Fancy Grilled Cheese Sandwich

I'm not sure why I started calling these sandwiches "fancy grilled cheese", but whenever my kids ask me what we are having for dinner, and I say "fancy grilled cheese", they know exactly what I'm talking about and start reminding me of exactly how they like theirs to be made- sliced avocado, mushed up avocado, more ranch dressing, not too crispy, etc...

Even though I really do enjoy cooking and baking very much, there are days when I just don't have time in my schedule to spend more than 20 minutes on dinner.  And, it's those days that dinners often look more like sandwiches or spaghetti, than pot roasts or beef stroganoff.

Fancy Grilled Cheese:

Bread (any kind of bread will work, but I've got to suggest that a sturdier bread than sandwich bread is definitely my preference.  I usually have a loaf of Portland City Sour wheat bread (from Costco) on hand for making grilled cheese sandwiches, and it is perfect for this meal.)

Bacon- fry some up (usually 2 slices per sandwich) before you start constructing the sandwiches.

Avocado- one large avocado will be enough for 3-4 sandwiches

Cheese- I won't judge.  I love almost all cheeses (except American).  But, I strongly encourage the sharpest cheddar cheese you can handle for this sandwich.  If you have kids that only eat mild or medium cheddar, fine.  Make their's with that.  But, for you my friend, don't go any lower than sharp, and my recommendation is extra sharp.  Be a man.

Ranch dressing.

Salted butter.

Okay, you can grill these any way you'd like- in a frying pan, on your George Forman, on an electric griddle.  I do it on a cast iron griddle/fry pan that sits on two gas burners on my stove.  It looks like this:

I use the smooth side, not the grill side for these sandwiches. It works well and you can cook up to for sandwiches at time on it.

Construct sandwich by buttering first side of bread and lay it on warm/hot griddle.  Layer cheese, bacon, avocado and ranch dressing.  Then top to with another slice of bread, buttered on the outside.  Cook both sides until the bread is browned and the cheese it melted.  

Serve and enjoy!