Grilled Cheese Social

Blueberry Baby

2013-04-12T09:23:00.000-07:00

OMG, OMG! Today is National Grilled Cheese Day! Aren't you so very, very excited? So much so that you kind of might pee your pants a little? No? That's just me? Ok, that makes sense. Anyways! I've been waiting all ~~year~~ month for this very special day which sort of feels like Christmas to me and I'm the happiest kid around. All month, endless amounts of meltable cheese, freshly baked bread, and tricked out stay-cold coolers have been waiting for me at my front door each day in order to make this day the best it can be. Unfortunately, it's rainy, cold, completely disgusting, and no one's home but that's OK. I'll get through National Grilled Cheese Day with the power of my internet friends. RIGHT GUYS?! I just wish you all could come over and cook with me and help me eat all the food that's been sent my way.

But I don't mean to brag about all my cheesy goodness without giving you guys something in return! Yeah, sure here's a tasty new recipe, but I also wanted to let you know that my favorite babes from Wisconsin Cheese and I have paired up to do a super awesome National Grilled Cheese Day GIVEAWAY...today! We've been working super hard on their awesome online magazine Grate. Pair. Share. (with recipes from yours truly, of course) so if you'd be so kind to check it out and comment as to what your favorite recipe is (in my comments section) you are automatically entered to win a giant shipment of Wisconsin cheese, fresh baked bread from La Brea Bakery - perfect for grilling, and a ton of other goodies that will help all your grilled cheese dreams come true. You should totally do it. The magazine is embedded in the bottom of this very post...How convenient! You're welcome.

In the meantime, here's a tasty new little grilled cheese that I thought is perfect for a sweet day like today - creamy brie, luscious mascarpone, sweet and tart blistered blueberries, and fresh earthy basil come together between a crispy buttery bagel. I think it's the perfect way to start a grilled cheese day.

Get you some of thisssss

Ingredients

-1 bagel, cut in half and scooped out
- 1 small wedge of Wisconsin Brie
- 2 tbsp of BelGioioso Mascarpone Cheese
- 2 tbsp of blistered blueberries (recipe below)
- a few basil leaves, torn
- 2 pats of salted butter

So this is the most important part. It's totally hard to eat a bagel grilled cheese without taking the necessary steps to ultimate perfection. First, cut your bagel in half and scoop out the interior of both sides. This will create the perfect little nook to keep your fillings inside the sandwich. Then, with a very sharp serrated knife, very carefully cut off the outside off the bagel so that the nice bready interior can be used to create a super crispy crust on your sandwich at the end.

Next, fill the nook of one half of your bagel with brie. Try to keep it all in the grilled cheese canyon or mote as I like to think of it. After all, it is guarding your face from getting burnt by molten cheese.

Then, lay your blistered blueberries on top of the Brie.

To make these sweet and tart treats, all you need to do is melt a pat of salted butter in your skillet and add a cup of blueberries. Turn your heat to high and let them cook up. Add a tablespoon of brown sugar once you start to see them pop and stir until evenly coated. Allow to cook for a few more minutes until the juices release and start to thicken.

And if you don't want to go through all that, you could totally just use some sort of blueberry preserves. Those will work perfectly, they just won't be as much fun as making them yourself!

Next, lay some torn basil leaves on top of your blueberries. I think this earthy herbal contrast is so nice against the creamy brie and the bright blueberries. Fresh mint would also be super dope.

Almost done! Just smear on some of that sweet mascarpone into the other bagel half's canal and really pack it in there. It's so good. If you've never had it before, it's like sweet cream cheese mixed with ricotta mixed with whatever kisses the hottest person in the world gives. Yeah, it's like that.

Combine the two halves together and awe in their glory.

Now that this insane sandwich is built, turn your burner to medium high and butter both sides of your soon-to-be grilled cheese. Place it in your skillet and allow to cook for a few minutes until the bagel turns golden and crispy. Flip and repeat. Remember, both of these cheeses melt super fast so they don't need to be on the burner for long. Just a few minutes will do.

Then once it's all done, you will definitely want to let this little baby sit for a minute or two. Those cheeses need to thicken up and soak in all the flavors from the blueberries and the basil. Or if you can't wait, who cares, you'll just have to lick your plate to make sure nothing goes to waste.

Dig in babes!

Don't forget to check out Grate. Pair. Share. below and leave a comment for a chance to win some awesome prizes!

xoxo,

GCS

Hangover Helper

2013-03-25T13:04:00.000-07:00

It's been once month since I got back from Morocco. Bones have mended, painkillers have been downed, and life back in Brooklyn has settled. Two surgeries later, I'm back to typing - almost using both hands again - and trying to get the accounts of my culinary adventures ready for a feature on Saveur.com. And although I signed a contract to ensure that I only share my foodie stories with the mag, I'll gladly fill you in on another ~~horrifying~~ interesting part of my adventure abroad.

10 days in Morocco and not one picture of a camel. Who leaves the desert without the obligatory camel shot? "Not this girl" I told myself as I was petting the sweet little fuzzy humps of a baby camel that was actually the size of a full grown horse. So with a handful of local flora, i lifted my head and gave an oversized smile to take what I thought was going to be a cute shot of me feeding the giant beast baby. It wasn't so sweet though. Before I knew it, I saw the baby camels head rear toward mine and as an attempt to escape getting my face/ponytail ripped off, I ducked down and ended up falling on my ass. As I was taking in what had happened from the ground, covered in camel poop no less, I realized that they tie the camels up by their feet and that I had tripped on its leash. Stupid me! What I didn't notice, until a few seconds later, was that my hand was hanging off my wrist. No bones, blood, or gore, but literally my hand had been dislocated and was hanging off my wrist.

The pain set in. I blacked out.

Before I knew it I was in a Moroccan hospital getting x-rayed and was told in French, Arabic, and whatever other language that they thought I might speak, that I had broke my fucking wrist. Needless to say, I was super freaked out. And I don't know if anyone's ever gotten seriously hurt when they were traveling alone in a foreign country but it is not fun. Not at all. The hospital, although clean and orderly, seemed to be the scariest place on earth like the perfect location for a horror film. If my tour guide wasn't the best guy in the whole world, (am i obsessed with him? maybe a little) I don't know if i would have made it. I seriously thought I was going to die - no exaggeration.

As it turned out, I shattered my wrist and had to get an emergency surgery. Luckily this all happened on my very last day in Marrakech so my trip wasn't ruined but my hand was... and still sort of is. After I got back to the States, I found out that I needed to get another surgery to fix the pins that I had gotten in Morocco. Even though a broken wrist doesn't really seem like a big deal in the scheme of things, breaking your wrist when all you do is use your hands to work, is a big long nightmare. My last month has sucked and I've spent way too much time at home, doing absolutely nothing except lying around and eating the food that my friends make me. A week ago I got my second surgery, everything went well and now that I'm slightly back on my feet, I'm returning the favor with a super comforting GC to help these last snowy days of winter not seem so dismal. Here it is with Wisconsin horseradish cheddar, my mom's leftover meatloaf, ketchup, fried onions, and jalapeno bread.

Ya need this stuff:

Ingredients:

-2 slices of jalapeno bread
-1 slice of leftover meatloaf
(I use my mom's but I'd recommend
Paula Deen's [here])
-4 slices of Wisconsin horseradish cheddar
-1 tbs of ketchup
-1 tbs of fried onions (found these at ikea of all
places)
-2 pats of butter (not pictured)

To begin, smear some ketchup onto both slices of bread and lay two layers of the horseradish cheddar on top.

Then add a big ole fat slice of leftover meatloaf on top. As I mentioned in the ingredients section, I used my mom's recipe which is super similar to Paula Deen's but you could totally use whatever recipe you're familiar with. And if you've never made meatloaf before and think it's weird... YOU NEED TO TRY IT! I thought it was always kind of gross but I just tried it for the first time in years and it is so freaking good. Oh! and if you're veg, you could totally substitute some sort of veggie patty in there. I think it would still be awesome.

Now add the other slice of bread on top and give it a generous smear of salted butter. Sprinkle on half of the fried onions and set in a pan over medium low heat. Because you don't want the onions to burn, make sure cook this grilled cheese on low and slow. It might take some time to get it all crispy and melty, but it'll be worth it. Patience, which is something I lack, makes it worth it.

After it browns for a few minutes on each side, remove it from the heat and allow it to set and cool for a few minutes. Take this time to pour yourself a beer, find some salt and vinegar chips, and get comfy. Then eat!!

Oh! If you haven't noticed, the name of this grilled cheese has absolutely nothing to do with my camel story but if you follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, then you'll know that I ran a contest to name this grilled delight. After an almost spot-on guess from Vintage Sugarcube, she won and picked the awesome and amazing name "Hangover Helper" - True to GCS form if I do say so myself.

xoxo,

GCS

Wisconsin Cheese Grilled Cheese Party!

2013-03-05T10:21:00.000-08:00

Want to host a dinner party but don't want to deal with all the stress that comes along with it? Then host a DIY Grilled Cheese Party!

There's nothing better than having all of your loved ones around the table, but hosting can be stressful; timing everything just right, and preparing something that everyone likes is just not an easy feat. That's why throwing one of these parties is so great. All you have to do is buy the proper ingredients and tools and invite your friends over for a super fun night. Having them assemble their own sandwiches from the spread that you create is not only fun and interactive but it will also have your guests battling over who made the best sandwich – and that can be pretty entertaining to watch.

So whether your crew would rather stick to the classics and eat a gooey grilled cheese made with Wisconsin Muenster and baby heirloom tomatoes, or prefer something more sophisticated like a Wisconsin Blue grilled cheese with fig preserves and rosemary butter, you can specialize your smorgasbord to suit them. Here are three themes for DIY grilled cheese parties that will surely give your guests a delicious and memorable culinary experience.

Theme 1: The Classic Feast

Cheese: Wisconsin Cheddar, Swiss, Muenster
Bread: Classic White Bread, Wheat Bread, Potato Bread
Fillings: Tomato, Bacon, Avocado, Pickles
Butter: Salted Butter, Garlic Butter, Mayonnaise

Suggested Recipe:

Wisconsin Muenster Grilled Cheese with Heirloom Tomatoes and Garlic Butter

Theme 2: The Gourmet Get-Together

Cheese: Wisconsin Blue Cheese, Gruyere, Limburger
Bread: Cranberry Walnut, Sourdough, Garlic Loaf
Fillings: Quince paste, Onion Jam, Fig Preserves, Prosciutto
Butter: Rosemary Butter, Cultured Butter, Truffle Butter

Suggested Recipe:

Grilled Blue Cheese with Fig Jam and Rosemary Butter

Theme 3: The Sweet Tooth Soirée

Cheese: Wisconsin Mascarpone, Brie, Ricotta
Bread: Croissants, English Muffins, Pound Cake
Fillings: Fig Jam, Strawberries, Nutella®, Honey
Butter: Cinnamon Sugar Butter, Maple Butter, Bacon Butter

Suggested Recipe:

Wisconsin Brie Grilled Cheese with Strawberries and Honey

Party Tips

BEER
If you're cooking for a large bunch, buy two large double burner griddle pans to make the most out of your space. This way, you can cook 16 sandwiches at once.
Having a variety of tools will inspire your guests to experiment with their sandwiches. I like to put out presses, spatulas, and cookie cutters. If you don't have any heavy metal presses, then wrap bricks in tinfoil for a cheap alternative.
If you want even more variety for fillings, dig through your fridge for items like sundried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, sauces and herbs. The more offerings, the better.
Plastic spatulas make great, inexpensive party favors. Guests can use them at the party and take them home to remember the experience.
Because there are so many possibilities in a DIY grilled cheese party, it's best to stick to the same thing when it comes to beverages. Be sure to have a variety of wine, beer, and alcohol-free drinks to keep everyone happy.

Check out the original feature on Wisconsin Cheese's site [HERE].

Moons Over Morocco

2013-02-14T16:23:00.002-08:00

As I'm writing this in seat 11H of flight 201 to Casablanca, I've compacted my arms as tightly as they can be to my body so much so that I'm typing like I'm a Velociraptor or something. I have absolutely no space to spread my wings and there's a flight attendent that keeps wheeling by me with a ciggarette cart (why are they selling cigs on this flight??) and she keeps sneaking up on me and hitting my funny bone - just like that scene from The Wedding Singer. The turbulance has been pretty gnarly for the last 30 minutes, and the bumpiness has me seeing double. The balding man in front of me keeps slamming his seat back so hard that the bottom of my keyboard keeps jabbing me in my stomach, which is way too uncomfortably full from pizza flavored Combos, peanut butter m&ms, and warm Coca Cola.

