Alternative method of preparation:

warning: only for those for whom a heart attack is either very unlikely or unworriesome

• Put a skillet on the stove, and start it heating up. In the meantime, slice some cheese (I like cheddar 'cause it's cheap and yellow) and arrange it on the slices of bread.
• Put some olive oil in the skillet, and turn it so the oil covers a sandwich-sized area
• Throw the sandwich on the skillet.
• If you so desire, put some more oil on the side that's not cooking right now.
• When the sandwich gets a little black, turn it over

Serve with a bowl of chicken noodle soup. Oh yeah....

It is true that if you put your cheese sandwich in the oven you do have a baked cheese sandwich. However, if you put your cheese sandwich in a frying pan you have a fried cheese sandwich. I suppose that means to get a real grilled cheese sandwhich you must put it on the grill(barbeque)?

By the way, my sister claims that using mayonaisse instead of butter is just as good. Yes, that's right I said mayonaisse. Sounds disgusting to me, but if anyone has tried it (or does try it) lemme know how it tastes.

Also, tomato soup is the perfect compliment to a finely made grilled cheese sandwich. Just dunk your sandwich in that creamy red soup and enjoy. (In fact, it's the only way you could get me to eat tomato soup.)

Growing up in Wisconsin, where cheese was pretty much all we had going for us, I took the opportunity to do some experimentation on this subject. I found that alloys of various cheeses made for the best sandwich. Some examples:

1. cheddar and mozzarella: A combination that anyone can do, without getting into your more exotic varieties. The result is a flavorful sandwich with good chewy texture.
2. Monterey Jack. Not just normal MJ, which is pretty mild. We had access to cool varieties such as pepper jack, in which ground jalepno peppers were added to the cheese at the whey process.
3. cheddar and swiss. Two strong flavors. If you aren't fond of cheese to begin with, you probably won't like this combination.
4. Meunster. When we were feeling a little gourmet. Only try this when you feel gourmet.

If you like to use just American Cheese on your grilled cheese sandwich, please hard-link your name below, so I can track you down and kill you.

My mom makes the best grilled cheese sandwiches.

Ingredients:

• thin slices of cheddar
• thin slices of monterey jack
• thin slices of mozzarella
• fresh cracked or whole wheat bread
• margarine

Put margarine on one side of each slice of bread. Put all the cheese on the nonbuttered side, then put the other slice on top with the buttered side out. Cook on the stove top on a flat non-stick skillet pan on medium heat.

I'm not sure what my mom's trick is, but she is the master of making the cheese all melty and gooey without turning the outside of the sandwich into a burnt crisp.

My boyfriend and I make grilled cheese sandwiches with Tillamook cheddar and Orowheat Oat-Nut bread. Yum! I don't let him cook the sandwiches because he makes them too dark, but I have him slice the cheese since I am cutting impaired and never slice it just right.

I like to put ham or bacon in my grilled cheese sandwich too. And pickles. I love pickles! You just have to slice them really thin if you want to grill them into the sandwich.

Oh, I use Kraft American cheese slices on my grilled cheese sandwiches if I don't have any other cheese around. :)

A sandwich which can be simply made. There are many variations on this sandwich so I will explain my favorite variation.

Take two slices of bread, cover each lightly with butter. Place two slices of american cheese on each slice. Place the pieces of bread into a toaster oven and heat until the cheese just begins to bubble. Remove the slices, put them together and cut diagonally. The direction of the cut is one of the most important parts.

An interesting and fun variation on grilled cheese is cheesebread. You can make this with any kind of cheese that you like, though I particularly recommend that processed crap Velveeta and the finer-but-greasier Swiss cheese.

Put slices of cheese on some pieces of bread, dust with Parmesan if desired, and nuke the suckers. I swear by this and it is a staple of my diet. Carnivores may also enjoy this recipe dusted with a light coating of bacon bits. And any kind of melted cheese ANYTHING is EXCELLENT with tomato soup, I must agree with Debbie on that.

For a fun morning snack for kidlets or even party yummies, you can cut the melty cheese into triangles (why does it taste better that way? No denying it does!) and serve in front of the Saturday morning cartoons like my mommy used to do.

So, you wanna know? It's easy!

What you need: a cheese slice, two pieces of bread, a toaster, and a micro-wave. Simple, huh?

First, you pop your bread in the toaster.
Second, you unwrap the cheese slice.
Third, wait patiently for the bread to finish in the toaster. When it pops, put the cheese slice in between.
And last, stick it in the microwave, for 30 - 45 seconds, depending on the power of the microwave. Take it out, and enjoy!

Note: Margarine or butter is NOT mandatory. If you want it on there too, go hard. If not, your white trash grilled cheese sandwich should be just fine. Good, hearty eats. Bon appetit!

Cheese on toast, while similar to toasted cheese sandwiches, is not the same thing. It is, however, quick, easy, fun and open to experimentation. This is a general description how I make Cheese on Toast (CoT).

Ingredients:

• Bread

  Preferably whole grain, preferably organic. You can have trouble with the bread flopping/crumbling if it's too soft (I eat with my hands) - make sure that the bread is dense enough. Slices on the thin side seem to work best. Of course, fresh is preferable. An easy way to meet all of these requirements is to get a bread machine and use home-made bread in your CoT! Bread machined are great.

