the best party of our valentine's dinner - the tomato basil soup

I won't pretend it was perfect. The food was wonderful, but my children must have major cabin fever because they fought all during our Valentine's Day dinner last night. Ironic, huh? I had high hopes for it since I have put on a fun red themed dinner for the past 6 years for my kids and it has always been fun. Let's just say that it ended with several being put to bed early and me threatening not to do it next year! We'll see about that. There were a few high lights though. One, the soup, was my favorite food of the night. I thought I would share the recipe with you. It's for Tomato Basil Soup. I first had this soup at La Madeline in Dallas, Texas and this is my version of it.

Tomato Basil Soup

4 cups (8 to 10) tomatoes, peeled, cored and chopped or 4 cups canned (the large can) of crushed tomatoes - I usually use the canned

3 cups tomato juice

2 cups chicken stock

12 to 14 washed fresh basil leaves

1 cup heavy cream (sometimes I use half and half - both are good)

1/4 cup sweet butter

salt to taste

1/4 tsp. cracked black pepper

Combine tomatoes, juice and stock in a large stock pot. Simmer for 30 minutes. Puree, along with the basil leaves, in small batches, in a blender or use a hand held food blender right in the pan.

Return soup to saucepan if you used the blender and add cream and butter while stirring over low heat. Add salt and pepper. Garnish with extra basil leaves. Serve with your favorite bread.