The laziest grilled cheese ever

Lately, quick and easy meals are getting more important for me. Yeah, grilled cheese is easy enough, but it still requires standing at the stove for a while. But when a grilled cheese can be as easy as toast - well, why not?

Quite some time ago I got a pack of Toastabags during some online promotion. I remember getting them. I remember putting them ... somewhere. I might have tucked them into a cookbook. Yup, they're pretty thin and I put them somewhere and haven't seen them since.

Recently, I got more Toastabags directly from Boska, and I decided that this time I'd give them a try before I misplaced this set. The idea is simple. You make a grilled cheese sandwich, slip it into the bag then put it in a toaster to do the toasting and cooking. Easy peasy.

It works, with one caveat. It depends on your toaster. the first sandwich I made was a little bit too fat to fit into my toaster - it doesn't have super-wide slots like some toasters do. So I sort of had to jam the sandwich into the slot and it got just a tad over-toasted. But the cheese melted nicely. It would have been more successful in a toaster with a wider slot. Or, if I would have smashed the bread before putting the sandwich in the bag, or sliced the bread a little thinner.

On the plus side, you can shave a few calories off the typical grilled cheese sandwich because you don't have to use any butter on the outside. Then again, that butter adds to the ... grilled-cheeseness of a grilled cheese sandwich.

But I gotta say that shaving a sandwich into the toaster and walking away is actually pretty cool. I just need to figure out exactly how thick to make the sandwich so it fits the toaster right. And besides grilled cheese, I can see how this would be useful for warming other sandwiches as well.

The instructions say you can use the bags for heating pizza slices, but I haven't tried that. I'm fine with cold pizza. I did use it for a quesadilla, though, and that worked just fine.

Beignets

Guest post by Sandra Simmons of Dear Lauren, Love Mom

Dear Lauren,

When Dad and I were dating, we went to New Orleans many times. I really don't know how many times. Probably more than three. Maybe eleven. Maybe seventeen. But definitely not over eighteen. 

I'd been to New Orleans before I met Dad. The first time was for my 18th birthday. My parents took me. I fell in love with the city that first visit. Cafe du Monde, Bourbon Street, Pat O'Briens.  

And I was in love with Dad the first time we went to New Orleans. But I fell more in love with him than ever that first trip. He asked me to marry him in the airport in Houston before we boarded our Southwest Airlines flight to New Orleans. He couldn't wait. Isn't that just the sweetest?

He had no ring. He did not get down on one knee. He just took my hands in his and looked deeply into my eyes and said, will you please marry me, I adore you. I never want us to be apart. I said yes. It wasn't the words he said. It was the look in his eyes. It was amazing. He still looks at me that way.

He'd arranged for a limousine to meet us at the airport in New Orleans. It took us to Hotel Maison de Ville and when we arrived, the front door and street area of the hotel was part of the set of the movie, A Streetcar Named Desire. People asked if they could take their picture with us! They thought we were actors! So fun. One of the most memorable trips of my life.

I'm still so glad he asked. And that I said yes.

One of my cooking clubs, Cook My Book, is coming to a close. At least this year's cooking is coming to a close. We'll take a break until January. I have my last cookbook, from my friend Rebbekkah Fisher, and when I saw the beignet recipe, all of the memories I just shared with you flooded every part of my mind. 

Now, I can't tell you these beignets will transport you to Cafe du Monde. And I haven't tried to make their delicious café au lait. But I can tell you that this recipe will produce beignets every bit as delicious as the originals. 

Beignets

adapted from The All-New Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook

equipment needed:
cooking thermometer, I used my candy thermometer

rolling pin

a heavy pot or Dutch oven

1 packet yeast

3 tablespoons water (between 100-110 degrees)

3/4 cup milk

2 Tablespoons sugar

1/4 cup Crisco

1 teaspoon salt

1 egg, lightly beaten

2 cups flour + 1 cup flour for kneading, etc.

peanut oil or vegetable oil

powdered sugar

Pour the yeast packet into a large bowl. You can use tap water but measure it and make sure you get it in the right temperature range. Add the water to the yeast and stir. Let it sit for 5 minutes.

