Chunky tomato soup

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I have a confession to make. I am a huge loser on Friday evenings. It is likely that by 6pm I am in my pj's and in bed by 9pm watching movies on Netflix or reruns of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on Food Network. I can't help it. By Friday evening I am wiped out, exhausted. The thought of putting on eye liner, brushing my hair and going out for cocktails is the furthest thing from my mind.

I get a lot of crap for this from my hubby and friends. They all know better than to try to get me out on a Fridays. Yup, on Fridays I am known as "lame Jenna". 

And so when Erik was up for a lazy evening with me last Friday I was thrilled. I had my eye on this chunky tomato soup ever since the latest issue of Food and Wine magazine showed up in my mailbox a week ago. I love making homemade soup but sometimes they can be a bit fussy and time-consuming. Not this soup. You simply chop up a few veggies, open a couple cans of whole, peeled tomatoes and bam, delicious tomato soup. Erik and I had this with a bacon, cheese, tomato and avocado panini.

A perfect meal for my perfectly lazy Friday evening.

Chunky tomato soup (recipe adapted from Food and Wine)

Ingredients

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 fennel bulb, trimmed and finely chopped
4 thyme sprigs
3 tablespoons tomato paste
Salt and freshly ground pepper
4 cups water
Two 28-ounce cans peeled Italian tomatoes—drained and finely chopped, juices reserved

Directions

In a large soup pot, heat the olive oil. Add the onion, fennel and thyme and cook the vegetables over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until the onion and fennel are softened, about 8 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Add the water and the tomatoes and their juices and bring to a boil. Simmer the soup over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is reduced by one-third, about 30 minutes. Discard the thyme.

Transfer half of the soup to a blender and puree until smooth. Return the puree to the pot.

I imagine that you are all a lot cooler than me on Fridays (and probably in general).  What did you do this weekend?  And do you have today off?  I do!  Minnesota got a nasty snow storm yesterday so I am most likely going to be hanging out all day, maybe baking a thing or two and hanging with my kitty. 

Happy Monday!