There’s a new meme that I was asked to participate in over at Fun Crafts and Recipes. It’s called Four Foods on Friday. The idea is that there will be four questions posted for all of us to answer. This week there were five questions, but I’ll play along

1. How do you like your eggs cooked? Any special ingredients?
Over medium, with toast to dip in the yolk. Or cooked completely through and slapped between two pieces of bread with miracle whip and mustard.

2. What’s your favorite cold sandwich, made on two pieces of bread?
Cold cut combo from Subway. Or a turkey club.

3. What is your favorite pie?
A mint chocolate pie that my mom makes every Thanksgiving (cause I’ll whine if she doesn’t). Full fat/sugar version though… she made fat free sugar free last year, and I was disappointed. It was alright, but just “not the same”.

4. Name one food you refuse to eat and why.
Shrimp. It’s nasty. Even if it wasn’t, just the thought of trying it again makes my stomach turn.

5. What’s the name of your favorite restaurant, and is it small or part of a chain?
Hacienda, and a little of both? It’s a non-authentic Mexican restaurant. They are fairly local– they are all over around here, but not much further away.

I have been called out! I have been remiss in responding to the challenge, but here it is now. If you haven’t been following along (and why haven’t you?), this all started over a simple grilled cheese sandwich. Skeet insists that the only proper way to make a grilled cheese sandwich is with cheese and bacon. Yours truly insists there must be Miracle Whip, or mayonnaise at least! No bacon. If you must add extras, go with pickles, or ham. But not bacon. The gauntlet was thrown down. As Skeet and I circled each other, laying down the ground rules of our skirmish, Charlotte jumped in on the action insisting that HER grilled cheese recipe was in fact the best.

In the end, there was only one thing to do… let YOU decide. As with every thing, there are some ground rules, but there are potential prizes involved as well!!

The Rules:
1. Go to each of the recipe links:

Jenn: How Do You Make a Grilled Cheese?

Charlotte: Grilled Cheese and Bacon Sandwich

Skeet: Grilled Cheese and Bacon Sandwich Illustrated

2. Make the sandwiches.

3. Write a post about your experience and name the recipe that you think is best.

4. Go to all three contest announcements and give a link to your post in the comments for each one: (I’ll link the other contest posts as soon as they’re up.)

Jenn: That’d be this one.

Charlotte:

Skeet: Grilled Cheese and Bacon Throw Down- Win a Cookbook

Deadline:
You must complete the process by posting your comments to each of our blogs by midnight EST on Sunday, November 4th.

Prizes:
Charlotte, Jenn and Skeet will each draw a name from among the entrants and will reward a cookbook to that lucky winner. Bonus! Want an extra entry? When you write your post, include a picture of at least one of the sandwiches you made.

Eligibility:
The contest is open to anyone with a US or Canadian mailing address. We have nothing against the rest of you, but postage, taxes and customs requirements could turn this into a major hassle instead of a fun contest.

The Prize
As is mentioned in the rules, each of us will be giving out a cookbook as a prize. You’ll have to visit the others to see what they have chosen, but fitting with the theme, the cookbook I have chosen is the Great Grilled Cheese cookbook.

Just remember, the best grilled cheese sandwich has miracle whip (or mayonnaise) and no bacon! Well, what are you waiting for? Get cooking!

Today is an exciting day, everyone! Today is the first Recipe Challenge! You probably recall that about a week or so ago, I made a little post asking how you make a grilled cheese sandwich. Little did I know that in actuality, I was throwing down the gauntlet!
In short order, Skeet responded with our very first recipe challenge. The order? One grilled cheese sandwich plus bacon, minus the Miracle Whip. The thought of relegating the Miracle Whip to the refrigerator makes your chef very sad, but I made a deal. So I made a pilgrimage to the grocery store to obtain the necessary ingredients: bread, butter, cheese and bacon. After experiencing a few delays, I finally got the chance to test Skeet’s recipe today. Of course, I had to take pictures to prove I was making the sandwich to her strict specifications.

First, I buttered my bread:

Then I put one slice, butter side down, in a heated skillet and added half my cheese, and my bacon:

Then, I added the rest of the cheese, smooshed my sandwich together, and cooked it until it was browned on both sides, and all gooey in the middle. As you can see, I’m got a little overzealous in the smooshing part:

The Verdict:
It was alright. I’ll definitely consider using shredded cheese on my next grilled cheese because it was deliciously gooey. Unfortunately, my bacon was slightly overcooked, so I had to deal with a slight burnt taste. In the end, I think the only thing this sandwich was sorely missing was … MIRACLE WHIP.

And I have to confess, I didn’t quite make it. After several bites, I caved, and fished some good ole M.W. from the fridge to dunk my sandwich in. Sorry, Skeet, I tried! You just can’t have a grilled cheese without some Miracle Whip!