Yeah, I know, I'm sorry that I'm whining about how unpleasant my current situation is, but there are some fun things going on too. I'm really excited about this strange wall-mounted crib that's holding a cute little chubby baby next to me. It makes me wish they made one for people my size. I'd totally pay extra for that. The airline is also playing episodes of Friends which was really relatively cool until I plugged in my headphones and realized it was dubbed over in Arabic. I've also got a shit ton of new music on my iphone that's almost dead and I'm jamming out to some bassed out electronic music that makes me feel like I should be rolling in da club or something. I'm trying not to dance but I just can't help it, maybe that means it's time to switch over to something more chill, like that new Unknown Mortal Orchestra album or something.

In reality though, I think I might be going crazy. Why am I so antsy? Why am I so insanely itchy? Gah, it's so hot and I have a headache from squinting because I decided to buy the version of "Consider the Lobster" that has the smallest font visible to the human eye. I've got 4 more hours before we land and I am ready to get the F off of this plane. It's hot as hell up in here and everyone has warmed me not to show my shoulders and what did I wear on the plane? A stupid sleeveless shirt. I know, i know, it's a noobie mistake but I've never been this uncomfortably hot on a plane before. I'm always freezing cold and the sleeveless shirt was meant to hide under my over-sized cardigan that I never thought I'd have to take off. I am anxious in ALL THE WAYS. Especially about traveling to Morocco....alone.

But enough griping, I'm truly so excited about this trip and if you want to follow me and see my adventures you can find me on Instagram @grilledcheesesocial. I'm also excited to share this recipe with you - that is not exotic in any way, shape, or form but it is super good and a solid sandwich. Smoked Wisconsin Swiss cheese, honey baked ham, cranberry jam, and a sweet and buttery Hawaiian roll make up this delightful GC.

Get yo'self some of dis stuff

Ingredients

-1 Hawaiian Roll
-3-4 slices of Wisconsin smoked swiss cheese
-1 tbsp of cranberry jelly with real cranberries
-1/4 pound of thinly sliced honey baked ham
-2 pats of butter which are not pictured

(Don't ask me why it's neon in this picture)

When you make a GC with any type of roll, the trick is to turn it inside out so that you're grilling the doughy center. Once you've cut the roll in half and flipped it, smear on that cranberry jam. I have something to admit, I am a HUGE fan of the canned fake cranberry jelly. Like, it's my favorite thing on a Thanksgiving table and I get really bummed out when someone makes their own version from scratch. In this sandwich however, you need the kind with the real berries because it just makes it so much more texturally appealing.

Then add some of that smoked swiss. I chose to use cheese from Wisconsin because it is my favorite and I think the Wisconsin Milk Society is an awesome group of people who know how to keep it real. The farmers and makers both care about food, and that's what matters to me... and i love them.

Next! Add some of that ham and layer it on pretty, just like they do in a Subway commercial.

Almost done! Finish with the other slices of cheese and the remaining half of the roll and smear some butter all over that baby.

Let that butter work its magic...

Turn your grill pan to medium and let that sandwich grill, butter side down of course. When it's all crisped up on one side and the cheese is melting over the corners, butter the otherside and flip it. Let it cook for a few more minutes until it's all perfect and melty and then remove it from the heat and let it sit for a few minutes to tighten up.

And if I ever make it off this plane and can actually post this recipe, then cheers to everyone. I didn't think I was gonna make it. I'm gonna go take a stroll around the plane now, because my left butt cheek is asleep.

UPDATE! I made it and am sitting in my hotel room in Morocco, stealing internet from the restaurant next door. I've spent two days wandering ALONE, getting lost, and being hissed at. Today, my group has finally made it and they seem like a pretty chill bunch. Even though it's been kind of scary, it's also been absolutely awesome and I'm leaving for Essaouira tomorrow! Follow me on the internetz and I'll talk to you all soon!

xoxo,

GCS

Green Corn Tamale Mac and Cheese

2013-02-11T10:16:00.001-08:00

Today is absolutely disgusting in New York. Cold rain, sloshy grey snow, and a layer of smog that just instantly makes you depressed is looming over us. Every time I close my eyes, I'm basically dreaming about summer and all of its day drinking and eating by the Williamsburg waterfront. But instead of being all depressed, I've got a cure for today's gloom and doom and of course, it's in the form of a recipe.

Every year, I help make a bomb ass dish for Wisconsin Cheese's 30 Ways 30 Days (which basically gives you 30 different mac'n'cheese recipes for 30 days). This years inspired comfort food might just be my favorite because it has everything to do with summer. And let's face it, when it's 40 degrees outside and there's grimy weather ruining your state of mind, warm days spent in the sun while chowing down on delicous food is really the only thing that matters.

You can find my article [here] or just check it out below!

If you’ve spent any time in Brooklyn during the summer, you know that everything revolves around food. And as a person who’s obsessed with all things food, my weekends were spent noshing at Smorgusburg, admiring produce at the green market, and obsessing over vintage kitchenware at the Brooklyn Flea. From artisanal chile and mango popsicles to handcrafted candied bacon cupcakes, it’s about the only thing that really matters in my borough besides who has the hippest shoes. But one day, after meeting another like-minded foodie babe (Tina Trachtenberg from the 90’s cult-favorite band Trachtenberg family slideshow players), things changed. Instead of being a bystander in the Brooklyn food scene, we decided to get in on the action and start an underground tamale business.

Instead of partying on Friday nights, we spent our time roasting poblanos, mixing masa, and blending fresh produce to create the perfect salsa. Come Saturday morning, my tamale fairy godmother and I would be stuffing these husk-wrapped delights into giant silver pots - letting them steam for hours before we hit the road. And because we made this business up on a whim, we didn’t really have a vehicle or storefront to sell them out of so we went the DIY path and made our own. With a rickety old metal laundry basket on wheels, a million neon fake flowers, and hand-stitched banners that read “Good Golly Miss Tamale”, we made our very own portable tamale wagon. And when the tamales were ready to be sold, we’d put everything in our push-cart and hit the road, selling tamales to all the hipsters and tourists that wandered into our neighborhood, and ducking down alleyways to avoid the occasional cop run-in – we didn’t have permits after all.

The varieties of what we sold changed just as often as trends in our beloved neighborhood, but I will always remember my favorite tamale; which was made with masa harina, roasted poblanos, and Mexican cheese. So as a homage to one of the most memorable, exciting, and inspirational summers, this mac n cheese is inspired by my favorite green corn tamales. Made with a creamy sauce featuring Wisconsin queso quesadilla and Wisconsin Monteray jack, and studded with roasted poblano peppers, freshly shucked corn, and pickled jalapenos, this spicy macaroni and cheese will forever remind me of summer. And after the last few days of horribly cold weather, it’s about the only thing that is helping me through the winter.

Recipe

Green Corn Tamale Mac and Cheese 

Serves 6

Ingredients: 
1 pound pasta shells
 4 tablespoons salted butter, divided 
1/2 large sweet onion, diced 
Salt and pepper to taste
 2 cups freshly shucked corn* 
1/2 cup roasted poblano peppers, roughly chopped
 5 pickled jalapenos, sliced into rings
 1 tablespoon flour 
2 cups heavy cream 
1/3 cup (1 1/3 ounces) Wisconsin Queso Quesadilla Cheese, shredded 
1/3 cup (1 1/3 ounces) Wisconsin Monterey Jack Cheese, shredded 
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt 
Cilantro sprigs for garnish

Directions: 
Cook pasta according to package directions; drain and set aside.

In medium sauté pan, melt 2 tablespoons butter, add onions and pinch salt; cook until onions are translucent; about 5 minutes. Add corn, poblanos and jalapenos; cook 3-5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper; set aside.

In medium saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Whisk in flour until roux forms; cook 2 minutes until bubbling and reduce heat to low; cook 2-3 minutes more. Whisk in heavy cream and increase heat to medium, allowing cream to thicken.

Slowly whisk in cheese until it’s completely melted. Add garlic salt and salt and pepper to taste.
In large bowl, add cooked pasta, corn and pepper mixture, and cheese sauce; gently toss to coat.

Garnish with cilantro and serve immediately.

*Frozen corn can be substituted.

The Comeback

2013-02-06T17:20:00.000-08:00

If you follow GCS, you're probably well aware that I've been slacking. Like majorly slacking. This isn't because I've given up on my blog or website or whatever you wanna call it, it's because I've grown up. And by grown up, I mean that I got a real person job. I go to work Monday through Friday, 9-5 and I write/internet about food for this awesome website Depanneur. It's everything I wanted! Everything except the giant windows of free time that I once had. It's so weird being a "real girl" and not being able to ~~get drunk~~ sleep until 2 pm on a Tuesday. My life that was once so simple, is now a regimented schedule that makes me feel like I should be settling down or something, but that's not going to happen. My goal is to live everyday like it's summer vacay, so let me fill you in on what's been going on in the world of MacKenzie Smith and GCS.

Since the last post - remember when I freaked out and flew back home to Florida to recuperate from a messy and completely depressing relationship? - well since then I've been on awesome (food) dates with awesome dudes, got drunk a little too often, cooked/ate mass amounts of food, became a fucking pro at nail art, watched about a million episodes of The Twilight Zone, made 60 pompoms (because hey, what better way to get happy than by making pompoms), got a supercute dog named Scottie Pippen, went to HBO's premier of GIRLS at ACME studio, ate some mushrooms, played in the woods, contemplated life and of course, got a real job.

There was also the that Superbowl Sunday thing that happened last week, which I couldn't give a shit about but do love because of the major emphasis on food. I ate a bunch of jalapeno poppers that were way too hot. They burned my mouth so bad that I basically drank ranch dressing to get rid of the sting. I know that the tears in my eyes and the ranch dripping out of the side of my mouth must have grossed out the people I was with but it did inspire me to make a new GC. A GC that doesn't burn your taste buds off, a GC that doesn't embarrass you, a GC that tastes amazing and makes you rethink the last few months of your life... in a positive way. Oh, and btw, did I mention that it's 7:30 on a Wednesday and that I'm sitting at work desk drinking my second Sixpoint Resin beer and that I love Sixpoint but i know they totally lie about their alcohol content because I kind of feel drunk. Oh and that I'm really good at rambling, and that I think they're totally liars, but I ain't mad. I've got my puppy in my lap, a brew in my hand, a food writing trip to Morocco in a week, a blog post that's about to be done, and fun plans for tonight. It's a good night and I'm happy to catch up with all you lovely readers, even if I'm a bit tipsy. But enough about me, let's talk about the GC, the reason that you came here, and the food that keeps us connected.

Ingredients!!! OH MY GOD I'm so excited to be writing a new post.

Ingredients

-2 slices of multigrain bread
-bacon (as much as you fucking want)
-2 tbs pickled jalapenos, sliced
-2 tbs cream cheese
-1/2 cup Wisconsin smoked applewood cheddar
-2 pats of salted butter
(which I forgot to photograph)

Wow. Step 1. It feels like it's been so long since I've wrote about you. You and your cheesy layer of goodness. You and you're repetitive step that happens in every single post that I write. Step 1, you used to bore me and make me anxious with your repetitiveness, but now I'm happy to see you again. Am I drunk? Probably, thank god for spell check. But yea, sprinkle on half the cheese and listen to Dan Deacon.

Peter Piper pickled pepper time. Add some pickled jalapenos and start to get excited.

Then it's everyone's favorite time... BACON TIME. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've read the food trends and think that all those people who say bacon is out can suck a D. I love it and I always will love it. It's my main reason for not being vegetarian and it tastes amazing on everything that you put it on. Those haters need to shut up because this sandwich wouldn't be the same without the smoked bacon goodness layer.

Now smear on a layer of cream cheese and close the sandwich. You should be getting really excited at this point.

Look how pretty it is! Turn your burner to medium and melt a pat of butter all up in that bitch. Add your sandwich in and smear it all around until the bread soaks up that buttery goodness.

Cook for a few minutes on each side and wait until it gets all golden and delicious and melty and oh my gahhhhhhhhh

When it's done on both sides and the cheese is oozing out, take it off the heat and let it set for a minute to concentrate all those awesome flavors. Then eat it and don't look back. Enjoy the moment, live it up, and keep it real. It's good to be back. Thanks for keeping me excited about the blog, dear readers.

xoxo,

GCS

The Doff

2012-11-14T09:38:00.001-08:00

As I'm sitting on my parents couch, watching the history of Hostess cakes, I realized that up until a few days ago, I've never really felt like I just needed to escape from something. Usually I'm fine with staying in a stagnant place until I feel better, but after feeling physically and mentally stuck for two long weeks from a surprisingly devastating hurricane, a isolating nor'easter, and a redundantly crappy relationship with a certain dumdum, I decided that I needed to dip out of New York. I acted on this sudden freak out and impulsively bought a last minute ticket to Florida to recoup at my parents house on the beach.

