Fair Play: Oven Broiled "Grilled" Cheese

One of our favorite summer activities is going to the fair.  The kids love the games and rides, the whole family loves the exhibits and the food.

Since our county fair is cancelled this year, we held our own fair in the backyard.

We made sure there were games.

And prizes to go with the games

And we even got them some new backyard toys which subbed in for rides.

This saucer swing has turned out to be a great pandemic purchase.  They've used it every day since our backyard fair.

I ordered a kit so we could make our own funnel cakes.  Because what kind of fair doesn't have funnel cakes?

Each of the boys set up their own exhibit for us to visit.  Thatkid chose "Rocks and Minerals" which is their favorite exhibit at the fair.  Thatbaby decided he would do the animal exhibit.  It was a far cry from the cows and goats we usually see.

The little guys usually get corn dogs at the fair, and since that's an easy enough thing to replicate at home, we all had corn dogs for lunch!

While Thatbaby napped, Thatkid got his face painted.  It's MUCH cheaper at the backyard fair than at the actual fair.

When Thatbaby woke up, we broke out our cotton candy machine and whipped up an afternoon snack.

And then I taught myself how to make balloon animals!  Or at least balloon parrots which is what the boys wanted.

We headed back outside for a little hula hoop competition.

And some spin art.

Thatboy and I like to try the new and unusual foods at the fair.  That's a little harder to replicate at home, but I thought we could work it out by doing twists on regular ole food.  So we had a "choose your own adventure" grilled cheese.  I've had some fun grilled cheeses at the fair - like buffalo chicken, or macaroni and pulled pork.  

Thatbaby stayed pretty traditional with just cheese, but he did use 3 different kind of cheeses.  Thatkid went for some adventure and picked several meats, cheeses, and avocado for his grilled cheese.  Thatboy went with truffle butter, harissa,  bacon, and cheese, while I went with tomato basil sauce, caramelized onions, and cheese.

For the past few years, the fair has been having some pretty fun doughnut desserts, like doughnut cotton candy sandwiches.  We went for an easier fair dessert - doughnut ice cream sandwiches!

It wasn't exactly the same as going to the fair, but it was a pretty good replacement for these times.

I'm not going to lie - one of the reasons I picked choose your own adventure grilled cheese was because I could make everyone's dinner at one time that way.    Even with everyone picking their own toppings.   That way everyone could pick what they wanted, I could pop it all in the oven, and then we could all eat at the same time.  Really, a mother's best friend.

Oven Broiled Grilled Cheese

8 slices of bread

4 Tbsp butter, room temperature

Cheese - cheddar, gruyere, muenster, monterey jack, mozzarella, swiss, feta......

Other ideas - salami, bacon, ham, turkey, chicken, pepperoni, mushrooms, zucchini, mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, sriracha, pesto. tomato sauce, harissa, tahini, alfredo, barbecue sauce, wing sauce, tapenade, pickles, ranch, Italian dressing.....

1. Preheat the broiler.  Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray.  Butter each piece of bread with 1/2 Tbsp of the butter.
2. Place 4 of the bread slices buttered side down in on the baking sheet.  
3. Top each of these bread slices with cheese.
4. Top the cheese with whatever toppings you want.
5. Add another slice of cheese on top of the toppings and then the remaining slices of bread, buttered side up.
6. Broiled the sandwiches about 3 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the bread is golden.  Flip them and broil for another 3 minutes.

Love Sandwich: Croque Madame

You guys I am killing it this Valentine's Day.  It's February 5th and I've already got presents for all three of my guys.  I'm never usually this on top of it.

I've even got our Valentine's Day menu already planned out, important since Thatkid is off school for the day and if you have kids you know they turn into eating machines when they're home.  I honestly don't understand it.  He often comes home from school with his lunch, still untouched in his lunchbox.  I have to convince him to bring snack for snacktime.  And yet, when he's not at school, he's "hungry" every 15 minutes.

So my goal for Valentine's Day is filling meals to keep him from complaining all day.  That, and putting him in charge of making it himself.  A croque madame has different components that he's already familiar with, put together in a new way.  It's got the white sauce he uses when he makes macaroni and cheese, along with a fried egg - one of his favorite things to make for dinner.  Plus it seems extra Valentine-y to make a French sandwich, doesn't it?  As they sing in the age-old classic, Anastasia, "The French have it down to an art."

