Although National Grilled Cheese Month (otherwise known as April) was about a million grilled cheeses ago, we’re still finding ways to celebrate! One of our favorite parts of this year’s Grilled Cheese Invitational was having the fabulous March Fourth Marching Band be a part of the festivities. To catch a glimpse of the event, we’ve queued up this video:

Fortunately, there’s still lots of opportunities to catch March Fourth playin’ and swayin’ this month:

- 4th of July in Reno opening for Pink Martini

- July 10th at the Oregon County Fair

- July 14th returning to Los Angeles

Special shout outs to:

- The ever-cute Heidi Gibson with The AMERICAN Grilled Cheese Kitchen for working her grilled cheese magic up on the GCI cooking demo stage!

- Cameron McLean (alongside his adorable dancing kiddos) who won the coveted Tillamook Trophy for best grilled cheese (in our humble opinion).

- Dave Danhi, chef and mastermind at LA’s The Grilled Cheese Truck who took home a number of trophies this year!

- The delicious Tim Walker, Founder and Chief Instigator of the Grilled Cheese Invitational for 9 years in a row.

And I’m very happy to report, we are slowly but surely coming out of our post-GCI cheese coma and making some room in our bellies this month for Tillamook Ice Cream!

By Gillian

As I talked about in my previous post, I entered a video that I made into a Tillamook Cheese contest to win a trip to the Grilled Cheese Invitational in L.A. The video showcased my candied bacon cornbread, fried green tomato, and Tillamook Sharp Cheddar Cheese sandwich.

After about a week of crazy-nervous excitement and diligent YouTube stalking of the other entries, I got a message from Tillamook that said I won the video contest. I probably read the message three or four times before I announced to my roommates (and best friends) that I had won. We all started jumping up and down and screaming – so much so, that my super came and checked on us. TILLAMOOK WAS SENDING ME TO LA TO COMPETE IN THE GRILLED CHEESE INVITATIONAL! I called everyone I knew, updated all my social networks, and reveled in the fact that I had achieved the unachievable.

A few days later, my friend Perri and I arrived in L.A. and proceeded to have the time of our lives. When we got to the hotel, we found an awesome gift bag from Tillamook that was stocked with presents and also a cooler full of the food that I was going to use to make my sandwich for the contest. Since my hotel room didn’t have a kitchen and because I didn’t think the food would travel well, I invaded my friends’ house and cooked for a few hours the night before the contest. This just happened to take place on a Friday night and my friend whose kitchen we used, was having people over. With some old fashioned cocktails and Elvis Costello on the record player, my cooking session turned into a pre-Grilled Cheese Invitational party that got me pumped up, excited, and ready for the competition that was happening the next day.

The next morning we packed our gear and headed to the Invitational. Our eyes grew wide as we were taking in everything. I was in grilled cheese heaven. There were food trucks everywhere, vending booths handing out some of the most interesting grilled cheeses I had ever seen, and most importantly, there was Tillamook Land. Upon walking up in my Tillamook shirt, I was instantly recognized and greeted by the nicest people in the world. The Tillamook team was amazing. Because of their generosity and kindness, it was like I was with all of my best friends and they were here to cheer me on.

Me with Gillian and Whitney of the Tillamook team.

After a few hours of hanging out in Tillamook Land and stuffing my face with grilled cheese, it was time for me to compete. I was so excited and nervous that my cheeks started to hurt from smiling so much. Perri and I managed to crank out sandwiches like Loafy manages to crank out smiles, all while being interviewed by the contest officials and curious executive judges. After 50 minutes of adrenaline-pumping-grilled-cheese-slaying, my heat was over. Little did I know, my day was far from being complete.

Me and Perri during the competition!

After going back to Tillamook Land, the crew handed Perri and me executive judge badges and we headed back to the contest for some serious grilled cheese judging. With the Tillamook team by my side, we must have eaten about 25 amazing grilled cheese sandwiches. It got to the point that all of our stomachs were so full that we had to lie in the grass and take a break from eating. Needless to say, it was one of the best and filling events in my life.

After a few beers, a couple more grilled cheese sandwiches, and some funkadelic songs by the Portland March Fourth Marching Band, it was time to hear who had won the contest. Although I didn’t win any of the awards at the actual invitational, I felt like I had won the biggest prize there was. I was the lucky girl who was chosen to have a chance to compete at one of the most exciting cheese melting events in the world – The 2nd 8th Annual Grilled Cheese Invitational. Thanks to Tillamook, I met some of the most amazing and nicest people in the world, got to eat some super inventive grilled cheese sandwiches, and had the time of my life. I really can’t express how amazing Tillamook Cheese was to me, but hopefully you can tell from my story, video, and pictures how incredible this experience truly was. All you need is Loaf.

Thanks, Tillamook!

Perri and I love Loafy!

Written by MacKenzie, winner of the Tillamook Cheese Grilled Cheese Invitational Video Contest and mastermind behind the Grilled Cheese Social.

