Tomato Soup

This soup can be made with fresh summer tomatoes, or if you're lazy like me, you can make this any time of year with a couple of jumbo cans of diced tomatoes in juice. Can you tell I like to shop at Trader Joe's?

Ingredients:
olive oil
1 onion chopped
1 clove garlic minced
2 28-oz cans diced tomatoes in juice (or 4 lbs fresh tomatoes peeled, cored and diced with as much juice as you can save)
1 cup chicken stock (I'm using homemade stock in this batch)
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper

To cook:
Saute the onion and garlic in olive oil until tender.

Add the tomatoes, stock, bay leaf and salt/pepper to taste.

Simmer until the tomatoes are tender (about 30 miuntes).

Puree in the blender, food processor or use a hand blender to puree it right in the pot.

You can serve it as is or with some fresh chopped parsley or basil as garnish.

Here it accompanies some leftover roast chicken and green salad.