Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese and Edemame and Corn Salad

Edemame and Corn Salad

Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tsp herb seasoning mix (I used a Mrs. Dash type one)
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 cup frozen edemame beans (the shelled kind)
Handful of cherry/grape tomatoes
Thin slices of red onion
Pinch of salt to taste
2 tsp olive oil

Boil corn and edemame on stove for a couple of minutes until thawed. Dunk in ice water immediately to halt cooking, keep the veggies bright, and to cool them off.

Meanwhile, mix lemon and seasoning in a medium bowl and let reconstitute a few minutes. Throw in onion, tomatoes and cooled corn and beans, season with salt to taste and put in fridge until needed.

Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese

(makes 1 sandwich)

2 jalapenos
2 slices sourdough bread
Couple tblsp cream cheese (room temperature)
Butter
1/4 cup monterey jack cheese, shredded
Crushed up tortilla chips

ETA: If the idea of roasting and skinning the pepper is keeping you from trying this delicious sandwich, just use the canned jalapenos. It's the same basic idea.

(it's tough to give measurements for this...my sourdough slices were from the centre of a circular sourdough loaf, so they were huge...and you might like more of one thing and less of another, so it's up to you how much you use)

Set oven rack to top position and turn on the broiler. Cut the jalapenos in half and scrape out the seeds and ribs (you might want to use a fork to hold the pepper, wear gloves, or put a plastic bag on your hand for this step). Put peppers cut side down on baking sheet and pop under broiler until the skins are blackened (maybe 15 minutes?). Pull them out and place them in a bag or container and seal, allowing steam to help loosen the skins and cool the peppers off.

Once cooled (around 20 minutes) enough to handle, pinch off the skins and discard.

Begin warming a skillet on the stovetop. You could probably also grill this.

Lightly butter one side of the bread. Flip it over and smear on some cream cheese, place the skinned jalapenos on the cream cheese, sprinkle with crushed tortilla chips and top with shredded cheese.

Butter the second piece of bread and put on top of the goodies you've just piled up (butter side out of course...I'm sure you've all made grilled cheese before!). Place in heated skillet and cook on medium-high until bread is toasty and cheese inside is melty.