Class up your grilled cheese game with this super easy Pesto Grilled Cheese Sandwich!
Growing tired with your regular old grilled cheeses? Have a bit of pesto left over in that jar from dinner last night? I have just the recipe for you! Pesto grilled cheese!
We all know pesto’s great when added to carbs and cheese in the form of cheesy pasta (like maybe some Pesto Chicken Pasta for Two ), so pairing it with carbs and cheese in the form of toasty bread and melty provolone is going to be A++.
I love these sandwiches because they are just as easy as making a classic grilled cheese, but they look and taste so much classier. So whether you’re whipping one up lunch or having one for dinner with a bowl of tomato soup (soooo highly recommended– this is my current go-to tomato soup recipe ) you don’t feel like a five-year-old eating one. Not that there’s anything wrong with eating like a five-year-old, you are talking to the person who just posted a cake for breakfast recipe (my Mini Strawberry Breakfast Cake –have you tried it yet?)…
This is your standard grilled cheese making method, spread your choice of fat over your bread so it toasts up nice and crispy and golden, layer on a little (or a lot) of pesto, some cheese, maybe a tomato slice or two if you’re feeling real fancy, and toast that baby up.
In about five minutes, you have a sandwich that looks and tastes like you should be eating it on the terrace of some cute little lunch cafe with a book and a glass of wine.
Ingredients
- ▢ 2 slices white bread
- ▢ 1 to 2 tablespoons pesto
- ▢ 1 slice provolone cheese
- ▢ 1 tablespoon butter (or mayonnaise)
Instructions
- Make sandwich, spreading pesto over both pieces of bread and placing a slice of provolone cheese between.
- Heat a small skillet over medium heat.
- Spread butter or mayonnaise over the outside of your sandwich and cook until both sides are golden brown and cheese is melted.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
This Frosty Bantha Milk recipe (AKA Star Wars Blue Milk) is super easy to make and perfect for your next Star Wars Party!
Happy Friday everyone! How was your week?
It’s time for another Fandom Foodies recipe! What’s Fandom Foodies? It’s a fun monthly collaboration where a group of fellow nerdy bloggers all get together and create a recipe based off of a favorite piece of pop culture. (BTW, I’m hosting Fandom Foodies next month and the theme is Game of Thrones !!).
This month’s theme is Star Wars , hosted by My Main is a Cook , and I couldn’t be more excited. Star Wars was my very first fandom and it still holds a special place in my heart.
A ton of other Fandom Foodies have already posted their Star Wars -inspired recipes; go check them out in that link-up. They are fantastic!
I have a couple of Star Wars party perfect treats on the site, my BB-8 Cupcakes and Poe’s Jacket Cookies , and I love, love, love those recipes, but they are both Work. I thought that for Fandom Foodies, I’d post something a little simpler, maybe something with just four ingredients, something like Frosty Bantha Milk!
Bantha milk/Blue Milk shows up a couple times in the Star Wars films, most recently in the background of one of the opening scenes of Rogue One . Canonically, bantha milk comes straight from giant yak-looking creatures, but the recipe for my bantha milk is a little more appetizing. It’s a sweet milk shake mixture of vanilla ice cream, milk, blue drink mix-in like Hawaiian Punch or Kool Aid, and a couple drops of blue food coloring, and it’s preeeeety great.
I highly recommend these for summer movie watching parties, because they are FUN, tasty, and so easy. You just blend all the ingredients together, pour into a glass, top with a scoop of ice cream, and easy peasy frosty Star Wars drink.
The texture of the shakes is very creamy and a little thinner than a traditional shake so it’s not overwhelmingly rich, with a slightly fruity tropical vanilla flavor. They are definitely kid-friendly and great for Star Wars birthday parties, but if your party has nerds of the more adult kind, a little splash of something stronger in the mix is not a bad addition. 😉
Frosty Bantha Milk Recipe Notes
- If you are having trouble finding Hawaiian Punch, blue Kool-Aid, or other blue drink mixes, I found sugar-free single-serving packets of Hawaiian Punch in the drink mixes part of my grocery store (you can also find them on Amazon ) and they worked great for these. I’m not usually a fan of artificial sweeteners in drinks, but since there’s plenty of sugar in the ice cream the sweetener is not very noticeable.