• Cheese(s)

  You can also have a different cheese in the filling, of course, but here we are talking about the cheese that gives CoT its name - the one that goes on top. This should be a hard cheese that melts nicely. Cheddar is by far the one I use most here, though mozarella can also be successful. You can mix cheeses if you like.

• Filling

  This can be entirely omitted, if you're going for the simplistic style. My favourite fillings include cream cheese, ham, salami, tomato puree and cottage cheese.

• Extras

  This includes sauces, seasonings, and anything not considered substantial enough to merit being called a filling. Depending on what it is you're using, these can be added before the filling, after the filling but before the cheese, or after the cheese. It is these little extras that make CoT one the most fun and versatile yet easy to prepare foods. My favourites in this department include pepper (if you can, get a pepper mill and some good mixed peppercorns to go in it; I rarely have CoT without pepper), worcester sauce, jalapeno sauce, tabasco sauce, lemon juice, grated parmesan, or whatever I come across in the fridge/cupboard.

Method:

1. Place as many slices of bread as you want under a grill under maximum heat, until the top side is toasted a nice even brown.

2. Remove the semi-toasted bread from under the grill and place them somewhere toasted-side down.

3. Apply fillings, extras and cheese, in whatever order seems best, to the untoasted side of the bread. Cheese always goes above fillings, though. E.g. worcester sauce (applied directly on to the bread because it tends to run off if you drip it onto the cheese), followed by some ham, followed by some cheddar, followed by a generous grinding of the pepper mill. Take care cutting the cheese: too much cheese means it won't melt properly. Best results are achieved if you use a cheese cutter/slicer rather than a knife, in which case one or two layers of cheese are usually appropriate. You should aim to cover almost all of the surface of the CoT with cheese.

4. Place the bread back under the grill until the cheese has melted and is bubbling or browning. Ideally, the cheese should always bubble, and it should do it reasonably quickly so that any exposed bread (usually around the edges) does not get overtoasted.

5. Eat and enjoy.

I was watching Good Eats on the Food Network the other night and Alton Brown whipped up a fancy schmancy looking grilled cheese sandwich which looked mighty tasty. So I was inspired to experiment a little in the kitchen and come up with my own recipe for...

FANCY GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICHES!

Pan prep:
Take a smallish frying pan, put it on a burner, and set the burner to medium to let the pan warm up.

Sandwich prep:
Take two largish pieces of bread, and spritz a lightish coating of olive oil on one side of each piece of bread with one of those olive oil mister thingies. (Or, if you don't have one of those, then I imagine you can just substitute a layer of margarine or butter for the olive oil, but then it's not going to be fancy.) Then spread the non-oiled side of one of the pieces of bread w/ some Dijon mustard, and grind some black pepper on top of the mustard.

I made a mixture of some shredded cheddar and Monterey jack cheese to put on my sandwich, but feel free to use any cheese(s) that you favor, just make sure they're shredded as that seems to melt much better than slices. Put about a quarter inch thick layer of cheese on top of the mustard, and then I added a piece of honey ham luncheon meat on top of the cheese layer (again feel free to improvise here), and then topped it w/ the other piece of bread (olive oil side out).

Grilling/Frying:
Put the sandwich in the pan, press down on it a bit w/ a spatula, then put a lid on the pan to keep the heat in and help w/ the melting. A few minutes later, after the bottom has browned nicely, flip the sandwich over, press down on it a bit more, and put the lid back on the pan. Then after the other side has browned and the cheese gets all gooey-licious, spatulate it out of the pan and onto a plate and then cut it in half with the spatula.

Now eat it! But watch out, the cheese is hot!

Here are more grilled cheese sandwich ideas:

• Add a tablespoon or so of medium salsa to your grilled cheese. Spread salsa evenly between slices of cheese. This will give your sandwich a nice kick in the midst of the sea of cheese. Try this while using a Monterey Jack cheese with Jalapenos.
• Unless your religion forbids this, add very thin slices of ham in the midst of the cheese slices. The juice from the ham goes good with cheese and your sandwich now has more protein. Take care to use extra force when you cut your sandwich in two.
• Add mayonnaise, Miracle Whip or a salad dressing (like Thousand Island) to the inside of the bread before cooking. This will add a nice little zesty taste. Not too much! It's called grilled CHEESE for a reason!

Good luck on all of your grilled cheese endeavors.

Grilled cheese with two slices of bread? Y'all musta been rich. My parents divorced when I was ten years old, and I took on the responsibility of caring for my little sister and brother while my mother worked.

At first, we would eat a lot of soup from the can and macaroni and cheese from the box.

One day, I came across some cook books in a box. They were enough to spike my interest in creating new and delicious combinations of foods. (At the ripe old age of 10.)

This is one of my first creations I came up with, after grandma sent us a variety box of cheeses and sausages in the mail. I had wanted to make pizza, but had to work with what I had.

Gruyère is well suited for this since it has a rich, sweet, nutty flavor that works well with the mustard. The processed Gruyère in small, foil-wrapped wedges I originally used hardly compares to the real thing...but it worked at the time.

cheese toast

• 1 large slice dark rye bread, approximately 1-inch thick
• French mustard
• 8 ounces Gruyère cheese, sliced into 1/2-inch-thick strips

Spread bread with a thick layer of French mustard, then cover the whole surface of the bread with strips of cheese.

Place bread on a flat pan and under the broiler until the cheese softens and turns golden brown. Just before it begins to run, remove the dish and season with salt and pepper.

Cut into four pieces and serve.

Makes 1 - 4 servings.