Tomato Soup: French Onion Style

It's possible I may have stumbled upon "the next BIG thing"  

...at least for our family and for our kitchen...

Remember back in the 1980's when we all discovered

 that we could make nachos in the microwave??

That was pretty awesome. 

I'm fairly certain we were all enjoying plates of steaming 

(albeit slightly soggy) and also very hot in some spots 

nacho masterpieces... 
1980's microwave nachos were

 an almost everyday occurrence 

one summer in our house...

...And it wasn't too much longer 
when we were all making those 

English muffin pizzas...

Remember those??

  A culinary awakening...  

So many topping choices and it was 

yet another way to enjoy the microwave...

This culinary breakthrough I dreamed up, well...

...it might be up there with those great gems from past decades... 

I'm not saying it's the next "salted caramel" dessert or anything...

but it definitely has some amazing qualities... 

And then... and then I actually made it.

...wait until you see how it turned out....

It all began the other day... 

I had a random thought ...  
(as I am known to do)        

Why is it that French onion soup the only soup 

to get a melt-y, bubbly, gooey, glorious layer of 

cheese melted all over the top of it??

Is it because it's "French"

... Is it extra fancy??  

Or is this just how it's always been??

Why??  

I can think of a few other soups 

that could benefit from a nice melt-y, 

layer of cheesy goodness on top....

So my first thought was this... 

tomato soup.  

So... this is what I did:

Make Croutons:

Melt 4 TBS butter

Add 2 TBS good olive oil

Add 1 tsp garlic salt and 1 tsp Italian seasoning

Use the butter and oil mixture to coat coat 

both sides of thinly sliced baguette... or other hearty bread slices.

Toast on a parchment lined cookie sheet for 10 -15 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

When bread is bubbling and starting to toast, 

sprinkle toasts with 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan.

I let my little toasts cool a few minutes...

I heated up my favorite tomato bisque... (store bought is fine)  

I filled an over proof mug 3/4 or most of the way full,
 with hot tomato soup.  

Make sure your container is oven proof, 

most items will say so on the bottom...

if the container doesn't say or you're not sure...

keep looking for one that does say 'oven proof'.

I added a few of the toasted garlic Parmesan croutons...

 they are going to soak up some of the soup and...
Spoiler Alert:
 become unbelievable!!

Next, I added a slice of monterey jack cheese

 AND like any good cheese lover...I then added a second slice of mozzarella... 

Two kinds of cheese = fancy...
because, it is after all, "French onion style"

On a lined tray, 

I carefully placed the filled mug 

with the cheese slices resting on top.... 

I broiled on low...until the cheese was melted, 

bubbly and lightly golden...  

 A work of tomato soup art.

This was so good... 

like a deconstructed grilled cheese and tomato soup lunch

 or 

maybe like a fancy adult-French restaurant soup... 

Either way...

It was just plain g-o-o-d...

really G-O-O-D! 

Dare I say great??  Yes, it was great!!

Two thumbs up!!

So the next time you need to fancy up a Tuesday night dinner... 

think of this version of tomato soup... 

it took regular tomato soup to the next level of tomato soup goodness... 

...a transformation.

I am convinced this may now be the only way to have tomato soup...  

...French onion style.

Until next time... I will be here making some of those 1980's microwave nachos...

...I will also be hard at work thinking up other culinary breakthroughs...

 or I might just entertain a few random thoughts...

(I think the latter two statements might be one in the same...)

Thanks as always, for reading and visiting the blog.  Cheers.