Kitchen PLAY’s “30 Days of Grilled Cheese” Mini Grilled Cheese Sandwiches With Tomato Soup.

Nothing beats a great grilled cheese sandwich except another grilled cheese sandwich. A grilled cheese sandwich is one of those things that can only be topped by itself, but - and I say this with the utmost of reverence - a grilled cheese goes great with a bowl of tomato soup. I know it's a cliched and patterned response but grilled cheese and tomato soup go together like peanut butter and jelly.

Now before I get all into the nitty gritty of this recipe during April through May 1, Land O’Lakes will donate $1 to Feeding America every time someone pins or repins a Land O’Lakes recipe on Pinterest. That’s eight meals for a hungry family when you pin a recipe—and eight more every time anyone else repins it. Giving goes viral. Find your favorite Grilled Cheese recipe to pin on landolakes.com.

I used Land O'Lakes^® 4 Cheese Italian Blend - Land O'Lakes^® 4 Cheese Italian Blend is the best combination of the most flavorful Italian cheeses—Asiago, Parmesan and Romano—blended with the creamy goodness of Land O Lakes^® Deli American Cheese. Add this delicious cheese to everything from favorite dishes to lunchbox sandwiches or burgers hot off the grill. The creamy, decadent taste truly makes each dish an everyday masterpiece. The Land O’Lakes Test Kitchens have developed recipes and tips that highlight the wide range of uses for this cheese. Find recipes, photos and tips on the Taste of Italy product inspiration page at http://www.landolakes.com/4CheeseItalianBlend.

Let me first start with my tomato soup recipe - its easy, fast and delicious. I make it all the time for my son and it comes together in minutes.

Christo's Classic Roasted Tomato Soup

5 large tomatoes

1 small can tomato paste

1 small can tomato sauce

3 cloves of garlic

1 small onion chopped

4 cups water (roughly)

2 TBS of honey

salt and pepper to taste

4 TBS cornstarch (for thickener - optional)

On a grill, or in a grill pan or over the flame of your gas stove char roast the tomatoes. Once the tomatoes are evenly roasted on all sides let them cool before removing the charred skin and the seeds and place in a blender.  Sauté the garlic and the onions until tender and put in blender. Blend the tomatoes, onions and garlic until smooth. Put the tomato paste and tomato sauce in a sauce pan and stir until incorporated then add the contents of the blender. Add water to make 6 cups and heat gently to a steady simmer. Add honey and salt and pepper to taste then make a slurry with the cornstarch and add it the soup to thicken. Serve hot.

For my mini grilled cheese sandwiches I used little mini pita pocket breads and a grill pan. You can use a panini press and get the same results. I wanted the little pitas to look perfect with their little grill marks so I put a little butter on the sliced breads and grilled them empty till they were the color I wanted and then I put the cheese in them and heated until they were melted. I had tried to do the whole process in one whack and all I was left with was burnt cheese and a big mess so doing them separate was a lesson well learned.  I garnished my mini grilled cheese sandwiches with little slices of tomato, pickle and a parsley leaf secured with a toothpick.

 If I could only tell you one thing I would tell you that my son ate at least ten of these and two bowls of soup - I think that's a record. In fact by the second round he just said "just give me the pickles and tomatoes whole - I can't wait - these little grilled cheeses are the best!" So I did. 

1.                  Land O’Lakes has produced a variety of top-quality cheese products, from farm to table, for over 90 years. Land O’Lakes is a farmer-owned cooperative, consisting of independent farms, large and small. These farmers take pride in providing the best ingredients to go into all Land O’Lakes cheese products, so you know they care and it shows. You can get America’s favorite cheese sliced fresh at the deli counter, just how you like it, at a wide variety of grocery retailers and independent delis, primarily on the East Coast.

 Land O’Lakes cheese - a taste everyone loves.

*Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Land O’Lakes as part of the Kitchen PLAY Sidecar series. All opinions given are my own.