Grilled Ham and Cheese with Tomato Soup

The first time I ever had a homemade grilled cheese sandwich was when I was a sophomore in college. My friend Lisa introduced me to the surprisingly delicious grilled cheese sandwich dipped in tomato soup. After that, I was hooked. Every time I eat a grilled cheese sandwich I can only have it paired with a can of Campbell's Tomato Soup and every time I eat it, I am reminded of Lisa and my first grilled cheese sandwich. It's comfort food. Simple and delicious. I find that a lot of my recipes are a little too involved and complicated so today I wanted to share something without all the frills.

I wanted to add a little more protein so I added ham to the sandwich. The pictures nearly speak for themselves.

All the ingredients (yes, that's pepper jack cheese)

Ham nicely folded over the cheese and a slice of bread.

Tomato soup!

Butter the bread on the outside to get a nice brown toasted look.

Ham and cheese sandwich, nicely grilled/toasted.

The best and only way to eat grilled cheese sandwiches.

Grilled Ham and Cheese Sandwich with Tomato Soup

Ingredients

• slices of deli ham
• your preferred variety of sliced cheese (Usually I stick with cheddar or American, but I had some pepper jack that I wanted to use up.)
• bread
• butter
• can of Campbell's Condensed Tomato Soup
• water or milk

1. To make the soup, follow the directions on the can.
2. Butter a slice of bread and place it butter side down in a small non-stick pan.
3. Place a slice of cheese on top of bread and then place folded slices of deli ham on top of the cheese.
4. Butter another slice of bread and place the slice of bread on top of the ham with the butter side facing up.
5. Cook the sandwich on low to medium heat for about 3 minutes and then flip the sandwich with a spatula and cook the other side for another 3 minutes.
6. Dip sandwich in soup and enjoy!

Slow cooker/crockpot chickpea stew

I might have gone overboard with all the ingredients.

I remembered to scribble everything down this time.

Crockpot chickpea stew
Ingredients

• 15.5 oz can chickpeas, drained
• 14.5 oz can diced tomato, undrained
• half medium onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 8 oz mushrooms, sliced
• 3 stalks of celery, diced
• 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
• 2 small carrots diced
• 1 cup chicken stock/broth
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1 chicken breast diced
• salt and pepper to taste

Procedure

1. Prepare all ingredients and then place in crockpot.
2. Set crockpot to low and let it cook for 8 hours.

Experimental Potato Salad

This was the second time I made homemade potato salad. The first time I used too many radishes and it became a little too peppery. Since it was Labor Day weekend, and some of my coworkers were getting together for a barbecue, the first thing that came to mind for me to bring to the barbecue was potato salad. Most store-bought potato salad has too much mayo in it. I think I still need to tweak the recipe a bit, but overall it was a huge success at the barbecue.

Mmm...bacon

Giant pot of boiling water and potatoes while bacon was cooking on another pan

Big bowl with celery

Cut up bacon with some kitchen scissors, also I use chopsticks to turn the bacon in the pan to keep from scratching non-stick pans

Finished product!

Experimental Potato Salad
Ingredients

• 6 med red potatoes cubed
• 6 slices of bacon cooked and cut into bits
• 2 stalks of celery diced
• 1/4 cup mayo
• 1 tbsp dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice
• garlic powder to taste
• salt and pepper to taste

Procedure

1. Boil the cubed potatoes in a large pot until cooked then drain and place in large bowl.
2. Mix in the rest of the ingredients in the large bowl.
3. Let cool in the refrigerator until ready to serve.