Today I dropped my car off at the mechanic for the third time this summer, and after overcoming the fit of despair that threatened to overcome me at the realization we had no more potatoes that I could stick in the oven for a little starchy comfort, I resorted to another favorite cheesy snack. (In case you don't know, I adore anything that has a nice golden, crispy, almost burnt but not quite, cheesy crust. I love potatoes even more, but my ma keeps telling me I'll get diabetes if I continue to inhale them at the rate that I do, so I'm trying to cut back. Really though, don't even get me started on potatoes that have cheese on them, cause you'll regret it after about 30 seconds of my ranting.)
When I was in high school, I lived in a wonderful little town in Maine, and my sister and I would walk home from school and immediately pull some bread and butter out of the fridge. Events would then proceed in such a way that the frying pan grew weary and our outrageously lovely mother scolded us for consuming so much bread, but we would just sit back and pat our tummies and sigh at the glory and simplicity of fried bread and butter. My new favorite bready snack is substantially more healthy, since those old days were full of real butter and white bread, and the new and improved days usually contain "I can't believe it's not butter" and extra extra whole grain wheat grain bread. (In reality though, it may not be anywhere near healthier. I probably just tell myself that to stave off fears of growing pant-sizes and cankles. And yes, cankles is quite a legitimate fear.)
It's this easy:
Butter (or I Can't Believe it's Not Butter) two pieces of whole wheat (or if you want to die an early death caused by your insides getting all gooped up, go for the white) bread. Lay them on some sort of oven-proof surface. I usually grab whatever is on top in the drawer. Put a VERY THIN layer of Dijon on each slice. I suppose you could use some other kind of sauciness, but I really love the flavor of Dijon with cheese. It's so.... tasty. Next, layer on a slice (or shredded equivalent. Whichever you have on hand is perfectly fine.) of your favorite cheese. Today I used some smoky sharp cheddar and a bit of mozzarella for color. I forgot to mention this earlier, but you should probably heat the oven to like 450. I don't usually look, I just turn the know until I feel comfortable.
Place those suckers (on the oven-proof surface) on the top rack. I think its better if you have the rack on the second shelf, but I haven't done enough experimenting to find out. Let them sit in that nice toasty sauna until the cheese is melted and bubbly and golden brown. If you're like me, you will probably slow the cooking process down considerably because you will want to marvel at how amazingly simple and perfect of a snack this is, so you will open the oven door to check the progress about every thirty seconds. (Patience has never really been a strong suit of mine.) If you have any willpower, resist this temptation and let your perfect little snack bask in peace in the warm red glow of the oven coils.
Indulge your fancy side, and avoid the paper plates. It will make it all the more enjoyable to pretend you have class.
Now see, the original intent of this post was to talk about my ridiculously injury prone car and how it's been seeing a whole lot of my mechanic lately, but I got so distracted by the food that I completely forgot all about my auto woes. Well done cheesy bread. Well done.
