Hello everyone! I’m so glad you could join me today as I continue my salute to hospital food!
If you’ve tuned in for the last couple of days, you’ve been reading about my dad’s stay in the hospital and the role real food played in his recovery.
There’s nothing new about this concept: the body needs real, wholesome food in order to regain its strength and function, if not at peak performance, at a level that will allow it to heal and recuperate. Unfortunately, terrible food served in hospitals has long had the reputation of actually hindering a body’s recovery. If our recent experience is any indication, it seems that the hospital grub of yesteryear has been scrutinized, revitalized and revamped to include some appetizing menu items that may ultimately aid in a patient’s recovery.
I have been selectively choosing some menu items from dad’s meal trays and recreating them “Stone Soup” style for the blog this week.
Wednesday, I highlighted chicken soup (stew for the blog):
Thursday, I shared my Stone Soup recreation of tomato-basil soup.
And today, what’s better to serve with soup than a grilled cheese sandwich?
Grilled cheese. Yum. That’s all I can think of when I think of grilled cheese sandwiches.
There are all kinds of versions of cheese on bread that are perfectly serviceable, but there is really only one grilled cheese: and that’s the kind where you melt butter, add some yummy bread to the pan, let it get nice and toasty, flip it over and add American cheese–that’s right: AMERICAN CHEESE. Sorry, but for grilled cheese, there is no other substitute. It’s American or it’s nothing. American cheese is the only, and I mean the ONLY cheese that’s going to give you that ooey, gooey, melty goodness that makes a grilled cheese sandwich, well…a grilled cheese sandwich.
There are those out there, myself included, who say that American cheese isn’t real cheese. They’d be right. It’s not. In fact, at our house, we call American cheese “plastic cheese.” But, in all its ersatz glory, it is the perfect cheese for the perfect grilled cheese sandwich. This is not a time to try to analyze nutrition or nuance. It’s a time for gooey, melty goodness, and that means American cheese. Enjoy!
Tune in next week for more recipes from the kitchen of The Stone Soup Cook–
Until then,
Peace, love and good food,
Keri
