Vegan Grilled Cheese Sandwich and Tomato Soup

This soup and sandwich recipe is a delicious classic and very easy to make.  And who doesn't like an ooey-gooey, crispy vegan grilled cheese sandwich?  😃

This recipe makes two servings with some leftovers.

10 Roma Tomatoes

1 cup Water

1 tsp. Basil

1 tsp. Thyme

1/2 tsp. Brown Sugar

1/8 tsp. Cinnamon Powder

1 tsp. Salt

1/2 tsp. Ground Pepper

1/4 tsp. Hot Pepper flakes

1 loaf  loaf of Vegan French Bread;  sliced 

Vegan butter (I like Earth Balance);  at room temperature, so that it's soft

Daiya Mozarella Style Shreds

a sprinkle of Nutritional Yeast Flakes for each sandwich

more Salt to season

P R E P A R A T I O N 

1. Start by turning on the oven to 400° F.  Wash and clean the tomatoes, cut them in half and them place these halves onto a baking sheet.  Brush each tomato half with a little bit of cooking oil.  Bake them in the oven until they are soft, have wrinkled skin and you see slight charring around the edges.  This should take no longer than 20 minutes.
2. At this point, remove the tomatoes from the oven and let them cool down before pureeing them until smooth using a blender or emersion blender.
3. In a medium sized pot, add the blended tomatoes, the water, basil, thyme, brown sugar, cinnamon and cook over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes.  Finally, add the salt, ground pepper and hot pepper flakes.
4. To make the grilled cheese sandwich, heat a medium size skillet to medium to medium high heat.  Butter two slices of bread per person on one side.
5. Place one slice of bread butter side down into the pan and place the vegan cheese shreds on top.  Season the cheese with a sprinkle of nutritional yeast and a pinch of salt.  Now, add the second slice of bread on top with the buttered side facing up and cover the pan with a lid.  Keep an eye on the sandwich and flip it when the underside is a toasty golden brown.  Cover the pan again and wait for the second side to brown.  During this process, make sure to adjust the heat so that the bread does not burn before the cheese is melted.
6. When all sandwiches are prepped, cut them in half, ladle the soup into bowls and serve them together. 

       ♡ Nina