I listed a tomato basil soup recipe near the start of this thread. It’s delicious!
Olive Garden lists a recipe for a Tuscan tomato soup online. (along with a recipe for a breadstick grilled cheese sandwich.)
http://www.olivegarden.com/recipe/breadstick-grilled-cheese-with-tuscan-tomato-soup/prod2100073
will post the onion soup recipe later. At the office now
When there’s not enough time to make soup, I LOVE Progresso’s Rich & Hearty Tomato Florentine with Italian Sausage soup. It is very good and does NOT have that weird canned cardboard taste that many purchased soups seem to have (yuck!). When they’re on sale, I buy a bunch and give some to my kids…easy for them when they want a quick meal.
I usually add some cracked peppercorn and some basil and oregano, but probably not needed. I’ve been able to get away with serving it with a salad and some bread and calling it a meal to my H! 
If you look up Marcelle Bienvenu you’ll find some wonderful recipes for Maque Choux. The basic version is a lovely corn soup (I buy frozen Silver Queen corn in winter), but it’s even better with the addition of Gulf shrimp or crawfish tails. I don’t make it as often now because dh avoids corn.
Crawfish, shrimp or lobster bisque are my other favorite soups, along with Vidalia onion soup. The latter is good made either like French onion soup with beef stock (which I buy - too lazy to make my own) or as a cream soup with chicken stock (also purchased.) I don’t have any recipes because I just see what’s on hand and improvise.
@abasket, thanks for that tomato basil soup link. Dh will love it.
Hoping OP will return to let us know what she decided!
Onion Soup au Gratin from Craig Clairborne’s Gourmet Diet, cookbook from 1980 written with Pierre Franey and in looking at it, it appears that I have a First Edition.
6 large onions, about 3.5 lbs
2 tablespoons peanut oil
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup dry white wine
10 cups unsalted broth (I use low sodium vegetable broth) but this cookbook has recipes for several types of homemade broths
12 slices unsalted French bread, toasted
3/4 cup grated Gruyere cheese or you can use Gouda or Swiss Lorraine (low sodium if you prefer)
Peel and quarter the onions. Slice crosswise into very thin slices. There should be about 16 cups
Heat the oil and butter (or can substitute margarine) in heavy casserole and add onions and bay leaf. Cook, stirring often until onions are golden.
Sprinkle with flour and stir to blend in well. Cook over low heat stirring often and scraping the bottom to prevent scorching. The onions will brown on the bottom, which will give color to the soup. Cook about 20 minutes, taking care that the bottom does not burn.
Add the wine and stir from the bottom. Cook about 5 minutes and add the broth. Bring to boil and simmer for 1 hour, stirring often and skimming the surface.
Preheat the broiler
Divide the soup into 6 individual onion soup crocks. Top each with 2 slices of toast. Sprinkle each with 2 tablespoons grated cheese.
Place the crocks under the broiler until the cheese is browned and glazed and the soup is bubbling on top.
Yield: 6 servings. I do have soup crocks, not sure how one would cook this soup without.
Scotch Broth in the crockpot recipe from “A Yorkshire Cook (at home and away).” Conversion of weight etc US/UK/Australia below.
http://www.convert-me.com/en/convert/cooking/
SCOTCH BROTH
KEY POINTS
Preparation time : 15 min
Cooking time : 8 hours
Difficulty : Easy
Freezing : Yes
Portions : 6
INGREDIENTS
1kg lamb or mutton shank or breast of lamb, chopped into 4 pieces by the butcher
3 carrots, chopped small
1 swede (rutabaga), peeled and chopped small
1 large or 2 small leeks, trimmed, sliced and washed
3 large potatoes, chopped small
1 bay leaf
50g pearl barley
50g split peas
1 dessert spoon Maldon salt
2½ litres water ~ enough to cover everything.
1/2 a firm cabbage, chopped
Plenty of freshly ground white pepper
1 small bunch curly parsley, stalks removed and the leaves finely chopped
METHOD
Soak the barley and split peas, separately, for a 3 or 4 hours. Then drain and add to the slow cooker. This is optional but it does, so I am told, help remove a natural chemical which binds up minerals preventing their full absorption.
Add all the vegetables except the cabbage.
Add the bay leaf, salt and pepper.
Lay the meat on top and cover with water.
Switch the cooker on to low.
Go to bed.
In the morning, add the shredded cabbage and turn the cooker up to high for half an hour.
Check the taste for seasoning and correct if needed.
Turn off the cooker and remove the meat, leaving to cool.
When the meat is cool enough to handle, pull the meat off the bone and tear into small pieces.
If you have used breast of lamb, there will be a fatty layer on the broth. You can remove this, if you want to. Kitchen paper will mop it up easily.
Add the meat back into the broth and divide into servings. Remove the bay leaf at this point.
OP here, I’m still trying to decide on the soups for my gathering. Here’s what I’m thinking: Chile, Vegetable Beef and maybe Chicken Noodle. --Pretty safe, traditional choices…Maybe too traditional and boring?
I’ve learned that one guest doesn’t eat beans, so I’m thinking I should have at least two bean-less choices for this person.
I love soup, so many of the suggestions here have gone into my recipe files. Any more?
Does everyone eat meat at your gathering? Have you thought of a creamed soup- broccoli and potatoes, for example?
I like @“Cardinal Fang” s suggestion of a creamy soup. Pinterest has some lovely looking potato soups. Add a little cheese and green onion to the top. Mmmmmmm.
I just finished eating the Sausage/tomato soup I linked earlier. Omg, the house smelled soooo good. The cheesey garlic bread wasn’t to shabby either!
I may be in the minority…I LOVE soup, but vegetable soup and/or chicken noodle would be at the bottom of my soup list. So many choices out there! But, if that’s what you think you’re guests would enjoy, go for it!
Black bean!
@shellz, that sausage-tomato does look yummy but I was afraid it might be too spicy…Since you’ve made it, can you can judge its spiciness for me?
For me, the OP’s suggested soups are all examples of “comfort food”–they make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside! They’re the kinds of soups my mom made for us every winter, very sentimental! Not sophisticated options but I agree they are pretty safe. Most people will enjoy those 3 soups. Personally, I love cream of potato soup so I might add it to the list.
@Beil1958 if you are not a fan of spicy, it’s easy to adjust. Just use mild sausage (we used hot), and omit the red pepper flakes. I can’t judge the original too well, because we up the red pepper a lot. Oh, and I use fire roasted canned tomatoes, btw. It’s such a hearty soup. Love it, but def not low calorie!
@foliontai , I made this tomato soup with my garden tomatoes earlier in the fall…it was REALLY GOOD
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/cream-of-fresh-tomato-soup-recipe.html
It’s an Ina Garten recipe…yum.
One of my friends who is a vegetarian always says “never trust the soup” because the stock can have meat in it. So I’d say for the gathering, offer a non-soup vegetarian option, because the vegetarian might avoid the “vegetarian” soup anyway.
Corn Chowder! My favorite recipe (vegan and lowfat, for those concerned):
1 large onion, chopped
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 cups water
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 cans whole corn
1 can evaporated milk
Saute onions in a little oil until soft. Add potatoes, water, salt, and pepper. Cover and simmer about 20 minutes. Stir in corn (with liquid) and evaporated milk. Heat to bubbling. Blend 1/4 cup flour with 1/2 cup water and add to chowder, stirring constantly until it thickens and bubbles, about 3 minutes. Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with paprika if desired.
Oops, posted in error. Sorry.