Easy Homemade Tomato Soup and Pepperoni and Cheese Quesadillas

     With winter on its way, I've been looking for some great and easy soup recipes.  Soup is great for those bone-chilly nights when you don't want to move. Here's a recipe that I actually came up with last year.  It's very easy and always delicious!

Tomato Soup
Ingredients:
One 18 ounce can of crushed tomatoes
One 18 ounce can of diced tomatoes
1/4 cup of heavy cream
1/4 cup of grated Parmesan
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 large onion, diced
One tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 box of chicken broth (I prefer reduced sodium)
Dried basil, to taste
Crushed red pepper, to taste
Olive oil and margarine (for softening onion and garlic)

Directions:
In a large soup pot, heat about a tablespoon each of oil and margarine.  Cook diced onion until softened and fragrant.  Add minced garlic for about one minute...be careful not to burn.  Add both cans of tomato and stir so that everything is mixed well.  Bring to a boil then add the broth.  Continue to stir and boil.  Add dried basil and crushed red pepper to taste.  I added 2 tablespoons of basil and 1 teaspoon of pepper.  Be careful because the red pepper can get very spicy.  You can leave this out if you don't like any heat at all.  Allow soup to simmer covered for about ten minutes.  Here's where I make the quesadillas (recipe follows)!

After soup has simmered, stir in heavy cream and Parmesan cheese.  I use an immersion blender to smooth things out.  I don't do too much because I like my soup to have chunks of tomato, but it's your preference.  Taste here, then add salt and pepper.  Most times I don't actually add any salt because the cheeses and broth are enough.  Serve in a deep bowl and prepare for "hot soup belly!"

Pepperoni and Cheese Quesadillas
Ingredients: 
Whole wheat flour tortillas, taco size
1/2 cup of turkey pepperoni, sliced into strips
Italian blend shredded cheese (amount depends on how cheesy you want the quesadillas to be)
Dried oregano
Canola oil spray

Directions:
Preheat a sprayed skillet on medium high heat.  Sprinkle cheese, oregano, and pepperonis on one half of each tortilla.  Fold in half and press down.  Cook one quesadilla at a time on the skillet.  Flip after about one minute per side.  Allow to cool then cut into thirds for easy dipping!