Roasted Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese

It was finally that time of year! Time to make soup and grilled cheese sandwiches! This was my second attempt at a soup from scratch. I roasted the tomatoes myself, which was super easy. Here's the recipe I used for the soup:

www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/roasted-tomato-soup-recipe/index.html

I made a few little alterations. I added 1/4 tsp cayenne, for a little kick. And I also added about 2 tablespoons of rendered bacon fat, to make it savory and delicious. Because, lets be honest, bacon fat makes everything better. I used a good old counter top blender rather than a hand blender, and it worked out fine. I also recommend having a lot of fresh ground pepper on hand. It really helps balance the flavors.

For my grilled cheese, I used the following recipe:

www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/grilled-cheese-recipe/index.html

Yes. I used a recipe for grilled cheese. I wanted something a bit more than bread and cheese. I used my Foreman grill, which worked out AWESOME. That thing is so fabulous. If I make these sandwiches again, I'd actually use a combo of gruyere and cheddar. I think that would have played nicely with the bacon and apples. Oh, and I used plain dijon, but I think a hearty deli style mustard would have worked better. I remade them (sort of) a few days later and used a sweet and spicy mustard, and it was great.

Overall, both of these recipes were easy and crowd pleasing.