Creamy Tomato Chicken Soup

This soup is creamy, a little bit spicy, and surprisingly filling. It's dairy-free and gluten-free but if you're not it's delicious with grilled cheese! I served this with a little bit of gluten-free garlic bread. Soups are very forgiving so feel free to change ingredients if you don't like something (I've included notes about what you can and can't change)

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Ingredients

• 4 roma tomatoes (other kinds are fine, I also love heirloom)
• 1 white or yellow onion
• 1 head of garlic
• one red bell pepper 
• 2 carrots
• 1 spring of thyme
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 tbs minced garlic
• 1/2 cup white wine: my favorite cooking wine is Cupcake, Trader Joe's also carries some good cheap white wines
• 1 qt chicken broth
• 1 small can tomato paste
• 1 can full fat coconut milk (can substitute for 1 cup of heavy cream of half and half if dairy isn't a issue)
• 5 chicken thighs or two large breasts
• 1 tbs garlic powder
• 1 pinch red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp parsley
• more olive oil to sauté

​Instructions

1. Roughly chop your tomatoes, onion, carrots, and bell pepper. In a cast iron pan or ceramic baking tray add your chopped vegetables, garlic salt, thyme, and olive oil. Rub everything together so it's fully coated. Chop the head off your garlic bulb and place it in the tray.
2. Bake at 400 for about an hour regularly mixing the vegetables so they don't burn, they edges should be crispy and brown. 
3. For the seasoning blend mix together the garlic powder, red pepper flakes, cumin, and parsley in a little bowl. Pour that over the chicken and rub it around so it's fully coated. 
4. In a large stockpot or enameled cast iron, I use this one from Le Cruset add the remaining olive oil and turn the heat up to high (about an 8). 
5. Add your chicken and cook for about 3.5 min on each side, you want a brown crust to form. It's okay if it's not cooked fully because it's going to cook more when we add it to the soup. 
6. Remove the chicken from the pot leaving the seasoning and oil and chop the chicken and set it aside (I know it may seem a little gross and pink inside, if raw chicken makes you uncomfortable you can cook it fully in the pan and add it later to the soup)
7. Deglaze the pot with the white wine (if you'r omitting the wine just use the broth). Let that simmer down for a minute of two then add your chicken broth and roasted vegetables. Squeeze the roasted garlic out of the bulb into the pot. 
8. Add your coconut milk and tomato paste to the mixture, give everything a stir and let it cook on med-low for for about 10 min. I love this because it makes your apartment smell amazing. I could literally smell it from the lobby.
9. Using an immersion blender blend the vegetable broth mixture until creamy, this one from amazon is my favorite and only $20. I prefer immersion blender because it's much easier to clean than a regular blender and less dishes. But you can also transfer to a regular blender and blend there, just be careful about sealing the lid on because the heat will make the soup explode all over your kitchen.
10. Add the chicken to the soup and let it simmer for another 10 min. The chicken should be cooked fully. Serve with garlic bread, grilled cheese, or on it's own and enjoy!