Feed Yourself: Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
- Julia Galindo
- Jan 28
- 3 min read
You're a writer, you're a student, you're a young professional. You have things to do, but you also need to eat!
I'm back with another meal that is as easy to prepare as it is endlessly adaptable: the humble grilled cheese sandwich.
My grilled cheese sandwiches are legendary in my household, and I'll give away my secret right now: it's the butter. You must coat both slices of bread in copious amounts of butter. You also have to remember to stand at the stove while the grilled cheese cooks. I'm telling you right now, and I've learned this lesson the hard way: I don't care how certain you are that you'll remember to come back and flip the grilled cheese over before it burns—don't risk it. It's worth the six or so minutes it takes to cook to just stand there and remember what you're doing (cooking a grilled cheese!). Do some deep breathing or something while you stand there, if you feel the need to multi-task. The other secret to making a really good grilled cheese is, of course, to use a really good bread and, if you don't have a favorite, I'll recommend Dave's Killer Bread, Good Seed, thin-sliced (pictured below). It makes a great grilled cheese!
What's nice about a grilled cheese sandwich is that it ticks the box for being a home-cooked meal in that it's warm and comforting, yet it's only one step harder than toasting bread. If you can turn on your stove, you can make a grilled cheese.
You need a frying pan with a fitted lid—this is key for ensuring the cheese inside the sandwich melts in the time it takes to brown the outside layers of bread. Butter two slices of bread (don't hold back! The more butter you use, the more likely you are to get a good, golden-brown crust on your bread). If your butter is still hard from the fridge because you didn't plan ahead—no problem! Simply put a pat of butter to melt in the frying pan and then place your slice of bread right on top of it. You can assemble the sandwich inside the pan.
The simplest approach is to add some slices of cheese between two pieces of bread and call it a day. And that's a great lunch! You can stop right there. But the true beauty of a grilled cheese sandwich is that it's endlessly adaptable. You can mix up the bread, you can mix up the cheese, you can add all sorts of things in with the cheese, including:
sliced turkey or ham
tuna salad
pesto
tomatoes
baby spinach (it will wilt as the sandwich cooks) and a smear of apricot jam
bacon (with pesto, spinach, or tomato)
If you're feeling super adventurous, you could even go for a croque madame type-situation, and add a fried egg to the top of the sandwich. [In the course of writing this blog post, I googled croque madame and learned that some people make a croque monsieur (which is a grilled cheese sandwich that includes sliced ham) by first making french toast out of the sandwich bread and then frying that—now that I will have to try.] Keep in mind that the more fillings you add to your grilled cheese, the harder it will be to flip—but don't let this discourage you. If it comes out messy, you can eat it with a knife and fork! Let it cook on each side for 3-5 minutes, until the bread has turned golden brown and the cheese inside has melted.
Round out your lunch of grilled cheese with a soup that's perfect for dipping—tomato soup is the classic option, but vegetable barley soup also pairs with it really well (look at me, talking about "pairings" as if this is some kind of fancy food blog-ha!). Another option is to make a salad—I mentioned last time that my favorite brands for easy salads-in-a-bag with good mix-ins are Taylor Farms and Taste of Inspiration.
I hope this post has reminded you of a classic lunch option and given you some ideas for your next meal!
Buen provecho!
