Creamy Fire Roasted Tomato and Bacon Soup

This soup was a lovely calorific end to a year. I think my husband especially liked all the bacon flavor (and fat).

Creamy Fire Roasted Tomato and Bacon Soup
(an original by Jenny at Picky Palate...photo included)

12 strips of bacon, cut into ½ inch pieces
1 Cup white onion, finely chopped
3 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 serrano pepper, seeded and chopped
4 cloves fresh garlic, minced
¼ Cup flour
3 14 oz cans reduced sodium chicken broth
28 oz can Muir Glen Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes (Del Monte worked great as well!)
10-12 fresh basil leaves with stem
Few pinches of salt to taste
¼ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 Cup half and half or heavy cream

1. Place bacon pieces in a large dutch oven or pot over medium heat. Cook until browned and crisp. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon to a paper towel lined plate.
2. Add onion, carrots, celery and pepper to hot bacon grease. Cook until vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic for 1 minutes then stir in flour for another minute.
3. Slowly stir in chicken broth. Add tomatoes, basil leaves, salt, pepper and half of crumbled crisp bacon.
4. Remove basil leaves from soup and carefully transfer soup, in batches, to a blender and blend
until smooth. Pour back into pot and stir in heavy cream. Simmer on low for 15 minutes. Top each bowl with remaining crumbled bacon pieces. Enjoy!

*Jayne's notes: I don't have fresh basil so instead I used a shake of dried. Also, we didn't include the serrano pepper and it was plenty spicy.