Grilled cheese sandwich with sauteed mushrooms and caramelized onions

There are fewer things in life better than cheese. Seriously. Well, I guess unless you're lactose intolerant. In which case, I am so sorry for you. But other than that! Cheese is the bomb. Always and forever. Whenever I'm in need of some extra comfort (middle of the semester with three tests, a lab practical, and a paper all in one week... yeahhh I need some cheese!), I always crave grilled cheese. But not the gross disgusting grilled cheese with that nasty prepackaged stuff and the chemical filled white bread... ugh. I didn't even eat that nonsense when I was a little kid. Seriously. All rye bread and deli cheese for me! I was spoiled when it came to grilled cheese.
Sauteed mushrooms and caramelized onions make everything better... I have a weird family, half of them hate mushrooms, half of them hate onions. One of my best friends hates both! Craziness. This stuff is freaking magic. I can eat both with a fork, standing over the stove, and not feel badly at all. Yum yum yum.
You don't need a recipe for grilled cheese, this is more me bragging about this epic sandwich I made the other day. It was inspired by the wonderful and amazing Joy the Baker and an incredibly delicious looking sandwich she made a few months ago... I am crazy jealous of her skills. Baking, cooking, photography, and writing skills, she is amazing. Please do not compare me to her in any way because I will never match up... but that doesn't matter because this sandwich is still amazing. So! Listen to the wonderfulness of this sandwich and drool.


Grilled cheese sandwich with sauteed mushrooms and caramelized onions
Inspired by Joy the Baker
Sauteed mushrooms
Caramelized onions
Parmesan cheese
Smoked Gouda cheese
American cheese
Rye bread
butter

I sauteed the mushrooms with some salt, pepper and garlic. I caramelized the onions with salt, pepper, thyme, and a bit of rosemary. Butter both sides of the bread (duh), and the make sure you put some kind of cheese over both sides of the mushrooms and onions so it keeps it all in, like glue. Tasty, tasty glue. Eat and be happy!

Tea Cake with Lemon Glaze

I hate tea... I really, really do. I think it's gross. I want to like it... But I just can't. I've tried. So when I got some wonderful smelling mint green tea from Joy the Baker and Lost Crates, I knew I had to figure out something to do with it. I tried grinding the tea up with a food processor... epic fail. Then I tried grinding it up with a mortar and pestle. That seemed to work slightly better... until I actually baked with it... Yeahhhh another epic fail. Bland cookies with bits of grittiness... not so tasty! So I gave up for a while until I decided that I absolutely had to bake with this tea RIGHT AWAY. Apparently, you can infuse butter with tea leaves (should have figured that out myself!). It's super easy. I'm definitely going to be trying this with all different kinds of teas. Locally grown tea with lemon icing? Yesss please!
This cake is about fifty two million times better than I think a cup of tea is... Since the tea I used was mint green tea, it was slightly mint-y. The tea taste isn't super obvious but it's definitely there. Super fabulously delicious! And I made this in about 15 minutes. So worth it!
Also, that little black dot is part of a tea leaf... a few pieces snuck through into the cake. Still delicious!!


Tea Cake with Lemon Glaze
Adapted from
Joy the Baker

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup plus one tablespoons butter
1/4 cup loose leaf tea

Lemon Glaze:
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
3 to 4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 and butter and flour a 9" pan.

How to infuse butter with tea:
Melt butter with tea leaves and let cook on low for 5 minutes. Set aside and let cool with tea leaves for five minutes. Pour butter through a sieve, making sure to press out as much butter as possible. Set butter aside and discard leaves.
Whisk together flour, cornmeal, sugars, salt, baking powder and baking soda, set aside.
Whisk together milk, two eggs, vanilla, and butter. Pour into dry ingredients and fold together until just combined. Pour into pan and bake about 30 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.
Whisk together powdered sugar and lemon juice, set aside.
Let cake cool in pan for ten minutes before poking holes in the top with a skewer or fork. With the cake still in the pan, pour on the glaze, making sure the whole top of the cake is covered. Let sit for thirty minutes before eating. Yum! :)