Put milk in a saucepan and heat it over medium-low to low heat until it is steaming but not boiling. Add the sugar, Crisco, and salt. Turn off the heat and stir until the Crisco is dissolved. Then let the mixture cool until it's between 100-110 degrees. 

Add the egg, saucepan contents, and two cups flour to the yeast and stir it until it's combined. Take some of the additional cup of flour and put it on your counter or Silpat and spread it around. Put the dough on the floured surface and knead with all or most of the additional flour for about eight minutes (I set my timer.)

Get a clean bowl and put a little vegetable oil in it. Place the dough in the bowl and then turn it over until the dough is oiled on all sides. Cover the bowl with a towel and place it in a draft-free, warm area, around 85 degrees, for one hour. In the summer, this is not a problem. The rest of the year, I preheat my oven to 200 and then I turn the oven off and leave the oven door open slightly while I make the dough. When it's time for me to put my dough aside to rise, the oven if the perfect temperature.

After the dough rises for an hour, punch it down and place on a floured surface. With your rolling pin, roll the dough into a rectangular shape of about 10 inches by 12 inches. Now, it doesn't have to be perfect. Beignets that aren't a perfect shape, taste just as great! Cut the dough into squares of about 2 inches, or close to it. Leave the squares on your floured surface and cover them with a towel in a draft-free place for about 30 minutes, maybe a little more, until they have doubled in size.

Pour two to three inches of peanut or vegetable oil in your Dutch oven and heat the oil to about 370 degrees. Gentle and quickly put four pieces of dough in the oil with a spatula. Don't drop the dough in! You could cause a splatter! Cook the dough on each side until golden brown, between 30 seconds and 1 minute. Take the beignets out of the hot oil when done and place them on paper towels to drain and then sift powdered sugar over them. As much as you like.

These are so delicious. And surprisingly simple to make!

Love,

I think Sandra needs a little extra introduction here.

You know there have been guest posters here, but what you don't know is that the guest posters are here because Sandra very calmly took Cookistry out of my hands when I was flailing around trying to figure out which way to turn, and she organized guest posters and gathered photos and arranged getting everything posted to my blog.

I almost didn't let go. But then I did.

I mean, at first I was running around like a dervish, thinking I could do EVERYTHING like normal, and then I sort of deflated and thought that I might not manage to dress myself or brush my teeth, and boy-oh-boy did I need help.

So she stepped in and helped. Just like that. Gently pried Cookistry out of my hands and took very good care of it.

And then I took a huuuuuuuge breath and realized that if she hadn't done that for me, I would have been even more of a wreck than I have been during this two-month (so far) ordeal of having my husband in the hospital.

And she's done this at the same time she's had so many other things going on in her life. I don't know if I can ever thank her enough for helping me out the way she did. She's an absolutely amazing person. <3

    

Smoked Salmon & Cream Cheese Spread

Guest Post by Maurita Plouff

Who doesn't love a good schmear on a fresh bagel? My local market smokes their own salmon, which I use in this. Look for dry-smoked fish.

This is a cream cheese and smoked salmon spread, affectionately named salmon glop in our household: makes the best breakfast ever.

Smoked Salmon & Cream Cheese Spread

I like to use neufchatel, which has less fat than regular cream cheese. Don't ever use the fat-free cream cheese - it's terrible.

8-12 oz neuchatel or cream cheese

1/2 lb (8 oz) dry-smoked salmon, skinned, deboned, and cut into chunks

1-3 tsp lemon juice (to taste)

fresh or dried dill weed  (if using fresh, chop it finely)

Soften the cream cheese. If you're in a hurry, you can stick it in a bowl in the microwave and zap for about 30 seconds. Stir it well, then add lemon juice. Taste as you go, and stop when it has a definite lemony taste for you - that will be just about perfect to balance the fish, which you'll stir in next. Stir well. Any large chunks of the salmon will begin to flake apart, which is just what you want.

Now add dill, again to taste. You may find it takes a surprising amount, but just keep adding and tasting until you think the taste is perfect, then stop.

For the best ever no-work breakfast when you have guests visiting: make the glop the evening before, and stash in the fridge where the flavors will blend and mellow. Send someone out for fresh bagels in the morning, and make a pot of tea or coffee. Done!