Happy Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day

Champagne Blackberry Grilled Ham & Cheese Recipe- Celebrating Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day

Happy Belated Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day!  What??? Yes, that's right, according to the Days of The Year Calendar, April 12th, was Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day!

So all you grilled cheese aficionados out there, don't fret that you missed the event.  Any day is a good day for a grilled cheese sandwich. Right?

Do you know what else goes well with grilled cheese?  Mustard of course, Cherchies® Mustards, more specifically:) Cherchies® Champagne Mustard, our signature product since 1978, continues to be one of our most popular condiments and is delicious in so many recipes, including grilled cheese sandwiches! Check out blog.cherchies.com for more recipes.

"The Champagne Mustard is my secret ingredient in my grilled cheese sandwiches"- Nancy Baldwin, Gardner's Landscape & Nursery

It's our secret ingredient too in our Champagne Blackberry Grilled Ham & Cheese and our Grilled Turkey & Cheese Waffle Panini (Although, I guess it's not secret anymore;)  Thank you Nancy for sharing!  I'm amazed at all the grilled cheese combinations out there.  What's your favorite grilled cheese combination?  We'd love to hear from you. Here are a few of our favorites.  Thank you for visiting!

Champagne Blackberry Grilled Ham & Cheese Recipe

Grilled Muffuletta Sandwich Recipe

Grilled Turkey and Cheese Waffle Panini Recipe

Balsamic Garlic & Herb Quesadilla Recipe  

So, who's ready for a grilled cheese sandwich?  I know I am:)  Enjoy!

Spicy Cherry Chicken Recipe

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Spicy Cherry Chicken Recipe

Cook Time:  20 minutes  Difficulty: Easy

Move over BBQ chicken, and say hello to Spicy Cherry Chicken, featuring Cherchies® Cherry Hot Pepper Jam and a few pantry items! This easy sweet, spicy chicken recipe is baked in the oven but can also be grilled (unless it is sub-zero outside, where grilling is no fun!).

Grilling is my hubby's thing. Our family usually grills year round, but at 19 degrees, as it was here the other day in Pennsylvania, with a wind-chill factor of something crazy, it was even too much for my die-hard grilling hubby. Of course, my craving for BBQ chicken occurred on the coldest day of the year, so we baked the chicken instead and stayed nice and toasty inside;). 

One problem, we were out of our favorite bottled BBQ sauce;( So, what's a gal to do? Improvise! One missing ingredient was not worth braving the Tundra to the grocery store, so I improvised with what I had in the pantry, ketchup, Cherchies® Cherry Hot Pepper Jam, and liquid smoke! Holy Smoke (pun intended), it worked!

The chicken legs were juicy, tangy, and delicious; I may never return to store-bought BBQ sauce again, friends! Homemade is so much better, even baked! So stock up on Cherchies® Hot Pepper Jams (Cherry, Cranberry, or Strawberry), and the next time you crave a sweet and spicy BBQ chicken (even if it is sub-zero outside), you will have all the ingredients for this Spicy Cherry Chicken Recipe, ready at a moment's notice.

Comment below if you have made this recipe. Thank you for visiting! Join us again for more family-tested recipes, entertaining ideas, and cooking tips using all our favorite Cherchies® gourmet products.

Ingredients

• 1 package of chicken legs or chicken breasts

• 1 Tablespoon Cherchies® Garlic Seasoning Blend

• 1 teaspoon pepper

• 1/2 cup  Cherchies® Cherry Hot Pepper Jam (could also substitute Cherchies® Strawberry Hot Pepper Jam, or Cherchies® Cranberry Hot Pepper Jam)

• 1/2 cup ketchup

• 1 teaspoon (tsp) liquid smoke

• 1 Tablespoon (Tbsp) olive oil

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a small bowl, mix together the Cherry Hot Pepper Jam, ketchup, and the liquid smoke.  Place chicken on a baking sheet and drizzle the chicken with olive oil.  Sprinkle the chicken with Garlic Seasoning and pepper.  Brush half of the ketchup mixture over the chicken, reserving the other half for later in the baking process.

