oh, my: Tomato pesto soup

I love me some homemade soup. Always... Especially now that I'm trying to just juice and/or consume mostly liquids. About a year ago I found out I have multiple sclerosis. I still don't think I've fully come to terms with that fact yet, but that convo is for another day and another post. This post is about soup.
SO (I do have to digress for a brief moment), around the time I found out I had MS I was getting ready for my wedding. I wanted to drop a few lb's and because I was suffering from some shitty MS symptoms, exercise was out of the option. I decided to just drink juice (not fresh, but V8) in an attempt to lose a little weight. Well, just drinking juice is hard, but I wanted to lose weight and didn't want to stray too far from juice, so I ended up eating smooth soups and supplementing with a protein shake (I'll post some of these later). In two weeks, not only did I lose 10 pounds, but almost all of my MS symptoms began to disappear! I had heard of naturopathic/ homeopathic/ "natural" ways to help with autoimmune diseases such as MS, but had never really believed in their ability to work. Well, changing your diet, at least for me, did! However, as much as I would love to juice or stick to liquids 24/7 to keep my symptoms at bay, this isn't reallllly realistic, so I juice everyday or consume mostly just liquids every few weeks/months (just depends on my mood/ symptoms) to keep myself feeling good. Also, Yes, my Dr. knows about my eating habits/diet, no, I'm not a doctor so don't consult me, and yes, I understand that this does work for me but isn't for everyone. Phew, ANYWHO..
Finally, to the point!! I'm just consuming mostly juice and some liquids again, this time with fresh juice from a juicer (again, I'll post some recipes later) and some days solely drinking juice sucks, so I'll tide myself over (while not feeling like a complete failure) with a vegetable based soup. This particular soup was birthed from our dwindling food supplies as found around the kitchen. I knew I had some tomato paste and started off with that as my base to build around. Most of my cooking generally follows this rule-- I love cooking and playing around with recipes with just the food on hand.
Without further adu...

Tomato pesto soup!

Ingredients:

1 can tomato paste
1 medium carrot
1 stalk of celery
4 tbs butter
1/4 an onion
1 tbs Bouillon (beef, vegetable, or broth-- I just happened to only have beef)
1 package pesto sauce mix
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp paprika
Mrs. dash (or whatever seasoning you prefer!)
** the seasoning measurements are approximate.. play around with them until you get a taste you like
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups water (or substitute with broth if you have it)
salt & pepper to taste
Parmesan: optional (I ended up not using it because the soup was already so flavorful)

Instructions:

Heat up frying pan to medium heat. Chop carrot, celery and onion. Add butter and chopped vegetables to pan. Sauté for about 15 mins. Transfer to food processor (or magic bullet)and puree until smooth).
In pan add tomato paste, water, bouillon, pesto package, all spices, vegetable oil and pureed mixture (basically toss in everything). Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer for 20-25 mins., stirring occasionally. Serve!