Sito's Favorite Tomato Soup

This is a favorite weekday meal or I like to prepare it for the kids when we go out. It's easy & healthy. A perfect compliment to your favorite grilled cheese sandwich. My kids like to top theirs off with goldfish crackers. This is a blended soup, so you can save your fancying chopping for another recipe.

Adapted from Sunset Magazine

Ingredients

• 2  tablespoons  butter
• 1  cup  chopped onion
• 1  cup  chopped carrot
• 1  crushed garlic clove
• 1/3  cup  chopped celery
• 1 1/2  cups  chicken broth
• 1  teaspoon  dried basil
• 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flake
• 1  (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1  (15-ounce) can garbanzo beans, rinsed & drained
• 1  cup milk, I prefer 1%

Preparation

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add red pepper flake, onion, carrot, celery, and garlic; sauté 4 minutes or until tender. Add broth, basil, and tomatoes, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 15 minutes. Stir in garbanzo beans until heated. Remove from heat.
Blend using your immersion blender or place half of tomato mixture in a blender, and process until smooth. Pour puréed soup into a large bowl. Repeat procedure with remaining tomato mixture. Return puréed soup to pan; stir in milk. Cook over medium-high heat 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated, stirring frequently (do not boil).