Hello, this is Buddy Love, making a three-cheese grilled cheese sandwich and a chili and tomato. First step: this is a meal for one person.
Gathering the Ingredients
I have my ingredients here.
- Two slices of thick bread
- Two pieces of American cheese
- Two pieces of good-quality cheese; I use extra sharp cheddar cheese
- A small handful of blue cheese crumbles for the grilled cheese sandwich
- Butter, of course, for the bread
For the chili and tomato, I had previously made chili with about a cup and a half to two cups of freshly made red beans that I made in the slow cooker the night before, two small to medium-sized potatoes, and a pound of Italian sausage, which I heated up in the air fryer to give it a bit of crispiness.
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That was for about 20 to 30 minutes on high. I started out lower, actually around 350, until I knew it was starting to get brown and crispy around the edges. Then I broke it up some and turned up the heat to the highest level in the air fryer and did another five minutes or so to get the center parts all nice and crispy.
Preparing the Chili
Put that all together in the slow cooker with some fresh tomatoes from the garden. I think I used about two of the Pink Lady tomatoes for that to give it some juice. You can use Roma tomatoes. They have a good flavor, but it might need a little bit of liquid with that.
Then spices: I didn’t have chili spice, so instead I used red pepper flakes. I used an oregano and basil mix of Italian herbs, some salt, and cayenne pepper. I got some nice heat to it with that. Then put in some cumin and about one to two small onions’ worth of chopped onions.
I buy chopped onions in the container at the grocery store and store them in the fridge. No crying, it makes life easier. I don’t use enough as a single person to warrant buying a whole one. Same with the garlic, especially for a dish like this that cooks for a long time. I used about two to three cloves’ worth, about one to two small spoonfuls of that.
I put that in the ramen cooker with some butter and let that get some brown to it for about a half hour before adding it to the slow cooker. Then I just let it slow cook most of the day. Went and stirred it a few times throughout the day. Adjusted the seasoning as needed to my taste. I had a nice meal and plenty of leftovers.
Making the Stuffed Tomato
I froze away some of the chili, and now I’ve taken it out, defrosted it, and I’m going to put it in the tomato and make a nice side dish out of it. These tomatoes are, once again, the Pink Lady tomatoes, fresh from the garden. I cut the tops off, and then I scoop out the inside. I use a small knife to get most of that out. If it’s just for myself, I’ll dig deep in there to get plenty of the tomato out.
I cut them out. I put them in the air fryer. I scoop the chili onto the top of each one. Then I put a thin slice of cheddar cheese on each one so it melts in the air fryer.
Grilling the Cheese Sandwich
In the meantime, I’m going to take my bread, and I’m going to be making this grilled cheese sandwich in my mini pancake maker. You can get a mini sandwich maker, but this just does double duty. It’s not that difficult. I cut a little bit of the bread off of the side so that it fits in the mini. I turn it on, let it heat up a bit, give each side the top and bottom a good shellacking with the butter. It starts to bubble a little bit, and there we go.
On the bottom, I put a slice of the American cheese. Then I’m going to put a slice of the cheddar cheese that I pre-cut, and I put the pieces of the blue cheese crumbles on top of that. Another piece of the cheddar right on top of the blue cheese crumbles, and then on top of that is the other piece of American cheese, so everything gets all nice and covered.
I’m going to put the other piece of bread on top. Since I put the butter on the griddle, I don’t have to put it on the top piece of bread, and I just saved myself from bread getting all messed up with cold butter. Then give it a squeeze to start melting and getting all nice and grilled, and then I’m going to leave that.
Making Croutons and Finishing Up
Now I’m going to take the rest of the butter, about two tablespoons. Heat it up in my mini ramen cooker that I have here, and I’m going to add some onion, about a scoopful of onion, and half a scoop of the product. I’m going to put a bit of salt in this.
The grilled cheese obviously doesn’t need salt because the cheese is already salty. The chili is already salted, so it doesn’t need any salt. I’ll put a little bit of salt in this. Let that heat up, and while it heats, I’m going to take the rest of the bread from my sandwich and cut it into crouton-sized pieces. Put that in with the butter and onion and a little bit of salt, and if I want to, I can add some Italian herbs and let that cook up until it’s croutons, and that is the active portion of this meal.
Now I’m going to flip over the sandwich so it gets nicely browned on both sides. The bottom one does give a nicer browning, so I do flip it over for that, but it flips very easily in the mini pancake maker.
I’m going to turn on the very loud air fryer, and since everything’s cooked in there, it really doesn’t need too much. I’ll set it to 450 and keep an eye on it. Probably will take three, four, maybe five minutes tops.
I’m going to take the tops from the tomatoes and cut those up, so I’m not wasting them. I have that for a nice decoration on my meal. I just cut around the center piece there. Use as much of it as possible. No waste in it; it tastes good. Same with the innards I had. I’m going to cut them up.
I’ve got a nice little tomato salad to go with my meal.
So it has taken, I would say, no more than 20 minutes from start to finish to make this meal.
Three-Cheese Grilled Cheese in a Mini Pancake Maker
Ingredients
Method
- Trim the bread to fit the mini pancake maker. Heat the appliance, then butter both cooking surfaces.
- Place one slice of bread on the lower cooking surface. Layer with one slice of American cheese, one slice of cheddar, the blue cheese crumbles, then the remaining cheddar and American cheese. Top with the second slice of bread.
- Close the maker and cook until the cheese melts and the bread is golden. Flip the sandwich if needed to brown both sides evenly.