Cherry tomato soup...

If you're like me then you might be feeling the need for something light and healthy after all the christmas sweetness. Again if you're like me then this feeling is also likely to be momentary while you're on a sugar high. Make the most of this moment and fill your body with something delicious and good...say hello to tasty tomato soup!

There are few foods I find more comforting than a big bowl of soup (always with a hunk of white bread)...especially tomato soup. So while I was full of that stinking cold before christmas I decided to use up some cherry tomatoes that were sitting in the fridge and make myself some warming tomato soup. Feeling the need to escape the clutches of daytime telly I decided to look up each of the ingredient's health benefits and, well, almost felt cured of the cold just from thinking about it...I now love tomato soup even more than I did before :) It definately spurs me on when I find out how much good I'm doing to my body just by preparing and eating simple but super delicious food.

I've linked each ingredient to a page explaining their health benefits. So, if you're interested, take a look and enjoy the soup even more for it. If you're thinking the cold clearly sent me mad then just skip the links and enjoy the soup for it's deeelicious taste!

Cherry tomato soup (courtesy of Gary Rhodes) - serves 4-6 (definately 4 if you love soup as much as me)

Ingredients:
Olive oil
2 red onions, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2tbsp red wine vinegar
500g cherry tomatoes, halved
300ml passata (I used chopped tomatoes in abence of passata)
450ml vegetable stock (I used chicken stock in absence of vegetable stock...see a pattern?!!)
Pepper
And I added a handful of fresh basil leaves

How to make it:

1) Heat some olive oil in a pan over a medium heat and add the onion and garlic. Fry until softened and slightly coloured.

2) Add the red wine vinegar and boil until only a very little liquid is left

3) Add the cherry tomatoes and fry for ten minutes

4) Pour in the stock and passata. Simmer for a further ten minutes.

5) Add some torn basil leaves and a twist of pepper. The recipe finishes there but I prefer smooth soup so I blitzed it up.

Enjoy!...and don't feel too guilty about the chocolate and wine :)