The Best Tomato Basil Soup

Cold rainy days make me crave soup. Any kind of soup, but particularly this one. I didn’t grow up eating tomato soup, but my husband did and so I kept working on a recipe for it until I stumbled upon the right combination of tomato. This is one of our favorite meals and I probably make it once a week in the winter.

You will need:
12 ounces of tomato sauce (This is about 1.5 cans)
2 cups of chicken broth
1/4 tomato paste
1 1/2 c. milk
1/2 lb of ground beef, crumbled and browned with salt and pepper
8 oz of small pasta shells, cooked according to package direction
1 tablespoon basil

Whisk together the tomato sauce and paste over medium heat until smooth. Add the chicken broth and milk, whisking as you go. Add the meat the and pasta, stir together until well incorporated. Sprinkle the basil on top. Serve immediately.

I love to serve this dinner with homemade rolls or bread sticks, or even in bread bowls. Soup is one reason I will always love the winter, or in our case, the lighter summer.