When I was a kid, I had a very strict and immobile belief on the idea of grilled cheese -- it was always cheddar melted between slices of white bread with a can of Campbell's tomato soup. It had to be Campbell's, the can was not to be diluted with water (blasphemy!), and it would only be consumed with the sandwich. No tomato soup without the sandwich, and no grilled cheese without the soup.
These days, I'm a smidge more open-minded. I kill for grilled cheese with tomato, and sometime I even sass up my old mainstay with something like the tuscan bean soup above. But some of the old sentiment lingers. I can't imagine the thought of tomato soup without the sandwich, unless we're talking tuscan bean, minestrone, or something similar. Likewise, unless I add other ingredients to the cheese and bread, it seems lonely without the soup.
But what about you? Do you have strict grilled cheese beliefs or habits? Share below!
Quick tip: To cut cooking time for grilled cheese without a panini press, heat a large and small cast iron skillet. Put the sandwich in the larger pan, and then pick up the smaller skillet and press it down on top of the sandwich.
Is there something wrong with me that I like the weather we're having here today? It's rainy and sleety (if that's a word), raw, and cold, and I just love it. I'll take this weather over a sunny, 85 degree July day any day of the week.
But we do need some things to help us get through these days, and soup is one of those things. Soup is good food and all that (I would put hot chocolate, a blanket, and a good book on that list too). This recipe is from the Cooking For 2 blog, and it's for Roasted Red Tomato Soup. It's pretty easy to make and seems both soothing and hearty.
It's red, so maybe this would be a good Valentine's Day meal for you and yours.
Flipping through my Campbell's Soup cookbook this afternoon, I stumbled across one of those recipes that makes you stop and marvel at the creativity of the human brain. Because it takes a certain kind of person to think, "Gee, I think that tomato soup would be the perfect addition to a chiffon cake!" According to the blurb just above the recipe the tomato soup gives the cake "a wonder-what-it-is flavor and rosy color." I'm sure it does. I'd love to hear if anyone has ever made a tomato soup cake, as I'm dying to know how it tastes.
My Slashfood friends, I am a sadist. Or is it masochist? I never knew the difference between the two.
Either way, for some reason known only to, well, to no one, I decided to do the most punishing thing ever on a hot summer day: turn on the oven. I know, I must be crazy. The inexplicable thing is, however, that I turned it on to roast something that doesn't need to be roasted. If I needed to make a roasted garlic puree, I could justify it. If I felt like roasting a lemon herb chicken for Sunday supper, it would make sense.
My friends, I roasted tomatoes. Tomatoes! At this point in the season, there is absolutely no need to roast produce that is practically dripping with fresh flavor right off the vine!
However, I couldn't resist after I came across a recipe for Roasted Tomato Soup while flipping lazily through Marcus Wareing's Cook the Perfect cookbook.
Despite the fact that is summer, and the temperatures are going to climb back into the 90's by the middle of the week (at least here in Philadelphia), I have soup on the brain. Since I'm also obsessed with the summer crop of Jersey tomatoes that are rolling into the stores and farmers' markets around here, I thought I would share my very favorite Roasted Tomato Basil soup recipe.
Sadly, I have absolutely no claim on this one, it belongs to the Barefoot Contessa. I tend to have difficulties with many of her recipes (I can't handle the idea of putting a large pat of butter on the inside of a hamburger patty), but this one is foolproof and bowl-lickingly good.
I was watching Ham on the Street a few nights ago (great show - I had never watched it before but it's quite entertaining), and the episode focused on pizza. He visited pizza shops, had a taste test to see if people on the street liked his toppings of carmelized onions and gorgonzola more than pepperoni, and made some pizza on pita bread that I have to try.
But the recipe on the show that I need to try right now is the Pepperoni Pizza Soup. What a great concept, pizza, but in a bowl! At first I thought it would be just some odd approximation of pizza, but this recipe actually sounds doable:
My high school boyfriend's mom used to
make this strange pasta dish she called "American Chop Suey." If I recall correctly, it was a dish she grew
up eating in the Fifties. There is nothing Chinese about it so perhaps the "chop suey" refers to the
hodge-podge of ingredients found in the dish.
I made it tonight after not having eaten it for almost twenty
years, and I have to say, it wasn't bad. No, I'm serious! It really wasn't. ...But my three-year-old wouldn't eat
it.
American Chop Suey
1 lb. ground beef 1 medium onion, chopped 1
tsp. of garlic powder 1 tsp sugar (optional) 1 can of Campbell's Tomato Soup 1 pound of elbow
macaroni
Put on pasta water to boil. Salt water generously. When it comes to a boil, cook macaroni according
to package direction.
In the meantime, fry the ground beef, onion, and garlic powder together over medium
heat until beef is browned, crumbly, and cooked through. Stir in the tomato soup and sugar. bring to a simmer and then
turn heat to low.
Drain cooked macaroni and combine with ground beef-tomato soup mixture. Serve topped with
grated parmesan cheese.
Is there something wrong with me that I like the weather we're having here today? It's rainy and sleety (if that's a word), raw, and cold, and I just love it. I'll take this weather over a sunny, 85 degree July day any day of the week.
What is 
I was watching Ham on the Street a few nights ago (great show - I had never watched it before but it's quite entertaining), and the episode focused on pizza. He visited pizza shops, had a taste test to see if people on the street liked his toppings of carmelized onions and gorgonzola more than pepperoni, and made some pizza on pita bread that I have to try.
My high school boyfriend's mom used to
make this strange pasta dish she called "American Chop Suey." If I recall correctly, it was a dish she grew
up eating in the Fifties. There is nothing Chinese about it so perhaps the "chop suey" refers to the
hodge-podge of ingredients found in the dish.
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