I don't know if my bummed-out state of mind stemmed from an unfortunately lame string of events or if it had something to do with seasonal depression, which sometimes happens to me when the sun starts to set at 4:00pm and my southern brain starts to get the blues. But I do know that a quick dip in the Atlantic ocean can make you feel refreshed, a solo bike ride on the beach can make you appreciate things again, and family feasts with your ma and pa, your brother, and his insatiable friends can leave a permanent smile on your face. There's also the wiggly little body of my family's dachshund, Ollie, that has made me feel all warm and gooey on the inside. And then there's the mission of finding the perfect food-related name for the new doggy that I'm in the process of adopting at the Humane Society here in New Smyrna that has gotten me out of my funk. I'm thinking Butters might just be it for this sweet little doxie mix.

And as you can imagine, whenever I come home all my family and friends demand that I make them grilled cheese and although at first I was sort of reluctant for some reason or another, I was reminded that this type of sandwich really does have comforting qualities. I cooked up this sweet and spicy little grilled cheese with inspiration from both the North and the South; crispy sweet cornbread, super spicy buffalo flavored cheddar, sweet Spanish chorizo, and a bright celery salt mayo pack this sandwich full of bright, vibrant, and flaming hot goodness.

Here's what you'll need:

Ingredients:

- 2/3 cup Yancey's buffalo wing hot sauce
cheddar, shredded
- 1 big chunk of cornbread
- 1/4 cup of browned Spanish chorizo dulce
- 1 tbsp of mayo
- 1 tsp celery salt

To make this bad boy, simply cut your cornbread in half and use the interior of the bread as the exterior of the sandwich. Pile on half the cheese and make sure to taste a little bit, because it's insanely spicy.

I think I have a high tolerance level for spicy food so believe me when I say this cheese is hot as a devil's ding dong. I actually couldn't believe how spicy it was when I first tested this recipe so if you can't handle the heat, maybe you should mix half of this with a plain young cheddar. It'll be just as good - just not as hellish.

Next, pile on all of that sweet chorizo. If you don't eat pork, you could totally use pulled chicken or something, but I thought if I did that, it would be too similar to my buffalo chicken grilled cheese from a while back.

I chose chorizo because I like how hearty this sausage is and how the texture holds up against the melted cheese and pillowy cornbread.

Then add the remaining cheese and the other slice of cornbread; interior as exterior once again.

Smear the mayonnaise on the outside and sprinkle half of the celery salt on top. Place the sandwich mayo-side down and repeat on the other surface.

Over medium high heat, cook your sammich until the cheese has started to melt and the cornbread begins to toast up. If you have a press, I would recommend heating it up until it's piping hot and then placing it on top so the ingredients are smashed together and forced to infuse all of the flavors into one delicious gooey mess.

Make sure to flip and repeat!

Let it sit for a few minutes before you dig in so that the cheese glues the cornbread and sausage together and makes your sandwich more solid.

Also, here's a link to the puppy that I'm adopting. His name is Emerson but that's only because they found him and he didn't have a name. I don't think it's very fitting, so if you have any ideas for awesome food names, I'd be forever appreciative if you'd send 'em my way. Thanks y'all.

xoxo,

GCS

BARACKli Raben Hood

2012-11-06T10:31:00.001-08:00

I have a huge crush on Obama. I like that he drinks orange juice in the morning, shoots hoops in the afternoon, and indulges in the occasional cigarette. He's a real dude, a great dad, and his wife and kids are cute and awesome. I also like him even more now that his four years in the white house have made his hair all salt and peppery and sexy. And of course, I like him for his political stance as well. Not only did I vote for him because it's super important that all of my friends are able to have equal rights and marry whomever they want, but I also think that as a young woman, his views on women's rights match those of my own. Here's where I shout "keep your rosaries off my ovaries!". Additionally, because of his health care reform, I've also been able to keep my affordable health insurance for a few more years and god knows that with all these sharp knives I play with, I truly need it.

Not that y'all need any motivation to vote or that you even care to know who I voted for, but I wanted to share the back-story behind my Obama themed grilled cheese. My good buddies over at ACME studio have been throwing parties for the debate and of course, it wouldn't be a party unless I brought food ~~and puns~~ and that's how this little grilled cheese got started. During the first debate I made Barackli rabe flat bread and MacaRomney and cheese. I turned the flat bread into a grilled cheese because it was such a hit and this semi-healthy, but extremely delicious sammich has roasted garlic, fresh goat cheese, roasted broccoli rabe, and balsamic glaze. It's definitely a winner, just like Barack Obama! (fingers crossed)

Get ya goodies to make this during the celebration tonight

Ingredients

- 1/4 cup of fresh goat cheese
- 1 tsp of balsamic glaze
- 1/4 cup of roasted broccoli rabe
(trim off stems, toss with olive oil, salt
and pepper, bake at 500 until wilted and
    starting to brown; about 5-7 minutes)
- 1 small pita
- 1 bulb of roasted garlic
   (cut off top of garlic bulb, and place in
   tin foil, drizzle with olive oil and salt and
   seal. bake on 400 for 45 minutes)
- 2 tbsp olive oil (not pictured)

Begin by gently pulling your pita into two halves and then crumble half of your goat cheese onto one side. I always use Vermont Creamery's Goat Cheese because I think its perfectly lemony, bright, and smooth. It melts really nice too - unlike most chevres which get gritty when heated. I also think this tart cheese matches Obama's spunk so I like it even more.

Next, add a few cloves of roasted garlic. These sweet, smooth, and delicately spicy cloves balance out the bitterness from the greens and goat cheese. They also remind me of how suave Obama was when he sang that little Al Green ditty. I just melt thinking about it...meep!

Now it's time for the bitter greens. Just add a couple of roasted broccoli rabe leaves for an extra bite. This will also make the texture of this grilled cheese a little more interesting. The broccoli part also looks like Obama's hair and that makes me giggle.

Finish with a drizzle of balsamic glaze. I always have Acetum Blaze balsamic reduction on hand but if you don't, you can easily make it yourself.

To make your own balsamic glaze, just heat a pan on high and add a half cup of balsamic vinegar and a tbsp of apple juice. Boil until the liquid reduces and coats the back of the spoon. Remove from heat and use it however you'd like.

Before you put it in the pan, add the remaining goat cheese and place the other piece of pita, interior side down, on top. Almost ready!

Heat a pan over high heat and drizzle some olive oil into it. Gently place your grilled cheese in and smear it around so it evenly soaks up the olive oil. Let it cook for just a few minutes until the pita browns and the goat cheese starts to soften up. Flip it and repeat. When its finished, take it off the stove and let it sit for a few minutes to firm up.

No matter who you voted for, this grilled cheese is sure to please. Even more so if you voted for my number one main man, Obama!

xoxo,

GCS

Gouda Times

2012-10-31T13:24:00.000-07:00

Even though every single person is talking about Hurricane Sandy right now, I'm not going to do that! Ok, ok, maybe I'll just tell you a little bit about it. To sum things up, I was trapped inside for three days and did nothing but cook, watch movies, and drink wine. Besides my jeans fitting a little too tight and being stuck in Bushwick for an unknown amount of time, the aftermath of Sandy hasn't been that bad to me and my homies - much love to everyone that its hurt.

But enough about the hurricane that made lower Manhattan look like a clip from The Day After Tomorrow (gahhh remember when Jake Gyllenhaal used to be hot and before he f'd over T Swift? he was such a qt bby), here's the real story that goes along with this little grilled cheesy sandwich of goodness. A few weeks ago, The Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board send me on the most baller foodie trip of all time. We toured Wisconsin so hard and visited local cheese makers, breweries, distilleries and some amazing restaurants. Needless to say, I drank and ate way too much but I learned so much, met some amazing people (wazzup Underground Food Collective?!), and ate so much fresh cheese that I feel sick thinking about it. ~~#noregrets!~~

During my first night there, I met Sid Cook, who's known as the most award winning cheese maker in the world! Omg, can you say cream dream? I, of course, developed a huge crush on him and I also learned that I've been saying Gouda wrong for my entire life. It's pronounced GOW-DUH! So in honor of my time in Madison, and because I want to be back there right now, I decided to make a special little GC that reminds me of how amazing the cheese state is. With pretzel bread, a bratwurst, sweet hot mustard, and some real Wisconsin GOW-DUH, my ode to Wisconsin is grilled.

Here's what you'll need lil dawgie...

Ingredients:

-1 pretzel roll
-1 cup of shredded Wisconsin Gouda
(I used Carr Valley bc I love Sid Cook)
-1 cooked bratwurst
-1 tbsp sweet and spicy mustard
-2 pats of butter (not pictured, whoops!)

You know my little trick about cutting the top of a roll off to get a super crispy grilled cheese crust? Well, that's what you'll be doing for this grilled cheese. Just slice off the top and feel free to butter it up and eat it as an appetizer. Next, flip over the bottom bun so that the interior of the roll is facing the cutting board. THEN! cover it with some tasty Wisconsin Gouda.

Now take your grilled up bratwurst and slice it in half. Then lay it on. I know it looks kind of gross right here, but I swear, it'll be awesome when it's all done and there's little meat nubs hanging off the edges. Yaow!

Then dollop on some of that sweet and spicy mustard onto the other piece of the bun and plop the remaining cheese on top of the brat.

Close it up, give it a little kiss, and gently place some butter in a frying pan and another pat of buttaaaa on top of the sandwich.

In a grill pan, over medium heat, cook your grilled cheese for about 5 minutes or until it's all hot and crusty. Flip that 'ish and do the same thing!

Keep watching as the cheese melts all over the place but keep it together, it's almost done!

On the real tip, my heart goes out to all of those affected by this stupid hurricane and even though I'm not that strong and you probably don't want me to help rebuild anything, I wish I could all make you all a million grilled cheeses to make your tummy happy. I'd also really like to thank the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board for sending me to Wisconsin and treating me like a queso queen. Much luv and r'pekkkk y'all...

xoxo,

GCS

The Bushwick Painkiller

2012-09-24T06:41:00.001-07:00

I've only been 26 for a few months now but I'm already starting to feel old. Not aged in the sense of realizing that I'm older than most people at the bars in Williamsburg or as a result from some looming social pressure that's telling me I should have my life together by now. But rather, old in the sense that my stupid body takes forever to get over a night of cheap tequila shots, PBRs, and ~~awkward~~ creative dance moves. I'm not sure if it's because 26-year-olds probably shouldn't still be partying like they're a freshman in college or that my body is actually not able to detox from the copious amounts of poison that I've been putting into it, but something has definitely changed and it's making me rethink those cheap beer shot combos.

A few years ago, my mornings were a lot different. I'd wake up, still drunk from the night before and be eagerly ready to take on the day, even with smeared mascara streaking my face. Brunches at the Metropolitan White Castle, while still in my clothes from the previous night didn't phase me. In fact, while my friends and I were busy downing mini cheeseburgers, chugging cherry coke, and categorizing our friends as either cats or dogs (think about it) I realized something very important - I come up with my best material when I'm minus a few vital brain cells. But I'm quickly realizing that I'm not so hilarious when I'm hungover these days. It's actually kind of depressing.

As I once thrived in my fuzzed out state, I now am a pathetic mess that pitifully texts my roommates "death" which translates as "puhhhlleeasseeeee may I have a bottle of Mexican coke, saltines, advil, and a hug". I'm super lucky that they usually deliver because with their help, I can usually make it out of bed by 1pm without booting. But sometimes I'm the one that receives the suffer-texts and when I get those, I go to great lengths to repay their generosity. That's how this ridiculously insane sandwich was born. That and after staying up really late and watching the Food Network's segment on the Grilled Cheese Truck's fried chicken and waffle sandwich. I think I even dreamt about it that night to be honest.

These ingredients will make you and your friends life better...

Ingredients:

-2 undercooked waffles
-1 cup of fried chicken
-4 Kraft Singles
-2 pats salted butter
-.5 tbsp honey
-.5 tbsp hot sauce

So before we begin, let me stress that it's super important that your waffles are undercooked. If they're not they'll end up burning too quickly before the cheese melts and then you'll hate life more than you already do. Trust me.

Ok, so to begin, slap two Kraft singles down onto one of the waffles. Easy, right? See, I do care about you.

Then it's time for the life-saving ingredient - FRIED CHICKEN. I think little nuggets work best on this sandwich but you could totally just use chicken fingers or whatever you have on hand. Just don't use anything with bones on it. That sounds like an awful idea.

When it's all evenly laid out and you're about to chow down on one too many "tastes" of the fried chicken, then it's time to mix the hot sauce and honey together. This is my all time favorite condiment on fried chicken. It's so good. Sweet and spicy and oh so sticky. Smothering it on at this step helps the sandwich stay together so you can eat it when your fine motor skills aren't working so fine.

