I am still into Fall y’all. I just can’t help it! It’s my favorite season. Football, state fair, friends, food and fun. Fall food is just the best; it doesn’t get any better than huge, piping hot bowls of thick, hearty soups. They’re easy, filling and good and perfect for a cool weeknight. Throw in a sandwich and there’s dinner. Or…you could turn the sandwich into a soup!

What? Who said that? I know, I know. There I go again playing culinary magician, but this is really quite amazing y’all. What if we took a Reuben sandwich, which just happens to be one of my favorite sandwiches, and turn it into a soup. THEN we could make ANOTHER sandwich and have three of our favorite foods instead of two. What a novel idea!

Let’s give it a shot!

Hearty Reuben Soup with Grilled Smokey Provolone Croutons

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 4 cups beef stock
• 1 pound deli style corned beef, chopped
• 1 jar sauerkraut, drained
• 2 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces
• 2 carrots – Sliced
• 1 onion – Sliced
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 can condensed golden cream of mushroom soup

Grilled Cheese Croutons

• 4 slices toasted Sunflower Rye or Rye Bread of your choice
• 4 tablespoons Thousand Island Dressing
• 2 cups shredded smoked provolone or swiss

Directions

Melt the butter in a large sauce pan over medium heat, add the onion, carrot and potatoes and saute until tender, about 5-7 minutes. Add garlic and cook another minute. Add the stock, corned beef, sauerkraut, potatoes, Worcestershire sauce, caraway seeds and bay leaves and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the potatoes and carrots are cooked through about 10-15 minutes. Add the cream, and soup, season with salt and pepper and remove the bay leaves.

Spread thousand Island dressing on all slices of bread and add cheese. Grill sandwiches, then cut into squares. Top soup with the croutons.

I like easy. Bon appetit y’all!