(more) ChEEse Please and Tomato Soup

Hi everyone! For those of you who spent my birthday with me THANK YOU! I had an amazing time and really appreciated everyone’s presence at all the fun festivities. :) After a long weekend I knew I would not be in the best state of mind to post (I am SO organized HA). I'm going to "throw in the towel" or take off the apron and get out of the kitchen for this post.

My ridiculously adorable apron I wore to my birthday!

(entry to follow)

With that said lets give it up for my sister Eli, all the way from San Francisco...

-Please enjoy my commentary-

Eli's Yummy/ Healthy/ Easy Tomato Basil Soup

It was a cold day in SF (what else is new)(stop complaining) and I was craving tomato soup and grilled cheese (again, what else is new).
Decided to head down to the Ferry Building to check out the organic shops with local cheeses and veggies.

Ended up getting most of ingredients from Ferry Building Marketplace. A bunch of specialty stores in one building and a pretty view of the water.

Ingredients Needed:
3/4 medium onion
5 large tomatoes
2 cans of whole-peeled tomatoes (it tastes better and your soup turns out more red if they're from Italy... don't ask me why, it just does). (Heard the same thing)
1 can of chicken broth
15-20 fresh basil leaves
2 fresh bay leaves
a splash of high quality balsamic
salt & pepper to taste

1. In your large soup pot put in 1 tblspn of olive oil and let the pot heat up.
2. Chop the 3/4 of an onion pretty finely and sautee until they turn clear
3. Place the bay leaves on top of the onion for 15 seconds so that the flavor really gets sucked into the onions before we add all the other ingredients.
4. Place your whole tomatoes in a pot of super hot water for 30 seconds and then peel off the top layer of skin. (this part is optional but I liked the consistency better without the skins) and then cut them into chunks and take out most of the seeds. It's ok if a few sneak by. (What’s up with me and my family and not enjoying tomato seeds?)
5. Cut up the canned whole peeled tomatoes

6. Place all of the chopped tomatoes into the pot.

7. Put the can of chicken broth in.

8. Turn the heat up and let the soup boil. Once it hits boiling turn it down to medium so it simmers, covered, for 20 minutes.
9. Place the 15-20 fresh basil leave into the soup for 1 minute. (you want to add the basil as late in the game as possible because it loses flavor the longer it cooks)

10. Use an emulsifier/ hand blender/ or a real blender (be careful not to burn yourself!) and emulsify until its broken down to a soup like texture. If you like chunky soup do it for a shorter period of time.
11. The last step, which really gives it a punch, is adding a splash of the best balsamic vinegar you have. I bought a 5 year aged bottle in oak from here!

Then Voila! You've got Eli's Healthy/Quick/Easy tomato soup!

I created my recipe by adopting several different ones from allrecipes.com. (Like sista, like sista)

Extra Crunchy Grilled Cheese

Bought us a fresh baked sourdough loaf from Acme Bread Company, after I heard this was one of the first places San Francisco sourdough ever popped up. (What about my absolute favorite, Boudins?)
Walked next door to the Cowgirl Creamery shop (coincidence that they are next to a fresh bread store? I think not.)(I think...SO)

Asked the lovely cheese man what cheese would be best for a grilled cheese and he provided me a large assortment of choices. However, because I'm a total failure at my first attempt at a cooking blog, I forgot to write down the names of the cheeses. (What a "newbie")

Instead, I will provide you with what I told him I wanted and he based his decision on these cheeses that I requested:

Fontina, Muenster, and Sharp Cheddar.

The cheeses in the picture are the closest thing to those that the lovely cheese man recommended for my delicious grilled cheese sandwich.

I sliced the loaf up into thick slices. Put some smart balance (hey every little bit helps right?)(Probably just as bad as the good stuff) in a pan and placed some slices down. I then flipped the slices and put pieces of each of the cheeses on top in an open-faced way in order to get all the layers to melt. I actually figured out that if you put the lid on a pan it melts the cheese a little faster and that way your bread doesn’t burn. Once the cheese was almost all the way melted i put the pieces together and cooked for 1-2 minutes on each side.

Dipped into the tomato soup, this was DELICIOUS. Just writing this makes me want to go make some more tonight. (Can I come?)

Enjoy! Until next week...