Tomato Basil Soup v. 0.08

Half of the recipes I conjure up have to do with fast preparation of fresh ingredients. In order to speed up the process, I'll cheat a little by using Garden Gourmet's tubes of garlic and basil. Tonight's experiment turned out well, so I'm posting it here. There's nothing like tomato soup made with fresh tomatoes.

10 Roma tomatoes
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp minced garlic (2" - 3" from tube)
2 tbsp minced basil (2" - 3" from tube)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp crushed red peppers
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 tbsp lemon juice
14 oz. can of diced tomatoes

1. Wash Roma tomatoes and slice 4-5 times crosswise and 1 once lengthwise (the point is getting everything chopped enough to cook evenly). 2. Pour olive oil in large pan and swish it around to cover surface. 3. Combine tomatoes, basil, fennel, lemon juice, crushed peppers and salt in pan and, stirring periodically, cook over medium low heat for ~20 minutes until tomatoes fall apart. 5. Turn off heat and add can of diced tomatoes. 6. Add everything to blender and puree to desired consistency. 7. Return to soup pot and stir over low heat until hot. 8. Serve (approximately 4 servings).