Croque Madame

2 Tbsp butter, divided

1 Tbsp flour

1/2 cup milk

2 Tbsp Parmesan

1/2 cup shredded Gruyere, divided

4 slices sourdough bread

4 slices ham

2 eggs

1. Make the white sauce.  Melt 1 Tbsp butter over medium heat.  
2. Add in the flour and stir to create a paste.  Cook for 1-2 minutes until bubbling.
3. Stir in the milk.  Continue to stir and cook until the milk is thick.
4. Stir in Parmesan and half of the Gruyere and remove from heat.
5. Top 2 of the slices of bread with 2 slices of ham. 
6. Top the ham with half of the cheese sauce.
7. Top with the remaining 2 slices of bread.
8. Heat the remaining Tbsp of butter in a pan over medium heat.  Toast the sandwiches in the pan, about 2 minutes per side or until browned.
9. Place the sandwiches on a baking pan and top with remaining cheese sauce and Gruyere.  Place in broiler and broil until the cheese melts.
10. While the sandwiches are in the broiler, fry 2 eggs. 
11. When cheese has melted and eggs are fried, top each sandwich with one of the eggs.

You Can Go Back Again: Pittsburgh Hoagie

So, for those of you who aren't aware, I grew up in an impossibly small, western Pennsylvanian town.  So small, that it was big news when the Walmart moved in. 

When I was 15, we moved to California, a hyper suburban town that literally changed the flowers in city-wide planters every 3 months to keep them fresh and seasonal.  Because of this, Thatboy has always considered me a suburban princess, which is annoying since that's never been how I viewed myself.  I've always vowed to take him the middle of nowhere where I grew up, and this year, when a reunion for the high school I never actually graduated from presented itself, I thought it would be a great chance to show my family how different things were when I was growing up.

We started the trip in Pittsburgh - the nearest airport to the town.  Since it's still a good drive away, I decided we should stay the night and do some exploring of Pittsburgh before heading to my hometown - hopefully timing our drive with a naptime for Thatbaby.

We started out with the Pittsburgh Children's Museum, which I knew would be a big hit with ALL my boys.

Y'all know about my love of all things Henson, right?

We even managed to see the Eric Carle exhibit which was supposed to be over the weekend before we got there. 

I took them on a tour of the city via the Gateway Clipper - something my schools had done with our classes back when I was a kid.

And I knew we had to get them to the top of Mt. Washington via the Dusquene Incline - a trolley that goes up the side of the mountain and upon which Mr. Roger's trolley to the land of imagination was based.

And there was some run-around time at Point State Park fountain.

Our timing was great, because both boys slept almost the whole way to my little town.  Thatboy and I had a great time at my reunion, catching up with some really old friends (like friends I'd known since 2nd grade- they're not old!)

And I gave them a very thorough tour of my town.  It's the birthplace of Jimmy Stewart, so there's Stewart memorabilia everywhere.

Thatboy's favorite is that every street crossing on our main street is Jimmy Stewart's "voice" (it's not really him) telling you to cross.

The kids loved the stairs up to Jimmy Stewart's boyhood home.

View from the top

I took them to the north part of the county, which is where the large Amish population resides and they got a kick out of seeing kids their age in horses and buggies.  The town was having an apple festival complete with some civil war re-enactments.  

There are two main parks my family used to spend time at.  I gave Thatboy some background info and he picked one of them where we let the boys run around, play on the playground, skip rocks, look for turtles, and tadpoles.

When I was trying to figure out what to do with my family for such a long time in such a small town, I stumbled across the fact that there are 4 covered bridges in the county.  When I mentioned it to Thatboy, he was very interested in seeing them.  This was another great nap-time drive for Thatbaby.

One of my friends from waaaay back in elementary school also discovered earlier this summer that 20 miles from town was a WATERFALL!  So we had to make that trek also.

The land was owned by Fred McFeely, grandfather to Mr. Rogers.  And apparently little Fred used to climb over the walls and hang out before the waterfall when he was a child.

So we headed back behind the waterfall too.

When my friend went in June, the falls were much fuller, but it was still pretty cool in September.

And of course, I had to share my childhood favorite foods with them.  Like the frozen custard place that's only open in the summer.

Or Eat 'N Park

Thatkid loved the sandwiches.  He says his favorite part of the trip was Ninth Street Deli - the little corner deli my friends and I used to go and get hoagies from.  He also loved Primanti Brothers in Pittsburgh.

Primanti brothers is known for their interesting "toppings" for the sandwiches.  Each sandwich comes with tomatoes, coleslaw, and french fries.

My only complaint about Primanti Brothers is that I'm not terribly impressed with the white bread the sandwiches come on.  Once we got home, I decided to combine Thatkid's two favorites - hoagies and Primanti Bros, into one killer sandwich - a corned beef hoagie topped with french fries, tomatoes, and coleslaw.

Pittsburgh Hoagie

1lb corned beef, sliced

4 oz  Irish cheddar cheese, sliced

1 cup french fries

1 tomato, sliced

1 cup coleslaw

4 hoagie rolls

1. Slice hoagie rolls in half.  On each roll, layer 1/4 lb corned beef, 1 oz cheese, 1/4 cup french fries, 1/4 of the tomato, and 1/4 cup of coleslaw.