Now put the other two Kraft singles on top and you're almost done! I know some of you might be saying to yourself "Kraft Singles, WTF? That's not real cheese. What is this nut thinking?" But believe me, Kraft singles melt perfectly and for some reason their artificiality makes this sandwich even better. Actually, do preservatives soak up toxins??

Once this little sammie is built, it's time to heat up the grill. Turn your burner to medium and melt a pat of butter right in the pan. Place the GC on top and let it cook until it gets all crispy and golden and melty and delicious and irresistible. Yes, a sandwich can most-definitely be irresistible.

After grilling for about 4-6 minutes on each side, this bad boy will be all done and will anxiously be waiting to be shoved down your gullet and into your belly. I'd let it rest for a second to let those preservatives in the Kraft singles firm back up into scrumptious artificial cheese goo.

And that's it. Simple, easy, and hell-a good. So whether you make this sandwich for yourself or for someone who probably should visit the hospital to get an IV drip, it's going to be fulfilling, rejuvenating, and utterly dank-licious. You can even grind up some painkillers and sprinkle it on top for a powdered sugar effect but that's probably a bad/extremely disgusting idea so don't do that. The ideas cool though.

xoxo,

GCS

The Wayfarer

2012-08-15T10:01:00.001-07:00

It's about that time of year again when summer's coming to an end and you can finally stop worrying about how your thighs look like in your Levi cutoffs and the sweat that might be lining your upper lip. Soon, cool breezes will be wafting the smell of steaming-hot dog piss off the streets of New York and being hungover in the train station won't automatically mean that you're going to throw up from the putrid scents that have been marinating below the sidewalk.

And even though I can't wait for it to cool down, I will miss all the good things that come with summer. Particularly, escaping the city and the long drives to the beach while inaudibly blaring Beat Happening through busted-out speakers, and the hilarity that ensues as my friends yell at each other when we get lost on the BQE. I'll miss being able to blame my greasy bangs, 4-day pony tails, and my sweaty back on the sweltering heat that makes me too lazy to do keep up with my own cleanliness. There's also the "it's too hot outside to even leave the apartment" excuse when I just want to be a hermit for five days in a row that I'll miss. And of course, there's the "I'm blowing all my money because I just want to have fun while I still can and not think of anybody but myself" logic that I won't be able to use anymore.

Which reminds me, I've got to come up with some new weather-based excuses for Fall.

But most importantly, I'm sad to say goodbye to rooftop barbecues and getting day drunk in the sun. I won't miss when I accidentally take a swig of gin from a mysterious water bottle that's left over in my backpack from park parties that have filled my Sundays. But anyway, as a goodbye to sweet, sweet summertime, I'm saying farewell and metaphorically smashing this grilled cheese up against a yacht to bid adieu to a summer that has surely had its ups and downs. And what better way to send off this season than with a grilled cheese that encapsulates the sweetness, the burn, and the crispiness that came along with these last few months. Sweet and smokey barbecue, hot and spicy pickled jalapenos, , and rich and creamy caramelized onion cheese that's all grilled between a smashed hamburger bun is what it's all about. So yeah, peace out summaaaa time.

Here's what's important.

Ingredients:

- 1 hamburger bun
- 1/2 cup English Cheddar with caramelized
onions
(you can find it at Trader Joes!)
- 1/3 cup of BBQ pulled pork
- a few pickled jalapenos based solely
on tolerance levels alone
- 1 tbsp of mayonaise
- 1 tsp of smoked paprika

To get the best, most crispy crust from any sort of bun, the trick is to turn it upside down. Since the crust on most bread won't get all crispy and delicious when grilled, this method allows you to get the same results as if you were using sliced bread. It's kind of like perfecting the perfect summer tan when you're drunk. You've got to remember to flip over or else you'll get these crazy wayfarer sunglass tans that are not hot. Which actually has nothing to do with grilled cheese but is very important to remember.

To begin, stack the cheese onto the seeded side and bottom side of the bun. And I can't move on without talking about this cheese. I'm not normally a fan of flavored cheeses - because let's be honest if you are when you're in my industry you're looked at like a kook if you even mutter your acceptance of flavored cheeses - but this cheese is soooo dank! It's sweet and salty and there's actually little nubs of caramelized onions in there. AH! It's so good, I want to make a million grilled cheeses out of it. Be on the lookout for a French Onion Soup grilled cheese when you can actually be in your kitchen for 15 minutes without getting heat exhaustion.

Now slop on some pulled pork. If you'd like to make it yourself, I think you're awesome because I will never be found manning a grill, (you can find me making gatoritas by the a cooler) but I do recommend using this recipe from my homies at Saveur Magazine. Or if you'd like to do it my way, just use leftovers from your favorite BBQ joint.

What's my favorite BBQ spot you ask? Well that would totally be Fette Sau in Williamsburg. Not only do they have amazing meats, but they also have the largest American Whiskey selection in New York and that's something that ~~I've blown too much money on~~ I'm obsessed with. And if you're a Southerner living up here it's also the place that you can find Cheerwine!

Then it's time for the pickled jalapenos. I love these little sweet and spicy bites of awesomeness so I go kind of crazy with them. If you're not a heat lover, then I'd recommend chopping one single jalapeno ring up and gingerly sprinkling it on top of the meat. But if you're obsessed with pain while eating....errrr....I mean spicy foods, well then I'd tell you to follow my lead and cover every square inch of pork with these bad boys.

What's a summer without a little burn; whether it be emotional or dermatological.

Next, put the other side of the bun on top and smear it with some mayonnaise and a pinch of smoked paprika. I know that using mayonnaise may sound a little absurd - especially coming from me, but I've changed a lot this summer. I actually like this stuff now! Not only does mayo have a higher burning point than butter, but it also makes a crust that is crispier and less greasy than the lube that normally goes with grilled cheese. Trust me and do it.

Once it's built, place your creation, mayo side down, on your grill pan and turn the heat to medium. Let it cook for a bit until the crust starts to look like the picture below. When it's about that time, mayo and paprika the other side of the bun and flip it. Repeat, ya dingus!

After it's evenly golden-brown on each side, take it off the stove-top and let it rest for a few minutes. If you're hungover and you're reading this, walk straight to the kitchen and cook a sun-side up egg and place it on top. I've done this before and believe me when I say it cures a hangover, especially if you abide by Anthony Bourdain - who I rely on for hangover advice.

If you're not feeling winters approach, just think of all the cute boys (and girls) in sweaters and knitted beanies and all the comfy winter clothes that don't cling to your skin and reveal all those ~~unsightly dimples~~ bodacious curves that my blog has probably attributed to. Until next time, soak up those rays and have an awesome week.

xoxo,

GCS

The Buffer

2012-08-02T17:09:00.001-07:00

So after writing last week's post and reading all of your comments, I've been ~~drinking a lot~~ thinking a lot. Can failed relationships really that fun to read about? Although I think that y'all actually liked my sob story (seriously, thanks for the comments), I feel as if last week's post may have pulled some heartstrings and might have made you feel bad for me. I know that everyone can relate to heartbreak, but that's not what I want this blog to be about. I want it to be about ridiculous stories and awesome grilled cheese sandwiches. So here's one funny breakup story to even me out from last week's disaster.

When I was a junior in college, I was recently single and was inadvertently rebounding with hot, tall, kind-hearted pianist dude who was a super-talented ~~with his mouth~~. Although I had no real interest in playing the piano, my id told me it was a good time to start. I'd taken lessons when I was younger but quit when my piano instructor, who was about three hundred years old, died - just days before my first recital. After telling him about my unfortunate piano history and how I had always wanted to know how to tickle the ivories, he told me he'd give me some lessons. Of course, being the opportunist that I am, I went with it. So after a sessions of hanging out on his ~~bed~~ piano bench, fluttering my lacquered lashes, perking up my boobs, and laughing like he was the funniest thing in the world, I had a few songs memorized and a certain someone off my mind.

As we started hanging out more regularly, we took a road trip with some friends to see Radiohead. We had the cheapest seats possible and had snuck a ton of booze into the venue because there was no way in hell that we were going to pay $10 for a bud heavy. Half a water bottle full of tequila later, the boy and I totally tricked the bouncer into letting us snag some seats in the third row. At that I point was pretty wasted, but I can vaguely remember sloppily making out while they were playing "All I Need" and feeling like this maybe wasn't a rebound after all. But then, as soon as we got back to Tallahassee, I guess I WAS NOT all that he needed because he totally dumped me for some spray tanned Hooters waitress.

Yes, a Hooters waitress. A shiny-orange-shorts-wearing-camel-toed-Hooters-waitress. She might have even been a stripper. At least that's what my friends told me, but I think they were just trying to make me feel better. But I get it, I get it. Free chicken wings and big ole titties are very appealing, especially to a 22 year old man-boy. At the time I was truly devastated. How could some girl with frizzy bleach blonde hair, dark roots, and scrunchy socks be more appealing than me? I knew about cartoons, could cook amazing stuff when I was wasted, and I could even quote Mr. Show. Isn't that what every boys wants? Hahaha. Yeah, right, not so much. Now that I'm 26 and haven't seen a Hooters retaurant, let alone a chicken wing waitress, in like 5 years, I think it's the funniest break-up story ever. I totally got dumped for chicken wings! Or maybe it was the blow jobs that he was getting in the parking lot after she hooked him up with a free meal.

And although this grilled cheese has absolutely nothing to do with Hooters or shitty boys, it is really good and I think you'll dig it. Oh! And of course, you voted for it on Facebook.

Grab these goodies and go with it.

Ingredients:

- 1/3 cup of crumbled feta
- 2 tbsp of roasted red pepper relish
- 1/4 cup of fresh baby spinach
- 2 slices of seven grain bread
- 2 pats of salted butter
- 1 pinch of dried parsley

Just like the beginning of every single post I do, the first step begins with sprinkling on some cheese. This salty, moist Greek queso doesn't really melt but it does get all soft and creamy. Just like your brain feels when you start to fall for someone. Then it hardens up to a dried mass of disgustingness that's similar to when some dingdong dumps you for a Hooters waitress. Just kidding. I'm not bitter about it anymore, I swear.

Then spoon on some of the red pepper relish. Its tart, sweet bite contrasts nicely with the saltiness from the feta.

I think that opposites attract but I wouldn't take dating advice from me.

Then for some freshness, add a few baby spinach leaves. I think these tender-hearted veggies add a nice textural variation and it's a good ingredient when you need to switch it up.

Sprinkle on some more cheese for good measure... if you haven't scarfed it all up yet. Emotional eater.

Add the top piece of bread and wait four years until you can laugh about that one time when someone cared more about buffalo sauce and ranch dressing than your chilled out demeanor and cool dance moves.

Turn your griddle to medium high, blast your sandwich press with some fire, and melt some of that butter alongside that dried parsley. ~~Gah, her skin was really dry , too!~~ Place your sandwich on top of the melted herb butter. When your press gets super hot, carefully pick it up and sear the crap out of your grilled cheese.

It'll look like this! No false intentions or misleading bullshit with food.

Now let it sit for a minute until it becomes a funny story that you can blog about in a couple years.

And in case this whole story made me sound like a complete bitch, there's nothing wrong with being a Hooters waitress. Actually, if you are, I'm a little envious. I could totally use a boob job and some chicken wings tonight. Thanks y'all.

xoxo,

GCS

The Singles Special

2012-07-25T10:12:00.001-07:00

Warning, this post may sound like some sort of "dear diary" thing but I'm going for it. So eff off.

For me, the worst part about breaking up with someone are the succeeding morning-afters. Maybe it's the first split second of consciousness that happens when you wake up and roll over, only to realize that a certain someone isn't there anymore. Or maybe it's the lonely walk to go get coffee by yourself that makes you want to crawl in a boy-less hole and die. I'm shuddering at how emo I'm being as I write this, but dating in New York sucks. It does. And I know that I don't normally talk about relationship stuff on this blog, but ya know what? I just turned 26 and the thought of having this blog for three years and not documenting one single failed relationship just seems like some sort of big mistake.

I'd been with this dude for a few months and things were rad. Because of him, I'd started drawing again and I really did feel this explosive wave of ~~pubescent boy horniess~~ creativity - which was really wonderful and super fun. I bought a sketchbook for the first time in two years and have half-way filled it up already! We even had ridiculous pet names for each other; Critter (me) and Creature (him). C'mon! Cute city USA with us as the weirdo mayors ruling our own little freak show. Most of all though, I really loved having someone to make breakfast for on the reg. He'd make the ONE cup of coffee, (which at first I thought was rude but then loved it because he said he liked splitting it with me. Goober.) and I'd scour the fridge to try to come up with the yummiest morning meal I could think of.

