Grilled Cheese gets a makeover

This recipe is based on something I had at a restaurant in Minneapolis called Cafeteria. It has an amazing rooftop patio and great food so if you're in that area, definitely stop in. But, that's not what this post is about. It's about the grilled cheese sandwich (and salad) that was inspired by a sandwich I had at the restaurant.

What you will need:

2 slices of rye bread (or any grainy bread)

2 slices of Swiss cheese

Crumbled blue cheese

2 strips of bacon

Pear

Basil

Red onion

No instructions really for this - just simply make a sandwich and throw it in a frying pan. Flipping is a little tricky because there's a lot of stuff in there so just be careful (I kind of used my hands a little bit). Also, don't get anxious when you're making this. Put your burner on low heat otherwise the bread will get dark before the cheese is melted inside.

Salad:

Mixed greens

Strawberries

Crumbled goat cheese

Red onion

Craisins

Sugared walnuts

Poppyseed dressing

Toss everything together (I like to just sprinkle the craisins, goat cheese and walnuts on top so they don't sink to the bottom) and you're ready. 

Voila! The perfect summer lunch.

Tis the season

Well, it's that time again folks. Yep, I'm talking about gardening season!! (Que cheers and applause) Yes, as you may have guessed by now, I love gardening. (Are you really surprised? Come on now.) One of my favorite things about gardening is the fresh herbs. I do love flowers and I like to fill a few of my pots with them but I really like to be able to just add fresh herbs to any dish. In the winter, it's really hard because fresh herbs don't last that long in your fridge. You have to plan out a recipe and know that you need to go get a handful of fresh basil or rosemary ahead of time. In the summer though, you can just step outside and it's all there!

Last year, I grew lots of different herbs and this year, I think I'll buy a few plants of the herbs I really like and use a lot.

Some of my favorites to grow are:
Basil - when the plant starts to flower, make sure you clip them off otherwise you won't get as many leaves.
Rosemary - no issues last year except I don't think I had enough!
Lemon balm - this fragrant herb is part of the mint family. I didn't use it much in my cooking but one day I added it to hot water and it was delicious.
Mint - unlike the other herbs I grow, (which I typically put in pots) mint is a perennial (meaning it comes back every year) so really doesn't require much work. We grow this stuff called cat mint and if you cut off a stock and give it to the cats they go crazy!
Oregano - I grew it last year but I'm still unsure where/when to use fresh oregano in recipes.
Thyme - Same thing, I don't think I had enough of it last year. It's awesome on chicken.
Lavender - I grew lavender last year but didn't really do anything with it. I'm told you can bake shortbread cookies and add the lavender and it's really good. Never got around to doing it last year though. I found it to be a really low maintenance plant.
Dill - Awesome on potatoes and also low maintenance. Watch the flowers on this one too.
Cilantro - I had some trouble with it last year because it just grew really tall and then the leaves were super spindly. I need to figure out how to trim it properly.
Parsley - Grew it but don't use much of it in my cooking. Italian flat-leaf parsley is much better, I think.

Fresh basil pesto (nom nom) I have this to look forward to.