NomNom: Bacon & Brie Grilled Cheese w/ Jam Sandwich

Do you ever have one of the moments in the kitchen where you stand in front of your fridge and think to yourself, "There's nothing to eat." This usually translates into my closet too where I look at my wardrobe and think I have absolutely nothing to wear. I know, it's eye roll inducing. But that's ok because us girls are allowed to have those kinda moments. On the regular. 

Earlier this week I had a day off from work and happened to be home during lunch hour and had one of the moments after peering into my fridge. Trying to think of something to concoct that was quick, easy, and tasty led my eyes to zone in solely to the brie and bacon.

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned on my weekend snapshots that my friend got me a set of fancy jams from the Reading Terminal in Philly so since I still haven't used all the jams yet, I thought that I'll make myself a sandwich out of these 3 ingredients.

Best decision of my life. As I was perusing the web for recipes on variations of this sandwich, I noticed the only real difference was the type of bread or jam used. No biggie.

This sandwich is the bomb dot com. A definite keeper. I mean, there's salty bacon involved, melted creamy and soft brie cheese all nestled in between sweet, sweet jam. I mean...

After biting into this sandwich, it made me wonder why I haven't made this sooner. So.late.to.the.game. Anyway, I wanted to share this with you asap so you could experience this deliciousness in your kitchen too. Better late then never, right?

Have a great weekend. Xo

Ingredients (Yields:1 sandwich)
3 slices of bacon cooked crisp
2 slices of bread (I used Italian loaf)
Jam (I used blackberry apple jam)
4 thin slices of Brie, about 4" long
Butter

Procedure

1. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat and butter one side of each slice of bread.  Slather the jam on the unbuttered side of two of the slices. Layer the bacon and brie slices between the slices of the jammed side and assemble the sandwich with the buttered side facing out. Place the buttered side down of those two slices in the skillet.

2. Fry the sandwich on the skillet until they are perfectly browned/toasted and the cheese is just about melted. Remove them from the pan, cut, and serve hot.

NomNom: Grilled Cheese With Bacon And Thousand Island Dressing

I remember the first time I discovered that the 'secret sauce' in McDonald's Big Mac sandwich was basically thousand island dressing. I sorta felt cheated. All that time I really had thought they created this special sauce but it is in fact a slight variation (they add garlic and mustard) to a generic salad dressing they used for their burgers. I suppose I can blame that on my unrefined taste buds as a child. I dunno.

I know much better now than to fill my stomach with fast food (minus the once in a blue moon cravings), but as a child, that was probably my favorite burger. When I came across this recipe that uses thousand island dressing in a grilled cheese, I couldn't help but be curious as to what it would taste like.

I'm a cheese lover. In fact, it's very, very, very rare that there is a cheese I don't like. I'm a huge supporter in that I think that cheese makes everything taste better--this is how I feel about bacon. When you add those two components together, well, I mean, what can I say? The idea of a simple grilled cheese sandwich not only conjures up fond childhood memories of my mom making them for my sister and I, but there's also something very comforting about this sandwich. Hmm tomato soup sounds good right about now too...

I made slight variations to the recipe but nonetheless, it was really tasty. Adding thousand island dressing to cheddar cheese and bacon adds another dimension to a simple grilled cheese sandwich that I highly recommend. There are so many variations to a grilled cheese sandwich, so why not start with this one? (It was also noted in the recipe that Greg Morris, owner of Oaks Gourmet in Los Angeles makes it every Wednesday at his shop's Grilled Cheese Night).

I'm off to the Bahamas today--in fact by the time you read this I'll probably be on the way! Posting will be sparse and I hope to resume by later next week, but I wanted to leave you with this recipe because I think it's something worth making.

Have a great weekend.

Ingredients: Yields 4 sandwiches (Adapted from Food Network Magazine, Apr 2011)
8 strips thick-cut maple-glazed bacon (I used turkey bacon)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more as needed
8 slices sourdough bread (I used wheat bread)
12 ounces cotswold cheese (double Gloucester with chives) or cheddar, shredded
4 tablespoons Thousand Island dressing

Procedure
1. Cook the bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp, about 8 minutes. Remove and drain on a paper towel-lined plate.Wipe out the skillet.

2. Heat the butter in the skillet over medium heat. Add 2 bread slices. Top each with one-quarter of the cheese and 2 strips bacon. Spread 2 bread slices with some of the dressing and press them on top of the sandwiches, dressing-side down. Cook until the cheese melts and the bread is golden, 3-4 minutes per side. Repeat to make 2 mores sandwiches, adding more butter as needed.

NomNom: Egg-in-a-Hole Grilled Cheese Sandwich

I'm not a morning person by any means. I'm the person who's mumbling, "5 more minutes" as the snooze button gets hit repeatedly or who's grumpy if I haven't had my cup of coffee. I know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day but when I weigh the options of eating/making breakfast vs. sleeping in, sleeping in always wins. Always. But then there are those days when I'm off from work (I don't have a conventional work schedule) where I can sleep in and wake up whenever my body tells me to get up and this is when breakfast becomes major.

Can I tell you how much I love runny eggs? When I was younger, my mom would make my eggs sunny side up and on the rare occasions she would overcook the yolk part and thus, no runny eggs. So I refused to eat it. Yes, I was that kid. Whenever I see a recipe involving runny eggs, I'm all over it. Have you tried it on a pizza? A steak? Oh my goodness it is DELICIOUS. I've made egg-in-a hole before but I didn't think to make a grilled cheese sandwich out of it until I came across A Cozy Kitchen's recipe. Like duh, right?

Sometimes the most simplest recipes are the best. To me, this is the perfect grilled cheese sandwich because it includes everything I love (melted cheese and runny eggs) and the saltiness of the prosciutto adds the perfect balance. One thing to note when making this, is to choose a cheese that's a bit bland such as cheddar or provolone otherwise it will taste too salty because of the prosciutto.

The weekend is here so do yourself a favor and treat yourself to this easy, delicious sandwich for breakfast, lunch, or even dinner. Have a great weekend.

Recipe (adapted from acozykitchen.com)
2 slices bread of choice (I used wheat)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, divided
2 large eggs
1/3 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
Salt
Pepper
3 slices prosciutto

Procedure
1. Using a biscuit or cookie cutter, cut a 2-inch hole from the center of both slices of bread. Melt 1/2 tablespoon of butter in a medium nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. When it’s melted, add the two slices of bread. Let the bread lightly toast for a minute, or until lightly golden brown, and then flip the two slices over. Dab the remaining butter in the middle of the bread circles. We want to ensure the egg doesn’t stick.
2. Crack the eggs into the holes and season with salt and pepper. If you’re using prosciutto, chill with the salt. Just add a little.
3. Cover the pan for a minute, just until the egg whites are sorta set. Next, add the grated cheese to one half and cover for another minute, or until the cheese is practically melted.
4. Using a spatula, gently top the cheese slice with the egg slice. Cook for one more minute, or until the cheese is melted.