It's been a few weeks now since we ended things and mornings are definitely a lot easier but let's be honest, they still suck. Maybe it's that I don't like sleeping alone or that I should take down his shrunken head drawing that he made me during breakfast one morning that sits right above my light switch. Or maybe it's the fact that we work on the same block so there's this impending doom that lingers over me when I head to North 3rd and happen to see his cute scruffy face that doesn't kiss mine anymore. Oh my god, I can't believe I'm writing this. What am I doing? I've never been this sappy in my whole life. I'm not a Best Coast type of gal. Maybe this is why I shouldn't write about dumb man-boys.

Anyways, let's change topics before I make everyone throw up. To make myself feel better, I've been cooking up some awesome breakfasts to cope with sad sappy mornings. This one in particular has been quite the life saver. A buttery toasted crumpet, taylor pork roll, tater tots, and gooey melted colby jack get all hot and crispy together in this GC. Plunge this carb-centric sammie in some hot sauce and you won't be thinking about anything but the flavors that are making your brain melt for at least a few minutes while you woof it down.

Here's what you'll need to make this break-up-and-feel-better-sandwich.

Ingredients:

1 crumpet
1 handful of tater tots - COOKED!
3 slices of Taylor Pork Roll
3 slices of Lacey Swiss and Colby Jack
2 pats of butter
**Optional: insanely-hot hot sauce for dipping**

To begin, fry that pork right up! If you're anything like me, being newly single means you just lost 10 pounds so you can eat what-the-hell-ever you want. Just heat your griddle to high and throw on the slabs of succulently salted swine. When it's all crisped up, take it out of the pan but don't clean off that grease, ya dingus. You'll want to ~~savor~~ save that and use it when you're ready to fry up your grilled cheese. Yes, we'll be using pork fat to enhance this fat daddy. Because why not?

This is the hardest part, beyond realizing that you're going to have to spend a lot of time slamming shots of tequila and talking to douche bags at crappy, loud bars before you find your next suitable man. Very carefully, I repeat, very carefully slice your crumpet in half. They're really delicate, just like your emotional stability, so take your time with this step. Think of it as some sort of zenned out cutting therapy. I don't mean like a borderline personality cutting therapy type thing, but kitchen therapy - which I think is the best thing, EVER.

Once they're cut, use my little flipping inside out method and turn them upside down. Then pile on the cheese. Lay it down, thick. Remember, there's nothing like ~~getting under someone that makes getting over someone easier~~ eating a ton of cheese to heal the heart.

Then add that taylor pork roll threesome to the top. No ruminating allowed here, keep going.

Top it with some crispy tater tots and smash them with your fork. This is the cathartic part, believe me. And you won't look like these idiots if you do it my way.

Place the other piece of the crumpet back on top and take a second to look at the beautiful creation you just made. Pat yourself on the back, put on some red lipstick, and blast some Bikini Kill. Remember, don't waste your time crying over a man-boy. As my friend/co-worker/unintentional therapist Leanne, put it "What would Kathleen Hanna do?". Go with that mentality for as long as you can, just don't go all Lorena Bobbitt with it. And definitely don't play any Best Coast. Don't do it. Actually, just delete it off your iTunes now.

Something happened when I was doing this shoot and I forgot to take pictures of it grilling. Maybe it was the moment when I realized how freaked out my roommates were when they saw me dancing around my kitchen with a butcher knife and spatula, blasting some overly loud fem-punk.

But basically you'll put some butter in the skillet and turn the burner to medium. Let it cook for a few minutes until the cheese starts to splurge out of the crumpet holes and creates a nice cheesy crust. So good. When it's ready to flip, do it super gingerly. There were a couple disasters that happened when I was testing this recipe, but even if they fail and fall apart (God, is everything an analogy in this post?) they'll still be delicious afterward.

When it's done let it sit for a few minutes and then sop it up with some super spicy hot sauce and dig in. Enjoy the burn. It'll make you appreciate your next ~~relationship~~ bite a lot more.

xoxo,

GCS

The Slow Dance

2012-06-26T13:04:00.002-07:00

I know, I know, it's been a long time and I'm sorry. I could spend the next few sentences explaining my lack of grilled cheesiness but I'd rather not. Let's talk about something better. Something new and weird and sort of exciting. Sounds good, right?

Alright, well let me just think about what I want to talk about.

Oh right! Exotic Corn dogs! That's it. Think about it. Are you getting hungry yet? I know that it may sound like the name of some kitschy male stripper joint in South Florida, but I'm talking about the real thing here. No leopard print g-strings (ehhh, maybe, we'll get back to that), oiled up pecs, ~~or bulging private parts~~, but instead, imagine a savory apple and pork sausage, skewered, dipped in a rosemary infused corn dog batter and then deep fried to golden perfection. I'm getting ~~horny~~ hungry just thinking about it.

You might be asking yourself "What the hell is she talking about?" so let me give you some more background info. I've been wanting to open up a cutesy little grilled cheese spot for some time now and ever since Smorgasburg opened (a Brooklyn based taste-orgy that goes on every weekend) I thought it would be awesome to have my own little booth. Unfortunately there's already a grilled cheese spot, Milk Truck (enter bizarre anger video here), so I can't open up a booth based on my one true love. But when I went there ~~and blew all of my money~~ over the weekend, I had a revelation. Just because I can't do GC's doesn't mean that this dream of mine has to be crushed like that time when I was twelve and found out that Furby's aren't cute but instead absolutely horrifying. Nope. So on Saturday afternoon, my friend and I spent about 8 hours daydreaming/obsessing over opening a fancy pants corn dog spot because, I mean, why not? And how awesome does that sound? There's about a million awesome combos and you can even make the sticks cool! Needless to say, it got kind of weird with that one.

Which brings me to this: How good would this little grilled cheese be, which is made up of broccoli, bacon, and mustard seed and ale cheddar cheese, as a corn dog. AH!

Here's what you'll need, pre-corn-dog phase:

Ingredients:

- 1 piece of foccacia, sliced in half
- 2 tbsp of crumbled cooked bacon
- about a cup of sliced Red Dragon Mustard seed
and ale cheddar cheese
- 2 tbsp of steamed broccoli
- 2 pats of salted butter

So the cheese that I used was found at Trader Joe's. It's a Welsh cheddar that has mustard seeds and ale infused in it. It's super pliable and after sitting out for only a few minutes, it was already starting to melt. This might or might not have had something to do with the fact that it's been like hotter than a devil's dingdong in NYC lately. Anyways, the cheese mostly tastes like mustard and it melts beautifully and it was pretty cheap for a big ole hunk.

I just cut it into thin little slices because it was too soft to grate. My grater cried all night because he's sensitive like that.

Then I piled on some cooked broccoli.

I just did a quick, non-thorough little search on my website and realized that I don't think I've ever done a post with broccoli. What the **** kind of **** is that? I'm totally freaked out by myself about this.

GAH. I'm so disappointed in you, MacKenzie. This was your favorite vegetable as a kid. Remember demanding dinosaur trees until your face turned purple from screaming and your little brother hid under the bed because he thought you were possessed? Yeah, I sort of blocked that one out, too.

Anyways, broccoli, it's good to have you back.

Now comes the crumbled bacon part. MAKE IT RAIN PORK! Throw it up in the air and dance around. Let yourself feel the free flowing nature of a pig rooting around the muck. Just make sure to do this by yourself, others don't seem to "get" it.

Top it off with some more cheese and quit pulling your hair out from excitement.

Add the top piece of bread on top and smear it with some nice salty butter. Use the real stuff. Seriously dude, or else we're not friends anymore. NOT EVEN ONLINE!

Heat up a burner to medium high and put your sandwich in, buttered-side down. Let it cook for a few minutes until it gets all crispy and toasted and then smear some butter on the non-buttered side and flip it.

Shampoo, rinse, repeat until it's nice and even on both sides. Leave out the shampooing and rinsing. Let it sit for a few minutes to tighten up before eating.

Alright, so hopefully this tasty little sandwich will make up for my lack of posting. If it doesn't and you're still angry with me, I'll make you a corn dog when I open up my dream corn dog stand on the Williamsburg Waterfront.

Oh and one last thing, if anyone is interested in wearing a leopard print g-string bikini and helping me sell these in the near future. Email me at GrilledCheeseSocial@gmail.com. Thanks!

xoxo,

GCS

Tommy Guns

2012-05-09T15:13:00.001-07:00

When you move to New York, certain things change. Things that you once didn't think twice about become things that you loathe, things that you question, and things that you might just be slightly horrified by. You can no longer buy a bunch of groceries and shove them in the back of your car ~~that your parents paid for~~ and drive home in the air conditioning without sweating your ass off. Using the word y'all directly indicates that you're not from around these parts. And getting your hair did is not something that was once a cheap and relaxing alternate route to happiness. No, these things, among others, aren't that important but really do take some getting used to.

The hair thing though, man, that was tough. Highlighting my hair used to be a quick, no-questions-asked way to perk me up and make me feel better about myself. Take the following scenarios for example: Breakup with a boy - get your hair dyed! Fail an exam - get your hair dyed! Crash that car that your parents paid for - get your hair dyed! Why? I have no idea, but I do know that this remedy was probably a lot better than the tanning craze that most of my fellow Floridian idiots were ~~completely obsessed with~~ plagued by. So this little vanity addiction, for me, was A-OK.

But when I moved up here and brutally realized that a quick little visit to the salon was about 4 times the price compared to down South, I quickly decided that I might not be ~~able to afford being~~ a blonde anymore. So with that, the mission to find my real hair color began. Sounds exciting, huh? Yeah, not at all. My real hair color is a murky dishwater blonde that profoundly resembles the color of a sun bleached raccoon. I hate it and when I go back to Florida it's an easy marker for my old buds to guage how sick, unhealthy, and overworked I look.

But ya know what? I'm getting my hair dyed blonde today! I can't take it anymore, and I just made a bunch of money making grilled cheeses for Wisconsin Cheese at the IACP convention a few weeks back, so I'm doing it. And I'm doing it right. I'm going to Tommy Guns and tossing them my money without looking back. So quick, don't look back, make this sandwich and do it right! It's got some awesome paprika-dusted cheese, fresh arugula, dried salami, and rosemary infused olive oil. It pairs perfectly with a nice IPA or a fruity Sangria.

Get yourself some of this 'ish...

Ingredients:

- 2 slices of multigrain bread
- 1 small handful of arugula
- 1 cup of Sartori Pastorale cheese, shredded
- 1 tbs of dried salami (cacciatorini)
- 1 tbs of olive oil

First things first, plop down half of the grated cheese.

To be completely honest, out of all the cheese I got from Wisconsin, this one is my absolute favorite. It's made with sweet curds using a combination of sheep and cow milk and it's da bomb.com. It basically melts in your mouth and contrasts beautifully with some salty cured meat and peppery arugula. I dig it and I'm bummed that it's a limited time cheese. Wah wah. So you bes' get yourself some soon before they run out.

Now add the meat! I used cacciatorni which is a small, dried stick of salami. It's sort of like beef jerky... only if beef jerky were soaked in a pool of ecstasy and crack. I only say this because it's super addicting, not because it gets you high or has any effect on the body other than satiation. At least mine didn't. ~~Let me know if you find some that does.~~

Now add the rest of the cheese. See how simple this grilled cheese is? I love it. Just stack it all up.

Throw on the top piece of bread and turn your burner to medium.

Drizzle some olive oil around the pan and add some broken up rosemary leaves. Place the sandwich in and wait patiently for about 4 minutes or until it gets all crispy and brown.

You can even put a press on it if you have one. It'll make the cheese melt faster and more evenly. AND it will make it super flat, which is nice, if you're into that sort of thing.

Oh, and make sure to flip it to cook the other side.

See? It's coming along nicely since you waited so politely. Gahhh!

Then when it's like that on both sides, take it off the grill and gently open it up. Place a small handful of arugula on top of the melted cheese and press it closed.

I didn't put the arugula on the sandwich pre-grill-time because I don't like the texture when it starts to cook. Some people are into that though, some weird, weird people that you shouldn't look in the eyes.

You don't even have to wait to eat this little sammie! Go ahead, scarf it down right away.

And you've gotta get yourself an aggressive IPA to drink with this sweet and salty grilled cheese.

My buddy, fellow Thailand traveler, and Beer Guru Ale Sharpton says, "Athens, GA.'s own Terrapin Brewery unleashed the 12th edition of their prized double IPA, Hopzilla. At 10.8 percent ABV, this potent, fire-breathin' terror has a malty backbone of sweetness to balance out 110 IBUs (International Bitterness Units) of gangster hoppiness, plus fruity tasting notes including apricot and pineapple! With an ale this complex, I am sure you, MacKenzie the Grilled Cheese Queen, will have a ball finding the right cheeses and bread to pair with it! Let's dance!"

