Four Cheeses are Better than One

We had a handful of visitors swing by our place in Dallas. Just a handful (Andy, Bea, Jill, Eric, Bruce, Rona, am I forgetting anyone else?) in a whole year.  When we moved to Richmond I thought we would never see anyone. Boy was I wrong (and glad to be). Andy -the best man- came the day after we moved in. We werent the slightest bit settled but he helped us get a little closer to getting there.

Kristen- maid of honor- came down from D.C. last weekend. We already had it on the books for her to visit but luckily we had a holiday and she took 1 day off so we got to visit for 4.5 days! Since I am nesting, I am all about comfort food. And what is better than tomato soup and grilled cheese.....I cant think of a thing.

You can probably guess what tools where used in the making of this magical goodness; the crockpot, the griddler and the ice cream maker!

Here is the recipe for the the soup. Kristen and I went out to grab our ingredients. I wasnt fully committed to what kind of cheese I wanted to use so I chatted up the cheese lady at Kroger. Not my friend from Whole Food but the lady at Kroger is totally cool in my book too. She said her favorite grilled cheese was mozzarella, provolone, cheddar and goat cheese. YUM! I already had goat cheese so I grabbed the other 3 and headed home.

Since I had been slaving over the soup all day. I left it to Jeff to make the sandwiches: grilled cheese on rye. I figured he would have a good time with the Griddler since that was more of a man thing, like a grill you get to use inside? (thanks shower hostesses!)

Maybe I was just tired after I had whipped up this soup and this unbelievable ice cream!  I mentioned before that Kristen had bought me that great book for ice cream and other frozen treats.

It was a really hard decision since I plan to eat everything in this book eventually. Here is how it goes:

2 cups half and half

1/4 cocoa powder

1/2 sugar

pinch of salt

1/2 smooth peanut butter

Whisk the half and half, cocoa powder, sugar and salt in a large sauce pan. Heat, whisking frequently until it comes to a full rolling boil (it will start to foam up). Remove from heat and whisk  in the peanut butter stirring until completely blended. Chill thoroughly, then finish the process in your ice cream maker.

In the last 5 minutes, I added broken up pieces of Reese's peanut butter cups and topped it all off with hot fudge goodness. Ah, this is the good life.

I decided it would be best to keep the ice cream maker bowl in the freezer at all times so that I can just grab it when I need it for emergencies. Seriously, who has the time to wait for it to freeze every time you want to use it. Keep it ready for immediate use is the only way to go. 

Next we will have my Mom + stepdad followed by MIL+FIL, a one day drive by featuring BIL. Its going to be a packed house for T-giving. 8 people + 4 dogs. I accidentally watched Meet the Fockers (again) last week, not a good idea since our parents are meeting for the first time. Say a little prayer for me, Ill let you know how it goes.