Fresh Tomato Soup

This recipe is great to use up those fresh tomatoes that are a day past hanging out on your kitchen counter. I didn't include a count for tomatoes because they range in size, here's what I started with and it made about 4 cups of soup.

Peeling tomatoes.... Bring water to full rolling boil. Gently and safely add tomatoes, some go quick the stubborn ones can take a couple minutes. Carefully remove and dunk in cold water. Let sit a couple minutes and the skin pulls off.

Take those naked tomatoes and core and chop. Into a big pot, NO water added. As you chop try to capture all that juice and add it to the pot.

I use a can of chicken broth. You can substitute for fresh chicken broth, vegetable broth or just a 1 1/2 cups of water.

I always add carrots in a rough 3:1 ratio to my tomato soup (for every 3 cups of tomatoes, 1 cup of carrots). I think it helps to thicken the soup and prevents using sugar to sweeten. If you use canned carrots, drain and rinse before adding.

Bring everything to a boil and reduce to simmer. Cook until the mixture has reduced and thickened. If you used fresh carrots be sure to cook long enough to successfully puree them. Once everything is soft, remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Puree with either a stand or submersion blender.

Serve and enjoy or place in a freezer bag/container and freeze.

If you avoid seeds run the soup through cheese cloth or a fine mesh strainer.