So yeah, I done did it, yo! And this is what you should do, too.

Besides, who doesn't want to get wasted and eat grilled cheese sandwiches ALL NIGHT LONG?

xoxo,

GCS

Roast BFF

2012-04-24T13:05:00.004-07:00

I don't have any tattoos but I've been thinking about getting one lately. Not something serious. Something ridiculous. Something that I won't hate in a year or two or twenty, but instead will laugh at and roll my eyes in a flirtatious manner when someone spots it. Maybe like a hot dog with ketchup spelling "love" in cursive or a super technical drawing of a purple bat drinking a milkshake. Definitely something with food in it. But then every time I think I've figured out the perfect thing, I freak because I have no idea where I should get it. Is the inside of my wrist a good idea? Or on my ribbies? What about my right butt cheek? God the possibilities are endless. Which just makes me think that I'll never get this tattoo that I've been thinking about. I want one though, real bad.

Why can't they make like a two-year temporary tat. I'd totally get one of those. Like right now. Probably of a cup of PG Tips with milky vampire teeth.

What really puts me on edge about tattoos is how much I change my mind all the time. I have some sort of interest-ADD. This isn't just about stuff that I just physically like, (Thank god I didn't get that nautical star tattoo when I was 15 and heavily into punk rock and depression...i mean...errrrr) it's everything. I definitely think I change my mind too often. Which, in tattoo world is a horribly scary thing, but in the food world, it's actually pretty exciting and invigorating. Like my new fondness for roast beef. If I hadn't changed my mind on that, this tasty little post would have never happened. Roast beef with fire-roasted red peppers, a super sharp cheddar blue and sourdough come together to create one hell of a grilled cheese and also serve as living proof that changing my mind is totally acceptable. Yep.

Thank god I took that little bite at work the other day. This simple little ingredient list wouldn't be the same without this new found knowledge.

Ingredients:

- 1 cup of Red Rock cheese, grated
(or some sort of cheddar-blue)
- 1.5 tbsp roasted red pepper strips
- 3-4 slices of roast beef
- 2 pats of butter
- 2 slices of pullman loaf

I'm not sure if people who don't work with cheese for a "living" (is that what I'm calling it these days?) know what a cheddar blue is but you have to try it. It's basically a piece of aged cheddar that's been injected with some bacteria so that it takes on both characteristics of a mild blue cheese and a sharp cheddar. This Red Rock cheese, from Wisconsin, is colored with thee annatto seed which gives it a deep orange, almost red, hue. It's da bomb and pairs excellently with roast beef.

So to begin, sprinkle on half of this goodness that they call Red Rock onto a slice of bread.

Then pile on some slabs of roast beef.

Oh hey there, you're looking a little rare today, just like I like you.

And add some roasted red peppers to lighten the mood. I think these little strips really brighten up the sandwich and make it not so rich and heavy. And they're pretty! Yay for pretty things.

Pile on the rest of the cheese that you have left. I said you'll need a whole cup of cheese mainly so that you can taste it and make everyone around you taste a little nibble. That's what I always do.

Smack on the top piece of bread and give it a little smush to make all the tasty things get more compact.

Turn your heat to medium low and melt one little pat of butter all around. Add in your creation and dab the other butter on the other side. This will help soften it up and make it easier for spreading when you're about to flip it.

After about 6 minutes, it should be getting all nice and crisp, at which point you'll smear that little pat of butter all over your bread and flip the sandwich. Let it cook until it gets all pretty on the other side and then take it out of the pan.

Then LET IT CHILL! Not like get cold, but like give it a second before you bite in. The cheese needs to set, remember? I always tell you this and you never listen. That's why you have all those weird burns around your mouth. C'mon. Get yourself together.

Cheers to new food-likes and unavoidable indecisiveness. Oh that reminds me, what about getting a piece of fried chicken with hot sauce hearts dripping off of it?

I would love to hear about your tattoos, if you have any. I need advice or more legitimately, help.

xoxo,

GCS

The Morning After

2012-04-19T07:48:00.002-07:00

Whoop whoop, it's time for a new post! I haven't done anything with the blog for a while and I apologize for that. You see, I've been extremely ~~lazy~~ busy (seriously though, lazy and busy) and haven't had the time to photograph any new creations. But don't be bummed out, this won't happen again. A few weeks ago I received like 9 pounds of cheese from Wisconsin. Yes, so much cheese, it's unreal. You can call me queso queen. And because I am now the reigning queso queen, I've got like a million grilled cheeses to share with you all, dear readers.

And if you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you might know that I've been in Thailand for the last week. So I'm about to blow your mind with even more crazy spicy Thai-inspired sandwiches. If I can only figure out what cheese to use. So in the meantime, here's a nice little breakfast grilled cheese that I eat on the reg when I'm hungover. Now that I'm thinking about it, whenever I eat a grilled cheese for brekkie it's usually when I'm hungover. Yikes. Maybe i need to cool down with that, Errrrrr. But yeah, this has become a staple with some of my buddies at Mast Brothers Chocolate. I make it for them when they're hungover, too. See, I'm not the only one, Mom.

Oh, and I might just be listening to some weird, poppy, bass-saturated, glitch hop 'ish so things might get a little weird. I feel weird. I don't know why I'm listening to this, I can't stop, I'm stuck. Help.

Here's what you'll need, yo.

Ingredients:

-1/2 ripe avocado, sliced
- 2 slices of multi grain bread
- 1 medium boiled egg
- 1/2 tbs of sriracha
- 1 cup of Casa Bolo Melange cheese
or any other Wisconsin Gouda
- 2 pats of butter (not pictured)

Before I left for Thailand, I represented Wisconsin Cheese at this year's IACP convention. To show off their tasty cheeses, I grilled up about a million little grilled cheese sandwiches for all the convention goers and at the end of the day they gave me a cooler full of their finest cheeses. Yes, an entire cooler full of cheese. Just looking at it made me gain 10 pounds. Or maybe it was that I ate about half of it before I left. I don't know, but anyway, that's how I got this Caso Bolo Melange.

This cheese is totally cray. It's made using three different types of milk - goat, cow, and sheep. Yes, all this goodness is mixed into one lovely, wax-sealed wedge of complex goodness. And best of all, it's from Wisconsin. If you can't find this type of cheese, I think Gouda would work really nicely or a mild cheddar such as Otter Creek's Spring blend from Wisconsin. Whichever fromage you decide to use, make sure to grate it up and lay a nice hefty handful on top of one slice of bread.

Then pile on half an avocado and eat the rest. Salt it. Right now.

The avocado is important though. For some reason I think its got ultimate healing powers. It's like nature's butter, ya know? Creamy, soft, green, HEALTHY. Imagine Old Greg saying that but with a ripe little avocado instead of a bottle of Bailey's.

Eggy, eggy, eggy time. Crumble up one medium boiled egg and lay it on top. If you've never had an egg like this before, it's just like a hard boiled one but with a runnier center. You can do it by gently boiling the eggs for around 8 minutes. I like them better this way. Trust me, I think you will, too.

Drizzle some sriracha all over it. Bathe it in sriracha. Do it.

Did you know that the red rooster sauce you normally think of as sriracha isn't the real stuff? Apparently a Vietnamese company took over the Thai recipe and mass produced it to the states. The rooster sauce is not what Thai people traditionally use, it's actually this stuff - Sriraja Panich. I brought back a bottle but I haven't opened it yet. I'll tell you all about it in a new post soonsies!

Slap on the rest of the cheese and lay a slice of bread on top and get ready for grilling.

If your butter is soft then smear it on the bread and if it's not, then just put a dab in your grill pan and turn it to medium heat. Let it melt for a hot second and then add your sammie in. Wait 'til it gets all golden and crispy-looking and wait for the cheese to get gooey and then flip it! Remember to butter both sides, though. Duh. You know that. Why did I even mention it?

Let it rest for a second, chug a glass of water, pop some advils, and put your sunglasses on. Maybe even put on some makeup. I don't know, whatever makes you feel better. When you come back, the sandwich should be cool enough to eat and the cheese should be the perfect temperature. Chow down my friends.

So I hope my long break of not posting won't deter any of you from checking the website more often. I've got three more sandwiches in the vault so it should be one post a week from now on. That is unless I get sucked into the computer or some West Coast electronic version of Hackers from the nintendo generation. Wait, what did I just say?

xoxo,

GCS

Your New Neighbor

2012-03-08T11:36:00.002-08:00

Alright y'all, let's start this video series off right with a fresh and tasty new grilled cheese that'll make you wanna slap yo mama! This little baby has all that is good and holy; Creamy toscano cheese melted onto crispy sweet potato fries, all grilled up between two slices of sourdough bread with some sweet and tangy barbecue butter. This is definitely a tasty little treat that you and your homies will love. I guarantee it! Well maybe not, unless you hate cheese, then get outta here. This website's not for you ya biscuit head!

And in case you'd like some real instructions, then here ya go.

Ingredients:
1 cup syrah soaked toscano cheese, grated
1 handful of sweet potato fries, cooked
2 pats of butter, room temp
2 tsp of barbecue seasoning
2 slices of sourdough bread

Instructions:
1. Combine barbecue seasoning with the butter and stir. Set aside.
2. Pile half of the cheese onto one piece of bread and top with sweet potato fries. Cover fries with the remaining cheese and place the top piece of bread on top. Smear that with barbecue butter.
3. Turn your stove top to medium heat and place the sandwich butter side down. Smear the rest of the butter onto the upper piece of bread and smush the sandwich with a press.
4. Cook for 3-4 minutes on each side until it's all golden and toasty and the cheese starts to ooze out the sides. Remove from heat and let it sit for a few minutes.
5. EAT THE SANDWICH.

And how could I forget to thank my awesome friends and new neighbor/old bestie/videographer Christian Torres for shooting this ridiculously fun video. You should definitely check out his work if you know what's good fer ya. Until next time my friends...

xoxo,

GCS

Fondue Me

2012-02-13T17:06:00.000-08:00

Roses are red

Violets are blue

~~I might just be falling apart~~

~~but this recipe is for you!~~

Grilled cheese is rad

And so are you!

So I'm sort of sick right now and I really can't think of any funny jokes to write about how I'm going to spend tomorrow. Maybe all the sudafed and mucinex that I've taken has gone straight to my dome and blocked all of my ridiculousness (and grammatical skillz), but just to fill you in, I'm spending another Valentine's Day single. Now this doesn't mean that I'll be binge eating chocolate ~~and taking shots of vodka while blaring Fleetwood Mac~~ all alone ~~again~~, because this time I'll be at work and can enjoy all the Mast Brothers chocolate i want, with my other single co-workers, without feeling a lick of pity. I hope. I mean...who knows? All the single ladies of Depanneur are scheduled to work tomorrow night so it might just turn into some weird, ridiculous sob fest where we talk a little too much about Ryan Gosling, gossip about our neighborhood crushes, and gorge ourselves on brillat-savarin. That actually sounds pretty fun now that I think about it. Or maybe I'll be so doped up on medicine that I'll start hallucinating and hide in the cheese case to scare oncoming lovers. Or maybe...Ok, enough of the possibilities for tomorrow. I'm sure you can imagine some weird things that I might get myself into but I'll get to the food. That's why you came here in the first place, right?

And because I'm metaphorically falling apart, I thought this would be an appropriate time to do a deconstructed grilled cheese. I know, i know, it's not really a grilled cheese but it's got all the goodness that makes up GC; toasted bread, delicious fillings, and of course, melted, gooey delicious cheese.

Here's what you'll need if you have someone special or you don't mind having a shit ton of cheese to eat by your lonesome.

Ingredients:
FOR THE FONDUE:
-1/2 pound of gruyere, shredded
-1/2 pound of emmentaler, shredded
-1 cup of hard apple cider
-2 tbsp of cornstarch
-1 tsp of mustard
-1 tsp of worcestershire
-sea salt to taste
FOR THE DIPPERS:
-olive oil toasted baguette rounds
-bacon wrapped dates
-braised brussels sprouts
-and if you want to get really creative, take a heart shaped cookie cutter to some cranberry and nut bread... oh yes, it's delicious toasted and then dipped in cheese

So to begin, make sure to get all your dippers together. To make what I did, just click the little links above or pair with whatever you'd like.

Then pour your cheese in a big ole bowl. The biggest bowl you can find!

FYI, that first paragraph took me two hours to write. I felt super unfunny and exhausted but now I'm starting to feel super loopy and a bit nutty. I THINK I MIGHT BE GOING STIR CRAZY!

Then toss it with some cornstarch...

