Yesterday was cold, gray, and rainy, the kind of day where you just can't wait to get home and change into your favourite hoodie and not go back outside. I picked up Eli from his sitter and gave him a few options for dinner: soup and grilled cheese or quesadillas. "I want TOMATO soup and quesadillas!" he announced. I knew we didn't have any cans of tomato soup in the house, so I tried to change his mind.

"Squash soup instead? This one's red, so it might taste like tomato," I suggested, showing him a container of red pepper and black bean soup.

"No, I love tomato soup," Eli insisted. It was time to get crafty and whip something up, because when a picky eater decides he wants a specific meal, you do whatever you can to make it happen. Who knows when he'll eat again?

I googled easy tomato soup recipes and found one by Rachel Ray that seemed simple enough - only three ingredients, plus seasonings. Since it was only Eli and I at home, I tweaked the recipe a bit and made just enough for two perfectly-sized servings of tomato soup.

Easy Tomato Soup for Two
[+] 1/3 of a big can of crushed tomatoes (I think it was a 28 oz can, so roughly a cup of crushed tomatoes?)
[+] 1/2 container of chicken broth (vegetable broth would also work)
[+] 1/3 cup of cream (I used light)
[+] a dash of pepper
[+] dried dill

Combine crushed tomatoes and broth in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. When it starts to bubble, add cream, sprinkle in a little pepper and some dill, and reduce heat to low. Let it simmer for about 15 minutes on low heat.

I served this with some plain cheese quesadillas. For extra toddleriffic flair, I used a triceratops-shaped cookie cutter to cut out Eli's quesadillas. You want to get your kid to eat? Make sure their food is shaped like a mediocre class of an extinct animal. Everything tastes better when it's prehistoric!