Gourmet Soup in Five Minutes Flat

Today is dreadfully foggy and dreary looking outside.  I want only to curl up my my bed and sleep away the day.   However, I feel like my boss, coworkers, and clients make take offense.  So, I decided I needed some homemade soup for lunch, except of course I didn't have any.  We RARELY eat canned soup here, but I went to my cupboard to see if anything intrigued me.  There on a bare cupboard was a lonely can of tomato soup.  There was also a can of cream of mushroom soup, does anyone really eat that as soup?  I use cream of mushroom for casseroles only.  If you eat this on a regular basis please let me know, I'm curious as to know why?

Usually when tomato soup is in the house, it in mind for a specific recipe, but this soup had no plans, so I put my eye on him.  By this time I was quite hungry, having skipped breakfast due to my grogginess, and did not want to wait an hour for good tasting soup, but also did not want to eat a can of plain old soup.  An memory of my younger years, came back to me and I remembered that Gordon's Restaurant in Dodgeville used to make the most amazing Cream of Tomato Basil Soup.  In an attempt to recreate this (in five minutes or less) I threw the tomato soup in a pan, added garlic salt (tomatoes love salt), some paprika, a cup of milk and a few Tablespoons of dried basil.  I'm sure that this soup would have been better if I would have used garden tomatoes, fresh basil, heavy cream and sauteed onions, but for five minutes or less I was very very pleased.  I ate it with some of my homemade rye crackers.  The sun still isn't shining, but I'm enjoying the coziness of my office a bit more.