Happy National GCS {grilled cheese sandwich} day! Who know there was such a day, honoring that cheesy goodness sammie! Nothing, and I mean NOTHING beats a homemade grilled cheese sandwich. But, let’s face it – I’m not really into using wonder-bread, yellow american cheese and Campbell soup (for dunking of course)! I want to have my GCS and eat it too!!
I’d like to introduce to you, the chicken/apple/brie grilled cheese! It’s literally soooo easy to make. PLUS – it’s packed with protein & wholesome ingredients. I’d consider a meal like this to be a splurge in that it’s high{er} in calories & fats but it’s not national grilled cheese sandwich day everyday, so I say – splurge! A little balance goes a long way!
To make the chicken apple brie grilled cheese is fairly simple, here’s what you need:
- Ezekiel Bread
- Butter (I like to use grass-fed butter like Kerrygold)
- Pulled Chicken
- Granny Smith Apple
- Brie
Spread 1/2 tablespoon of butter on one side of each slice of bread. With butter side down, add enough brie to cover the bread, but not too much that it will all melt off of the bread. Next, add the pulled chicken and top off with a sliced apple. Cover with the other piece of bread, butter side up.
I made my own chicken by cooking it in the instapot earlier in the week. I like to bulk cook and have meat ready to use to make my life easier in the kitchen! If you don’t have an instapot or crockpot (or just don’t want to make your own) most grocery stores have a rotisserie chicken already pulled! Cooking doesn’t have to be so complex, I’m all for finding easy hacks. I used a mandolin slicer to get a nice thin slice of apple! Ok, back to the recipe!
Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat & cook until bread is golden and cheese is starting to melt, 2 minutes. Flip sandwich over so the bread that was on top is now down on the pan. Cook for about 2 mins & then you are done!
I hope you find this recipe to be easy and delicious! As a little extra, I’m sharing my homemade real tomato soup recipe! I hope this warms your soul on this wintery spring day.
- 5lb roma tomatoes cut in ½
- 5 garlic cloves
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon cracked pepper
- Fresh Thyme
- Fresh Basil
- 4 cups chicken stock
- ½ yellow onion
- EVVO - drizzle on tomatoes and garlic
- (Optional coconut milk)
- Set oven to 400 degrees
- Slice the tomatoes and place cut side face up on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Add 5 garlic cloves on the pan. Drizzle EVVO on tomatoes and cover the garlic with EVVO.
- Sprinkle the salt and cracked pepper on the tomatoes (if the tomatoes are out of season, you can sprinkle with sugar to add in a sweetness but it's not necessary)
- Roast the tomatoes at 400 for 60 minutes.
- Heat a frying pan over medium heat and grease it lightly with oil. Add the onion and cook until translucent
- Combine all of the ingredients (tomato, garlic, and onion) for the soup in the instapot. Add in the 4 cups of chicken stock, thyme, basil, red pepper flakes. Feel free to add in more pepper/salt if you desire.
- Once everything is ready to go in the instapot, close lid and set to 4 minutes on normal pressure.
- Let the pressure cooker naturally release.
- Use an immersion blender to blend everything together - use it on a low setting so there isn't splatter.
- Lastly, if you want to make the soup creamy, add in ½ cup of coconut milk
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