Celebrating a Sandwich

You may not know it, but April is National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Month. Oh, how I love grilled cheese sandwiches. They were a staple when I was a kid. And paired with a bowl of tomato soup, they are pretty much the ultimate lunch.

In celebration of NGCSM, I made grilled cheeses for dinner one night last week. But rather than making the Kraft-American-Singles-on-Wonder-Bread sandwiches from my youth (which there is NOTHING wrong with, by the way), or grilled ham and provolone (which has been known to make it into the dinner rotation now and then), this time I used mozzarella cheese, proscuitto, and fresh basil on sour dough bread. Tasty! But still not really all that original.

That brings me to today. Today, it is cold and dreary. I had a late breakfast and skipped lunch. So by the time Daphne was down for her nap, I was getting hungry. Now, I have this Giada cookbook from the library that I've been looking at for a couple weeks. In it is a recipe for possibly the weirdest grilled cheese sandwich I've ever heard of. And I've been dying to try it. Today was the perfect day, and I happened to have all the ingredients. I was skeptical, so I read the reviews on FoodTV.com. Five stars based on 42 reviews! Hmmm. I was still skeptical. But let me tell you, this was a GREAT sandwich and I'd eat it again. And again and again.

Wanna know the ingredients? OK, here you go: Brie, chocolate chips, and fresh basil on a sour dough panini. Yep. Look at it up there in the picture. So melty and gooey and delicious. And I think it is actually the basil that makes it so good! Warmed me right up and almost put me to sleep. So, thank you Giada, for your weird awesome sandwich idea.

Here is the official recipe if you want to try it at home. Happy Grilled Cheese Month! Tomorrow, I think I'll make grilled brie and blueberry sandwiches a la New Paltz.

Now I gotta go. Giada's on in 15 minutes, and who knows. Maybe she'll make something today with Nutella!