Grilled Cheeses Rule.

In reality, I chopped up the grilled cheese and used as croutons in a bigger bowl of soup.

Just a warning. Neither of these soups look super appetizing color wise. In fact, they probably would remind you of both ends of an upset tummy. To far? Don’t care—you were thinking it anyways. So here are the recipes (ish) below….I didn’t really pay super close attention, I just tasted as I went.

“Cream” of Mushroom Soup **really any shrooms will do, about a pound, but below is what I used

·         1 package dried shitake mushrooms (reconstitute them in boiling water for 5 minutes)

·         ½ small package baby portabella mushrooms

·         Handful of porcini mushrooms

·         1 shallot, minced

·         3 cloves of garlic, minced

·         2 tbs butter

·         ¼ white onion, chopped

·         32 oz. low sodium chicken broth

·         1 sprig of thyme (if you hate thyme, leave it out)

So I melted the butter in my le crueset braiser, and sautéed the shallots, onion and garlic until translucent. At the same time, I was cleaning my shrooms and reconstituting the dry shrooms. Once the onions and garlic have softened, add all the mushrooms. I used about 2 cups of the liquid that my dried mushrooms soaked in, which just adds more flavor. Add in the chicken broth and thyme and bring to a boil. Cook for about 10-15 minutes, tasting the broth as you go. Once the shrooms have softened, transfer everything to a vitamix. Blend on setting 1 for about 30 seconds, then setting 8 for 30. Taste the soup. It should have a little texture but not be chunky. If it’s chunky, don’t be an idiot, just blend a little longer until it’s a good consistency. If you don’t have a vitamix, then you must be poor, and I suggest walking the streets for the next few nights to gather some dolla dolla bills. Vitamix’s rule, and regular blenders have no place in my kitchen anymore. Also, if it tastes like it needs salt and pepper, add it, you dolt.

Roasted red pepper and tomato soup

·         3 hothouse (or regular) tomatoes

·         1 heirloom tomato

·         10-12 roasted cherry tomatoes (rub a little olive oil on them and broil for 5 minutes—watch anything that you broil)

·         1 roasted red pepper, charred skin removed. If you don’t know how to roast a pepper-here is a handy tutorial: http://www.thekitchn.com/quick-tip-how-to-roast-peppers-60699

·         1 cube vegetable stock cube (Knorr Home-style is the kind I used)

·         1 shallot, minced

·         3 garlic cloves, minced

·         ¼ onion, chopped

·         5 cups water

·         5 basil leaves

·         2 tbs. butter

Sauté the onions, shallots and garlic in the butter until translucent (See a pattern with soups??) In a large pot, bring 5-6 cups of water to a boil. Cored the 3 regular tomatoes, and then make an “X” with your knife at the bottom of each (This helps to peel them). Boil the tomatoes for 5-10 minutes, until you can easily peel the skin off. Remove the tomatoes from the water, peel them and add them to the onion and butter mixture. Add most of the water that you had boiled your tomatoes in, and add in the vegetable stock and roasted red pepper at this point. I also added in some regular chopped tomatoes that I had sitting in the fridge, and the roasted cherry tomatoes. Bring to a boil and add basil at the end. When the broth tastes yummy to you, (10 minutes), transfer to your vitamix and blend the same way as the mushroom soup. Now, if you like a creamier soup, add a few tbs of heavy cream. Just remember that a teeny tiny tbs of cream has a ton of fat and calories, so if you’re going to go fatty mcfat with the grilled cheese, don’t add the cream.

For the grilled cheeses, the only thing that makes them fancy is finding a delish bread—I found an English Muffin loaf at HEB and it made the perfect grilled cheese. Also, don’t cook on high heat—cook on medium, it will take forever but make your cheese melt at the same time as getting a crispy crust.