CTTVCC: Lazy Person's Grilled Cheese

Hello again, and welcome back to my cook-through of Peta's Vegan College Cookbook. The recipe I am reviewing can be found on page 63. Even though this is a super-simple recipe, I don't think I would have come up with it on my own. Why? Because I don't think I would have thought to put pickles on a grilled cheese sandwich. And by grilled I mean microwaved. And by cheese I mean vegan cheese. Obviously.

The recipe calls for:

• 2 slices vegan cheese
• 2 slices of bread, toasted
• pickle slices (optional)

I used pre-sliced Daiya cheddar style vegan cheese, which fit perfectly on the Amy's Gluten Free Sandwich Rounds, which I used instead of regular bread. Like seriously. They were the exact same size. Match made in heaven. However, when I first made the sandwich, I thought to myself: "Self, do you really need two slices of cheese? After all, there won't be any corners of bread showing, which is the real reason people use two slides of cheese, right?" Wrong. I took one bite, and I was like, "Nope! Needs more cheese!" Lucky for me that wasn't a hard problem to fix. (But once I had two pieces of cheese on the sandwich, it wasn't really pretty, so I didn't retake the picture. Not that it was THAT pretty to begin with, because the cheese melted all over everything. I figure it's more authentic that way, because college students make messes in their kitchenettes all the time, right?)

When I got to the pickles, I realized I was out of pickle chips. I went to Whole Foods, and they were totally out of dill pickle chips! There were no dill chips in any of the brands they carry. So, I bought whole dill pickles, and sliced up one of the pickles into chips when I got home. (First world pains, I know.) The recipe says the pickles are optional, but I am declaring them definitely NOT optional. If you haven't tried this combo, you haven't lived. Well actually, I hadn't tried it, and I was alive, so let me make that: if you haven't tries this combo, your life is incomplete.

This was an absolutely AMAZING sandwich. I made one for my youngest sister, and she is so hooked. I think she's eaten like 20. (Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit.) BUT STILL! I think I could survive off of these for a while if I had to. Really. I could. I cannot believe I've never thought to put pickles on a grilled cheese sandwich before though! This cookbook is genius. Has anyone else out there ever thought of pickles on a (vegan) cheese sandwich before?