A beloved for the girlies. Made simple here.

Ingredients

• Veggie broth (or chicken broth, but then no longer vegetarian)
• Tomatoes (fresh on the vine or can) – I'd just choose one or the other rather than mix
• Onion type (shallot or white)
• Garlic
• Carrot
• A pinch of sugar
• Basil for serving, personally
• Salt
• Cheddar cheese (sharp, if ya can find)
  • Feel free to swap for another
  • I buy a block, and slice it thinly when I want some with a knife

Tools

• Blender
• Or, immersion blender

Optional: some folks thicken it with arrowroot or cornstarch. Arrowroot is known as a healthier thickener.

Directions

Chop onion and carrot into equal small pieces. Think mirepoix. Heat up a pot on low-medium heat and cook til transparent but not til brown. Once it lightens, throw in chopped garlic and cook for a little (1 min), then throw in tomatoes plus broth. Bring all of it to a boil.

Once it’s boiling, bring to a simmer, cook for ~10 minutes til tomatoes have disintegrated a bit into a nice mush. Make sure to stir occasionally.

[Blend] the soup

Remove from heat or turn it off, and blend the whole thing. I use my regular blender and transfer it from pot to blender, others might use an immersion blender and blend in the pot. Blend til it’s a puree. Careful with heat pressure build up if using a closed (lidded) blender –leave the inner lid open.

Once pureed, transfer back to pot. Bring to a simmer again, add a little (teaspoon) of sugar to help cut acidity of tomato.

Grilled cheese

Start on the grilled cheese around [Blend] so that it’s all ready at the same time. If you have other contraptions (like a panini press or toaster, then change accordingly) but I use a stovetop and the cast iron and it comes out perfectly.

Slice your cheese thinly. Butter the pan. Once the pan is starting to heat up, add in bread halves and lather the bread in the butter on both sides. If plant-based, use an oil – it’ll be so great. I go back and forth myself.

Let the bread begin to heat up on one side. Once that first side gets just the slightest bit hot, flip and place the thin slices of cheese on each, or only one half, depending on how much cheese you’d like.

After some bit of time, bring the two halves together. It’s up to you on melt and toast preference. It’s best to simply keep an eye on them as you go.

The heat of the pan will take care of the rest. Let it sit for a while, and then eventually flip the entire sandwich.

Finish it off

Don’t worry too much about over-simmering the soup once its come back from the blender, as long as its low heat. The flavors will fuse a bit more til you’re ready to serve.

Otherwise…it’s ready to eat! Time this alongside the grilled cheese process above, and toast the bread to your preference.

Pour soup into bowls, place a plate below for presentation and to cuddle the grilled cheese, and serve together.