I LOVE a good sandwich. I’ve learned that humans cannot live by sandwiches alone, but I have this reoccurring food dream that one day I will open a sandwich truck. Yum!

This sandwich. Praise the Lord emoji hands. It is truly a refined take on the kid-favorite counterpart (though I have to admit that my husband and I have been dressing up grilled cheese for years with rosemary pressed into the butter on each side and a healthy dose of garlic powder in the middle).

This incarnation of the grilled cheese from The Scramble* takes everything to a whole new (half) healthy, full-flavored level. I mean, why not toast to health over the kale and artichoke extras and the peppy addition of asiago cheese? To sandwiches!

Oh, my, YES!

XX, Megan

Ingredients for the Main Dish

• 1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp. minced garlic (about 2 cloves)
• 12 – 16 oz. kale (stemmed and chopped)
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. balsamic vinegar
• 14 oz. canned artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
• 4 – 6 oz. (about 1 1/2 cups) Asiago cheese, grated (I used an aged sharp white cheddar for this recipe)
• 12 slices whole grain bread
• 1/4 cup butter, softened

The Scramble suggests that you preheat the oven to 250 degrees, making 3 sandwiches at one time, and then warming the others in oven while you finish making the final three. I chose to use to skillets to make our sandwiches and whipped them up all at once!

Saute

In a heavy skillet heat the oil and sauté the garlic for 30 seconds until it is just fragrant. Add the kale and salt. Toss until the kale is covered in garlic. Sauté for 1 more minute, then cover and steam for 5 minutes.

Chop

Meanwhile chop your artichokes and slice your bread. (You can also grate the cheese now if you didn’t buy pre-grated.)

Add

Add the artichokes  and balsamic vinegar to the kale and heat for 2 minutes. Then add 1 cup of the cheese. Stir cheese in until melted and remove from the heat.

Butter

Butter the outside of each bread slice. Heat two large heavy skillets (or warm the oven 250 and do two shifts of 3 sandwiches as described above).

Grill

Place 3 slices of bread on each skillet. Top the bread with 1 tsp of the remaining cheese. Then spoon about 3 Tbsp. of the artichoke/kale/cheese mixture onto the bread. Top with anther tsp. of cheese. Cover with last bread slice. Press firmly down on each sandwich, or do as The Scramble suggests and place a foil wrapped brick on top of your sandwiches!

EAT!

*The Scramble is a meal planning service to which you can subscribe here. For a fantastic price you will receive 5 weekly meals which means 5 recipes (main course plus a side dish), complete grocery list, the ability to tweak the number of people you are making for, and full nutrition facts. PLUS tips as to how best to PREP your meal beforehand, add a punch of FLAVOR, and how to SLOW COOK almost every recipe if you’re especially slammed that night. This wonderful service really does live up to it’s name. You can come home at 6 p.m. and be sitting down to a DELICIOUS, HEALTHY, HOME COOKED meal by 6:30 p.m. most nights.