Welcome home brunch: Grilled cheese & tomato soup eggs benedict with rosemary hash browns

My husband just returned from a week-long trip, which felt more like a month-long trip. Before I had kids, I didn't mind his work-related travels. Of course I missed him, but I made the most of his absence by catching up on girly movies he'd never watch in a million years, reading books, going shopping with girlfriends, and letting out my inner slob. Now that I have kids, those work trips are brutal. Aside from the fact that I miss having my husband around, I miss having some relief from all the girls' fights, potty trips, endless requests for food/drink/stories/etc. And the girls are tired of me, I'm sure.

Needless to say, we were all really happy to have daddy back home today. To welcome him home, I decided to make a dish I've been pondering for months. I first came up with this idea over the summer, but I never got around to trying it out. Today seemed like the perfect occasion.

The idea was this: to put a twist on eggs benedict by making a version that incorporates everyone's favorite lunch: grilled cheese and tomato soup.

I had a gut feeling it would turn out really yummy, and luckily I was right. The nice thing about this version is that it eliminates the need for hollandaise sauce, which saves some calories and labor as well. And it only involves five main ingredients. Here's what you need:

Grilled cheese & tomato soup eggs benedict

English muffins (go for the plain old white or sourdough kind)
sharp cheddar cheese, sliced
eggs
canadian bacon
creamy tomato soup (I used my favorite standby: Pacific Foods Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup)
chopped italian parsley for garnish (optional)

Heat 3 inches of water in a pot or deep skillet to prepare for poaching the eggs (If you haven't poached eggs before I recommend doing some googling to find out how).

Pour the soup into a saucepan and heat until warm.

Saute the canadian bacon in a skillet until heated through and slightly browned. Turn to low to keep warm.

Turn the broiler to high. Toast the english muffins in the toaster, then place on a cookie sheet and put the sliced cheddar on top. Place under the broiler until the cheese melts and starts to bubble.

Once the egg water is at the right temp (hot, but not quite boiling), poach the eggs for 3 minutes.

Place the cheesy english muffins on a plate. Top each one with a slice of canadian bacon, then a poached egg. Ladle some of the tomato soup over the top of the eggs, and sprinkle with parsley to garnish.

Rosemary hash browns

No breakfast or brunch feels complete to me without some sort of potato dish on the side. So I whipped up these quick rosemary potato hash browns. Just saute some chopped onion in a pan for about five minutes, then add diced potato and finely diced rosemary. Saute until the potatoes are tender, stirring frequently and scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add salt and pepper to taste.