(I wanted to put something completely inappropriate here: "Then toss ***** *****" but that's just absurd and probably not a good idea. So asterisks it is!)

...So that each piece is lightly coated. This will help keep the cheese from getting all stringy and clumpy when it's in your fondue pot later on. Because that texture ain't sexy! And because no one wants to be hand-fed some gross, gnarled string cheese. This isn't bagged lunch, ya know.

Meanwhile, bring your hard apple cider to a baby boil. I bought this really delicious one that we sell at the shop called JK Scrumpy's Hard Cider, and no I'm not joking that's the actual name, and I'm not gonna lie but I drank the rest of it and got pretty tipsy at 10 o'clock in the morning last Friday when I did this photoshoot.

Oh! and in case you didn't know, a baby boil is when there are just teeny tiny bubbles at the bottom of your pan. I guess the correct term would be simmer but I prefer baby boil cause it's way cooler.

Let the apple cider baby boil for about five minutes. It won't really reduce that much but you just should, at least that's what I read in the recipe that I adapted this from. I should probably give credit to that so here ya go... Thanks bon app.

Then handful by handful, add in your cheese and stir each time until it's completely melted. Do not, i repeat, do not eat the cheese handful by handful. You will not have a sexy Valentine's. ~~It'll just clog you up! GROSS MACKENZIE!~~

Now it's time to flavor-it-up! Add the mustard and worshirreelkjlkjf or however you spell it. That is truly one word i cannot say. Along with thousandths. Can't say that one either.

Anyways! Stir in those things and season with salt... and pepper if you choose. Pepper makes me sneeze uncontrollably.

Then give it one last stir, just to make sure that it's all silky and smooth. You can totally dip lots of things in it to make sure that it tastes good at this point. Just to make sure, ya know? You don't want your special someone to be grossed out by one of the things you've thought to pair it with. So it just makes sense to try them all before you serve it! And you won't look like a ravaged scavenger that hasn't been fed for days when you present your amazing vat of cheesiness.

Now that's the end! All you have to do is pour it in your fondue pot and light a little candy underneath and put your dippy items around it. Do it pretty or you'll get the wire hanger!

Then shove it in your lovers face so that they can truely see that you are the most amazing Valentine that they've ever had and they're incredibly fortunate to have you! Whisper in a sexy voice "eat this baby" and shove a pokey stick in a brussels sprout or mini hot dog (why didn't I think of that before?!) and force feed them until it's all gone. Meanwhile, be sure to remove that crazy smirk and demon eyes from your face and stop huffing with excitement. You've got them, for now.

Love you all a lot,

xoxo,

GCS

The Sugar Daddy

2012-01-30T15:21:00.000-08:00

Do you ever just have those days when you're completely off? When something just isn't right with you? When it's just impossible to act like a normal human being without seeming like a total freak to the outside world? Ok, it might not be that bad, but for some reason as of lately, my attention span resembles that of a ~~horny~~ first grader with severe ADHD.

Take the other day for instance. I was working at the cheese shop (The Dep), prancing around like a helpful, knowledgeable little employee that I am, when suddenly a rogue customer needed some help. I did a little skip over to the register, and with a smile on my face, I asked how I could help. It turns out they wanted a quiche. A quiche, which we only sell two varieties of and which I've sold about three billion of since I started working there. But something strange happened when they asked me what kind we sold. I blacked out. I seriously blacked out like I had been binge drinking all night. For some reason, my brain was like "sorry girlfriend, I'm busy concentrating on the hot dude from across the street so I can't help you now". So ya know what happened? With a completely confident face, I told him we had egg quiche.

And as the record player screeched to a halt and the crickets started rubbing their legs together to make that awkward noise (or however they do it), the reaction on my co-worker's face and the poor costumer made me realize what had just happened. My helpful, overzealous smile turned into a slightly horrified grimace and I did the walk of shame to the backroom to take a breather.

Now I don't know if it's because Valentines day is approaching and I don't want to do another ~~sad~~ sarcastic post about my pathetic love life (gahhhh is my love-life really driven my blog posts?) or if it has something to do with the overwhelming levels of hot dudes that my neighborhood contains but I seriously think I'm turning into a teenage boy. Seriously. All the hunks in my vicinity take my complete attention and I act a fool.

So yeah, get ready for my Valentines Day post in a few weeks. It'll be a hoot, I'm sure. But in the meantime, check out this attention worthy grilled cheese with some whacky sugar daddy tasting gjetost cheese and apples. It's like an apple pie grilled cheese with crack sprinkled all over it.

~~Have your own sugar daddy buy you these~~ Like the independent person you are, buy these tasty ingredients for yourself!

Ingredients

- 1/2 cup of Gjetost (Ski Queen cheese), shredded
- 2 pats of salted butter
- 2 slices of cinnamon raisin bread
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced granny smith apple
- 1 tbsp apple butter
- 1 tsp of cinnamon sugar

First, smear on some of that yummy apple butter - both sides of the bread and maybe even the inside of your mouth ~~or on a loved one~~.

Now it's time to pile on half of the craziest tasting cheese of your existence. GJETOST!

This pasteurized goats milk cheese is out of control. When you first taste it, it's sort of tastes like firm, salty butter but then all of a sudden it changes into this crazy caramel fudge-like-thing that tastes exactly like a sugar daddy. Not the kind that will buy you things and take you on trips, but like the caramel-y candy that you probably ate too much of at one point. It might have even helped form those cavities that you had filled as a teenager.

Then slap on some of those super-thinly sliced apples and douse them in cinnamon and sugar. I chose granny smith apples here because I thought the tartness would be a nice contrast against all the sweet things in this sandwich, but if you're not into that, use whatever apples you like. I won't be ~~seeing my therapist for this or anything~~ offended at all; I swear.

Now pile on the rest of the gjetost. You know I have absolutely no idea how to say this in real life, right?

Then put the topper on and smear it with butter, sweet, sweet salty butter.

Now that it's built, heat up a giant frying pan to medium low (ok, you don't have to use a giant one, but it's so much more fun when you do!) and place your little sandwich right in the middle. Let it cook for a few minutes until the cinnamon raisin bread starts to get all golden and crusty and the cheese starts to melt. It's not going to really melt like normal cheese, but you'll know what I mean as soon as it starts to happen.

Oh, and don't forget to flip it dumdum.

Once it's ready, take it off the stove and serve immediately! No waiting with this bad boy!

*Insert happy dance here*

Ok, so wish me luck on finding a boyfriend in like one week. At least one that will make me a nice dinner in a couple of Tuesdays. And for you single peeps out there, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you, too, because I love you and appreciate you. Marry me?

xoxo,

GCS

Braata Braata

2012-01-18T09:15:00.000-08:00

It's 6:00 on a Friday night and I'm sitting in front of my computer with a full face of makeup on (which rarely happens) and a crystal light mojito in hand (don't judge me), getting ready to go out ~~HARD~~.* I know I haven't done a blog post in about a month now but it's time to get real, which is even easier ~~said~~ typed than done when you have on some confidence-boosting-hot-pink-barbie-lipstick and a night full of uncertainty ahead.

Now I'm not one for New Years resolutions but this year I figured "why not?". 2011 was a weird year for me, which wasn't always a bad thing, but I feel like changing some things might make this year even better. So I guess one of my new "self-improvement" type things has to do with being more honest and to just say things when I should. No more holding back, MacKenzie! No more! That's why I'm going to start my first blog post of the New Year with a confession. Now it's slightly embarrassing but I can't help it, I have a new guilty pleasure... I just can't stop... I just can't...can't stop listening to RIHANNA. There I said it. I consider myself sort of a music snob and I never listen to the radio, ever, but when I was in FL for the break I did, like a lot. Rihanna and Calvin Harris's We Found Love has become my new obsession and I have it on repeat. You don't even want to know how many times I've played it. So, yes, this is me 2012. I'm starting you out (a few weeks late) the right way, with an over the top club banging hit.

Oh and one more thing, I just had two days off in a row (SAY WHAT?!) and all I've done is stayed indoors, worked on work-stuff, ate microwavable food, and watched 2 seasons of the UK version of SKINS. so yeah, cheers mates.

**Yeah, yeah I know it's not Friday anymore but I didn't have time to finish it that night.

This grilled cheese was inspired by one of my buddy-followers Coverly and her discovery of Beechers No Woman Cheese, which is really freaking amazing. Follow her tumblr if you know what's good fer ya!

Ingredients

-2 slices of rye bread
-1 cup of Beechers No Woman Cheese
-1 tbsp of green tomato jam
-2 pats of salted butter
-1 tsp of grated fresh ginger

So like most of my recipes begin, you'll want to place half the cheese on each slice of bread. This might be easier to just do one-side-at-a-time, but I was ~~out of my mind~~ on vacation in FL when I shot this, so errrm, yeah. There's also no stove top photo which confuses me. how did I overlooked that part? Who knows. Let's just say that I have no idea what was going on with me that day.

Also, for a little more info about this awesome cheese, it's a pasteurized cows milk cheese that is flavored with jerk seasoning. This means that it's quite earthy with spicy undertones but it's also got sweet notes from brown sugar and cloves. IT'S SO GOOD! Oh and Beechers is based out of Seattle but has a shop in NYC and is sold all over the country. So I'm pretty sure, no matter where you live, that you can find this stuff.

Then add some of that tangy green tomato jam. I really enjoy this product a lot. It's a little sweet, a little spicy, and goes really well with the flavors from the jerk cheese. It also seems sort of island-ish which is fitting and made me feel real chill when I ate it with my mom while we stared at the hot surfers on the beach.

Do I miss Fl right now? Maybe. Maybe just a little bit. Ok, a lotta bit. Whatever, it's freezing here and there's no snow which just makes it all seem pointless. I haven't even pegged anyone with a snowball yet and that sucks.

So anyways, now that everything is on the sandwich, go ahead and close it up and smear on some butter. Then sprinkle it with some grated ginger. I love how refreshing this makes the finish on the sandwich.

Heat your skillet to medium and place your GC right on in there. Let it cook for about 3-5 minutes on each side until it looks all crispy and you just can't take it anymore! Then remove it from the pan and let it sit for a hot sec, then dig in!

Oh and I'm totally sorry it has taken me so long to do a new post. As soon as I got back to NYC, it took me a while to get back into the swing of things. No more chillin on the beach and drinking with my family. Instead, I came back to crowded subways and work. A lot of work. And Netflix. So yeah, happy New Years everyone. I hope you all had an amazing holiday and all that jazz.

Lata Alligatas!

xoxo,

GCS

The Grilled Cheese Social Holiday Gift Guide!

2011-12-15T12:03:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking a lot about Christmas this week, mainly because it's in like two weeks and I haven't done any shopping yet AND because I ~~need~~ want a lot of new, awesome stuff. I'm not deprived in any sense, I mean, I work at a cheese shop and intern at Saveur magazine so I get a ton of awesome foodie stuff on the reg, but I am an American, so i always want MORE MORE MORE! And to be truthful, I don't know what Santa is going to think about my behavior year, because depending on how you look I've been naughty and nice, totally in a non-weird way, of course.

But to get some extra brownie points, I figured I should do something good and share with you an ultimate holiday gift guide for the Grilled Cheese obsessed. So there's two categories...1) that I'm cheesily posing by - which are the things that I absolutely swear by and couldn't be a grilled cheese gal without, and 2) things that I'm hoping someone puts under my Christmas tree.

So happy holidays everyone!

Products I swear by

1. Ultra-thin ultra-excellent OXO silicone turners

Let's get it straight, you need one of these. They're super thin, really flexible and they're heat resistant so it won't get really hot and burn the hell out of your hand. It can slide right up underneath one of your grilled cheese sandwiches without pushing it to the other side of the pan, and for that, I love it.

Want one? Click here!

2. Super serious Calphalon double-burner griddle pan

Now this isn't for everyone, but if you've got a family or a bunch of friends that like to mooch off of your creations, then this is totes for you. It's super big and takes over two burners so you've got about three times the grill space. I couldn't live without mine and my grilled cheese parties would be a bust without it, so yeah, I dig it.

Want one? Click here!

This grater has no label at all, WTF?!

3. The most functional grater in the world

I don't know if you can tell what this thing is, but it's a grater that comes with a multitude of different size grater sheets. You basically get about three different sheets and snap them onto a base. It comes with a little plastic storage case so you can keep them all together when you're not using it. I like it because I can get so many different size shreds out of it, and that's important in my world.

Want a similar one? Click here!

4. Heavy-ass press

I am not very strong and sort of lazy, so that's why I love having a heavy ass cast-iron press. I just set it on a super-hot burner and let it heat up for a minute and then place it right on top of my sammiches. It leaves nice little grill marks and it makes giant sandwiches more mouth accessible so you can pack a ton of stuff into your GCs.

