This tomato soup is delicious and a fantastic way to get some veggies in your kids. Pair it with a fun grilled cheese (my favorite is to add fig jam to a great sharp cheddar- delish!) and you have a healthy, easy dinner!

• 5 tbsp. unsalted butter
• 2 onions, sliced
• 1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 zucchini, sliced
• 2 small or 1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
• 5-6 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 2 large cans (about 70 oz.) plum tomatoes (with their sauce)
• 2 tbsp. tomato paste
• 6-8 basil leaves, chopped
• 2 tbsp. sugar
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1 tsp. allspice
• 1 cup heavy cream

Melt the butter in a large pot and add the onions, sweet potato, zucchini, carrots and garlic. Saute the vegetables over medium heat for about 10-15 minutes. Add the tomatoes (and their juice), tomato paste, basil and sugar and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the chicken stock and the allspice and slowly bring to a slow boil. Turn the heat down and simmer for 1 hour.

Use an immersion blender to puree the soup (or puree in small batches using a regular blender). Add the cream (you can add more or less depending on how creamy you like it.

TIPS & TRICKS

• I love using “Better than Bouillion” to make chicken stock. I never seem to be able to use a whole carton of stock and I don’t have a lot of room in my freezer to keep the extras. “Better than Bouillion” is a concentrate- you keep it in your refrigerator and add to boiling water to make stock- so easy! It even comes in an organic version.
• You can buy several zucchini (they usually come in pairs anyway) and freeze what you don’t use. Just blanch it first before you freeze it. I also buy the huge cans of tomatoes at Costco and freeze them in amounts for batches of soup.
• I make a batch of this soup and freeze it in smaller containers- very easy to pull out of the freezer and thaw for a quick dinner.