Soup and Sammich in One Bite! Grilled Cheese with Tomato Soup Built-in

 There are tons of recipes for making delicious grilled cheese sammiches.  You can add tomatoes, caramelized onions, avocado and even BACON...but I like to keep my grilled cheese fairly simple, while adding a complicated satisfying flavor. Instead of lots of bulky veggies and/or meats, I am going to share with you how to make a grilled cheese that has the tomato soup already built in! It's crazy good and received rave reviews from my friendly test kitchen tasters (aka starving friends).

Warning-I am a fat kid stuck in the body of a skinny girl, nothing about this sammich is healthy food! Consuming said sammich may produce an overwhelming urge to sprawl out and nap somewhere (aka "the itis"). Please be responsible and only nap in designated napping areas.

     

ENOUGH TALK!!!

For the tomato soup spread (this is just a guideline, I added ingredients to taste, knock yourself out tinkering with different quantities and seasonings) :

• Plain cream cheese (you can use these spreadable kind or the "block" kind, I prefer the "block") I used a half a block of cream cheese, saved the rest of bagels.  Let it soften up a bit
• a small pile of sun dried tomatoes (the marinated kind in a jar, they are usually seasoned already, which is nice)
• 1/4-1/2 cup  Tomato Soup
• A little onion powder (to taste)
• A little garlic powder or minced garlic (to taste)

Throw the cream cheese and sun dried tomatoes into a food processor (I have one of the Ninja Master Prep choppers, works great for this, but I had to keep scraping the sides down) Let it chop up and blend the sun dried tomatoes into the cream cheese.  I wanted little-to-no chunky tomato bits, it had to be smooooooth! Add the tomato soup (it thins the mixture out and adds more tomato flavor).  Taste it, let your tongue tell you what it needs. If the tomato flavor doesn't pop out at ya, add more tomatoes etc. I felt that a little dash of onion and garlic powder enhanced the flavor. Like I said feel free to go crazy, if you want it to have a little heat, throw a dash of cayenne pepper in there, or some fresh peppers, do what feels right!

Once you get it seasoned to your liking, scoop it out of the food processor and put it in a container (the half block makes enough for several sandwiches, it keeps in the fridge 4-5 days) You can use it right away or you can put it in the fridge overnight and let the flavors twist and shout together.  If you do refrigerate it, you may need to let it soften up before you can easily spread it (or zap it in the microwave for 10 seconds and give it a stir).  It tastes pretty good on its own, you could spread it on any number of things, or add more sour cream and make it a dip for veggies and chips.

Now for the construction of the grilled cheese, in addition to the tomato spread you just made, you'll need:

• Bread - I've used a couple of different types of bread, but I'm still a fan of the Old School Wonderbread, it's so tender and it absorbs the flavors so effortlessly.
• Butter- for the grilled  outside of the sammich, let it soften to room temp so it spreads without destroying your bread, or if you must, use margarine. (I've also tried Mayo on the outside of the sammich, it's not my favorite, but it worked and tasted ok)
• Cheese - (duh)  I usually use White American and some shredded Vermont White Cheddar, both  melt smoothly together.  If you prefer other cheeses, give them a try, Gouda with Havarti or Provolone or mmm Gorgonzola. There are a bazillion choices and combinations, you could eat a different grilled cheese sammich everyday for months.

Makin the sammich!! 

First things first, make sure all your supplies are ready. Things start to come together very quickly, so have the tomato spread & butter softened, cheeses grated or sliced, bread and plates at hand! And don't forget a spatula! Oh yeah, you'll also need a largish pan lid (one that can cover two slices of bread).

Heat up a pan to about medium heat (I use an electric griddle, especially if I'm making a lot of sammiches, but any old pan on the stove top should work, it helps if it's big enough for two slices of bread)

I like to toast one side of my bread (the inside side, where the cheese will live). Using a toaster oven is the easiest or you can toast it under the broiler of a regular oven. It doesn't take long so DO NOT take your eyes off of it.  Toasting gives the bread more stability and texture. You could toast both sides if you wanted, heck that's probably easier, but I just toast the one side.

Looks a little like peanut butter

• After toasting, slather the butter on the outside side (un-toasted & grill bound) and slather the tomato spread on the inside side (freshly toasted and just waiting for it). 
• Put 2 slices of bread on the pan butter side down (tomato spread side up), put a slice of American on one slice and sprinkle the shredded cheddar on the other. Now this might sound crazy, but now put a lid on it!  Even on the electric griddle, I put a lid over  the two open faced sides of the sammich, it helps melt the cheeses faster. 
•  Keep the slices covered about a minute or until the cheese is melted (whichever comes first), then give it another minute or two uncovered (peek under an edge to see if the buttered side is browned. If you see small amounts of fast rising smoke close to the pan, it's probably time), then carefully flip one side over onto the other (the American slice side is usually easier, but do be careful, the cheese is in a molten lava like state and could get everywhere and/or melt your flesh off). 

CRAZY OPTION: On occasion, when I'm feeling particularly squirrely, I will toss a few potato chips on one of the slices before closing up the sandwich.  I wait until the very last moment so they stay kind of crunchy (otherwise they turn into something that tastes like potatoes au gratin inside the sammich, which is still tasty, but it's not what I aim for when adding the crunchy chips). Ruffles Sour Cream and Cheddar are excellent also BBQ chips go well. Let your freak flag fly!  

So now you know how to make a tasty grilled cheese sammich has built in tomato soup flavor! I decided to write up with this recipe after I searched the interwebs for a sammich recipe with built in tomato soup flavor, but only found tips for tasty grilled cheese or recipes that were full of real veggies or meats.  

I hope you kids give it a try! If you reinvent the wheel or make a proud discovery feel free to let me know, we can discuss it over a nice hot plate of awesome!