Grilled Cheese Croutons

On a cold and rainy day, not much sounds better to eat than hot soup and a yummy sandwich. Living in Seattle, we get those days a lot. Grilled cheese dipped in tomato soup is one of my favorite combinations, so creating little bite size crouton versions of these sandwiches to go directly into the soup was life-changing. And by making the croutons fun little shapes, even my kids are interested enough to eat the tomato soup.

I found these mini cookie cutters that had a variety of little shapes that were about 1 inch in diameter - tiny, but perfect for little croutons. Make up a grilled cheese sandwich as usual and the little cutters slice right through the sandwich making adorable hearts, flowers, stars, etc. (They're perfect for cutting shapes into fruit, veggies or cheese as well.) You can also make a more plain-jane version by slicing the sandwich into small squares with a knife. Top your soup with the cut-out shapes for extra gooey cheesy goodness!

Winner, Winner, Easy Dinner: Carrot-Caraway Soup

Weeknight dinners can be rough. Plan something too ambitious and you end up chopping, stirring, and straining way past dinnertime. Not good if you’re someone like me who gets angry when hungry (sidenote: when I’m being mean, my husband’s first question is “when did you eat last?”). Don’t plan enough and you end up eating something you really wish you hadn’t (in my case, my toddler’s partly congealed cheesy noodles).

I love the idea of cooking weeknight dinners, but they need to be easy enough to execute quickly (preferably within the length of a 22-minute cartoon), delicious enough to make it worth the effort, and nutritious enough to leave plenty of mental wiggle room for dessert. With that in mind, we’ll be bringing you easy dinner recipes in our Winner, Winner, Easy Dinner series.

Up first: a silky soup featuring the humble carrot.

Carrot-Caraway Soup
Caraway is an old-fashioned flavor that’s making a comeback. It adds something unique to this vitamin-packed soup.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, chopped
1 large shallot, chopped
1½ pounds carrots (about 6 big carrots), peeled and chopped
2 teaspoons caraway seeds
½ teaspoon salt
4 cups chicken stock
Sour cream and dill for garnish (optional)

Directions
Melt the butter in a large pot over medium high heat. Add the onion and shallot and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the carrots and cook until softened, about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the caraway seeds and salt and cook for 1 minute.

Add the chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then cover, reduce heat, and simmer until carrots are very soft, about 30 minutes.

Puree the soup either in a blender (caution: hot soup expands when blending...start your blender on a low speed and hold the lid with a towel) or with an immersion blender in the pot. Taste and season with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish each bowl with a dollop of sour cream and a little dill.

Serves 4.

Get the printable recipe.

Recipe adapted from The Bon Appetit Cookbook: Fast, Easy, Fresh