Fall is soup season.
Change my mind, I dare you.
Every year, I am so excited for the first dip in the Florida temperature to break out my favorite homemade tomato soup and fancy grilled cheese recipe because it brings me life. Fortunately, I have the best recipe, and I thought I’d share it so I can spread the joy and the appreciation for this particular time of year.
The story behind the recipe
I have been making this recipe for years. And by years, I mean I started making it in 2025 when I found a really good recipe on Pinterest and decided to modify it to make it my own while simultaneously telling people I’ve been making it for years.
It all began in 2025. I wasn’t hungry, but the Florida temp dropped below 80, and I decided it was time to break out my winter weather wardrobe and a fall-appropriate recipe. Unfortunately, I had none of the ingredients for this recipe, which required I leave my house (zero stars) and make a trip to Publix to purchase ingredients.
It was then I was hit with overwhelming road rage. Someone driving on the boulevard in front of me doing 27 in a 45 when we all know 60 is the correct speed. That road rage continued the entire six miles to Publix, where that motherfucker parked right next to me and hit my car with their door.
That’s when I decided to kill him. Fucking snowbird who probably should have lost his license when he turned 100 but did not. There, right in the Publix parking lot at 11 am, I hit him over the head with the shovel I keep in the back of my giant SUV for the sole purpose of nefarious criminal activity. With superhuman strength that comes from three days a week in an intense vinyasa yoga class (do you guys want me to do a blog post about that because I will), I heaved his body into the back of my trunk (I can also link my weather tech mats here if you’d like because those beauties surely do a wonderful job of keeping the blood out of my car) and ran in to grab the ingredients I needed.
Thank goodness it was a cool day in Florida because it did keep the body from decomposing quickly and leaving an unpleasant odor in my car.
My road rage was intensified in the store, however. People stopping in the middle of aisles and not moving. One woman decided to stop in the center of the doors to clean her cart for 17 minutes, so I ran her down. Now I’m two bodies deep, and I still need to find the perfect Campari tomatoes (and I did).
By the time I left the store, I had 4 bodies in the back of my car. That XL is such a dream, because I also had plenty of space for my groceries. Should I link it? By the time I got home, I was feeling much better. It had warmed up a bit, so I decided to go ahead and remove the bodies from the back of the Yukon and bury them. I had some new fall plants to plant, so the timing was actually perfect.
Honestly, I do think my hydrangeas grow so nicely around my pool deck because of that morning sun and the afternoon shade, but perhaps it’s the decomposing bodies beneath them that give them that little bit of extra nutrient to thrive. I don’t know. I suppose I could plant some more and see how they work out without the decomp beneath the soil and let everyone know. Is that a blog post you guys are interested in?
Ingredients
4 lbs. Campari tomatoes
EVOO
1 sweet onion (cut it into 8 large pieces)
12 cloves garlic (halve them)
Salt
Pepper
Oregano
Paprika
1 cup vegetable broth
¼ cup heavy cream
Fresh basil
Noteworthy information
If you don’t see a measurement next to an ingredient, don’t ask me for one. I measure with love, so I don’t know what to tell you.
Instructions
- Heat oven to 450 degrees
- Cut tomatoes in half and add to a large glass baking dish along with the onion, the garlic, and drizzle with EVOO
- Season with salt, pepper, oregano, and paprika
- Bake for 40 minutes
Transfer the finished dish into your dutch oven and add the basil. Next, you need to use your immersion blender to blend until everything is smooth. Add your broth and cream, stir, and let it simmer for a while on a low setting to keep it warm.
Fancy grilled cheese
And here’s the real star of this show – the fancy grilled cheese. You will not find me using bagged bread slices – ever – or cheese that looks like a square. This is not 1986. You’ll need a loaf of something fresh baked, a French sourdough is a lovely choice. You’ll also need your favorite cheeses. I’m a big fan of a gruyere and a Havarti.
Butter your bread as you do, and then add your cheese. I also like to make some crisp, thick bacon, and I also like to add lemon zest and fresh thyme to the buttered loaf. Now you just make your grilled cheese, serve it with a bowl of your tomato soup, and enjoy.
It’s also possible you could try growing your own ingredients for this at home using the dead body decomp soil to grow stronger, fresher ingredients.
And if you think that I actually killed four people and buried them in my flower beds, you’re crazy because I would literally never put that much effort into anything, but this is how all of your fucking recipes read. Next time, just give me the recipe and save the life story for your therapist.
ENJOY!!!
