There’s something special about grilled cheese

Today's FoodBuzz Daily special is the Cuisinart Electric Skillet CSK-150 so lets talk about something you could make in this. The first thing that popped into my head was Grilled Cheese, it’s one of those comfort foods that just makes you go.. Ahh. Warm gooey cheese, toasty crusty bread.. Mmm.

I’m a little unorthodox in the way I make my grilled cheese.. I’m not straight up yellow American cheese. And Please, please do not give me a square of pasteurized processed pre-wrapped cheese. Give me some good cheese, either sliced fresh from the deli or from a chunk at home, but it’s gotta be fresh. I like Muenster mixed with a little American.

As for the bread.. I’m not picky as long as it toasts up well.

Oh.. One more thing.. Do NOT put oil in the pan or on the skillet because then you have grease soaked bread.. And there’s nothing good about that.

You can add a tomato, that’s always good, then it gets warm and the flavor really comes out, add a slice or 2 or turkey and you’ve got it made.

Here’s the breakdown of how I make a Grilled cheese sandwich.

Get your pan ready, bit enough for 2 sandwiches, because someone will come along and steal that sandwich when you’re not looking.

Preheat your pan on low heat because you don’t want to burn the bread

Spread mayonnaise on the outside of 1 slice, not a thin layer either.. You’ll see where I’m going with this in a second.
Take the second slice of bread and put it on top of the first side, so there’s a mayo sandwich and press them together good so that you get mayo on both pieces of bread.

Put a little mayo on the inside for the cheese to stick to

Layer on the cheese and tomato (and turkey if you’re going there too) & sprinkle in a little black pepper

now carefully peel apart the 2 slices of bread and place the bread mayo side down into the hot pan or skillet and you’ll hear it sizzle

put the second slice of bread on top, mayo side up and cook for a few minutes until the bottom is toasted & carefully flip & toast on the other side until it’s just the way you like it and the cheese is all gooey and melted inside.. And do not cover this no matter what because you’ll wind up with soggy bread.

Now, if you want you can just have your sandwich. My kid likes it with a side of chunky home made tomato soup

Cupcakes at Rosie's

The cupcake from Rosie's bakery on Covert avenue in Floral park was So good that I had to be nice and share with my cousin who's 6 months pregnant and works 2 floors down from me. She texted me when she got into her office because I had left it for her when I came in earlier.. and her response was that the cupcake was unbelievable. Yup.. damn right it was.. the best moistest cupcake that I've ever gotten from a bakery.

Something really out of the ordinary happened this morning.

Extraordinary really.

I went to the new Italian bakery on my way in to the office that has the most exceptional cappuccino (I’ve finally broken free of my bad bad Dunkin Donuts Caramel Latté habit) and saw they had cupcakes. I wanted one.. I’ve seen the past few days they’ve had them of different varieties but stopped myself. I’ve never gotten a truly good cupcake from a bakery, let alone an Italian bakery since they put so much love into the specialty pastries what made me think the cupcakes would be more than just for show?

Today’s variety was Red Velvet and carrot cupcakes. I stood there admiring them while the girl made my cappuccino and finally decided to get a carrot one (who cares that it was 8am? Carrot is a vegetable, cream cheese is dairy, the cupcakes have eggs.. Anyway, lol) I got to my car, put the coffee in the cup holder and sat the cupcake in the bag on the seat next to me and made my way to the office.

Now, today is one of those days in my office when it’s just good to be here (so far, so good) The Witch is out so it’s peaceful and no screaming cussing wild woman walking around getting paid to do diddly.. But I digress, as I said the day is still young and there is still the possibility of the neurotic one to come in (sigh). The pleasures of getting here early is that there’s nobody to judge what you’re eating (I have the fat free sugar free low cal chemical laden mafia boss in my office also)

I sat down at my desk, turned on the computer and opened the bag with my little cupcake in it.. And at first it looked like any cupcake from a display case... that is until I took the first bite and O.M.G I was in heaven. It was moist and flavorful and Wow! This is totally NOT what I expected at.all. It was absolutely yummy and delicious and wow! Wow wow wow!! So now knowing that I can get a quality cupcake at Rosie’s has made my day. (Shoot, I was going to link to Rosie’s bakery, but they aren’t even listed yet since they just opened 2 weeks ago. I’ll update when it’s available though).

Times are tough, I get it... really.

I’ve worked in my office for 5 years, I didn’t get a raise for almost 3 ½.. As a matter of fact, Nobody did. My boss would say we don’t have any money coming in and yadda yadda... and yes, I do understand that. I work for Plaintiff’s attorneys, so unless we’re settling cases and winning trials we’re paying out to get medical records and reports, filing documents with the court and all that fun stuff. I kinda let it go, thinking that we’d get raises when the 2 attorneys that gave notice in February left (because hey, we would have more $$$$ every month, right?) But no, another attorney left.. And nope.. They hired 2 new guys and still no mention of any pay raises for any of us.

But in the 3 years since I haven’t gotten a raise: my rent’s gone up, I got a car, and not to mention the Kid I have to feed, clothe and provide for without any help from anyone (I am his ONLY parent). When it got to the point where I was like ok, ya know what, I just can’t do it anymore like this I had to step up and ask Big Bad Mr. G for a raise and what he gave me was not nearly what I had hoped for or even close to what I really needed. And No, I’m not being greedy here.. It has been 3+ years and I HAVE to move. You can read about my living situation here. I can’t exactly tell this guy it’s not enough, because in all honesty it's something. I need to Keep my job and I like my job but I’m not above going out to look for another one, even though right now I know that my boss needs me here (there have been a lot of changes and I’m one of the only people here who really knows what file belongs to what attorney not to mention the absurd computer illiteracy of the older guys here)

The fact of the matter is though that if I want to get a nice, 2 bedroom apartment and not have to worry so much about money, I need around another $300 a month. This is New York, rent’s not cheap and I don’t live in a high class area either, I’m just determined to keep the kid in the same school. I refuse to rent someone’s basement ever again and I’m not going in without a lease (which are the 2 biggest mistakes I made when I moved to the hell that I’m in now even though it hasn’t always been like this, they were pretty nice and left me alone for the first year)

I’m not above asking for a little help from my friends here on the interwebs either.. Some PR or some something online to make a few extra $$ legit. Maybe I can find something my sister who just had a baby can do too. Times are tough, trust me, I know it. Getting a second job isn’t totally out of the question if push comes to shove but I already do 40+ hours a week here and I try to spend as much time with my kid as I can.

The Hummus experiment

OK, maybe it wasn't so much of an experiment as it was a learning experience. I grabbed some little Sabra hummus snack packs while i was grocery shopping one day, I hadn't had hummus in ages and they were $1, so it was worth trying a few different flavors out and something handy to toss into my bag to snack on at work. Roasted red pepper by far was my favorite, the roasted garlic one tasted like paste to me but the kid liked it.

Over the past few weeks I've tried a few different hummus brands and I've made my own which was pretty darn good too. But as far as the store bought varieties go, Sabra is the best, it's got good flavor and doesn't go overboard in the spice department. I've tried both Tribe and Athenos Hummus brands and both in my opinion were not that good. Athenos was particularly bad as soon as I took the first taste all I tasted was cumin, and that's all I tasted. Tribe was also heavily spiced but with a mixture that I wasn't particularly pleased with.

Yeah, it's easier to make it yourself.. but sometimes you've just gotta have it now.. or, if you happen to know my kid, it's already open as soon as he's sitting down in the car, lol.

Sabra's the store bought winner hands down in my book though.