Tomato-Basil Soup

I have been promising a few low cal recipes. If I hadn't told you it was low-cal you would never know. There is no flavor compromise here. At 70 calories per cup have two.

Since it is dead winter here, I'm going to recommend canned tomatoes. At least we know they were canned at the peek of there flavor season, at least my home canned ones were.

Tomato Basil Soup
7 cups - 70 calories per cup

1 cup onion chopped
1 cup carrots, grated
1 teaspoon canola oil
nonstick cooking spray
6 large tomatoes, or 2 15-ounce cans of whole tomatoes
1/2 cup basil leaves, chopped, lightly pack
3/4 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon lemon pepper
2 cups vegetable broth

Saute onion and carrots in oil and nonstick spay until onion becomes translucent. Add tomatoes, basil, sugar and lemon pepper and bring to a boil. Stir mixture then lower the heat and simmer, covered for 10 minutes.

Place mixture in blender or food processor and puree. Return to pot, add broth, stir and heat until steaming. I like the food processor because it leaves some texture.

No reason not to plop a spoonful of sour cream on each serving and garnish with a little chopped basil leaf for garnish. Just because it's low- cal doesn't mean it can't be pretty.