Braata Braata – Beechers No Woman Grilled Cheese with Green Tomato Jam and Ginger

It’s 6:00 on a Friday night and I’m sitting in front of my computer with a full face of makeup on (which rarely happens) and a crystal light mojito in hand (don’t judge me), getting ready to go out HARD.* I know I haven’t done a blog post in about a month now but it’s time to get real, which is even easier said typed than done when you have on some confidence-boosting-hot-pink-barbie-lipstick and a night full of uncertainty ahead.

Now I’m not one for New Years resolutions but this year I figured “why not?”. 2011 was a weird year for me, which wasn’t always a bad thing, but I feel like changing some things might make this year even better. So I guess one of my new “self-improvement” type things has to do with being more honest and to just say things when I should. No more holding back, MacKenzie! No more! That’s why I’m going to start my first blog post of the New Year with a confession. Now it’s slightly embarrassing but I can’t help it, I have a new guilty pleasure… I just can’t stop… I just can’t…can’t stop listening to RIHANNA. There I said it. I consider myself sort of a music snob and I never listen to the radio, ever, but when I was in FL for the break I did, like a lot. Rihanna and Calvin Harris’s We Found Love has become my new obsession and I have it on repeat. You don’t even want to know how many times I’ve played it. So, yes, this is me 2012. I’m starting you out (a few weeks late) the right way, with an over the top club banging hit.

Oh and one more thing, I just had two days off in a row (SAY WHAT?!) and all I’ve done is stayed indoors, worked on work-stuff, ate microwavable food, and watched 2 seasons of the UK version of SKINS. so yeah, cheers mates.

**Yeah, yeah I know it’s not Friday anymore but I didn’t have time to finish it that night. 

This grilled cheese was inspired by one of my buddy-followers Coverly and her discovery of Beechers No Woman Cheese, which is really freaking amazing. Follow her tumblr if you know what’s good fer ya!

Ingredients

-2 slices of rye bread
-1 cup of Beechers No Woman Cheese
-1 tbsp of green tomato jam
-2 pats of salted butter
-1 tsp of grated fresh ginger

So like most of my recipes begin, you’ll want to place half the cheese on each slice of bread. This might be easier to just do one-side-at-a-time, but I was out of my mind on vacation in FL when I shot this, so errrm, yeah. There’s also no stove top photo which confuses me. how did I overlooked that part? Who knows. Let’s just say that I have no idea what was going on with me that day.

Also, for a little more info about this awesome cheese, it’s a pasteurized cows milk cheese that is flavored with jerk seasoning. This means that it’s quite earthy with spicy undertones but it’s also got sweet notes from brown sugar and cloves. IT’S SO GOOD! Oh and Beechers is based out of Seattle but has a shop in NYC and is sold all over the country. So I’m pretty sure, no matter where you live, that you can find this stuff.

Then add some of that tangy green tomato jam. I really enjoy this product a lot. It’s a little sweet, a little spicy, and goes really well with the flavors from the jerk cheese. It also seems sort of island-ish which is fitting and made me feel real chill when I ate it with my mom while we stared at the hot surfers on the beach.

Do I miss Fl right now? Maybe. Maybe just a little bit. Ok, a lotta bit. Whatever, it’s freezing here and there’s no snow which just makes it all seem pointless. I haven’t even pegged anyone with a snowball yet and that sucks.

So anyways, now that everything is on the sandwich, go ahead and close it up and smear on some butter. Then sprinkle it with some grated ginger. I love how refreshing this makes the finish on the sandwich.

Heat your skillet to medium and place your GC right on in there. Let it cook for about 3-5 minutes on each side until it looks all crispy and you just can’t take it anymore! Then remove it from the pan and let it sit for a hot sec, then dig in!

Oh and I’m totally sorry it has taken me so long to do a new post. As soon as I got back to NYC, it took me a while to get back into the swing of things. No more chillin on the beach and drinking with my family. Instead, I came back to crowded subways and work. A lot of work. And Netflix. So yeah, happy New Years everyone. I hope you all had an amazing holiday and all that jazz.

Lata Alligatas!

xoxo,

GCS