BEST Grilled Cheese on a Burger Bun?

A grilled cheese sandwich is delicious! We eat tons of them. On a burger bun? We eat them on any kind of bread! We only need 3 ingredients: cheese, a form of bread, butter(...any form of fat? BACON FAT?). We can even get rid of the butter and still get a "toast" on the bread.

I thought it would be fitting to start the official first episode of The Bcookin Show with a classic. Grilled Cheese Sandwich. Toasted Cheese Sandwich if you prefer.

What is the best tasting version of Grilled Cheese Sandwich you have experienced or made? The most delicious grilled cheese is your own!

• Smoked Gouda on multigrain
• Manchego on a baguette
• Sharp Cheddar on Sour Dough
• American on white bread...

Your possibilities are endless. And what is the classic soup pairing? Tomato right? What would you say? I love a great grilled cheese sandwich with chili.

Have you ever tried shredding Cheddar or Monterrey cheese and using it on the outside of the bread? It crisps up real nice AND releases enough oil to replace the butter. Crispy cheese toast on the outside with a melted ooey-gooey center. Tytus discovered this technique a while back and he loves it.

We hope you enjoy the simplicity of our Grilled Cheese "how-to" video! In this "first" episode we managed to get the wide-angle or full use of the video screen. We also learned some more "tricks" about posting links and adding fun things to our editing.

Herb Baked Chicken and Baked Potato!

Herb Baked Chicken, Baked Potato with Sour Cream, Cheese, & Butter...Broccoli and Bread!

Of course that is to involved for the little ones so Little Valley Academy had chicken tenders, mashed potatoes, broccoli, and slice of bread.

Valley Fellowship Christian Academy 

BBQ Meatballs, Mac and Cheese!

Wednesday Menu: BBQ meatballs, Mac and cheese, green beans/mix vegetable, slice baguette (bread)

Little Valley Academy 

Valley Fellowship Christian Academy

Grilled Chicken and Pasta Alfredo

This past Monday our lunch was grilled chicken, pasta Alfredo, vegetables, (because it can change I am not very specific) and a roll. 

Little Valley Academy (infant to K4) gets chicken tenders instead of grilled chicken. You might ask why? Because there is an increase of orders  from 25% to 35% MORE with tenders versus grilled chicken. Parents know what their children will eat. At least while their young. Most of the time. Hahahaha!

Valley Fellowship Christian Academy K5 - 12TH

We  make from scratch AND sometimes use a mix for the Alfredo sauce. Chicken is grilled outside and finished in the oven (to guarantee its cooked to the proper temperature with no doubt). Here we have a purchased roll like a Hawaiian bread roll, but we often make the bread/roll ourselves. And of course the green beans which I usually season to taste. Yes, those are Land-O-Lakes REAL BUTTER pats, I don't use margarine in my kitchen, only butter and olive oil. Occasionally I use canola/vegetable oil for certain things like baking.

Baked Ziti, Mixed Vegetable, Garlic Bread

Baked Ziti in essence is another form of Lasagna as far as kids are concerned. Here it is pictured made with penne pasta and not ziti. What's the difference? Not much. If I can't find the one, I buy the other. We make it here at the kitchen. Cook the meat, salt the water and boil the pasta, season the tomato sauce (made out of puree and blanched chopped tomatoes) and layer with Mozzarella and a Cheddar/Monterrey Jack cheese mix. The kids are always worrying about getting the cheese, so I started putting a layer of the cheese in the middle AND on top. (that's what makes it similar to lasagna besides just ingredients, another layer) 

The mixed vegetable shown is called a Cali Blend: Broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots (I think it used to be called Normandy Blend). I season the veggies with a small amount of salt. And sometimes a dash of salt-free Ms. Dash original seasoning. Most veggies I buy frozen or fresh, usually never canned (except for maybe tomato products). Fresh obviously has no extras added BUT canned or frozen foods I always check the ingredients list. At the most I want the ingredient list to include the main product like tomatoes, then water, and/or salt...nothing else.

LVA, K5-12TH all pretty much get the same thing as shown in the picture but in grade appropriate portions. The picture shown is for Little Valley Academy. On our menu I use the listing bread/roll because some days I use rolls or buns and then some days I make my own bread or bread sticks!

Leave a comment to ask questions about our school lunches or anything related!

Tomorrow: Chicken & Waffles!

Easy Bread and Pizza Dough

I put this recipe together for my own use a long time ago.  A yeast dough (and different kinds of dough in general) get a certain 'feel' to them and you start noticing this...Then you make better judgments on when to add a little more water, more flour, or a pinch more salt.  From this same dough, I can alter the sugar and other ingredients to produce cinnamon rolls, pizza crust, pita bread, naan...sometimes it's just the kneading, rise time, technique, or cooking method with the same recipe that makes it another dough 'product'.  It can even be multiplied successfully for bulk preparation in commercial kitchens. (I know, I was doing it for years!)

Easy "Bread" Dough (use whole wheat flour for wheat dough) for Bread or Rolls

• 4 Cups High Gluten Flour - or - 5 Cups of All-Purpose Flour


• 1 Tablespoon Yeast


• 1 Tablespoon Sugar


• 1 Tablespoon Salt (scant)


• 1 Tablespoon Oil


• 2 cups warm/hot water (not above 110F)

Put dry ingredients and oil in a mixer. Use mixer set on 2 or 3 (not fast, but not real slow) and use the dough hook. Add up to 2 cups of warm/hot water from the faucet. Pour in the mixer while the dough hook is working. Watch for the dough to start to come together then let the mixer run for about 5 to 8 minutes…you can also need the dough by hand for about the same amount of time instead of using the mixer.

