Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons

I love fall. And with fall comes soup. On the first cool day a few weeks ago, I disappeared into my kitchen and expiremented. Grilled cheese croutons? Um, yes please. Full, rich, filling soup with funky pasta? Of COURSE! I'll even tell you a nice chardonnay went perfect with this one. :)

Ingredients: 

Olive oil 

28oz can crushed tomatoes (I usually go for tuttorosso, less seeds)

small yellow onion, chopped

3 or 4 cloves minced garlic

About 1 cup of orzo (cook it for 7 minutes, the soup will finish it)

Chicken stock– I usually go for the Swanson containers, it’s about 4 cups

½ cup cream – you really don’t need much

Basil

Oregano

Any other spices you want to add in - saffron would be REALLY good in this soup, but it's not really a pantry staple

(I don’t add salt and pepper to anything, but you could if you wanted to)

Heat the olive oil, cook the onions. You want them to be soft and translucent before you add anything else. 

Add the garlic and let it get stinky. Man I love the smell of garlic and onions. 

Add the chicken stock, spices and tomatoes and let that simmer for about 15 minutes. 

Cook your orzo for about 7 minutes while that simmers and then add that. The orzo will finish cooking in the soup, so you don't have to follow the directions on the box. Add your cream and simmer another 10 minutes or so. 

Grilled Cheese Croutons - so simple I can't stand it.

Ingredients:
White country bread
Cheese of your choice (I used sharp cheddar, and jalapeno cheddar jack)

Make a grilled cheese. Really. Just make one!

Heres the important part. Let your grilled cheese STAND for 1-2 minutes. That way when you go to cut your grilled cheese it won't just ooze out and you'll be out of cheese. 

Chop it up into bite sized pieces and toss onto your soup.

Warm. Filling. Delicious. Even the hubs liked it. :)

Crash Hot Sweet Potatoes

I <3 sweet potatoes. This recipe originally comes from dlyn but you can easily change it to your liking. These were easy to make even though the recipe below seems labor intensive. Tasty with a salad or some grilled sausage. 

Ingredients:
2 Medium Sweet Potatoes
½ teaspoon kosher salt
2 quarts water
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 tablespoons olive oil

Topping:
1 & 1/2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon New Mexico chili powder
1/2 teaspoon smoked sweet paprika
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
1/8 teaspoon granulated garlic
10 grinds black pepper – coarse

Peel the sweet potatoes and slice about 1 & ¼ inches thick. Add ½ teaspoon salt to water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add potato slices and simmer for about 12 minutes (I had to do this for much longer than 12 minutes), or until somewhat softened.

Remove carefully to a wire rack and allow to cool for about 10 minutes.

Blend the topping ingredients together really well with a fork, making to sure to get the sugar completely incorporated.

The recipe says to line a baking sheet with parchment paper... I almost always use tin foil. Just make sure that when you put on your toppings that you don't get any on the pan. The sugar and spices will burn before your potatoes are ready and start to smoke if you're not careful. 

Using a flat bottomed bowl, slightly mash each potato slice, taking care that they stay intact. 

Drizzle each slice with a mixture of the butter and oil and sprinkle evenly with ½ of the topping mixture. Gently turn over each slice, drizzle with the remaining butter/oil mixture and sprinkle with the remaining seasonings.

Roast at 375° for 20 minutes, carefully flip each slice and return to oven for about 10 minutes more. Serve hot.