Tomato / Spinach / Parmesan Soup

With grilled cheese, OBVIOUSLY.

If you have an immersion blender (and you should), this is one of the quickest, easiest meals you could possibly whip up. I often have all of the ingredients on hand, too.

Roughly chop some onion and garlic, throw it in a pot with some other stuff, immersion blend it, and mix in milk and cheese. The accompanying grilled cheese is generally Jess's job, and I can make the soup from start to finish faster than he can assembly the grilled cheeses and melt them in the panini press.

Stuff thrown into a pot.

Stuff thrown into a pot, blended.

It also works with goat cheese in place of the parmesan if you like your tomato soup creamier. But I like the nutty bite of the parmesan. It goes really well with the basil and spinach.

The Recipe:

1 tb olive oil

1 onion, roughly chopped

3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

1 bunch spinach leaves

28 oz tomatoes, pureed

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp dried basil (or 1/4 c fresh basil leaves)

1 1/2 c milk (I use 2%)

3 tb parmesan cheese, grated

salt and pepper, to taste

• Saute onion in olive oil over medium-high heat until softened
• Add garlic, saute 1 more minute
• Add spinach, tomatoes, sugar, basil, salt, and pepper. Cook over medium heat until spinach is wilted.
• Blend with immersion blender until desired consistency.
• Turn off heat and mix in milk and parmesan cheese. Heat over medium-low if necessary to warm the milk through.
• Serve with additional parmesan cheese on top and grilled cheese for dipping.

The Verdict:

Overall grade: A+

Overall reason: Ridiculously easy for something so delicious.

Time to prepare: 10 minutes

Husband quote: "Mmm, grilled cheese." (But he seems to like the soup, too.)