Bacon . . . it's something I don't eat very often . . . but when I do, I like to make sure it's a good bacon. After all, if I am going to splurge on a bit of a calorie bonus . . . I want to make it worth my while! More often than not, I will opt for a good quality, dry cured and oak smoked back bacon, cut thickly, with not too much fat on it. It's a real treat!
A number of years ago, back when I was living in Canada and married to someone else (it seems like a lifetime ago now) we used to buy our bacon at the Meadowvale Meat Market, or Wynn's in Nictaux. Neither places exist any longer . . . but their home smoked back was a real treat. So good that I still think about it. (Do you have foods like that in your memory bank? If you are a foodie, I am sure you do!) You could smell the smoke off this bacon even before you got it out of it's pack . . . and the fat was tinged with black specks from the smoking fire. Oh boy . . . was it ever good.
Today I made us Grilled, Apple, Bacon and Cheese Sandwiches for our lunch. I hadn't made us one of these in a very long time, and I was feeling a tad bit undulgent. Don't worry . . . I haven't fallen off the wagon. For mine I used a whole grain bread and a low fat cheese . . . grainy Dijon instead of the honey mustard bacon. It's all good! I also toasted mine in a dry pan with only a bit of cooking spray . . . not the butter that Todd had with his. It was still very tasty, which goes to show you can trim the fat and still have something which feels luxurious.
Imagine a delicious sandwich, all buttery and toasted on the outsides . . . the insides spread with honey dijon mustard and stogged full of delicious smoked back bacon, sweet slices of apple and gooey scrummy melting farmhouse cheddar . . .
Are you there yet??? Can you taste it???
Go for it. You won't regret it . . . oh, your hips might groan a tiny bit, but all will be forgotten as soon as you sink your teeth into that first delicious bite.
*Grilled Apple, Bacon and Cheese Sandwich*
Make as many as you like or think you can eat
Printable Recipe
Ingredients vary according to how hungry you are or how much you like. Know only for sure that it is delicious!
two slices of sturdy bread (you choose, white, whole wheat, grainy, etc.)
cooked back bacon
a strong farmhouse cheddar cheese, cut into slices
a granny smith apple, washed, cored and cut into thin slices
Honey Dijon mustard
softened butter for spreadin on the outsides
Take your bread and spread both slices on the insides with some of the mustard, spreading it as thin or thick as you prefer. Top one slice with the cheddar cheese and bacon. Top the other one with the thinly sliced apple. Press both slices together with the ingredients on the insides. Butter the outsides, top and bottom.
Heat a nonstick frying pan over medium low heat. Place the sandwich in, apple side on the bottom, and butter to the pan. Cook gently over low heat until the bread is nice and toasty. Flip over and toast slowly on the other side until the cheese melts.
Note - You cannot rush a grilled cheese sandwich. Slow and steady over a low temperature is the key, oh and patience. That also helps. A tasty sandwich is it's own reward!
