Homestyle Cooking: Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Crustinis

I'm pretty sure I've said this before (and probably will again)...I could eat soup all year round (easily). 
I love soup.  I do enjoy canned coup when I'm feeling lethargic, but canned soup ain't got nothin' on homemade soup!  We've just had our first couple of light snowfalls central New York (a couple of inches) and occasional snow flurries throughout the week.  The winter coat is already in use and the snow brush has come out of its long slumber in the trunk of my 90s grandpa-sedan during the warm seasons.  Winter really feels like it's just around the corner.  Or down the block.

This recipe for homemade tomato soup comes from a cooking blog, Sips and Spoonfuls, that I stumbled upon doing some recipe research.  I followed the recipe loosely and also blended for a fraction of the time recommended for a chunkier soup.  I also used what I already had on hand, so a little improvisation was made.  Listed below are the ingredients I used.

Ingredients:

(soup) 
2 tbs olive oil

1 small onion, diced

2-3 green onions, roughly chopped

8 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

8-10 plum tomatoes

1 tsp dried basil powder ( you can use fresh)

2 cups vegetable stock

2 cups chicken stock

1 tsp sugar

salt, pepper and red chili flakes to taste

handful of chopped parsley to garnish

other (optional) garnishes: 

french-fried onions

croutons

sour cream

shredded cheese/parmesan cheese

(crustini)
Bagette of choice in 1/2" slices (I used a Tuscan bagette)
butter
sliced cheddar cheese

Heat oil in large saucepan and add onion. Once it starts to get translucent, add garlic.  Cook for 5 minutes or low-medium heat or until fragrant.  Add diced tomatoes, basil powder, chicken/vegetable stock, sugar, salt, pepper and chili flakes. Simmer on low covered for about 40-60 minutes.  Blend soup with an immersion blender until desired smoothness or transfer to blender half at a time.  For crustinis, butter each slice of bagette.  Add 2-3 sliced of cheddar cheese between two slices.  Heat large pan to low-medium heat and spray with a little extra virgin olive oil spray.  Cook until each side is lightly brown and cheese is melted.  Enjoy! 

I originally bought the Tuscan bagette for butter slices and dipping into the soup.  Mini grilled cheese sandwiches seemed like a better option after I was done making the soup.  I also was able to cook six crustini in a large pan at once, which made me think of this side morphed into a party appetizer.  Hmmmm....

-Caroline