Since yesterday was my turn to host our weekly Mah Jong game and the weather is going “polar vortex” (a fancy way to say that it is really, really cold!), I decided to serve a true cold weather lunch. Using recipes from the Barefoot Contessa, I made her body-warming Tomato Soup. So easy and so delicious.

I needed something to serve with the soup and then I remembered an episode of Barefoot Contessa on The Food Network in which she had tried many different ways to make grilled cheese sandwiches but had finally come up with what she called “The Ultimate Grilled Cheese.” I thought that would be a perfect complement to the tomato soup so I brought out the panini maker (why I own this I really don’t know – I think I have used it all of once before) and made those sandwiches. Continue reading →