Sunday 14 September 2014

MoFo '14 Day 14 - International Cheese Sandwich Party


One of the many things I love about Sal is that she's always up for doing stupid things like hanging out all day making and eating as many cheese sandwiches as possible. This was a particularly awesome plan as it not only fitted in with my International Cheese and Chocolate Month theme but also with her dirty sandwiches theme. Brilliant!

We started by popping to M&S and Infinity Foods to grab the ingredients we needed to go with the ones I'd brought back from the US.


We bought two kinds of bread, VBites ham, a tomato and some Violife original slices that I forgot to photograph. I had the soya milk and the Vitalite already and the Earth Balance Mac & Cheese and Daiya Provolone Slices came from Austin.

We decided to make the sandwiches in order of perceived awesomeness in case we got full and didn't enjoy the final sandwiches so much. Smart logic! Obviously that meant that the mac & cheese toastie was up first. I love my toastie maker and I don't use it anywhere near enough. Cheapo white bread is the only sensible toastie bread, that's what this machine's built for people. Don't fight it!


If you aren't familiar with the humble toastie (or jaffle as they call it down under) it's a staple of students and lovers of hot filthy sandwiches everywhere and you butter the outside of the bread just like when you're making a sandwich in a cast iron pan. The toastie maker seals up the sides and makes pockets of cheesy melty deliciousness that are usually hotter than the sun. Classic toastie fillings across the UK include cheese, cheese and ham, cheese and pickle and cheese and baked beans. Basically cheese is important so why not give mac & cheese a whirl?

Unsurprisingly this was freaking awesome, just look at it. And it's my favourite combo - carbs on carbs! Or really, in this case, carbs in carbs.


I'll tell y'all more about the mac tomorrow when I do a full review (and giveaway!) of both kinds of Earth Balance boxed mac & cheese but so far so good, we'll just say it lived up to my expectations! You could totally use any mac and cheese here, I think two big dessert spoonfuls would be the right amount, any more and you'd end up in a serious overflow situation.

Grilled Cheese number two involved another of my ridiculous kitchen gadgets, the panini press. This sandwich was a little fancier so we whipped out the multi seeded bread. This had the Daiya provolone slices, VBites ham and sliced tomato inside. Here's Sal capturing the bubbly meltiness of the cheese.


Unfortunately looking at the bubbly melty cheese was the high point of this sandwich experience. Daiya provolone is, um, gross. Seriously. Why is is so sweet? Blurgh. Even the meltiness couldn't win us round here!


Posh sandwich, thumbs down. Neither of us will be eating the rest of the cheese and that says a lot. We decided to gift it to Sal's dad who will literally eat anything including dried hunks of TVP. Don't ask.

Next up was Sal's recreation of a pre-gan sandwich she used to make whilst drunk many years ago. It's a cheese and ham sandwich and she used Violife cheese slices and VBites ham and to say that I was dubious about it would be a massive understatement. Why? You ask, cheese and ham seems pretty normal right? Well alarm bells started ringing when she said she was planning to use my microwave to make it. Yup. I was highly suspicious. Bread...in the microwave? I think I may have accused her of being a disgusting dirty savage. I totally ate my words in the end though because this was a DELICIOUS dirty sandwich. It's not gourmet, it's not fancy and sure, the bread was a touch soggy but look at the hot melty deliciousness.


As you can tell the melting potential of the cheese is very important here and Violife was a clear success. This also only takes one minute in the microwave and, a definite bonus for a sandwich that is apparently best enjoyed drunk, you don't need to turn on the grill or the oven or even mess with anything remotely likely to burn down the house. All you need is to be able to exercise patience and not burn your tongue on the cheese! This is a definite win my friends so don't knock it 'til you've tried it! Disclaimer: We are both kinda gross. Your milage with the soggy bread may vary. You cannot hold us accountable if you try this and aren't a fan. Good melty cheese is totes essential.

24 comments:

  1. Haha! microwaved cheese sandwiches used to be my specialty (when I was a kid), but I toasted the bread first so it wasn't super soggy.
    I can't believe you made mac n cheese sandwiches! Too funny. I totally understand the delicious pull of carbs though.

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  2. Hahahaha awesome! I want a cheeze sandwich party!

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  3. Haha love it! Those mac and cheese toasties look amazing and ham and cheese sandwiches (or toasties) are one of my favorite sandwich combinations. I love violife cheese, it reminds me of dutch cheese which is one of the few cheese I liked as an omni.

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  4. Love this! I used to do a variant on the microwave sandwich, only mine was cheese and brown sauce cos I'm a dirty northerner!

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  5. Yeah, that Daiya is bad. I would like to see a dried tvp gust post by Sal's dad, though.

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  6. Yup, not a fan of the provolone either. The other two sandwiches look super tasty, though! :)

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  7. OoOo We've got one of those camping jaffle makers. Single sandwiches you make over a fire with a long spindly handle. We made jaffles as kids with that on the stove. I'm going to find it.
    Yes, the provolone is rank! Good call.

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  8. Oh wow I am SO having a mac and cheese toastie soon. Only problem is I don't have a toastie maker :(

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  9. I actually really like soggy bread, so I would totally eat that last one. And the mac 'n' cheese one looks great. I need to try that some time!

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  10. This is the funniest post I've read in a long time, Jojo! You two are hilarious! I remember your toastie maker from an older post. That is one awesome appliance. I can't say I've ever had a mac & cheese sandwich. My sandwich choices are so boring. Sal's soggy ham and cheese sandwich looks pretty good to me actually - and I'm not even drunk! :)

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  11. Ha! Your disclaimer cracks me up so much. I have been duly warned.

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  12. Mac & cheese in a sandwich!? Very clever!

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  13. Fun post! You must have had a really fun time with all those sandwich experiments.

    And thank you for the toastie explanation. I couldn't really figure out what it was except for some sort of sandwich.

    Provolone is not that bad melted... make sure you don't try it raw though, because it is not as good that way. Have you tried the swiss slices from Daiya? I find they have a funky taste like the provolone, although I now appreciate it.

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  14. Heck yes! I just made a mac and cheese jaffle the other day, so good!
    I never have white bread in the house, so I am always grumbling about the other bread I have never quite being big and square enough for the ideal jaffle (though it still works). I need to bite the bullet and get some square white bread to keep in the freezer for jaffle needs.

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  15. Jojo you're an honorary Scotswoman, making a carbs on carbs sandwich :D

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  16. Loved this post and love the sound of a mac toastie!

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  17. Pure awesomeness. Though I don't think I can get on board with microwaved bread; my tolerance for sogginess is too low.

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  18. Pasta inside toasted bread, YES! God I need some EB mac & cheese in my life.

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  19. ha ha - what an excellent post!! I want a toastie maker!!! Your mac and cheese toastie looks totally out of this world!

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  20. This is an awesome post! I love love love jaffles. When it comes to carbs in carbs there is nothing better than orgran canned gluten-free spaghetti with vegan cheese in a jaffle. Total bliss. And I agree with re: Daiya Provolone… I have a fast-dwindling supply of violife slices and vegusto cheese that I brought back to NY with me from the UK. I don't know why but European vegan cheeses are just *that* much better!

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  21. that mac & cheese sandwich is everything. WANT. alas, i do not have a toastie maker. when we were kids and went camping, we used to have something similar that you'd use over an open fire, and just thinking about eating one of those with mac & cheese inside... :dies:

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