Bloody Mary Bisque (Healthy and Easy!)

I know, I know - Bloody Mary Bisque? What?? Well, as per usual for this time of year, I'm getting heaps of tomatoes from the CSA and it's game on versus the fruit flies to see who gets to eat them. Usually I make some form of tomato soup for my end game. Deconstructed, what is tomato soup? Tomato juice and seasoning. What are Bloody Marys? Tomato juice and seasoning. I've never been happy with using canned tomato sauce or the V8 types in my soups, so I figured I'd check out the liquor aisle. Because that always has the answers.What sold me was a new horseradish mixer. I can usually take or leave a Bloody Mary, but if there's horseradish, I want six. The nice thing about making tomato soup with mixer is that you get a bunch more flavor without having to use a bunch of cream.

Ingredients:
1 TBS butter
1/2 onion, roughly chopped
6 cloves garlic, lightly crushed
4 medium-large tomatoes, cut into chunks
1.5 cups of your favorite Bloody Mary mixer
.5 cup broth
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup milk, half and half, or cream if you really like
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1/4 cup vodka (optional, but it's Bloody Mary Bisque)
Big handful basil, chopped

Directions:
One reason I like making soups is that since it all gets blended together anyway, it doesn't really matter how you chop stuff. So throw your butter in a big pot with a lid, turn the heat to medium, and once it melts, toss in your onion. While it cooks a bit, crush your garlic, and toss it in too. Give it a stir a couple of times until the garlic and onion start to brown.

Toss in your tomatoes, mixer, broth, salt and pepper. Cover and cook 20 minutes or so until everything is nice and squishy. Turn off heat. If you have an immersion blender, stick it in the pot and puree. If you don't have an immersion blender, go get one. With the blender stick running on low, slowly pour in your milk, then add your yogurt. This will help prevent the dairy from curdling, which it likes to do when it gets hot.

Add your vodka and basil, and stir it all up. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Cheers!