Vegan Tomato Soup w/ Grilled Cheese Croutons
This year, like every year, I have a New Year’s diet resolutions, I am trying to go all vegan this is why some of my past blogs have being vegan recipes. But I am going slowly with it just because i have heard that its bad when you just do it over night, there are actually some delicious vegan food that will not make you think that is vegan at all, Just like this amazing tomato soup (wholesome) with grilled cheese croutons (fun!). It’s all vegan but I promise you won’t even know it because it’s so creamy even though there is no actual cream. We’re sponsoring ALDI on this post because they carry delicious organic products and some A+ pantry staples as well.
I was looking the other day for a store that has the most Organic products, when we got to ALDI, they had a lot of that, their organic fresh tomatoes just looked so damn good. So I roasted onions, tomatoes, and garlic which I later blended with canned tomatoes, chickpeas, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and fresh thyme.
This soup is SO good. It’s tangy from the tomatoes, creamy from the chickpeas, and so so satisfying. I’d say yes to a bowl of this every day.
It’s delicious on its own, but the fun, yummy grilled cheese croutons really take it over the top. I used ALDI’s Knock Your Sprouts Off Sprouted 7 Grain Bread and their Earth Grown Vegan Shredded Cheese. I have to tell you that I’m so excited about this vegan cheese because: 1 – it tastes really good, 2 – it actually melts great, and 3 – it’s so affordable!
Vegan Tomato Soup w/ Grilled Cheese Croutons
Prep time
15 mins
Cook time
30 mins
Total time
45 mins
Serves: serves 3-4
Ingredients
3 garlic cloves, unpeeled
4 medium fresh tomatoes
1 small yellow onion, sliced into quarters
1 (14-ounce) can Happy Harvest Diced Tomatoes with Basil, Garlic, and Oregano
⅓ cup Dakota's Pride Garbanzo Beans, rinsed
1 tablespoon Specially Selected Balsamic Vinegar
½ teaspoon Specially Selected 100% Pure Maple Syrup
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
1 tablespoon SimplyNature Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil, more for drizzling
¼ to ½ teaspoon Stonemill Crushed Red Pepper flakes
Heaping ½ teaspoon Stonemill Sea Salt
freshly ground Stonemill Black Pepper
for the croutons:
8 slices SimplyNature Knock Your Sprouts Off Sprouted 7 Grain Bread
heaping ½ cup Earth Grown Vegan Mozzarella Style Shreds
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 450° F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Wrap the garlic cloves in a piece of foil and place it on the baking sheet along with the whole tomatoes and the onion wedges. Drizzle with olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper and roast for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the tomatoes and onions are well browned. Peel the garlic and transfer the roasted vegetables to a blender.
Reduce the oven heat to 400° F and line the baking sheet with a fresh sheet of parchment paper.
Make the croutons: Sprinkle 4 slices of the sprouted bread with the vegan shredded cheese (don't pile too high in the middle or the croutons will be too melty to slice). Top with the remaining bread slices to make sandwiches and drizzle the outsides of the bread with olive oil. Bake until the cheese is melted and the bread is golden brown, about 8 minutes. Let cool completely before slicing into croutons so that the cheese doesn’t ooze out when you cut it.
To the blender, add the canned tomatoes, garbanzo beans, balsamic vinegar, maple syrup, thyme leaves, 1 tablespoon olive oil, red pepper flakes, ½ teaspoon sea salt, and freshly ground pepper and blend until creamy (a Vitamix is ideal here. If using a regular blender, just blend longer!). Taste and adjust seasonings as desired. At this stage, the soup should still be hot. If not, pour it into a pot to reheat it.
Serve the soup with the croutons (some in the soup, some on the side) and additional fresh thyme, red pepper flakes, and chickpeas, if desired.
Notes
note: this soup serves 4 if you serve each bowl with 1 sandwich worth of grilled cheese croutons (as written). If you make the soup without these substantial croutons, it makes 3-4 smaller side-dish servings. Serve with a salad or double the recipe to serve more. Make this recipe gluten free by using gluten free bread.