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Italian-style tomato soup and grilled cheese

Tomato soup and grilled cheese… who didn’t grow up eating this staple comfort food combo? This gourmet Italian-inspired version will delight your adult taste buds and transport the kid in you back to a time when someone else washed the dishes. 

Grilled cheese and tomato soup

Tomatoes are an enigma. While many people think they’re a vegetable, tomatoes are actually a fruit. They’re also one of the few veggies that can get healthier when they’re cooked by providing a higher concentration of lycopene, which can help fight prostate, stomach and colorectal cancers!

Diabetics will love the tomato’s chromium content, which can help them regulate blood sugar. Tomatoes also contain chlorogenic and coumaric acids, which helps smokers in the elimination of carcinogens. A tomato’s vitamin B and potassium content helps lower your blood pressure, reducing the likelihood of strokes and heart attacks. A rich source of vitamin A, they’re also great for your eyes and skin.

But made into tomato soup and combined with a grilled cheese sandwich, they’re an amazing way to improve the health of your bones and teeth. Tomatoes are rich in vitamin K, which is vital to the health of bones and teeth. And since cheese is an excellent source of calcium, this Italian-style tomato soup recipe and grilled cheese recipe will make your body and your inner-child happy and healthy.

Italian-style tomato soup recipe

Ingredients:

  • 2 (14.5 ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
  • 1/2 medium onion, diced
  • 7 ounces vegetable stock
  • 2 cloves garlic (about 1 teaspoon), minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
  • 1/4 teaspoon basil
  • 1 splash milk
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Feta cheese or Parmesan shavings for garnish

Directions:

  1. In a medium pot, sauté onion in cooking spray on medium-high heat until translucent.
  2. Add minced garlic, Italian seasoning, basil, salt and pepper and continue to sauté for 90 seconds, stirring constantly.
  3. Add the vegetable stock and stir; then add the tomato and milk.
  4. Turn the heat to high and bring to a boil uncovered, stirring occasionally.
  5. Reduce the heat and simmer for at least five minutes (up to 10).
  6. Serve topped with feta or Parmesan cheese shavings.

Italian-style grilled cheese recipe

Ingredients:

  • 4 slices crusty, rustic Italian artisan bread
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 4 (to 8) slices mozzarella
  • 8 slices provolone
  • Italian seasoning to taste

Directions:

  1. Preheat a skillet to medium to medium-high heat.
  2. Butter one side of each slice of bread and sprinkle with Italian seasoning.
  3. Place two slices of bread (buttered side down) into a skillet.
  4. Top with cheese (use the extra mozzarella if you want a cheesier sandwich) and place the other slices of bread on top of each, buttered side up.
  5. Grill the sandwiches on the first side until bread is browned and cheese has begun to melt. (While it’s OK to lightly press the top bread to the cheese, do not press so hard that you flatten the sandwich.)
  6. Carefully flip each sandwich to brown the other side.
  7. If the bread has browned before your cheese has melted, the heat was too high. If this happens, you can pop the sandwiches in the microwave for 10 or 15 seconds to finish melting.

More soup recipes

Rustic reduced-fat potato soup
Lentil soup recipe
Stuffed pepper soup recipe

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