We all know how I feel about grilled cheese and tomato soup. So when I was deciding on the perfect comforting dinner I could make for all of my besties, it’s no surprise that’s what I chose. But this time I got creative–you can’t serve people dinner from a can, unless that person is your husband. Sorry Steve, This soup took me a little while to make with all of the chopping–So.Much.Chopping–but the nice thing is I was able to do it all in the morning, put it in the crock pot and not have to stress when everyone arrived. I loved it! I always feel like tomato soups at restaurants have so much flavor and I’ve never understood how they do it. The one time I’d tried to make it from scratch it came out just okay. I feel like the roasting is the key, because this one was full of flavor and I would even choose it over my fav tomato soup at Paradise Bakery!

Roasted Tomato and Pepper Soup

yield 10 servings

• 4 pounds tomatoes
• 10-12 large bell peppers (I used a combo of red and orange), seeded and chopped
• 3 medium jalapeno peppers, chopped (you can leave all, some, or none of the ribs and seeds depending on desired spice level)
• 2 large sweet yellow onions, chopped
• 1 head garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
• 14oz center cut or turkey bacon
• 1/4 cup dried basil
• Sea salt and pepper to taste
• 3-5 bay leaves
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 cup non fat plain Greek yogurt
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper
• 1-3 tsp Sriracha

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400. Spray the biggest baking dish you have with non stick spray.
2. Slice tomatoes in half and scrape out seeds.
3. Add tomatoes, peppers, onions, and garlic to baking dish.
4. Lightly drizzle with olive oil. Season with basil, salt and pepper.
5. Place bay leaves around the edges
6. Top with bacon slices
7. Bake for 40-45 min until veggies are tender, flipping bacon half way through.
8. Let cool for 15 min, then remove bacon and bay leaves, setting bacon aside.
9. Transfer veggies in batches to blender or food processor and blend through.
10. Transfer blended soup to crock pot.
11. Chop bacon and add to crock pot.
12. Stir in Greek yogurt.
13. Add Sriracha, crushed red pepper, and additional salt and pepper if desired.
14. Cook on low for 4 hours.
15. Serve with grilled cheese of course!