The California Griller

You guys.  

Men and women have some sharp differences.  Sometimes I forget this, but the other day I was reminded again when my darling hubby took our 4 year old grandson and our 7 year old niece who was visiting from Missouri to visit his 85 year old mother.

That part went well.  She gave the kids ten dollars to spend at the dollar store, so my husband took them by there on the way home.

And laaaaawd have mercy on the Dollar General in Waynesboro. 

I was waiting for them to get home, and I waited and waited and waited.  I was starting to get worried when I finally received an S.O.S., I mean a text from him that said something like "Help me, I'm still in the Dollar store!!!!!"  I asked what in the world he was still doing in there and he typed back that the kids were trying to decide what toys they wanted.   Apparently, this was a lot more complicated than he had anticipated.

When they finally, and I mean finally got home, my niece came running in first thing and practically screamed that they needed napkins and a lot of them and QUICK!  I threw some paper towels her way and she went running outside.  When they all walked in, Brayden was covered in orange sticky stuff and my husband (who looked like he was *absolutely* going to drop) was mumbling something about it being a "really bad idea" to let him alone in the backseat with a push-up.

Ya think?

I asked him what on earth took them so long and he started deliriously telling me all about it while he collapsed on the couch.  "Well, they wanted to look at every toy in every aisle..."

"Thank God you didn't go to Wal-Mart!"  I interjected with a smirk.

"Yeah.  Anyway, when one of them would pick up something, the other one would pick up something else, then the first one would put theirs back, and pick up what the second one had, then that one would put it down because she didn't want to have the same thing as him, and I was trying to make sure everyone had the same amount of items and I was spending the same amount on each one, and when we finally got it all worked out, I saw that Brayden's toy needed two 9-volt batteries, so that meant that Zoe needed to pick out two more things to keep the number of items the same so there wouldn't be a meltdown, and...."

"Batteries don't count as toy credits,"  I explained to him.  "You didn't know that?  Plus, you have to put a time limit on these sort of things.  You should have told them they had ten....."

"WELL, I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE RULES ARE!"

Yikes.  I backed off, but I was seriously laughing inside.

"I just didn't want any fussing, so it was back to the drawing board because by then Brayden had changed his mind for the 47th time, and then, of course, they wanted a snack, so that took a while.  And by the way, I spent $29.97.  Here's the ticket."

"I thought your mom gave them money to spend????"

"She did, but we went a little over, so I just kept the cash and used the debit card.  It was just easier."  He gave me the "don't challenge me" look.

Then he took a nap while I installed batteries in cheap walkie talkies.

Bless him.

And now for the recipe.  I have not been this excited about a sandwich in a long, long time, people.  When we were out in California in June, I ate something very similar in a diner.  I love, I mean LOVE avocados.  They just make this sandwich to me.  Along with the bacon.

Here are my notes:

--The sandwich will grill best when the ingredients are at room temperature.  Or, this is what I did.  I made the sandwich straight out of the fridge, then I microwaved it for about 30-35 seconds, to get the inside ingredients slightly warm so it would melt quicker.

--The mayonnaise.  Look at the recipe.  See what I did there?  I spread the outside of the sandwich with a little mayo instead of butter for a crispy, golden crust.  Try it.

--I did put a small cast iron skillet on top of the sandwich while I was cooking it, to weight it down and help it to get golden brown and crispy.

--Grill it over medium to low heat so that the outside won't get too dark before the inside is melted.

--All ingredients are approximate.  Just put on as much or as little stuff as you want and according to your bread size.

The California Griller

Printable Recipe

2 slices sour dough bread

4 slices Colby jack cheese

2-4 slices cooked bacon

6-8 thinly sliced cracked black pepper deli turkey meat

Thinly sliced red onion

Sliced tomatoes

Sliced Avocado

Kosher Salt and coarsely ground black pepper

Mayonnaise for spreading on the outside of sandwich

For best results, let all sandwich ingredients come to room temperature except the mayo.  Place a slice of sour dough bread on a cutting board.  Layer 2 slices cheese, the bacon, turkey, onion, tomatoes, and avocado on top of the bread.  Season the avocados with salt and pepper.  Place the remaining cheese slices on top, then place the remaining slice of bread on that.  Spread each side of the outside of the sandwich with some mayonnaise, then grill on a cast iron grill that has been preheated to medium-low, until golden brown and crispy, turning once.