Steve's Surprisingly Perfect Grilled Cheese & Sandra's Yummy Treats

My goal with Clearly Delicious is to write detailed posts about the food that I prepare for family and friends.  I post these recipes after testing, tweaking, and perfecting meals that I want other people to try and further continue the sharing process.  However, there are those times when I cannot sit down everyday and prepare a home cooked meal.  At my house, these times are rare (because I always cook), but traveling really prevents me from accomplishing said goals.  I've been on the road for exactly 2 weeks (about to head home, yay!), but cannot seem to find enough kitchens to cook in, or enough time to post pictures and recipes.  Sigh.  This challenge will be over soon!

Until then, I thought I would post a really interesting and truly quick, but tasty recipe I received tonight after a last minute visit with one of my favorite college professors, Dr. Christine Hait.  Christine and her husband Steve were kind enough to tolerate the pleasant barging-in of me and my best friend from college, Christina.  In their gracious hostful ways, they offered us grilled cheese and tomato soup.  I bit into this grilled cheese sandwich and immediately thought, "Yummy! Butter! This is so moist!" to which idea Steve immediately said (and I paraphrase), "Now that you've taken a bite and like it, I'm going to tell you my secret trick.  It's not butter, it's mayonaise."  Can you believe that?! Mayonnaise! Apparently, putting a thin layer of mayonnaise on both sides of the toasted bread (like you would with butter in a traditional grilled cheese sandwich) leaves the bread moist, delicious, and the pan very clean.  Below is a simple breakdown of Steve's recipe transcribed by my imagination (as I did not watch him cook it).  But boy, was it clearly delicious.

Grilled Cheese a la Steve
The below recipe is a re-imagination of what I believe Steve put into his classic grilled cheese sandwich.  I will be posting more elaborate/creative/nontraditional grilled cheese recipes in the future (ones that involve pesto, tomatoes, spinach, you get the picture), but until then, just use a classic grilled cheese recipe like the one below.

2 slices of bread (any kind--white, or wheat, etc.)
2 slices of cheese (any kind--cheddar, swiss, etc.)
1 slice of ham, optional
1 tablespoon mayonnaise, spread thinly over two slices of bread

1.) Heat up skillet over medium-high heat and thinly spread mayonnaise over both slices of bread.
2.) Place one slice of bread mayonnaise side down in pan.  Layer on ingredients--cheese, pesto, spinach, tomatoes, etc., and add the top layer of bread, mayonnaise side up.
3.) Cook for 1-2 mins. and check for the browning of the bottom slice of bread.  1-2 minutes is merely a cautionary time; you really just want to keep an eye on the bread until it's golden-to-dark brown (depending on your preference).  I often turn the heat to low-medium and put a cooking lid on top of the pan to hold in the steam.  This steaming allows the cheese to melt faster (I learned this trick when I was a kid who ate grilled cheese sandwiches every weekend with my big sister.  Thanks Lise!!).
4.) After the bottom slice is brown, flip the sandwich and brown the other slice.  The important technique to remember here is that it will take a fraction of the time for the second slice of bread to brown since the pan is already heated up.
5.) Remove from pan, slice, and enjoy!!

Finally, in tribute to Dr. O'Neal's yummy treats for 4:00 o'clock coffee and treats, I'm posting a picture below of the delicious cookies, brownies, and holiday candies Dr. O'Neal prepared for Christina and I before visiting with Christine and her husband.  I don't know what the recipes are here, but I can assure you that everything was good! I kept snacking on her lady's fingers (the vanilla cookies shaped like fingers with powdered sugar all over them) and the brownie was to die for.  NOTE: brownies are from Giradelli.  Can you ever go wrong with Giradelli?!