Bring Me to My Knees Grilled Cheese

Aturtleslifeforme.com

I have two recipes for grilled cheese on my "Don't mind if I do" board, yesterday I made one and today I made the other. The first is the Caprese Grilled Cheese. This grilled cheese is mouth watering, ring the dinner bell, smack your donkey good! I really love Caprese, the mix of tomato, basil and mozzarella is so perfect I thank my Italian ancestors every time I enjoy this trifecta of goodness. I have made Caprese appetizers by sticking all three on a tooth pick, I love Margherita pizza, in or as a salad and of course the old Italian way with just a drizzle of olive oil as an antipasto. I am kicking myself for not having tried this before! I used 2Tsp of pesto, spread on each slice of sourdough bread, then layered thick slices of tomato and one and a half ounces of mozzarella; grand total of 300 calories. I have a grilling pan but I don't have a panini press. I believe why buy when you can improvise, I just cover it with a plate to compress it, that really gives the nice grill marks on the bread.  Why buy... unless someone is looking for a gift idea for me and happens to see a nice panini maker on sale. The second is the "Grilled Cheese...Adult-Style." I often thank Baby Jesus for the small things in life, for example: nap time, the Walking Dead, kid free Target trips, pumpkin spiced lattes...etc. ( I save the big stuff like my husband, the health of my kids and a roof over my head for the Big Guy.) I definitely thanked Baby Jesus today for this recipe! My record for following directions is pretty bad, sometimes it serves me well and sometimes not. Well this time my gut told me to stick with the recipe and I listened and boy am I glad I did! One of the things I love about grilled cheese is the meatlessness, like an independent woman it doesn't need a piece of meat to complete it. However this recipe suggested using pepperoni and I just so happened to have a package of turkey pepperoni in the fridge so I threw a couple slices in between the mozzarella and the tomatoes, it was cross your eyes fantastic! This recipe calls for 1/4 of an avocado (I mash mine so it won't slide around), tomato, mozzarella, pepperoni and I added a tiny sprinkle of sea salt for a grand total of 366 calories. These are simple and delicious and I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!
Till Next Blog!
T.Sadd

Fun Fact: In 1889, Raffaele Esposito, baked a pizza for the royal visit of King Umberto I and Queen Margherita of Savoy. The Queen's favorite pizza was the pizza evoking the colors of the Italian flag-green (basil), red (tomato) and white (mozzarella), this pizza was named in her honor!