There are few things I like more in life than grilled cheese. Or pizza. Hmmm anything involving cheese and carbs apparently? Anyway, after I finished up at the gym last Monday, Howie cut our phone call short because he was being summoned to half-off pizza night at Angelo's Pizza...only my favorite pizza place in all of Cleveland! Pizza was officially on my mind, and this epic sandwich was born. I took the typical grilled cheese sandwich topped with American cheese and turned it up a notch, adding provolone, pepperoni, spinach and some Italian herbs. It tasted just like pizza, especially when dipped in some warm marinara sauce on the side. YUM.
Even though I cook all sorts of extravagant dinners, fancy desserts, and appetizers to please a crowd, there is nothing I like more than grilled cheese and homemade tomato soup. I'm like a kindergartner! Ask Howie, I even order it from any restaurant that has it on it's menu! My record is having it 4 times in a 5 day period (if that isn't true love than I don't know what is)! One of my favorite things about grilled cheese and tomato soup is how fast you can whip it up after a long day. You know those days I'm talking about right? The days when you wanted dinner a half hour ago and your stomach is eating itself on the drive home. Good news! You can forever ditch the crummy canned tomato soup that's loaded with sodium and preservatives and make my homemade version instead. I promise, 10 minutes. Well, maybe 15 if you include making the grilled cheese too!
It finally felt like fall yesterday! Yes, I'm one of the weirdos that actually prefers sweater weather over the 80 degree days. In honor of the first chilly (and rainy) day of September, Howie and I both thought it was appropriate to make a classic cold weather dish: grilled cheese sandwiches and a hearty soup. We spent a little too long debating what kind of soup to make, but decided that the prerequisites were that it had to be a) thick b) filling c) ideally include some veggies (since soup is the only way Howie can eat them) and d) taste good with grilled cheese. We ended up choosing one of my favorite homemade soups, a roasted red pepper tomato bisque that my mom started making a few years ago. The creamy, herb-filled soup paired with the crunchy grilled cheese paninis that Howie made was a truly unbeatable combo!
