Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese

Once upon a time, a long time ago I used to love to cook. The husband and I cooked often. Date nights consisted of going to gourmet grocery stores and whipping up a meal together in our kitchen with a glass of wine in hand and Train on the iPod.

Cooking is something so different now. I'm constantly trying to expose the kids to new foods while feeding the adults as well. Shortly after the babies turned 11 months being a short order cook was wearing on my last nerve and we (the adults) were eating takeout at 10 p.m. too often. I decided that the kids were going to start sitting with us at dinner and eating what we eat. What a godsend (and seriously, why didn't I think of this sooner?).

I usually prep for more detailed dinners during their nap and once Joe gets home he takes over while I finish getting dinner ready. Or I start the meal the night before (after the kids go to bed) and finish it the next day. I've also mastered the art of the twenty minute meal. Tonight we put a ridiculously easy and yummy one together, so I snapped off a few iPhone photos before serving my screaming mimis.

Pesto grilled cheese with mozzarella and tomatoes based on this recipe. I say based on, because I make a pretty mean pesto so I didn't use the recipe for that, and the rest isn't rocket science :) These sandwiches are really rich. The kids and I shared one, and Joe managed to eat one all by his lonesome. They *loved* it. Add pesto to the list of things my kids will eat. Sweet.

And tomato basil soup. I followed this recipe to a T. After eating this I will never eat tomato soup from a can again. This recipe took under 15 minutes to put together from pulling stuff out of the fridge and cupboards to ladling into a bowl. So easy and SO GOOD.

Enjoy :)