Blackberry Bacon Grilled Cheese

July was money, August was time, and September (and possibly October) are going to be meal recipes.  I'd like to start by pointing out we do not claim to be the healthiest eaters by any extent so just, be warned.  

Growing up Catholic, grilled cheese was always a staple in our house in the late winter/early spring.  No meat on Ash Wednesdays and Fridays meant a lot of grilled cheese and tomato soup, a classic combination I still enjoy!  Almost all the grilled cheese eating we still do is during Lent and then by the end we are ready for a break from cheese (I know Catholics who don’t eat cheese and others who have given up cheese for Lent…which…is a little mind blowing…cheese is a big part of our diet on meatless days!)

However, our grilled cheese only in the spring has changed because we have a new recipe.  Who would have thought you needed a recipe for grilled cheese?  For pretty much my entire life it’s just been basic bread with whatever cheese is in the fridge.  This takes slightly more planning and slightly more work but is definitely the best grilled cheese I’ve had.  We ate these for supper for 3 nights in a row and they were fantastic each night.

The basics are the same.  We just used basic sandwich bread (I’ve never had much luck using homemade bread for grilled cheese, maybe because it’s hard to slice thin?  I don’t know but it’s never worked too well for us) and the process was the same besides switching up the cheese to swiss.  And adding blackberry jam.  And bacon.  I mean, that’s definitely going to keep these from being Lent appropriate but the rest of the year it makes these pretty dang delicious.  I’m not even a big bacon person.  Before these sandwiches my bacon for the year was pretty much limited to the occasional bacon bits on salad or a baked potato and a few junior bacon cheeseburgers from Wendy’s.  I don’t remember the last time I ate just a strip of bacon and I’m perfectly ok with that.  But in these…I really liked the bacon.  I did have one without (because Luke declared after his first sandwich that he didn’t like bacon so the rest of the sandwiches that he didn’t eat didn’t have any) and it was still pretty great, good enough that it’s probably going to be our new standard grilled cheese for Lent.  Or year-round.  The only thing that will change is the bacon!

Blackberry Bacon Grilled Cheese
yield: one sandwich
Ingredients
2 slices of bread
1-2 slices swiss cheese
~3 strips of cooked bacon
Blackberry jam
Spreadable butter

Directions
Butter one side of each piece of bread and put one piece, butter side down, in a frying pan set over medium heat.  Add a slice of swiss, a few slices of bacon, another slice of swiss (if using).  Spread blackberry jam on the non-buttered side of bread not in the frying pan (yes, this is a little messy but it’s worth it.)  Place on top of the sandwich in the frying pan, butter side up.  Cook until the bottom piece of bread is toasted (check it with a flipper) and then flip and repeat on the other side.  Don’t let it burn (we almost always burn at least one…) Enjoy!!

Dear Grilled Cheese, please be more photogenic. 

Source: slightly modified from Lemon Tree Dwelling