Bomb Diggity Grown Up Grilled Cheese

Now that I have your attention with the most clever post title ever.....

Every now and then the husband and I don't really feel like cooking a full course representing all the basic food groups, we just want something delicious and fast.  And for those nights we don't want our "eat like a kindergartener" food (which consists of peanut butter jelly sandwiches and mac-n-cheese) and our palette is feeling more adult, we came up with an alternative.  Using the recipe I found here at the Pioneer Woman's tasty kitchen blog, the husband and I found a delicious way to make Grown-Up Grilled Cheese.  These take no time to make, in this post I will show you my adjustments to the recipe.  Enjoy!

Round 'em up.  No I didn't pick that red paint color, ew.

The recipe calls for fontina cheese, but I most likely have either cheddar or mozzarella on hand.  I chose mozzarella for this sandwich of course and began to shred away (you could also just use the already bagged shredded mozzarella, but I did not have that in my refrigerator).  

This is the second time using cheese grater.

Another adjustment was my bread, since I am not prone to having ciabatta bread around I just used my good 'ol wheat bread.  Although I bet the thick sliced ciabatta bread would give this sandwich a delicious crunch, texture and flavor.  Please try it with ciabatta if you haven't to have it or pick it up at your bakery.  So just spread each slice with pesto on one side.  

Thank goodness pesto is legal, yum.

Spread olives over one slice.  I prefer green and kalamata olives, so I put them on my sandwich.  The husband likes black olives, so we like to customize according to our needs.

olive you.

Then sprinkle cheese over the olives.

Oh cheese.

This is where I get crazy, in lieu of a tomato slice we put pepperoni's on our sandwich.  What you say?  It really brings out the Italian in us though.  But our main reason, my husband was unsure of the sogginess factor from the tomato.  I bet it would be fine, he is just paranoid.  Do what makes you happy on your Grown-Up Grilled Cheese.

nom nom

Another difference, I do not have a panini maker so I used a frying pan.  I warmed a small amount of olive oil and fresh ground black pepper in the pan.  Placed the other slice of pesto covered bread on the pepperoni's and placed in pan. I basically cook like a grilled cheese from this point out, making sure all the cheese is oh so gooey and the bread is grilled and crunchy.  Once this is done, remove from pan and serve!

my mouth is watering.

 We serve our Grown-Up Grilled Cheeses with a fresh salad and that tomato we didn't use, we just put on the side of our salad!  So I apologize for taking a recipe and tearing it to shreds, but that's what makes cooking so much fun.  Experimentation is wonderful, especially when your husband is a willing guinea pig.