Okay, okay, I know. This grilled cheese is much more than just cheese. It’s a cacophony of flavors. Fresh, California-esque flavors packed and stacked into the theme of a grilled cheese sandwich.
With Grilled Cheese Month in full swing, completely creative cheese concoctions are popping up all over the web. Which makes coming up with something original not the most original idea.
Case in point: Last week when I posted my Spinach and Artichoke Grilled Cheese I knew from the get go that the ingredient list may not be the most original, but the combination wasn’t something I had recently seen. That is until later that night when I was perusing my Feedly blog feed and BOOM, right there in the popular post column (natch) I saw a version of the same sandwich on Joy’s site from 3 days earlier.
I took comfort in my duplication that at least I was somewhat in the same hemisphere of recipe creation as a doyenne food blogger and hey, there aren’t that many original ideas left in the world. And who cares? Nothing ever comes out the same way twice from the exact same cook anyway. There’s plenty of room for all of us.
Some food bloggers scour the web to see if their recipe ideas have been posted on sites far and wide. I’m not into that. If it’s something I think sounds tasty, I’ll post it. If someone else features the same recipe idea, I’ll consider that fate, fluke or simply a happy accident with the world telling us we need more Spinach and Artichoke Sandwiches. Of which we do.
I don’t know if a Cobb Grilled Cheese has been overdone on the web or not, but it got into my head and wouldn’t leave. What I do know is it’s a flavor buster.
With layers piled high upon themselves, my Cobb Grilled Cheese might be juuuuust this side of jumping the shark of grilled cheese sandwiches. Some may deem it a stacked sandwich. But given the grace of gooey cheese, I’m easily slating it in the grilled cheese category. And I have nothing but crumbs to prove it.
Cobb Grilled Cheese
Ingredients
- 4 slices whole wheat bread
- 4 tablespoons softened butter
- 8 ounces aged gouda grated
- 1 roasted chicken breast sliced
- 1 small tomato sliced
- ½ avocado pitted, peeled and sliced
- 1 hard boiled egg sliced
- 4 slices cooked bacon
- ¼ cup blue cheese crumbles
Instructions
- Spread butter on one side of each slice of bread, then stack the two buttered sides together and repeat with the other 2 slices.
- Layer top slice of the bread with a handful of gouda then follow with tomato, chicken breast, avocado slices, egg slices, blue cheese crumbles and 2 pieces of bacon then top with another handful of gouda.
- Place the ingredient stacked bread, buttered side down, in a non-stick fry pan over medium-high heat and top with the other slice of buttered bread. Cover with lid and let cook for 3-4 minutes or until golden.
- Reduce heat to medium and flip sandwich to the other side and cook for 2-3 minutes or until bread is toasty golden and the cheese has melted. The second side will cook faster than the first so watch carefully. Repeat process with the other sandwich ingredients to make the second grilled cheese. Slice sandwiches in half and enjoy hot.
Do you have a divine grilled cheese just begging to be shared? I’ll be a judge at the 2013 Grilled Cheese Academy Recipe Showdown and we’re looking for unique grilled cheese sandwiches to put into our salivating mouths. The grand prize winner will take home a $5,000 prize package. The contest runs now through May 12, 2013. Share your winning cheese sandwich and enter it at the Grilled Cheese Academy website. I’ll bring my elastic waistband skirt.
And now, Friday Faves. Happy weekend.
Friday Faves
1. This past Monday over 200 food bloggers dedicated their posts to bring awareness to the plight of hunger in America in support of In support of Share Our Strength and the new documentary A Place at the Table. Take a minute to give a look at all of the recipes on this dedicated Pinterest board or my contributed post to see a list of all of the participating food bloggers.
2. To complement that thought, Russell has a new infographic out: Eat the Rainbow: Nutrition in Produce. Get it. Eat it. Live it.
3. You know how we all get too caught up in to-do lists, meetings and sometimes lose every ounce of productivity? Check out 26 Time Management Hacks I Wish I’d Known at 20 and make the most of your day. (via @cookieandkate)
4. Oh, this post by Vanessa…how much more can we love this girl, her bold use of negative space and her gorgeous lighting? And now she’s sharing a behind the scenes post on how she pulls together her meticulously planned photo shoots. And if you missed her post on food photography technical basics, I suggest you remedy that right now.
5. Blog Brunch is a monthly Twitter conversation that covers topics related to blogging that I enjoy checking in on to see what fabulousness I’m missing out on. This month’s topic was about the Work Life Balance with suggestions on how to unplug and live your life outside of social media. The conversation all happened on Twitter. Oh the irony.
6. Kelley’s ears must have felt the out of balance vibe while Blog Brunch was happening because she started analyzing her love/hate relationship with social media and it’s influence over blogging and her family. I’m liking her solution. I also really like her Blueberry Applesauce Cake.
7. Some of these gals have been in my blog feed for a while and the rest are being added toot sweet. And if you aren’t following Megan yet, you should.
8. I am in full spring clean mode, I even have the date of my yard sale set (and am happy to share my wares if you’re interested) but have nary the time to dedicate to a thorough swabbing of the decks. This speed cleaning guide will hopefully get my vacuum vooming.
9. Goodbye muffin top. This diet clocks in at 1,399 calories a day and won’t leave you starving. Craving maybe, but not starving. (via @thelemonbowl)
10. Tweet of the week: “The effect of all this cross-plat digi e-book stuff on trad book pub is that we now have to make more & more beaut books @ruxmartin #IACPSF” via @sarakategr
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