recipe. I love the tangy richness it adds. Plus, I'm pretty sure anything with cream cheese has to be good. Right?

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Creamy Tomato Soup
Prep: 10 minutes Cook: 25 minutes Servings: 6

Recipe adapted from www.melskitchencafe.com

2 28oz cans diced tomatoes
3/4 cup vegetable broth
3 Tb butter
1 onion, diced
1 bay leaf
1 tsp brown sugar
2 Tb Tomato paste
2 Tb AP flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
salt & pepper
4 oz reduced fat or regular cream cheese

• Drain the tomatoes, saving the drained juice
• Add the vegetable broth to the drained juice to make a total of 3 1/2 cups of liquid
• In a large pot or dutch oven, melt the butter and saute onions for 3-4 minutes.
• Add 2/3 of the drained tomatoes, bay leaf and brown sugar to the onions and cook, stirring frequently for about 10 minutes or until the mixture becomes fragrant and thick
• Add the tomato paste and flour and stir until mixture darkens. 
• Stir in the remaining tomatoes, tomato juice, baking soda and a 1/2 tsp salt.
• Bring the soup to a boil, then simmer on low heat until thick, 5 - 7 minutes. 
• Then add in cream cheese chopped into smaller sections. Stir around until the cream cheese melts and is mostly incorporated into the soup. 
• Remove bay leaf from soup and puree the soup with an emersion blender or in a regular blender. 
• Add soup back to pot and season with additional salt and pepper to taste.