Pepperjack Tomato Soup

I first ate this soup at Isaac's, a small chain restaurant in the Lancaster/suburban Philly area. I've always thought of them as the place with sandwiches named after birds. However, on this particular day, after a long cold morning of shopping (MCC sale!), I decided to try the pepperjack soup. Yummmmmmm.

Fortunately, it's not too hard to reproduce with simple pantry ingredients, so Dan and I ate this for dinner several times when I had nothing else planned.

Pepperjack Tomato Soup

Comments & Modifications:

• Well, the pepperjack already was a modification based on the comments at the bottom of the recipe, which I can't seem to access now. Basically, in addition to the cream cheese, you just throw in a hunk (2-4 oz) of pepperjack cheese, and maybe a bit of Tabasco.
• With the addition of the pepperjack, I don't think all the cream cheese is needed, maybe only half? Unless you need some more fat in your diet, which I certainly don't.
  
• I've been making half the recipe as written, and it's sufficient for Dan and me for dinner with no other sides. Although, we might fight over the last couple of scoops.
• I went with the higher amounts of dried basil, paprika, and garlic powder. Using dried basil is important; I think using fresh would change the results quite a bit.

Verdict: YUM. This is such a simple and tasty dinner during the cooler seasons. Not too great for you with the sodium from the canned soup and the fat from the cheeses, but it's worth it every now and then.