Spicy Tomato Soup

My boyfriend is in town visiting and got sick a few days after arriving. Either I got him sick, as I had been sick all week last week, or he caught a bug on the plane. He had the flu and it was raining all day so I knew I wanted to make a delicious healing soup. 

Tomato soup is one of my favorite's. I think everyone loves tomato soup. I don't like it cream based and I like it very spicy. My sister used to make us the best tomato soup ever when we were younger and it was always very spicy! I asked her yesterday what her trick was and apparently she would put both a spicy green pepper in as well as red pepper powder. 

I looked around for an appealing recipe online and decided on this one by Giada. I did make a significant number of changes to the recipe though. I knew I didn't want beans in the soup, because that would make it more like a minestrone. I also wanted to incorporate some whole wheat orzo I had purchased at Whole Foods earlier in the week. 

Spicy Tomato Soup

Adapted from Giada's recipe

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 red onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 (26-ounce) jar marinara sauce
6 cups no-chickn' broth*
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/3 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp thyme
1/2 cup whole wheat orzo
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

*The original recipe called for 2 cups broth. Honestly, even with the addition of 4 more cups, the soup was still very hearty. I don't know how 2 cups would have worked! 

The directions for making a soup are all pretty much the same. Saute the onions in the oil, add the carrots and cook until soft. Add the garlic and cook until just fragrant; be careful not to burn. Add the marinara sauce, orzo, spices and no-chickn' broth and bring to a boil. Then turn low and simmer for 30 mins- 1 hr.

This soup was delicious! We added some shredded mozzarella and enjoyed with a slice of Ezekiel whole wheat bread (which, by the way, has zero sugar!). It was just what the doctor ordered and made us both feel much better. Don't hesitate to make this on a rainy day or any day really.