- This recipe makes 3 cups of liquid, which is enough for 3 8-ounce or 2 12-ounce drinks. You can adjust the recipe yield by hovering over the serving size (or clicking if you are on mobile) and sliding the slider.
Ingredients
- ▢ 2 cups ( 260 g) vanilla ice cream plus 3 scoops
- ▢ 1 1/2 cup milk , any percentage
- ▢ Sweetened blue drink mix (enough for 2 cups/ 16 oz of liquid*)
- ▢ 10 to 12 drops blue food coloring
Instructions
- In your blender, combine all ingredients and blend until smooth. Divide between 3 8-ounce glasses and top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Choose your own adventure with these easy baked donuts that you can make three ways: Maple Bacon Donuts, Milk and Cereal Donuts, or Coffee and Chocolate Donuts!
Spring is here in Southern California and that always makes me want to enjoy lazy mornings, stay in my pajamas, throw open all the windows to let in the morning breeze, and make something indulgent for breakfast.
And today I’m partnering with Safeway to do just that. So, put on some comfy pajamas, open up those windows, and let’s bake something yummy.
How do donuts sound?
I’m a big fan of baked over deep-fried donuts. Traditional donuts are great, but with the baked version, you don’t have to heat up huge quantities of oil, they’re fast to make, and they are SO EASY. Plus, they just plain taste good, especially the donuts I’m sharing today.
These little babies are SO good. They are made with sour cream in the batter, so they are moist, soft, and just a little bit tangy, which is the beeeest. And the recipe is super simple. You just need one bowl, five minutes to mix everything together, and you are 12 minutes of oven time away from some seriously fabulous donuts.
And since a baked donut without toppings is basically just a muffin with a hole in it, I shopped Safeway’s Signature line to create THREE fabulous topping options for you.
This was a really fun post to put together. There were so many ways I could have gone with these toppings because the Signature line, available exclusively at Safeway, is HUGE (more than 4,000!! products), with everything from coffee to juice, soup to cereal, and produce to fried chicken.
I use a lot of Signature products since I genuinely do find them to be the best meeting of quality and price, but I didn’t realize just how big the line was until I was walking around Safeway and actually started looking. The Signature line includes Signature SELECT™, Signature Kitchens®™, Signature Farms®™, Signature Cafe®, Signature Home™, and Signature Care™, which encompass everything from fresh produce and pantry staples to prepared foods, and all of their products come with a 100% money back guarantee.
I actually had trouble narrowing down which products I wanted to use (seriously, this post could have been Baked Donuts 599 ways), but I eventually narrowed it down to three faves, starting with MAPLE BACON DONUTS!!
Yes, they are as amazing as they sound. The maple glaze on these donuts is the best. It tastes exactly like the frosting you get on a really good bakery maple bar. And to add to the amazing, you sprinkle some crispy Signature Farms Thick Cut Hickory Smoked Bacon over the top.
These donuts are fabulous. Enough said. Moving on.
Next up, Milk and Cereal Donuts.
These donuts are made with a simple milk glaze and then dunked in a bowl of cereal. They are basically the cutest things ever, and the crunch of the Honey Nut Toasted Oats is such a fun contrast with the soft and fluffy donut.
Finally, we come to the Coffee and Chocolate Donuts. For those worrying about the coffee in the recipe, don’t. I used Safeway’s House Blend, which is a very smooth medium roast. There are just a couple tablespoons of it in the glaze, so the coffee taste is mild and there to enhance the chocolate flavor, and that chocolate flavor is FAB because this glaze is made with real melted chocolate, not cocoa powder. If you are a traditionalist and bacon and cereal on your donuts is too far out there, these are the way to go!