Bake chicken for 15 minutes.  Remove chicken briefly from the oven and brush on the remaining sauce and finish cooking for another 15 minutes or until thermometer reads 165 degrees.  Once chicken is removed from oven, allow it to sit for 10 minutes.  

Serve the Spicy Cherry Chicken with our Herbed Mashed Potatoes and Strawberry Spinach Salad for a complete meal.  Enjoy!

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Grilled Muffuletta Recipe

Grilled Muffuletta Recipe

Cook Time: 20 minutes  Difficulty: Easy

Today is Mardi Gras, or "Fat Tuesday", and in honor of this celebration I share with you my version of "The Muffuletta", grilled with melty provolone cheese, salty olives and salami, ham, sweet roasted peppers, and Hot Banana Pepper Mustard.  Making your mouth water?

My hubby and I and a few friends traveled to New Orleans (aka NOLA) for the first time recently and had the most sinfully delicious sandwich, "The Muffuletta" from The Central Grocery in The French Quarter. This gargantuan sandwich is made with homemade bread and stuffed with layers of ham, salami, cheeses, and a tasty olive salad.  Seriously insane.  Talk about a flavor party in your mouth!

My version has all the flavors sans some of the the guilt.  The Banana Hot Pepper Mustard is the "piece de resistance" of this sandwich.  Go ahead and try it, it's the perfect Fat Tuesday sandwich or anytime you have a hankering for salty olives and salami, ham, sweet roasted peppers, tangy mustard, and gooey melty cheese.  Everything in moderation, right?  Here's how it's made.  This recipe serves 2.

Happy Mardi Gras!

Ingredients (per sandwich)

• 2 Tablespoons (Tbsp) Cherchies® Hot Banana Pepper Mustard

• 1/4 cup chopped pitted black olives

• 1/4 cup chopped pitted green olives

• 1/4 cup chopped salami

• 1/4 cup cubed Provolone, chopped (optional)

• 1/4 cup Pepperoncini, seeds removed, chopped

• 1/2 jar Cherchies® Pretty Peppers

• 4 slices of good fresh bread (Here I used sourdough bread)

• 4 slices Provolone Cheese

• 2 Tablespoons (Tbsp) butter

Preparation

Chop the olives, provolone chunks (optional), salami, and pepperoncini into small pieces (In the second picture the salami had not been chopped fine enough).  In a medium bowl, mix the olives, Provolone, salami, Pretty Peppers, and pepperoncini.

Turn griddle (or pan) onto medium.  Spread softened butter or olive oil onto bread.  Place buttered bread onto griddle.  Grill until desired consistency.  

Turn oven onto broil.  Now, let's build this glorious sandwich.  Spread Cherchies® Hot Banana Pepper Mustard on the grilled slices of bread that are facing up.  Add ham then the olive mixture (oops, sorry about the ham picture).

Now for the melty "glue".  Place the slices of Provolone cheese over the olive mixture and broil the sandwiches open faced until cheese has melted (only a few minutes).

When the cheese has melted, carefully put the halves together, and cut sandwich in half.  Is your mouth watering yet?  Mine is:)  The perfect sandwich anytime, not just for Mardi Gras.  Enjoy!

Sausage Bites with Cranberry Mustard Recipe

Sausage Bites with Cranberry Mustard Recipe

Cook Time: 15-20 minutes  

Difficulty: Easy

Need a quick appetizer?  I've got just the thing, sausage bites with our award-winning cranberry mustard!  

Perhaps you like mustard with a sweet kick, then our signature Cherchies® Champagne Mustard is just for you!  It's sweet and spicy.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. of your favorite kielbasa or Italian sausage
• Cherchies® Cranberry Mustard or Cherchies® Champagne Mustard or Cherchies® Hot Banana Pepper Mustard

Grill or bake your favorite sausage, slice it into bite size pieces, pop open a jar of Cherchies® Cranberry Mustard, and voila, an instant appetizer!

Come to think of it, call your friends, serve these sausage bites with our Cream Cheese Appetizer, and our Sweet and Savory Brie Recipe, and you have yourself an appetizer party!