I feel like I should have a column on my blog called “Sunday Lunches” – maybe it would get me to do this more often. I swear, I love having a plan for lunch on Sunday. This is now about the 4th time I have actually decided to make something out of the ordinary for lunch, and the girls and I are having a ton of fun with it.
Grilled cheese is definitely a staple in this house. It started out many years ago – before my husband and I were married, but we lived together. Sometimes he needed a snack after dinner – in those days it was not uncommon for us to eat dinner, and then go do something – or he would run back to the lab for more work. It wasn’t a mid-night snack, but he would often need something before he went to sleep – and he always turned to his toasted cheese sandwiches. He loved cheese more than anyone I knew. It was his 5th food group. He would toast some bread, throw some cheese on it, stick it in the microwave for just a few seconds, just enough for the cheese to melt, then he would put it together – and there he had his perfect toasted cheese sandwich – no grilling necessary.
Over the past few years, that has stopped as he has given up dairy – but recently the girls have started having that as their Sunday lunch. At first they balked at a toasted cheese sandwich – they claimed the bread would get soggy – but he showed them exactly the way to make it, and even they were impressed.
Well, that’s good and all, but nothing is better than a good old fashioned grilled cheese sandwich – and this recipe from Cooking Light was just about as good as it gets. Adding in the spinach and bacon – wow. Even my older daughter was fine with the greens, because everything else about the sandwich was so darn delicious. So there you have it – another Sunday lunch. This might just be the last, seriously, what could top this?
Ingredients
- 1/2 teaspoon olive oil
- 2 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 4 cups baby spinach leaves
- 4 cups baby arugula leaves
- 4 center-cut bacon slices, halved
- 8 (1-ounce) rustic Italian bread slices
- 2 ounces part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded (about 1/2 cup)
- 2 ounces fontina cheese, shredded (about 1/2 cup)
Preparation
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil; swirl to coat. Add garlic to pan; sauté 1 minute. Add spinach and arugula; stir until wilted. Remove spinach mixture from pan. Return pan to medium-high heat. Add bacon; cook until crisp. Remove bacon.
Top 4 bread slices evenly with cheeses, bacon pieces, spinach mixture, and the remaining 4 bread slices.
Heat pan over medium heat. Add sandwiches to drippings in pan; weigh down with a plate. Cook 2 minutes on each side.
For a printer-friendly version of this recipe, please click here: Garlicky Grilled Cheese with Spinach and Bacon
First Look, Then Cook 
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Sounds delicious. Mom
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This sounds very good. I know my kids would love this as well. Especially Miss A – she is all things cheese (and sweets) as well. I like your idea of Sunday lunches. That sounds like a great way to spend the mid-day. I hope you had a good and restful weekend Dawn. :)
It has one of the major food groups according to my teenagers, bacon, so you know it has to be good. Love a good grilled cheese and this one is over the top.