Which donut topping would you try first?
Ingredients
Special Equipment
- ▢ Donut pan
Easy Baked Donuts
- ▢ 1/2 cup sour cream
- ▢ 1 large egg
- ▢ 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- ▢ 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ▢ 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons ( 75g ) granulated sugar
- ▢ 2 tablespoons ( 25g ) brown sugar
- ▢ 1 cup ( 120g ) all-purpose flour
- ▢ 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- ▢ 1/4 teaspoon salt
- ▢ Pinch of nutmeg
Maple Bacon Donuts
- ▢ 6 slices Signature Farms bacon cooked until crisp
- ▢ 2 tablespoons (1oz) butter
- ▢ 1/4 cup (50g) brown sugar
- ▢ 1 tablespoon and 1 1/2 teaspoon milk
- ▢ 1 1/2 teaspoon corn syrup
- ▢ 1 teaspoon maple extract
- ▢ 1 cup (120g) powdered sugar sifted
Milk and Cereal Donuts
- ▢ 2 cups Signature SELECT Honey Nut Toasted Oats
- ▢ 1 1/2 cup (180g) powdered sugar sifted
- ▢ 1 tablespoon ( .5oz ) butter melted
- ▢ 1 1/2 to 3 tablespoons milk
- ▢ 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ▢ Pinch of salt
Coffee and Chocolate Donuts
- ▢ 2 tablespoons Signature SELECT Coffee
- ▢ 2 tablespoons (1oz) butter
- ▢ 2 teaspoons corn syrup
- ▢ 1/2 cup (3oz) chopped semi-sweet chocolate (high-quality chips are fine)
- ▢ 1 cup (120g) powdered sugar sifted
- ▢ Sprinkles optional
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F and grease your donut pan.
- In a large bowl, whisk together sour cream, egg, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, granulated sugar and brown sugar until smooth.
- Add flour, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg and stir until just combined. Transfer mixture to a disposable plastic bag (drape bag over a large empty cup for easy filling), snip off a small triangle from the corner, and pipe batter into donut pan, filling each ring 3/4 of the way full.
- Bake for 11 to 14 minutes, until the top of the donuts spring back when lightly pressed. Immediately turn out onto a cooling rack and cool completely before glazing.
Maple Bacon Donuts
- Roughly chop bacon and set aside for topping.
- In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, combine butter, brown sugar, milk, and corn syrup. Cook, stirring occasionally until butter is completely melted and brown sugar dissolved. Stir in maple extract and remove from heat. Whisk in the powdered sugar. Transfer glaze to a bowl and dip the first donut before topping it immediately with chopped bacon. Repeat with the remaining donuts and enjoy!
Milk and Cereal Donuts
- Pour cereal into a bowl wide enough to dip your donuts.
- In a medium bowl, combine powdered sugar, melted butter, 1 tablespoon of the milk, vanilla, and salt. Whisk together and add milk by the 1/2 teaspoon until glaze is just thin enough to drizzle.
- Dip each donut first in the glaze then in the cereal. Allow donuts 5 to 10 minutes for glaze to set and enjoy!
Coffee and Chocolate Donuts
- In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, combine coffee, butter, and corn syrup. Cook until butter is melted. Add chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and whisk in powdered sugar. Transfer glaze to a bowl wide enough for dipping.
- Dip first donut in the glaze and top immediately with sprinkles if desired. Repeat with remaining donuts and enjoy!
Notes
Pesto Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Ingredients
- 2 slices white bread
- 1 to 2 tablespoons pesto
- 1 slice provolone cheese
- 1 tablespoon butter (or mayonnaise)
Instructions
- Make sandwich, spreading pesto over both pieces of bread and placing a slice of provolone cheese between.
- Heat a small skillet over medium heat.
- Spread butter or mayonnaise over the outside of your sandwich and cook until both sides are golden brown and cheese is melted.
- Serve and enjoy!
