New Recipe

Okay, ya'll. I'm not great at coming up with creative dishes. When cooking,  I'm inspired by recipes I see. I buy the ingredients needed and work from there. Some people look at the ingredients in their cupboard and refrigerator and are inspired to make something from what they already have. I was granted a little taste of that this week and I love it!

My parents sent us some homemade butters (fruit butters) and jams. The kids were thrilled! Peeking in the fridge, I decided to try some pear butter on a toasted ham and cheese sandwich. Pears or apples are often paired with pork, so I figured it would at least taste good. Someone had given us their leftover Pepper Jack cheese slices from the Super Bowl party we went to; I used that instead of the shredded cheddar or Velveeta that was our usual availability. I had minced some shallots for our lunch meal that day, and they were also calling my name.

This is the best toasted sandwich I've ever eaten! Seriously the best. I've had one the last three evening meals. And I gave some to Phillip who is also sufficiently impressed. I would eat another right now except we're out of ham.

Thank you, Dad, for the pear butter which inspired this most delicious sandwich!

Ingredients:

2 slices Bread (we use honey-wheat bread ~ not the 100% wheat)
A bit of regular yellow Mustard (I'm sure Dijon mustard would be good too)
1 slice Pepper Jack Cheese
3? slices thin-sliced Ham (We used very little ham since I wanted to stretch it out to last as many sandwiches as possible)
1 tsp minced Shallots (we also used chopped onion when we ran out of shallots, but I liked the shallots best)
Aupa's Pear Butter (I don't know this recipe; store-bought apple butter might work okay)

Heat a frying pan on medium-high heat. Once heated, melt some butter in the pan. Lay a slice of bread down on the melted goodness. Squirt a little mustard on the bread. Lay a slice of cheese down, then ham, sprinkle with shallots. Spread pear butter on the other slice of bread and lay (pear side down) on the sandwich. Pick up the sandwich with a spatula and butter the pan again ~ flip the sandwich over and toast long enough to allow the cheese to melt and the pear butter to heat up. You might need to lower the temp for a longer cook time.