Making Great Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
August 16, 2010 by Mohamed
Filed under Product Reviews, Weight Loss
Aaaah, the sound of sizzling cheese on a grill. The smell of bread, butter and of course your favorite cheese.
Who doesn’t love grilled cheese sandwiches? And using thin sliced bread, fat-reduced cheese and light butter allows you to enjoy a treat that you may not otherwise try. But how do you make the best grilled cheese sandwich? Just follow along on this video over at CNN.
Don’t like making grilled cheese on a pan? Why not try one of these sandwich makers! Makes the job easier, not as messy and a cinch to clean…
I use the Cuisinart GR-1 Griddler Panini and Sandwich Press. I bought if for around $50.00 on Amazon and it works great! With over 150 positive reviews on Amazon and a rating of 4.5 stars out of 5 this is the sandwich press you should buy.
It does more than just sandwiches!
Creating restaurant-quality paninis–as well as grilled sandwiches, veggies, pork chops, and more–is simple with this convenient panini press and sandwich maker. The unit’s upper and lower 11-by-7-inch nonstick, non-removable grill plates provide even grilling and toasting, plus offer a drip spout that makes it easy to drain grease away from food for healthier cooking. Designed like professional units, its floating hinge adjusts to accommodate any thickness for perfectly grilled thin or thick panini and sandwiches. In addition, the panini press and sandwich maker features “power-on” and “ready-to-cook” indicator lights and a preset temperature to ensure crisp, golden-brown results. An instruction book with recipes and a cleaning
Features include:
- Panini press and sandwich maker in brushed stainless-steel housing
- Upper and lower 11-by-7-inch nonstick, non-removable grill plates
- Floating hinge adjusts to accommodate any size sandwich; preset temperature
- Helpful indicator lights; instructions, recipes, and cleaning tool included
- Measures 14-1/2 by 6-1/2 by 12 inches; 3-year limited warranty
Another great one is the DeLonghi CGH800-U Retro Panini Grill, also found on Amazon. The other one that I liked is the Cuisinart GR-4 Griddler Stainless-Steel 4-in-1 Grill/Griddle and Panini Press – almost 500 4 star reviews cannot be wrong – again you will also find this on Amazon.
Here is a picture of the DeLonghi CGH800-U Retro Grill:
Here is a picture of the Cuisinart GR-4 Stainless Steel Grill:
I buy almost everything on Amazon, great (best) prices and most items are delivered FREE OF CHARGE right to your home. What more could you want?
Regardless of which one you buy, they are all great machines and all make fantastic grilled cheese sandwiches along with many other items. The stainless steel looks really sharp, and is pretty easy to clean. Stylewise they are all nice to look at and will look good on your counter.
If you are seriously looking to buy – just click the pictures of the different grills. When I last checked earlier today the Cusinart GR-4 was on sale at 62% off the regular price! It was selling for $235.00 and was on sale for only $88.50. Don’t forget to pick-up a Panini Recipe Book if you don’t have one. They had a deal on the GR-4 along with two recipe books for only $119.00 – definately a good deal.
ALERT: There is a newer version of the GR-4 our that is less expensive. Check out the newest Cuisinart GR-4N 5-in-1 Griddler.
Bon Apetite!
Recipe – Greek Garbanzo Bean Salad
May 11, 2009 by Mohamed
Filed under Daily Recipes
Here is something REALLY good! I love trying new things… well, depending on what the new thing is. But I found this recipie (or is it recipe) on AllRecipes website (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Greek-Garbanzo-Bean-Salad/Detail.aspx) and you know what – it’s great!
There are several indian dishes that make use of garbanzo beans, but they all are spicy and have a fair amount of oil – but this salad is really, really good. It is very refreshing and light.
The tastes that mix together are a delight.
And you know the best part, any guy could make this!
- 1/2 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
- 1/2 cucumbers, halved lengthwise and sliced
- 3 cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1/8 red onion, chopped
- 1/2 clove garlic, minced
- 1/4 (15 ounce) can black olives, drained and chopped
- 1/2 ounce crumbled feta cheese
- 2 tablespoons Italian-style salad dressing
- 1/8 lemon, juiced
- 1/8 teaspoon garlic salt
- 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
Combine the beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion, garlic, olives, cheese, salad dressing, lemon juice, garlic salt and pepper. Toss together and refrigerate 2 hours before serving. Serve chilled.
The recipe here is shown for two servings, but if you visit the AllRecipes website you can change this to be more than 2 servings.
Now all that said, the recipe is slightly fattening – about 15g of fat and is high in carbs – about 33g but there is a lot of fibre 7.5g worth!
I really enjoy the taste of red onions, and use that in many salads that make. I’m not a fan of black olives, but in this particular recipe it is very tasy and the cerry tomatoes and cucumbers give the salad a Mediterranean feel.
The garlic also is tasty… but you probably want to bring your toothbrush to work and clean yourself up because of the rich tastes in the recipe (onion, garlic… yummy!).
Another thing – as a first time, maybe make the salad as it should be made – then next time add or remove items. Green/red/yellow/orange peppers will give the salad a nice mix of color. You could also add mushrooms and even carrots to it (straw carrots - cut lengthwise but are very thinly sliced) or get creative with your favourite veggies.
To combat the high fat you should probably use a light Italian style dressing, and you can even buy light Feta cheese as well (though I hate the taste of the light products, for whatever reason they leave a nasty aftertaste).
Rather than use light products, I tend to use regular products but watch how much I eat – that way I still enjoy the full taste which satisfies me.
Enjoy!
Mohamed
