Tomato Basil Soup with Ground Beef

I’m a planner. A preparer. I like to be ready. Growing up, my dad was always saying, “Boy Scout motto: Be prepared.” I guess it rubbed off a little bit! When I’m working, or attending a teaching workshop like I am this month, I try to make sure there that all of our lunches (and some dinners) are ready to go. I make a few salads, hard boil eggs, grill some chicken, maybe make up a batch of tuna salad for the hubs… whatever we want that week. That way, when it’s 7:30 in the morning and I’m half-asleep, I can just throw a couple things into my lunchbox and head out the door.

Disclaimer: Please note that some of the links contained in this post are affiliate links. If you make a purchase through one of the links, you will pay the same prices as always, but You Should Craft will receive a small commission that helps to keep the site up and running.

This weekend when I was doing my meal prep, I decided I wanted to have soup & salad for lunch. For the soup, I wanted something creamy and blended, but with meat to make it a little heartier. After some Paleo, primal, gluten-free, and Whole30 friendly. My recipe made about five 2-cup servings (plus a little extra that I ate while taking pictures), which was perfect for a week’s worth of lunches. I pre-portioned my soup and stored it in mason jars to make it super easy to grab-and-go in the mornings.

Ingredients:
1 14-ounce can of coconut milk
3 14.5-ounce cans of diced tomatoes (I used the no-salt added kind — you could also substitute fresh tomatoes from your garden!)
8 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups of chicken broth (I used Swanson low-sodium broth, but homemade would work great here too!)
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
1 pound ground beef
2 medium Vidalia onions, diced
1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
salt, to taste

Heat a large pot (I used a stock pot but a Dutch oven would work great too) over medium heat. Add in one pound of ground beef and the diced onions, cook until onions are beginning to become translucent and then add the minced garlic (I recruited my husband to garlic press — it’s his all-time favorite cooking task).

While your beef, onions, and garlic are cooking, use a blender (I love my Ninja Ultima, but any blender would work fine) to blend together one can of coconut milk and three cans of diced tomatoes.

When the ground beef is browned, pour in the tomato/coconut mixture, as well as the chicken broth, fresh ground pepper, and salt (to taste). Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes. Stir in the chopped basil and remove from heat.

You’re all done! Serve hot and garnish with some fresh basil leaves and maybe soak it up with some crusty French bread. If you’re packing lunches like me, ladle your tomato basil soup into pint-sized mason jars and stuck it in the fridge. Honestly, I haven’t even been microwaving mine since I eat outside and it’s been over 90 degrees here.