List of things that you will butcher and put in a pot:
3-4 lbs Well-ripened tomatoes (any assortment you choose)
1 Yellow Onion
2 Medium-sized -or- 1 large carrot
1/2 c..ish Cream (add as much or as little as you’d like)
Various herbs and spices: Rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, paprika, the sky’s the limit!*
Salt
Pepper
*These spices will be responsible for making your soup taste like more than just tomatoes, some carrots, an onion, and cream. When experimenting with spices, it is always a good idea to add small amounts at a time, stir in thoroughly, and then taste before adding more. Powdered soup bases nothing more than a combination of spices (and usually a few preservatives 
), so feel free to mix your spices.
We’ll admit that we loved a certain canned tomato soup growing up—especially when we had triangular wedges of grilled cheese sandwiches to waterboard in it. Everyone seems to love this soup, and nothing else seems to measure up! Well, we hate to scrub out that Norman Rockwell remembrance of juvenescent rapture that you have of your time eating this soup, but the reason that you love this tomato soup so much is not because of some holy recipe sent down by the tomato gods to the chosen few of corporate America, but for the same reason that most of us are addicted (also this) to the very “foods” that are killing us: sugar. There are 2.5 TBS of sugar in a can of tomato soup (the size that most of us have all to ourselves), or in terms that you (we) coffee junkies can understand—7.5 packets of sugar. Fortunately, sugar has to be refined from something, and is readily found in nature. Tomatoes have a decent amount of sugar, but not enough to satisfy the desensitized American taste bud. Enter carrots and onions! Not only do they have high levels of sugar, but they also add a robustness of flavor to the soup. So there you have it! The “secret” to tomato soup. Off you go, then.
It’s time to mondé those tomatoes.
Remove the hard, knotted portion where the stem attached to the fruit.
Make “X” slits in the bottoms. This make the skin easier to remove after it has been heated.
Place the tomatoes in boiling water for about 1 minute. You will begin to see the skin peel away as below.
Fill a bowl with cold water and dump the hot tomatoes into it. Remove the skin with your hands. If the tomatoes get too cool, however, the skin will be harder to remove, so it’s best to work quickly (or use tepid water).
Take a tomato in your hand and squeeze until it burst, releasing its seeds. This is best done underwater as it prevents seeds from launching across your kitchen and aides in their removal. Quarter the tomatoes and swipe out any remaining seeds with your fingers. It is not necessary to removal all the seeds, in fact, you may not feel it necessary to remove them at all. The seeds are mostly removed because of their texture, and since this will be puréed, that will not necessarily be an issue (though your average blender will leave discernible seed bits). Personally, we don’t mind.
Dump the chopped carrots and onions into the pot. Note: the carrots need not be so finely chopped as those in the picture—these were just carrots that we had left over from another preparation.
Put some oil (or butter) and salt in the pan and bring to a boil. The juices from the tomatoes will leak out and help the rest of the produce cook evenly. Cover and let simmer for 30-45 min to cook through and develop flavor.
Purée the soup by whatever means is available to you, and then pour it back into the pot. Add the cream, season (tasting as you go), and simmer for another 15-20 minutes. Your soup is now ready to serve—bon appetite!
Don’t worry, we have a thing-or-six to say about grilled cheese—more on that later…
Erubite 
