Being home with my little Henry means that lunch has changed. I obviously try to eat at home more often (although I still go out more than I should). The problem? I’m not really a cold cut kind of girl, and I didn’t want to make big meals for one.
Then, I took Henry to a local coffee shop a few weeks ago to get out of the house and had the yummiest sandwich.
I don’t have a panini press. Actually, I did have a panini press for a long time and I got rid of it because it was never used. Darn!
But, I figured I could make my own version like old fashioned grilled cheese – ultra-healthy fried in butter. And this may be the new solution for at-home lunches. The gourmet grilled cheese – or so I like to call it when I’m explaining it to Henry and the pugs. Henry and the pugs don’t actually seem to care, but they are the only living beings around to talk to at during the day.
There’s really nothing to these – a few slices of mild cheddar, a few slices of fresh mozzarella and my homemade pesto on wheat bread. I fry it in a skillet until everything was melted and gooey and bam!
It’s pretty dang tasty. Although I am still on the lookout for a solution that doesn’t involve frying.
Any ideas?
I just use our George Forman grill, grab an oven mit and press down on the top while cooking! That looks delicious. All I’ve wanted for the past week is a grilled cheese, but we haven’t gotten around to fully restocking our fridge yet from our big power outage. I am for sure trying this!
Can I come to your house for lunch?
That looks REALLY good, Kim!
Instead of frying, you could toast the bread & cheese – but that’s if you have at toaster oven. If not you could bake or broil in the oven until the cheese is melty and bread is crispy. This looks SO yummy!
OMG that looks good! I definitely need to be eating that this week!
we have this little tiny panini press that we got on amazon.com a while ago. It’s plastic and only fits one sandwich at a time, but it was so afforable! I think you should just get a little one. It’s so nice that all you need is a little pam instead of the frying technique.
YUM!!! That sounds AMAZING!!! I’m so impressed that you and Henry get out of the house so often. I loose motivation most of the time when I think too hard about all the work involved in taking Katherine anywhere. I need to get over that. 😉 I also really need to harvest some basil and make some pesto. Thanks for the reminder!
Yummy! I love “fancy” grilled cheeses. I recommend throwing a little goat cheese in there one day.
You can’t beat an excellent grilled cheese and THAT, my dear, looks like an EXCELLENT grilled cheese. P.S. We made the chicken nuggets last night, delish!
Oh..that looks good! I’m ready for lunch and its only 9:45 AM. 😉
Mmmm, I also love grilled cheese! If you ever want something totally basic, the extra sharp Boarhead white american that they sell at the deli has tons of flavor — which means I can use less cheese and still be happy!
As for the frying, do you just put a little bit of butter on both outside pieces of bread? I feel like that isn’t THAT bad for us…. =)
That is awesome looking! Oh yum!
I know protein is important to eat while breastfeeding, but I just hate cooking these days. This is a nice compromise, thanks for sharing!
I make panini’s with my stovetop grill pan – just use something heavy (another pan) to press down the sandwich, flip and grill the other side. Looks just like a panini!
The george foreman and toaster oven sound like great ideas but as someone who doesn’t own either, I’d try broiling in the oven on low. Hopefully it’ll get hot enough to melt the cheese but not so hot to burn the bread.
BTW, looks delicous!!
Looks tasty! I also use a George Forman for sandwiches. It’s also great for making quesadillas, I make them several times a week!
Yum! Looks delish, as always! PS – I wanted to come back here and tell you that I made those Chick-fil-A nuggets last night. OMG!!! Those things are soooo good – and pretty spot-on as far as taste is concerned! I used vegetable oil, but I’m fairly sure that if I’d used peanut oil they would’ve tasted exactly like Chick-fil-A’s. Awesome! Thanks for the recipe! 🙂
I use my foreman to make paninis. In fact it’s the only thing I use my foreman for 🙂
I second the George Foreman grill idea. We do the same thing. We also make quesadillas on it.
Oh man this looks delicious. Now I want one…right now. 🙂 I bet it would be tasty with avocado instead of pesto as well. My thoughts for instead of frying would either be a George Foreman or a toaster oven. Or maybe even broil in the oven?? Mmmmmm…drooling over here.
YUM!! I found a recipe for “Gourmet Grilled Cheese” awhile back on Pinterest and our whole family LOVED it. It sounds very similar to yours — just slices of fresh mozzerella, pesto, and sliced roma tomatoes. Mmmmm…if you figure out the alternative to frying, let me know 🙂
I don’t have a panini press, but I use a grill pan and a brick wrapped in aluminum foil. Put the sandwich on the grill pan and top with the brick. I find it turns out best if you turn it over halfway through. No butter needed.
We are big grilled sandwich fans. For a long time, I heated my cheese sandwiches in a toaster over. Now, I use a cast iron panini pan. You can use a lot less butter in this pan than when frying!
Do you have a George Foreman grill? That’s what we use for a panini press-same effect, hardly ever have to use any kind of butter and when we do, we use fat free spray
(licking my lips) I’m a huge fan of the grilled cheese – but that pesto I’m in foodie heaven. Seriously. I made one this morning – THANK YOU.
Man, Kim, that looks mighty good! I guess you could do it in a toaster oven, but it wouldn’t taste the same. I believe I’ll make this today for lunch. Thanks!