Blog Flog: Taco Grilled Cheese
It’s no secret I’m a bread fan. I love all of it – some more than others. Toast (in all its forms) is perhaps the world’s most perfect food. Toast and jam. Cheese toast. Raisin toast. Peanut butter toast. Yes, even avocado.
I’ve been a fan of COBS Bread since spending a few years out in Vancouver – their Apricot Delight Log makes some of my favourite toast of all time, with an impressive quantity of dried apricots, raisins and currants rarely seen in bakery bread. out supporting the hungry in our community all the time. Each time I’ve made sandwiches at the Drop-in Centre, a large quantity of bread has been donated by COBS. The Leftovers Foundation is always collecting donations from COBS.
This weekend is COBS’ annual Breakfast Club of Canada fundraiser – from Friday September 15th – Sunday the 17th, $1 from every loaf of bread sold will be donated to the Breakfast Club of Canada. A dollar provides breakfast for a child for a day – last year they raised over $100,000, and this year they’re aiming to raise $150,000 – that’s 150,000 breakfasts for hungry kids. In Canada, nearly 1 million kids go to school without breakfast in the morning. BCC helps launch and support breakfast programs in schools and communities across the country, and besides providing access to healthy food for kids, they train youths and volunteers, boosting community engagement and support. So when they asked me to help spread the word via a few sandwich ideas, I was happy to.
Bread + feeding kids = a cause I can get behind.
This week, I discovered the Higher Fibre Loaf – a squishy white loaf I had sliced thin (I like that you get a choice) that’s the texture W likes, but with a bit of a fibre boost. You can get regular-sized or mini loaves – my other fave is the whole wheat loaf on the right, doused in sesame seeds. Coffee with this bread, toasted with peanut butter, has been my breakfast all week.
W is the kind of kid who loves sandwiches in his lunch. Last year, peanut butter was OK at school – in junior high this year, it’s not. So without the easiest of morning sandwiches to fall back on, we’ve been coming up with alternatives beyond the usual ham + cheese (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Currently, his favourite food is tacos. This is an unreasonable lunchbox request for a lot of reasons, but it occurred to me that a grilled cheese-taco mash-up would be perfectly delicious, even once it cooled down. We cooked up some ground beef with a shake of chili powder, cumin and salt, and layered it with grated cheese and salsa.
Mayo on the outside, since it’s so much easier to spread and makes such a fab outer crust – and if you like a spicy kick, you can stir a squirt of Sriracha into the mayo before spreading it on.
Also, while we were in experimental mode, I caramelized a couple onions and made myself a French onion soup grilled cheese (caramelized onions with a splash of balsamic + any stretchy, gooey cheese + a bit of gruyere, if you have it). Oh yes I did.
Taco sandwiches might seem like a production, but if you have a container of the beef mixture in the fridge, and grated cheese and salsa, you can make one or two in the time it takes to make a cup of coffee in the morning, or eggs. I enjoy those few minutes standing at the stove, sipping my coffee. And if you do only have time for a PBJ, taco grilled cheese makes for a quick dinner.
And remember – each loaf you pick up at COBS this weekend buys breakfast for a kid who may otherwise go hungry.
I love toast made with COBS Cape Seed bread – sliced thin – so crunchy!
Yes!
Mmm, grilled cheese in the fall.
These look delicious.
And, What.
Jr. high?
I must’ve blinked.
I’ll go back this w/e, even though I just bought two loaves of the Chia white on Tuesday. COBS bread is the best!
I live in Ca., where can I buy Cobs bread!! Marie Goodson
Jr High! How did W get so big, so fast?!
I know right??
The high fibre toasted is the best…and the sour dough is pretty darn good too! So using them for “girled” cheese, (as we call them when we were little and it stuck) is a a no Brainer! Crunchy, gooey, and a bit of bliss!
So did the sandwich travel well or was it soggy? My son would love this and I’m struggling to find lunch ideas (just started a school with no microwave access), but he’s also very picky about sogginess.
Not soggy at all – the cheese cools down, but kind of glues everything together.. the trick was keeping the salsa in the middle, and cheese on both sides to act as glue!
Maaaan. Taco anything makes me drool!! Might have to do this next Tuesday!