Bacon-Stuffed Grilled Cheese

There are two foods that will always make my husband smile, and those two foods are bacon and cheese. In fact, if I served every meal full of bacon and smothered in cheese, he would be more than happy. So when he asked "What's for dinner?" and I replied "Bacon-Stuffed Grilled Cheese", you can imagine his delight! Served with a nice, light salad on the side, it made a delicious meal.

For the sandwich:

Wheat bread
Butter
Bacon
Cheese. I used maple bacon and Monterrey jack and cheddar cheese, but any combination would probably be wonderful.

For the salad:

Romaine lettuce
Sweet red cabbage
Tomatoes
Carrots
2 to 5 cloves of garlic (depending on how much you like garlic)
Olive oil
Red wine vinegar. If you don't like red wine vinager you can substitute balsamic.

First, make the salad dressing. Chop up your garlic--I like to use a lot because it gives this dressing such a great flavor.

Add two parts olive oil to one part vinegar in a glass or mason jar.

Then add your garlic and 1/2 teaspoon sugar to the oil mixture and shake it all up. You can add more sugar if you want your dressing a little sweeter. If you don't eat salad very often, you can make a small batch of this, but I like making it in bigger batches because this dressing gets better the longer it sits and the flavors meld.

Now for my husband's favorite part: bacon! Fry up the bacon, making sure not to overcook it. It needs to bend when you try to fold it, not crumble.  

When your bacon is perfect, let it drain on a paper towel to get some of that excess oil off.

Finely grate your cheeses on both slices of bread. I found with grilled cheese that finely grated cheese gets meltier than sliced cheese does.

Then add your bacon. Is your mouth watering yet?

Isn't that lovely?

Melt a pat of butter in your skillet on medium heat. If your heat is set above medium, your bread might burn before your cheese fully melts.

Add your sandwiches and let cook for a few minutes on each side until your cheese is gooey and your bread is toasted.

Chop up your salad fixings and toss with the dressing.

Then cut your sandwiches and serve!

And there it is! An easy, light(ish) supper that is quick to fix and very satisfying. And after dinner my husband asked "Can you fix this again in the morning for breakfast?", so this is definitely a man-pleasing meal. Enjoy!