Want one? Click here!

5. Sharp and sleek Henckels knives

I don't know a ton about knives but I know the ones that my uncle gave me are totally rad. They're sharp, strong, and cut like Patrick Bateman from American Psycho would have loved. Sorry that's a little macabre but you get what I'm saying. They can cut through GC's without smushing all the goodies out and I couldn't do my photo shoots wihtout 'em.

Want one? Click here!

6. Mildly embarrassing Rachel Ray cutting board

I'm just gonna say it. I have a love/hate relationship with Rachel Ray. She does some awesome stuff as a human, but I just can't get into her shows. I can, however, get really into how much I love this cutting board that comes with a bunch of bacteria-resistant plastic covers. I've had mine for about five years and it's still in perfect condition, and I use mine a lot, like a lot a lot.

Want one? They don't make it anymore:( but here's a similar one

7. Super fatty Plugra Butter

I don't think I've ever talked about what brand of butter I use, but I swear by Plugra. It's got a higher fat content than normal butter, about 85% I believe, so it makes a super nice, crispy crust and it's also a cultured butter so it has a more buttery taste which is oh-so-freaking-good! Salted or not, it's the only stuff I buy these days.

Want one? Click here!

8. The Filling Station Salt

My roommate turned me onto The Filling Station last Christmas as a gift and I can't get enough. They have a little shop in the Chelsea Market and I could spend my whole life in there, licking salt and taking mini-shots of fruity olive oils and fancy balsamic vinegars. I go through this stuff way too quickly, so I'm always trying new flavors. Right now, I'm on black truffle salt and Thai ginger salt. I LOVE salt.

Want one? Click here!

Things that I don't have that I need BADLY!

1. OMG SO HIP Brooklyn cutting board

I have to have this. It is so cute and awesome and I love my neighborhood so much and AHHH! I can't get over it. It will hopefully appear in a photoshoot sometimes soon!

Want one, too? Click here!

2. Grilled Cheesus Press

Jesus's face in a grilled cheese? Could there be anything more Christmas than that? I don't even know what else to say.

Want one, too? Click here!

3. Cheese Paper

Cellaphane and tinfoil just don't work at preserving cheese. But this cheese paper does and it's super awesome. It keeps it fresher, and doesn't allow for extraneous flavors to seep into your ultra fancy fromages.

Want some, too? Click here!

4. Cheese Subscription

What's better than receiving awesome blocks of cheese each and every month right to your doorstep? The only thing that I can think of is if the cute guys from The Bedford Cheese shop would hand deliver it and give me a kiss on the mouth. It might be a little better that way, I guess.

Want one, too? Click here!

The Cure-All

2011-12-06T13:09:00.001-08:00

I think I figured it out guys. I need to date a butcher. A big strong, burly butcher with some seriously hot meat-hacking abilities. Ok, now I know that it might seem a little gross and/or extremely weird, but let me tell you what I mean. After seeing Tom Mylan, my fav celebrity butcher (and yes that's a thing), and about twenty other hot, beefy men (pun intended) from various meat shops around NYC compete against each other at Roberta's 2nd Annual Beerfest, I think I found what all the extremely tall, handsome, and manly men do...and that just so happens to be slaying meat for a living!

While I was there, my mind was set on this new fantasy if you will. A cheese gal and a meat man? Could there be anything more perfect? Our friends would love to come to our dinner parties, we'd have the best of the best of our own speciality products at all times, and well, it would be like a fairytale made in foodie heaven. At least for me.

So at this party, I might have gotten a little too intoxicated off of ~~my new romantic endeavor~~ the 12 bud heavies that I drank, and I woke up with quite the ~~heartache that none of them even talked to me~~ headache. I needed a hangover meal; something greasy, but at the same time, something bright and full of nutrients to perk me up. And you probably guessed it, but a grilled cheese was what came to mind. With arugula pesto, scrambled eggs, and some tangy goat cheese, all grilled between two buttery pieces of multigrain bread, it sounded just about perfect. And it was. Even though there was no hot butcher to share it with. He probably could have even contributed some local bacon or something. Frick.

Here's whatcha'll need

Ingredients:

- 2 slices of multigrain bread
- 1 egg, scrambled
- 2 pats of salted butter
- 1/3 cup of crumbled goat cheese
- 1 tbsp of arugula pesto (recipe courtesy of
my other job at Saveur .com)

To begin, roll out of bed. Don't brush your teeth. Grab ingredients out of fridge and sprinkle half of the crumbled goat cheese onto one slice of bread.

I used a nice Capricho De Cabra from Spain. It's a super tangy, lemony, fresh goats milk cheese that melts really nicely without getting all gritty and gross like some do. Totes recommend it and probably eat too much of it, but that's another story.

Next you'll want to scramble one egg up, really quick, and add it right on top of that goat cheese-d up bread. Use fresh eggs if you've got them.

My dream butcher boyfriend probably has a super-sweet fresh egg connection. //Facepalm//

And add some of that arugula pesto.

I wouldn't recommend making it when you're hungover because the sound of the food processes made me want to kill myself. Maybe make it before the weekend happens so you can act like a pro when/if you've got a certain someone to entertain one morning.*

*I am not implying that anyone is a slut here, ok?

Then sprinkle on the remaining goat cheese and nibble on whatever's left over. You can even lick your fingers. I won't tell. I might have even done it myself, I was pretty bummed out that next morning.

Place the top piece of bread on top along with a smear of butter. Don't lick the remaing butter, that's gross!

Turn your stove top to medium high and place this cure-all sandwich, butter-side down, into the pan. Add a dollop of butter to the other side and let it cook for about 4 minutes until it starts to get brown and toasty.

When it looks good enough on one side, flip it and repeat. The goat cheese melts super quickly so it's not really about waiting for the cheese to melt, it's more about waiting to get a nice crust on your bread.

After it's toasted on both sides, take it out of the pan, let it cool for a hot sec, and chow down.

So now that you probably know a little too much of what goes on in my head these days, at least you have the prospect of a new sandwich to keep you coming back to my blog.

~~Or if you're a butcher... call me. I'm single.~~

Pair with a strong bloody mary, a couple advils, and some dark sunglasses and you'll be set. Until next time my darlings...

xoxo,

GCS

The "I'm never eating again" Sandwich

2011-11-25T13:05:00.001-08:00

Minus having a broken meat thermometer and one too many morning mimosas, I'm happy to report that yesterday was a total success. As you can imagine, because of our blood alcohol concentration and the absence of a certain kitchen tool, our bird ended up sort of dry. But whatever, it was still edible and that's all we seemed to care about after what seemed like an eternity of cooking.

Proudly, we even managed to not eat ourselves into a coma and got all pretty and went to hit the strip on Bedford. To our dismay, we discovered that not a lot of people actually go out on Thanksgiving here in the grand old neighborhood of Williamsburg, but we did! And after about five drinks at a bar where we were the only patrons, we all decided that it was the perfect time for Thanksgiving round II. So we went back to my apartment to destroy ~~my perfectly clean kitchen~~ what was left of our feast.

One of our creations consisted of a grilled holiday citrus roll with cranberry mustard, leftover turkey, mashed potatoes, and some nutty, gooey gruyère. So I decided to share that with you all, only a prettier, less-sloppy version, of course.

Here's how we made use of our leftovers.

Ingredients:
- 1 heaping spoonful of mashed potatoes
- 2 thin slices of gruyère
- a couple pieces of turkey
- a dollop of Inglehoffer cranberry mustard
- 2 pats of butter
- 1 leftover roll (we had some weird citrus-y
ones that had nuts in them)

So any leftover roll will work, but the trick to getting a nice, evenly grilled cheese is all about making sure your bread is level. If your roll has a huge, ridiculous top like this one, simply cut it off and eat it right away. Consider it your appetizer. Then make sure the other end of the roll, aka the butt, is used as the inside of the GC.

I have absolutely no idea what kind of rolls these were besides that they contained chunks of nuts and orange zest. My roommate's brother, who forgot the meat thermometer and the yeast rolls, managed to somehow get his hands on these citrus-y babies, so of course, we utilized them.

Then pile on whatever cheese you have on hand. I always have some sort of fancy fromage in my fridge and last night I just happened to have some leftover gruyère from our sweet potato gratin*.
Gruyère's a semi-hard, nutty, and caramel-y cheese from Switzerland. It's one of my favorites and it melts really beautifully but sort of takes a long time.

*The sweet potato gratin was voted as the majority favorite, so one of

these days when I start a non-grilled cheese blog, I'll share the recipe.

Then you'll just want to slap on some mustard.

I got really lucky and was handed a bottle of cranberry mustard before I left work last week so I used that. I think you could totally mix some of your homemade cranberry jelly with some honey mustard and it would probably be the same thing.

Now it's tater time! Just put a dollop right in the middle and don't worry about spreading it out. Once you add the turkey, it'll naturally squish out everywhere.

Then add some turkey...

... and another layer of gruyère...

... and the other piece of bread and then do a little dance because your sandwich is done being built! Smear on some butter and turn your flame to low and place this Thanksgiving treat in your pan.

Cook for about 10 minutes on each side or until everything gets warmed up and the cheese starts to melt.

Then pull the GC off the grill and you know the drill - let it sit for a minute to firm up, and dig in!

I want to give you all a virtual high five for making it through Thanksgiving without cutting off any fingers or drunkenly yelling at any family members. If you didn't make it through without any disasters, then i want to give you a hug and say it'll be better next year, as long as you give me your booze, promise.

And as for a booze pairing, I'd follow my lead go with a bright and crisp brut champagne to play off of the citrus flavors in the mustard and bread.

xoxo,

GCS

Pre-Turkey Melt(down)

2011-11-23T08:13:00.001-08:00

One of the many depressing parts of growing up is realizing that you are way too broke to go home for Thanksgiving. Which sadly means no more of Mom's famous mac'n'cheese, Grandpa's baked beans, or Uncle Bro's secret mashed potatoes (ok, not so secret, he mashes one sweet potato in the mix and it makes all the difference!). It's not all that bad though, because it also means that there's no more interrogation sessions about what you're doing with your ~~sad, pathetic life in Brooklyn~~ self after you finish your internship or your alliance with certain political affiliations (My parents are grown-up hippies, so yeah, I'm not talking about them). But I'm sure you can relate, and I can definitely do without that.

Instead, I'll be trying to fit 15 of my closest friends into my tiny little apartment (there's no kitchen table so I'm still trying to figure that one out), having panic attacks over botched recipes, and making way too many trips to the liquor store below my apartment. And ya know what? I can't wait! And because of all these Thanksgiving-related things that are flooding my mind, I decided to do a simple grilled cheese that will give you an easy yet delicious meal to hold you over until the big feast. With a spicy pepper jack cheese from Tillamook (you know, my favorite), and some sweet, creamy apple butter, and a buttery croissant, this GC encompasses one of my favorite flavor combo's SWEET & SPICY (and buttery) and it's an excellent little Fall treat that pairs nicely with an acidic Sauvignon Blanc.

Because you'll probably be spending way too much money this Thanksgiving, here's a simple 3-ingredient GC!

Ingredients:

- 1 plain croissant
- a few slices of Tillamook Pepper Jack Cheese
- 1.5 tbsp apple butter (I used Fly Creek)

The first thing you'll want to do is slice your croissant in half and thinly slice some of that Pepper Jack and lay it on. I only use Tillamook's variety because I love how there's little bits of sweet peppers and how the creaminess of the cheese contrasts with spicy little bits of jalapeno peppers. It's so freaking good.

Then you'll just want to dab on some of the apple butter.

My roommate brought some of this stuff home from Fly Creek Cider Mill & Orchard, which is upstate, and it is sooo amazing. Slightly tart, yet super sweet and utterly creamy. I could eat spoonfuls of this stuff. Seriously.

Add another layer of of the Pepper Jack and put the top piece of bread back on top. Because croissants are basically all butter, and because I remember how greasy the last GC was that I made on a croissant (SEE HERE), you don't even need the stuff! You'll just want to turn your heat to medium low and stick it on.

After about five minutes on each side, it should start becoming even more flaky, golden, and crusty. I smashed mine a little because I couldn't resist.

When it's all pretty on both sides, take it off and give it a minute to sit. At this point, the cheese will be soaking up into croissant, and omg, it's about to get REAL.

I hope you all have an awesome Thanksgiving and that you remember your knife skills so that no one looses a finger. And if/when you're about to have a food-related breakdown, step out of the kitchen take a deep breath, ~~eat a xanax~~ take a huge swig of some wine and get yourself together kid!

Pair this GC with a nice tart and acidic Sauvignon Blanc which will contrast with the sweet notes in the apple butter along with the creamy texture and spicy undertones from the Pepper Jack.

xoxo,

GCS