sorry, Jessy - it's not really outside the box, but everybody loves grilled cheese and tomato soup...

Could you make some grilled cheese sandwiches and cut them into little croutony type things? Is cheese OK?

mini grilled cheese sandwiches (bring on the Maytag!) - Stacy, its a spin on a classic pairing, thats what I'm thinking of!

cheese and eggs OK

Hi Jessy,

Can I come to your Tu B'Shvat seder? The boys are planting trees on Sunday at Hebrew school - love it:-)

What about goldfish crackers to top the soup? Sliced scallions, oyster crackers, cheesy popcorn? They all make good toppers for soup.

Grilled cheese sounds delicious too. Maybe small sourdough toasts with melted cheddar on them, to float on top.
DONNA

easty:

diced tomatoes (or salsa)
pesto
jalepeno peppers
goldfish or soup crackers
shredded cheese
sour cream
mini shells
fresh herbs -- basil
chick, cannelloni or black beans
seasoned croutons
pesto
seasoned rice

to name a few!

maryanne

Oh yes--try the mini grilled cheese croutons and let us know how they were! I cut a tomato soup recipe out of a mag recently, and they had those little sandwiches floating on top. They used thin sliced bread to make them, BTW.

crunchy onions

Home made croutons

s

If cheese is okay how about baked crispy parmesan-regianno (sp?) discs. Just spread some of that good stuff on cookie sheets and they form a crispy little disc. Very easy and delicious. I tried them after I saw Alton Brown do it. I think you just spray the cookie sheet with some pam and pour little circles.

Very good and a nice flavor combo with tomato soup!

Duane

Panko covered fried mozzerella, sliced avocado, chiffonade of basil, roasted garlic mixed with sour cream, and of course, just crumbled Maytag blue.
Linda C

giddily cutting/pasting.

Trader Joe's has a rennet free parmesan cheese (pregrated, grrr) made with cookie cutter shapes (Jewish stars, etc.)

We like the pairing of small cubes of feta as a garnish with tomato soup.

popcorn

Some great ideas!

I love the idea of a mini grilled cheese. Somewhere recently I saw a recipe for French onion soup that had the cheese in the middle of a large crouton floating on the soup. It looked amazing.....now where was that????

Creme fraiche, chopped herbs, celery or carrot sticks for stirring.

vodka with a celery stick to stir it... best as a cold soup

How about...
- cheese or pesto filled tortellini
- roasted corn and red pepper relish
- olive tapenade maybe spread on mini bread rounds (make sure it's not the variety with anchovies)

If you're doing the mini-grilled cheese sandwich/croutons, then I always like crisp dill pickles with that combo.

miniature pretzels

ROFLMAO Lyra can I call that a 'Bloody Miriam' since 'Bloody Mary' doesn't quite fit for such an event?

Sharon, TJs sells 'mini toasts', about an inch on each side. They would be perfect for mini cheese sandwiches.

Nancy, a while back I did a 'virtual tomato soup and grilled cheese dinner, and I ended up doing a feta and tomato combo!

What my mom used to make for cold gazpacho soup. Cut slices of toast into substantial squares (a bit bigger than a scrabble tile). Heat a thin layer of olive oil (maybe a tbs) in a cast iron skillet. Saute the toast and place on paper towels for a moment.
Yum.
Jo

My toaster oven can churn these out pretty quickly...I think I need a thicker layer of parmesan. (thats Reynolds Release foil, FWIW)

I'm heading out to run errands/pick up kids, but I'll compile a list of gleanings when I get back! I would LOVE to do tortellini but I don't have access to kosher ones, without rennet, for my-more-kosher-than-me friends.

Jessy, those are pure genius:-) I also loved the suggestion of pesto from Maryanne - that sounds amazing with tomato soup.
DONNA

I strongly second the idea of having some cheese/protein with this meal. With all that fruit, the concept of adding more carbs could put everyone into a blood sugar overload! Feta or blue cheese sounds great!
I'd like to see your tomato soup recipe, It's hard to find one that's non-dairy.
BTW I like your cheese "cookies".

oh yea - I had a good idea! :-)

Jessy those cheese thingies look great.

What great ideas. I also love the popcorn.

Can you do pesto with no nuts...I have two nut allergic people. Ah to bleep with it, I'll just make some and put a sign in the bowl that says 'pine nuts!'

Ellen, I'm using Trader Joe's Organic Creamy Tomato Soup. It meets my guests needs in (1) organic (2) marked kosher and (3) low sodium for one man. It has dairy, :-(. However - my favorite soup for company these days is Trinity Cafe Moroccan Soup - the secret ingredient is...peanut butter! People LOVE this soup, and its tweakable. No dairy!

Trinity Square Cafe Moroccan Tomato Soup

2 tb Olive oil
1 Onion, chopped
5 Cloves garlic, minced
1 cn Tomatoes (28 oz)
1 c Peanut butter
1 ts Cumin
1 tb Hot pepper sauce
2 tb Cayenne
1 tb Chili powder
2 tb White vinegar
1 ts Salt
1 ts Pepper
1 tb Sugar
1/4 c Tomato paste
2 c Water

In a large sauce pan, heat oil and fry onion and garlic until golden brown. Place the tomatoes and their liquid in a bowl, and crush the tomatoes with a potato masher or a spoon, breaking them into small pieces [I put the tomatoes through my food processor or blender first]. Add the tomatoes and their liquid to the onions, reduce heat to very low, add peanut butter, and stir until well combined. Add cumin, hot sauce, cayenne, chili, vinegar, salt, pepper, sugar, tomato paste and water, and stir until well combined. Cook over low heat at a bare simmering for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring frequently. (This soup burns very easily, so keep the heat low and don't allow it to come to a full boil.)

