Recipe: Grilled Three-Cheese Sandwich and Tomato Basil Soup

If there’s food involved, then you’ve definitely got a friend in me. One of my favorite quick-service restaurants in Hollywood Studios is Woody’s Lunch Box located in Toy Story Land. From the life-sized toys to the creamy tomato soup, there’s no doubt that you’ll feel like a kid at heart.

My go-to order is either the Grilled Three-Cheese Sandwich or the Smoked Turkey Sandwich and a cup of tomato soup. For the purpose of this review, I chose to make the Grilled Three-Cheese Sandwich based on the Disney Food Blog’s recipe. To go with it, I made the Tomato Basil soup based on Talk Disney’s recipe for Tomato Bisque from Sunshine Seasons, located in The Land pavilion in Epcot.

Credit: Talk Disney

Grilled Three-Cheese Sandwich

Recipe yields four servings

Ingredients:

Cream Cheese Spread:

• ½ cup cream cheese

• ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese

• 2 tablespoons heavy cream

• ¼ teaspoon salt

Garlic Spread:

• 1 cup mayonnaise

• 1 ½ teaspoons minced garlic

• ½ teaspoon salt

Sandwiches:

• 8 slices of artisan bread

• 8 cheddar cheese slices

• 8 provolone slices

Instructions:

1. Combine all ingredients for the cream cheese spread in a food processor. Blend until smooth.

2. Combine all ingredients for the garlic spread in a small bowl. Stir until blended.

3. Heat a large skillet over medium heat until hot.

4. Lay out bread slices on parchment paper or cutting board.

5. Place 2 slices of cheddar on 4 of the bread slices and 2 slices of provolone on the other 4 bread slices.

6. Gently smooth the cream cheese spread on the bread slices with provolone.

7. Press cheddar side and provolone side together.

8. Brush both sides of the sandwiches with the garlic spread.

9. Grill sandwiches for 2 minutes on each side, until cheese is melted and bread is golden brown.

10. Dip in tomato soup and enjoy!

Takeaway:

I made a few adjustments to the recipe. I used sourdough bread, american cheese instead of provolone, and grilled them on a panini press. Overall, this was an easy and delicious recipe that reminded me of sitting at the brightly-colored tables watching toy soldiers pass. 10/10 would make it again.

Tomato Basil Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon butter

• 1 large onion diced

• 1 garlic clove crushed

• 3 cans diced tomatoes

• 1 tablespoon sugar

• 1 teaspoon dried basil

• ¼ cup chicken broth

• 8 cups water

• ¼ cup heavy cream

• Cornstarch to thicken as needed

• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. In a large soup pot, melt the butter.

2. Sauté onion, tomatoes, garlic, sugar and basil and blend until smooth.

3. Add chicken broth and water.

4. If needed, make a cornstarch and water slurry to thicken soup.

5. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

6. Add heavy cream

Takeaway:

I am a huge fan of the tomato basil soup at Woody’s Lunch Box and this recipe just didn’t cut it for me. While I may have made an error, it lacked the rich taste and creamy texture that I was expecting. I recommend draining some of the juice from the cans of diced tomatoes. I felt I couldn’t get a true sauté due to the amount of liquid in my pan and could not get the pureed texture. I believe this may have altered the taste as well. I also recommend using cornstarch to thicken the soup, as I unfortunately did not have this to use so my version came out very thin.

Looking for another way to spice up this meal? Check out our Totchos article or Disney’s Food Blog recipe for lunch box tarts, another one of Woody’s Lunch Box fan favorites!