Jarlsberg and Gouda Penne with Chicken Sausage.

 Jarlsberg is on sale this week so we wanted to try something cheesy and different than our previous dinners by making a pasta dish. The Sabatino sausages were also on sale for some added punch to the dish.

I grated Jarlsberg and Smoked Gouda (about 2 cups total).

I added a couple tablespoons of corn starch and distributed it to allow the cheese sauce to thicken and to avoid clumping.

In a Dutch oven, I added a cup of Pinot Grigio and started slowly adding the cheese after it came to a simmer. We will admit we bought the wine from Aldi but Costco has plenty of affordable quality wines that we could have used.  

After all the cheese was melted, four sausages were cut up and added. The dish was seasoned with freshly ground nutmeg and black pepper and finished by adding a half pound of cooked penne.

In the end, this was a very satisfying and easy to make dish which we will surely replicate.  The cheeses worked well together with the simple white wine sauce.  Adding the sausage gave some variety and lent a meat portion to the dish.  The cost for six servings was probably less than the cost of one meal at a restaurant and it took about the same if not less time than going to a restaurant or getting delivery.

A good home cooked meal like this is satisfying, tasty and quick.  And shopping at Costco makes it an absolute bargain.

Not June Cleaver's Grilled Cheese Sandwich: Jarlsberg Grilled Cheese Sandwich With Dijon and Carmelized Onions On Whole Wheat

If June Cleaver had ever made the Beaver and Wally grilled cheese sandwiches, I am sure it would have been with some sort of white bread with possibly/probably some type of processed cheese product.

I do realize that type of sandwich is a treasured comfort food of many people's youth and I am not putting it down. But I do find it enjoyable to put new spins on comfort food and have a fresh yet sentimental experience.

My wife and I are big fans of Jarlsberg cheese and I thought it would make a great base for a grilled cheese sandwich.  To further enhance the flavor and variety, we caramelized some onions in butter. Finally, we used a hardy whole wheat bread with a bit of dijon mustard.  We put it all together and after a few minutes on the Griddler we were ready for hot, cheesy deliciousness.

My wife and I both agreed this worked very well. Jarlsberg is an excellent cheese for melting and we love the flavor and texture.

I am sure there are more sandwiches in our future with melted Jarlsberg.

Breakfast, Lunch And Dinner With La Brea Bakery Torta Sandwich Rolls-On Sale this Month

We have enjoyed the La Brea Torta Rolls before and with them on sale this month, we had to buy a package. They are versatile and we had no problem going through the whole package. We had breakfast, lunch and dinner using them and all of the meals were  tasty, easy and affordable.

For breakfast, I scrambled some eggs from Costco, put the eggs on one half of the roll and topped the eggs with Jarlsberg cheese. After a few moments in the toaster oven, I topped it with the second half of the torta roll. The cost of two rolls was $1 and I used four eggs.  Even with the price of the cheese, the total cost for both sandwiches was less than $2 and it took less time then running out to a fast food restaurant. Plus, the flavor was simply excellent.

It has been a while since I have had sloppy joes, so I thought that would be a fun idea. We had ground beef in the freezer from Costco ready to go, so I was part of the way through the dish already. I sauteed some onions with some Christopher Ranch garlic and then I added some chopped tomatoes and a small can of tomato sauce. My wife seasoned it with some dry horseradish and some other spices and we were good to go.

These were pretty darn good sloppy joes.  Using fresh tomatoes certainly made this a fresher, healthier and tastier dish than anything you will get out of a can.  Also, my wife's ideas on seasoning it worked well too.  Plus, we had some leftovers for dinner. 

Speaking of fresh tomatoes, we love them with the Belgioiso Fresh Mozzarella.  So why not make a sandwich with them?  First, we started with a torta roll and put some Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto and some fresh mozzeralla on it.

Then we added some freshly cut meat from a rotisserie chicken.

Next came the tomato.

Then we assembled it and we were ready to go.

Again, another home run of a sandwich that came together in moments and was absolutely delicious. Plus, it was pretty also.

We weren't done with the idea for these rolls though. My wife made a chicken salad sandwich using many of the same ingredients as above, plus some onion.

As you can see, we got some great use out of these torta rolls and they made making  a total of five different meals ( since we got two out of the sloppy joes) easy, affordable and delicious.