Does anybody else out there know the term, “food hug”?
My friend and I use this term to describe the situations in which we are so stressed or angry or frazzled or crazy that we want to EAT ALL THE FOOD, ALL THE UNHEALTHY-FOR-ME FOODS, ALL THE SLUTTY FOOD because it’s the only thing that will make us feel better. And we usually try to talk each other out of going off the rails like that – “don’t do it, you know you just need a food hug, it will go away”. But sometimes you just need a food hug so bad….
And that’s how this grilled cheese was born.
For whatever reason, I was super stressed at work one day recently, and I wanted a food hug so bad… And I couldn’t get out for lunch so I had to eat whatever I had brought, which was decidedly NOT a food hug, so by the time I got home I was extra-jonesing for a food hug. And we were just having boring old grilled cheese for dinner (hello, totally-packed-kitchen)…. until I decided to completely slut it up.
Do you know what really knocks this grilled cheese out of the park? Bread and butter pickles. They just add a tang to all the richness and it somehow goes really well together.
So next time you need a food hug… you probably have a lot of these ingredients on hand… whip this one up and take a bite and feel better instantly.
Makes 1 sandwich (yes, ONE)
Ingredients
2 slices sourdough bread, panini bread, or your favorite grilled cheese bread
2 slices yellow American cheese
2 slices Cooper Sharp American cheese
2 slices of bacon, cooked to your liking, cut in half
2 slices beefsteak tomato
6-8 slices bread & butter pickles
2 eggs, cooked sunny side up or over easy (runny yolk FTW)
1-2 tablespoons mayonnaise (optional, but why would you not?)
Butter for buttering the bread
Directions
1. Butter the bread as you would any other grilled cheese.
2. Heat a skillet over medium heat as you would if you were making grilled cheese like normal. Place both slices of bread, butter-side down, in the skillet. Place the slices of yellow American on top of one slice, and the slices of the Cooper Sharp on top of another slice. Cook gently, browning the bread, so that the cheese begins to melt. If necessary, cover the skillet so that the heat can circulate around the top of the cheese and help it melt. Be careful not to burn the bread. (Unless you like that, ew.)
3. In the meantime, in a separate small skillet, cook your eggs as desired. When done, turn the heat off and cover to keep warm until the sandwich is ready to assemble.
4. When the cheese on the bread slices looks sufficiently melty, slide both slices out onto a plate. Assemble in the following manner: swipe mayonnaise on top of the yellow American cheese. Lay bacon slices on top of the Cooper Sharp. Lay tomato slices on top of the bacon. Lay pickles on top of the tomatoes. Slide your eggs out of the skillet and on top of the pickles. Flip the slice of bread with the yellow American and mayo on top of the eggs. Hold tight, and slice in half. Now eat it!