Is it "take your head off" hot??
I notice 2 tablespoons of cayenne, 1 tablespoon of hot pepper sauce, a tablespoon of chili powder and a teaspoon of black pepper...in what seems to be about 50 oz of soup....and 10 servings?
And I thought I was somewhat of a chilihead!!
Linda C

jessy, thanks for the recipe. You had my interest as soon as I saw cumin.

We also use TJ's organic soups for those evenings when I come home thrashed from work. Roasted pepper-tomato is a favorite.

I've have the ingredients in the pantry, so I think I'll try yours this evening. Nice and comfy for a rainy-day meal.

Jessy,
I ust tried the TJ tomato soup last week... really nice flavor. But your recipe! That sounds amazing. I've got some frozen pureed tomatoes from the garden. Now I know what to do next with them.

Linda, I'm a heat wus. I kind of wave the unopened jar of cayenne over the pot, and thats enough for me, ya know? Then I put it on the table for those who wish to abuse themselves. Good catch on that, I didn't modify the recipe to how I liked it.

I also forgot to mention that I use my stick blender to really make this creamy, what with the onions and leftover chunks of PB. And I probably double or even triple the cumin, I'm so bad. 'Hello my name is Jessica and I'm a cuminoholic....' (can you tell from the

Nancy and Spacific, when you make this, have someone taste it without telling them about the secret ingredient. I'd curious about reactions.

Just a pat of butter for me... lol

Rita

Thanks Jessy, it sounds yummy! What brand of peanut butter works well? I usually have lower fat creamy Skippy. Will that or Jif do the trick? Or do I need to buy the "natural style" butter?

DK Ellen, I think whatever brand suits you would be fine.

(Hey I'm getting a cake from Hansen's for this event, too! Delivered, no less)

How about these? I made them for my boss, she loved them.

Savory Two-Cheese Biscotti
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded extrasharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1/4 cup fat-free milk
2 teaspoons olive oil
3 large eggs
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°.
Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 5 ingredients (through pepper) in a large bowl. Combine milk, oil, and eggs; stir with a whisk. Add milk mixture to flour mixture, stirring until well blended (dough will be dry and crumbly). Turn out onto a lightly floured surface; knead 8 times. Divide dough in half. Shape each portion into an 8-inch-long roll. Place rolls, 6 inches apart, on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray; flatten to 1-inch thickness. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Remove from baking sheet; cool 10 minutes on wire rack.

Reduce oven temperature to 325°.

Cut each roll diagonally into 12 (2/3-inch) slices. Place slices, cut sides down, on baking sheet. Bake at 325° for 10 minutes. Turn biscotti over; bake an additional 10 minutes (biscotti will be slightly soft in center but will harden as they cool). Remove from baking sheet; cool completely on wire rack.

Yield: 2 dozen (serving size: 1 biscotto)

CALORIES 83 (30% from fat); FAT 2.8g (sat 1.5g,mono 0.5g,poly 0.1g); PROTEIN 3.9g; CHOLESTEROL 32mg; CALCIUM 80mg; SODIUM 160mg; FIBER 0.4g; IRON 0.8mg; CARBOHYDRATE 10.8g

Annie

jessy, I prepared the soup and automatically adjusted the cayenne amount, skipped the hot sauce, and used 1 tsb of pico de gallo for the chili powder (which must be somewhere behind the spice bottles, but I ran out of patience).

We had an Italian friend for dinner so I was a little hesitant about serving him the soup since he is very traditional in his eating. He loved it, and went for seconds. No one guessed that there was peanut butter in la zuppa but I didn't have a full cup left in the jar either, crunchy no less. He wanted to know the recipe but I was stumped on how to translate cumin -- our Italian-English dictionary has cuneiform but no cumin. We did learn that peanut butter is burro d'arachidi. Not sure when that phrase will ever come in handy.

Nancy glad you liked it. Could you have just opened the jar of cumin for your friend? One whiff and I think anyone would know what it is!

Here is what I'll be shopping for/cooking....can't do everything from scratch, I have to cut corners somewhere. Anything to add? Am I missing anything obvious?

Mini grilled cheese
Sliced scallions
Oyster crackers
Cheesy popcorn
diced veggies (or salsa)
pesto
shredded cheese
sour cream
basil
chick, cannelloni or black beans
seasoned croutons
pesto
pasta
crunchy onions
Parmesan shapes
Feta
Avocado
Check blue cheeses for kosher
Corn chips
Balsamic vinegars
Smoked paprika
AnnieÂs savory biscotti

Could you have just opened the jar of cumin for your friend?

As I mentioned, he's very conservative in his eating; if he didn't eat something by the age of 12, he probably won't eat it now -- unless tricked. I doubt that cumin is widely used in Romagna, and I didn't want to scare him away from something new, although he has had cumin in my vegetable stews.

You should hear his horror stories (raw fish! yucky rice!) as he tries to negotiate the Japanese cuisine of his in-laws. He now brings his own pasta to the family dinners, and he's taught his wife to make piadina.

Your list of garnishes is wonderful.

Here are some parve options: chopped green (or some other color) sweet peppers; chopped hard boiled eggs; chopped cilantro; chopped scallion (the white & green parts separated); a sprinkle of fine extra virgin olive oil; chopped pitted black olives (the wrinkly kind).

Mazel tov.