Tomato Soup for the Soul

It is cold and I'm in the mood for tomato soup!   Not that orange gloopy stuff from the can, either.  Hate that stuff, it's too sweet (not to mention orange and gloopy).  But here in Ann Arbor we've broken a few record low temperatures, and the garden tomatoes are but a fond memory.

Next best option?  Pantry soup!  It's so easy.  What I happen to have on hand is a can of fire roasted crushed tomatoes.  I had meant to buy diced, but picked up the wrong thing, so these have been just sitting around waiting for a chance to be used.  In the fridge is some chicken broth, half and onion, and some carrots and celery. 

Any soup worth eating starts with sweating the onion, celery, and carrot.  This is what gives the soup depth of flavor.  I used one carrot and half a stalk of celery.   A few twists of the pizza spice in it's own grinder bottle that I had to have (had it not been on sale it would have stayed on the shelf), and let it go for a bit.

Next in, the whole can of tomatoes, and about 3/4 of the can of broth (to rinse out the can).

Let it simmer away for 15 minutes, (I was making sandwiches) hit it with the stick blender, and soup is ON!  And tasty...