You are looking for a soft smooth texture to the dough, oil dough ball, put in a bowl and cover…let rise for about 40-60 minutes (adjust rise time to your humidity/heat) dough may double in size quicker in more warm and humid conditions or slower in cold conditions.

** If you're making pizza, it's up to you about the rise time or if you want to store it overnight in the fridge to develop more flavor. But you can start working with the dough as quick as 30 minutes if you're rolling out pizza.

Smash or punch down, then shape into rolls or 2 loaves in bread pans and wait the same amount of time for the second rise (or longer if needed) bake in an oven at 160C or 350F for about 30-40 minutes.

Let cool slightly, eat fresh and warm.

*Later on when you feel pretty confident about your skills as a basic bread dough maker you can try mixing the sugar, water, and yeast together and waiting till it starts to bubble. Then you can add it to the flour and salt that is mixing in the bowl. And don't forget the oil!

Comments welcome or contact me for further questions...this recipe was developed as a beginner's understanding of dough.

Frozen Bananas

Waffles this morning! I know most people have already shared the tip about freezing bananas before they go bad but in addition to that you can just throw them directly in the freezer with peel on. No reason to cut them up, wrap them, or put them in a bag. Take banana or bananas out and microwave in 30 second increments. Then squish bananas out of peel like getting toothpaste out. Easy banana that is almost purée texture when adding to mixes such as pancake, waffle, muffins...you get the idea.

Favorites This Week

Below are a few things I found this week I like. Each picture has a link to the original post so hopefully I am not breaking online etiquette. Merely trying to bring attention to some cool ideas and a few new things.

The Floating Mug - To expensive for me...But cool none the less, a coffee mug that never needs a coaster.

 

The edible cookie coffee mug.

 

Tomato Pie with Bacon and Jalapenos: the picture first, then the recipe attracted me. Actually, it probably had to do with the part that said "Bacon".

Tonka Beans: I never heard of them, and I have traveled quite a bit.

The reason that tonka beans are not well-known in the US is that they contain courmarin, a (naturally occurring chemical) that was shown to cause liver problems in rats in extremely high doses. Tonka beans have been banned by the FDA for sale in the US as a food item since the 1950s because of this, though you would have to ingest exceptionally high amounts of the tonka bean to reach these levels.

How to make ice shot glasses: I am not promoting the 'shot glass' so much as this creative idea to make a 'glass' out of ice. I am sure it would be cool to use for other drinks and a dessert or two...I can think of a few catering applications.

Yogurt Bread

The yogurt bread turned out great! Kind of dense with a tight crumb. The taste was reminiscent of an English muffin. We enjoyed it for toast and a few Panini's!

Ciabatta, Pizza, & Yogurt Bread

I usually try to get things done in batches for freezing since I have two young children. This morning after batching some banana waffles (made from those black bananas you throw in the freezer before they really go bad) I started several doughs.

Later tonight we will be having guests over for pizza (on the grill unless raining) and salad. Then at a later time I will bake off the dough I have for ciabatta. In Italy the ciabatta goes from crunchy crust and porous chewy crumb to the more dense heavy crumb. I have a high water content in my dough and am going for the crunchy, porous, chewy version. (picture & post later)

Yogurt bread is just something I am experimenting with. I like to adjust water content, ingredients, knead times ...mostly just to entertain myself and have fresh bread while figuring out what it does to the texture, crumb, and overall taste among other things.

Dutch Crunch Bread

Recently I tried my own Dutch Crunch Bread as I have had it several times and love it in 'loaf' and roll form for straight consumption or to build a massive sandwich!  What is it? You may ask...

The following quote is credited to Bacon Press, (as I try to keep it short and sweet here on my site for you) I find this paragraph to sum up its origin. ->

Like your typical sourdough loaf or baguette, Dutch Crunch didn't originate here, although the name probably did. In the Netherlands, it's known as Tijgerbrood and sold in the UK as "Tigerbread". It gets its name from the color and texture of the crust, which is striped with dark brown crunchy spots with light blond bread peeking out from underneath. The crust gets its flavor and texture from washing the top prior to baking with a mixture rice flour, butter, yeast, sugar, and salt. The final product is a mildly sweet, light, and fluffy white loaf with a somewhat crunchy, savory crust. ~ Bacon Press 

In addition, I find that Dutch Crunch Bread is a 'bay area' California thing and does not reach far out of this area...as in its prevalent in all our grocery stores and bakeries.  Supposedly the name originated from San Francisco when the bakeries there started making it.

My attempt to make it did produce a good tasting product, BUT I found two mistakes in my own rendition:

1. I made my dough too soft and I was not using a baguette pan, so my bread was a little 'flatter' in shape than I wanted. (but that's my own perfectionism kicking in)


2. After looking at several recipes I was led to believe I needed to coat the top of my dough with a much thicker coating than I thought was necessary for the 'Crunch' effect and taste.

I used my own Easy White Dough recipe and went HERE for the topping recipe.

*I researched Dutch Crunch Bread only to find most information about it was not referenced or researched extensively, so for that, I apologize in advance to my Dutchy friends if you find me in error!

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Our goal is a weekly video post (or more) on simple "cookin" preparations for a variety of foods. We would love to hear from you! Email us at showtime@tyronebcookin.com

Jalapeno Cheddar Bread

For this recipe, it would help to start by reading this post - Easy White Dough.

Then follow the pictorial by clicking on the first picture below, captions/directions will then show underneath!