Fresh Tomato Soup

My parents had a blueberry field when I was little, but failed to maintain it so the blueberry bushes were killed by weeds and saplings. This year, though, they worked real hard on it and transformed it into a giant garden. But, due to a lack of practice, some plants yielded almost nothing, while others gave unbearably large harvests. Therefore, so as not to spoil them, they hand me some. Here is what I lastly made with a couple rugged tomatoes.

• Ready In: 25 mins
• Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 3  tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1  onion, chopped
• 2  celery ribs, chopped
• 4  garlic cloves, chopped
• 2  lbs fresh tomatoes, peeled, cored and chopped (be careful to not loose the juice)
• 1⁄2-1  teaspoon sugar
• 1⁄2 teaspoon dried basil leaves
• 1⁄4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1  bay leaf
• 1  pinch hot red pepper flakes (optional)
• 1  cup unsweetened soymilk

Directions

1. Take a medium-sized pot, and put it on the stove at medium heat with the olive oil in it.
2. When the oil heats up a little, add the chopped onion, celery ribs and garlic, and stir until the vegetables are coated with oil.
3. Cook the vegetables until they start loosing their raw aroma (they will become somewhat wilted and translucent), stirring from time to time. This will take around 5 minutes. They must not turn brown or golden. If they do so before wilting, lower the heat and continue cooking.
4. Add the tomatoes and stir until some juice forms in the pan.
5. Then, add the sugar, basil, oregano, salt, black pepper, bay leaf and hot red pepper flakes (if using).
6. Cover the pot and turn up the heat until it boils.
7. Immediately reduce the heat to a simmer, and let it cook for 5 more minutes.
8. Take off the lid, stir to verify if the tomatoes have softened. If they haven't, cook a couple more minutes, if they have, take out the bay leaf.
9. Coarsly blend using a stick blender. This soup doesn't need to have a smooth puree texture, it's good when there are still bits of vegetables.
10. Lastly, add in the soymilk and either leave on the heat until it's warm enough to serve or put in a jar to consume later.