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Sun Dried Tomato, Mushroom, and Pesto Grilled Cheese

April 30, 2014


Woah, can we say flakey much?  No, not something flakey and delicious that I’ve made — just me.  Not only did I forget to post on Friday and then was too exhausted to write a post for Monday (more on that later) but the post I put up on Wednesday?  Totally not even what I meant to write about.  I guess I just got so excited about that banana breakfast cake that this grilled cheese fell out of my mind.  Not that this grilled cheese isn’t amazing, because it totally is.  And it uses the sun dried tomato bread from last Monday.  Plus has sun dried tomatoes ON it.  Delicious sun dried tomato overload.  This grilled cheese was inspired by a build-your-own grilled cheese bar my friends had during a game night, which BTW is an amazing idea for easy entertaining!

tSun Dried Tomato, Mushroom, and Pesto Grilled Cheese

So why was I too tired and sore to post on Monday?  We spent Saturday and Sunday building a paver patio in our backyard for bonfire-y stuff.  It was a surprising amount of fun, actually, despite taking twice as long as it should’ve!  We had a bunch of helpers lined up and few flaked out so it took two days instead of one (boo, absolutely no weekend left to relax!) but luckily, we have two amazing friends who came back the second day and helped wrap everything up + another who was there literally all day Saturday.  Being an adult is hard work, did you know?  But expect many Instagram photos of bonfires and general fanciness outside!

Sun Dried Tomato, Mushroom, and Pesto Grilled Cheese

Sadly, my bread was long gone by the time Sunday rolled around, so I couldn’t even have another one of these grilled cheese to soothe my soul and comfort my sore muscles.  On the plus side, it was a killer workout so I after-the-fact earned this cheesy goodness.  Writing this on Tuesday night and my thighs still hurt from squatting to pick up 30+ lb pavers over and over again.

Sun Dried Tomato, Mushroom, and Pesto Grilled Cheese

Sun Dried Tomato, Mushroom, and Pesto Grilled Cheese
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Prep time: 
Cook time: 
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Serves: 1
 

Ingredients
  • 2 slices sun dried tomato bread or preferred bread
  • pesto
  • sliced mushrooms
  • 1 oz smoked mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced (For a vegan option, use Daiya’s smoked Gouda)
  • sun dried tomatoes, chopped (see note)
  • Extra virgin olive oil

Instructions
  1. Heat a nonstick pan over medium low heat.
  2. Spread one side of each slice of bread with a small amount of pesto (personal preference here, I did about 1 tsp on each slice).
  3. On one slice, layer the mushroom slices on top of the pesto. Top with the mozzarella and then the sun dried tomatoes. Top with remaining slice of bread, pesto side down.
  4. Brush the bottom slice (mushroom side) with olive oil and place in hot pan. While it cooks, brush the top slice.
  5. Once the bottom of the sandwich is brown and toasted, flip and cook the other side. Serve immediately so everything is hot and the cheese is melty!

Notes
Amounts are not listed for individual toppings — this will depend on the size of your bread + personal preference. I definitely love a HUGE pile of mushrooms on mine!

I prefer to use air packed sun dried tomatoes — soak in hot water for approximately 5 minutes before using to soften and pat dry.
If you have oil packed, press the excess oil of out the slices with paper towel. Instead of olive oil, you can brush the extra oil from the jar onto the bread for triple sun dried tomato flavor.

 

Question!! I’ve been trying to think of a tasty vegetarian s’mores replacement for YEARS (like, literally over a decade) — anyone have any?  I’ve tried some of the vegan marshmallows (and love them) but they’re so inconsistently available where I live that I’d love to try something else.  Is it weird that I keep thinking “pineapple”??

 

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9 Comments
    Isadora @ she likes food Apr 30, 2014

    A grilled cheese bar is genius! In college we had a grilled cheese maker that was always stocked with bread and cheese and I pretty much survived 4 years on grilled cheese. I love your flavors in this one! How exciting that you guys built a patio, it is so much fun to have a great outdoor space like that. Also, I’m kinda of digging the pineapple/s’more idea 🙂

    Hannah @ CleanEatingVeggieGirl Apr 30, 2014

    I LOVE your bread choice for this! It sounds SO good! I definitely need to start adding sundried tomatoes to my grilled cheeses. It totally makes sense, too, since grilled cheese and tomato soup goes so well together!

    Alice Apr 30, 2014

    Definitely looks flaky and certianly looks divine. Those classic tomato and cheese flavours are far tastier than other sandwich combos and I must add that rye-type bread makes it look all the more wholesome!

      Kelly Apr 30, 2014

      Thanks, Alice — it’s actually sun dried tomato bread with whole wheat flour, and it’s SO delicious!

    Em @ Love A Latte Apr 30, 2014

    Yay for summer bonfires!!! Daiya has smoked Gouda?! I so need to find that!!!

      Kelly Apr 30, 2014

      As far as I can tell, it’s pretty new! I follow their Instagram and saw it there — been drooling about the idea ever since. I love how perfectly melty Daiya gets in a grilled cheese, but that flavor isn’t stocked in my little organic market yet.