Gouda and Caramelized Onion grilled cheese

I love the taste or caramelized onion and it is a flavor that pairs well with cheese. At Cheesetique, one of our most popular cheeses was a caramelized onion cheddar. I think you get a better flavor by caramelized the onions yourself and adding a nice Gouda.  I picked up this Boerenkass raw milk farmstead Gouda at Trader Joe's for $7.99/lb. Boeren is Dutch for farmers and kass means cheese.  This cheese is made with raw milk from cow's who live in the same place where this cheese is made. Most cheesemakers are not dairy farmers. Making cheese is hard, being a dairy farmer is harder, and doing both is awesomely difficult. But I think it makes for an exceptional cheese. the freshet milk makes the best cheese and some people think that the less the milk is agitate before making cheese the better the final product.  

This grilled cheese was made using caramelized onion, Boerenkass, a touch of dijon mustard, and rye bread. 

Caramelized onion

Mild Italian grilled cheese

For this grilled cheese I used Santa Teresa which is a semi firm sheep's milk cheese and Bel Paese, a semi-soft cow's milk cheese.  Both have a creamy mild flavor and melt well.  I combined these mild cheeses with what I thought would be a very flavorful peperonata spread.  This spread was a huge disappointment as it was very bland and lacking in flavor.  I used my panini press for this grilled cheese. We received this press 7 years ago at our bridal shower. At first we wondered what we would do with it but it didn't take long for us to realized that it really easy a kitchen equipment must have.    

Mama's grilled cheese and baby grilled cheese (no peperonata on the baby cheese and I added sharp provolone which made the baby grilled cheese taste better than the adult version!)

Summer drink 2013

I would like to give to the world a new and wonderful cocktail. I call it the "Sittin' Pretty" and it only has 2 ingredients. St. Germain, which is an elderflower liqueur and Peach-Pear La Croix sparkling water. Please enjoy responsibly.

Pour 3 fingers of St. Germain and top with La Croix 

This is the result, delicious and simple.