Green Chile Tomato Soup

Green chiles in tomato soup? What the what!?

Yeah, I did that. And it was awesome. I do what I want!

Sometimes I really crave melted cheese. Or even burnt cheese. Crispy, hard, cooked-too-far cheese. Anyone else? No? Maybe? It's hard for me to rationalize eating large sums of crispy cheese for dinner. Luckily, America has created a delicious solution for this. GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICHES! Just make sure to overcook and overstuff, then you'll for sure end up with some crispy cheese.

The problem with grilled cheese sandwiches is this: I can't justify eating them without some sort of vegetable nearby. Sometimes I include spinach and avocado to spruce things up. Othertimes, I just make tomato soup and call it a day. You all know you love dipping crispy grilled cheese into delicious tomato soup: it's a childhood necessity. I don't actually think I ever did this in my childhood, as I'm pretty sure my first grilled cheese was in college; however, I will still pretend I was a normal kid. I was. Totally. #not

This soup was adapted from Jessica at How Sweet It Is. She has some ridiculously good-looking food. On the regular. This showed up in my feed a few weeks ago and I knew I had to make it. I tweaked it here and there, the biggest change being the addition of green chiles. Spice it up! For myself, I made grilled cheese croutons (um, make a grilled cheese and then cut it into cubes). For Derek, I just made grilled cheese. If you don't know how to make a grilled cheese... google it. I highly recommend the in-the-oven method. 100%.

Green Chile Tomato Soup

Adapted from How Sweet It Is

2 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 onion, diced
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon dried basil
½ teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 4 oz can of green chiles
2 tablespoon tomato paste
2 (28-ounce) cans diced tomatoes
3-4 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable stock
1 cup sour cream

In a heavy soup pot, heat olive oil and butter over medium heat. Add onion, and cook until starting to soften (5 minutes). Add all spices and garlic, and cook for another minute. Add green chiles and tomato sauce, and stir to incorporate fully, cooking for another 5 minutes. Pour in tomatoes and stock, and mix to combine. Let the mixture simmer for 45 minutes. Use an immersion blender, or use a regular blender in batches, to blend the mixture smooth. Add more stock if necessary, to your desired consistency. Stir in sour cream completely.

Serve with grilled cheese!