By MacKenzie

In L.A. with my friend Perri.

You know how some things just seem so unattainable? Well for me, attending The Grilled Cheese Invitational was something that I could only dream of ever since I started my grilled cheese blog (The Grilled Cheese Social) last May. As a broke grad student living on the opposite coast, I never imagined I’d have the opportunity to experience all the glory that encompassed this cheese-melting ceremony in Los Angeles until a little birdie tweeted (literally, well sort of) about a contest that Tillamook Cheese was putting on.

When I first read Tillamook’s tweet about the video contest, I rubbed my eyes in disbelief and instantly ran out the door and hopped on the subway to find some of that delicious Tillamook Cheddar. After running into a few stores that were sold-out of this award-winning cheese, I finally found a nice big chunk of it and proudly marched up to the register to pay. 

Now that I had the cheese, I had to decide what I was going to make with it. I wanted to do something simple so that it could show off the cheddar, but also something creative and delicious so that my sandwich would stand out among the other contestants. I decided to use some inspiration from my childhood in the South and from my current life in Brooklyn.  From my southern roots I chose to use cornbread and fried green tomatoes, and from my new Brooklyn roots I decided on a buzzfood that was taking the local Williamsburg restaurants by storm – candied bacon.  

For the video contest I decided to infuse the candied bacon in the cornbread so that there were little bursts of sweet and spicy bacon in each bite. As for the fried green tomato, I thought it would be like a play on the classic tomato and grilled cheese sandwich that so many of us had grown up eating. It was like my modern spin on a classic comfort food. And here’s the recipe and my winning video entry:

Ingredients

Candied Bacon Cornbread:
1 box of Jiffy corn muffin mix
1  large egg
1/3 cup of milk
½ pound of thick cut bacon
3/4 cup of brown sugar
2 tsp of cayenne pepper

Fried Green Tomato:
2 large green tomatoes
1 egg
¼ cup of milk
Creole seasoning
1 cup of cornmeal
Salt & pepper to taste
¼ cup of vegetable oil

Sandwich:
Tillamook Sharp Cheddar Cheese
2 pats of Tillamook Salted Butter

Instructions

How to make the candied bacon cornbread:
The first thing you’ll want to do is candy your bacon. Mix brown sugar and cayenne pepper and toss with bacon to fully coat it. Next preheat your oven to 350 and lay your bacon on a cooling rack and place in a shallow baking dish (to allow grease to drip through). With the remaining brown sugar mixture, sprinkle some on top of the bacon and place in the oven. Bake for about 20 minutes or until bacon looks cooked through (it won’t really ever get crisp). After your bacon is finished cooking, allow to cool and slice into tiny little chunks.  

Next, heat your oven to 400 degrees and mix your cornbread according to the directions on the box (beat one egg and 1/3 cup of milk with batter and let sit for a few minutes to rise). Once raised, stir in the candied bacon and bake in a greased shallow baking dish for 15-20 minutes. Remember: you’ll want to make the cornbread thin because you’re using it for a sandwich and you’ve got to let that cheese melt!

How to make the fried green tomatoes:
As the cornbread is baking, you’ll want to make your fried green tomatoes. Cut tomatoes down the horizontal center into medium thick slices. Lay them on some paper towels and salt to allow some of the moisture to be drawn out. After about ten minutes on one side, flip them and salt the other side. Next, beat 1 egg with ¼ cup of milk and set aside. Then mix cornmeal with salt, pepper, and creole seasoning to taste and set aside. Once the moisture has been excreted from the tomatoes, dip in egg mix and coat in the cornmeal mixture. Fill your pan with the vegetable oil and heat to medium high. Once it’s hot enough, fry your tomatoes until they are crispy on each side, flipping once. It should take about 3 minutes on each side. When they’re done, place on a paper towel to soak up some of the grease.

And finally, the grilled cheese!
Now that everything is ready, go ahead and assemble your sandwich. Cut 2 pieces of cornbread and layer with cheese, some of the fried green tomatoes, and some more of that delicious Tillamook Sharp Cheddar, and top with another piece of cornbread! Melt 1 pat of butter in the pan, put sandwich in, then gently place something heavy on the sandwich (I used a press but a tinfoil wrapped brick works wonderfully, too) and cook until one side is golden and crispy. Flip and repeat the butter and press routine until your sandwich is all done! 

Stay tuned for part 2 of my story about my experience at the Grilled Cheese Invitational!

Written by MacKenzie Smith, winner of the Tillamook Cheese Grilled Cheese Invitational Video Contest and mastermind behind the Grilled Cheese Social.

By MacKenzie

Liam and Kelly of the Loaf Love Tour team competed at the 2nd 8th Annual Grilled Cheese Invitational in Los Angeles, CA on Saturday, April 23.

Who says a grilled cheese has to be savory? The Honey Pot competition category at the Grilled Cheese Invitational is devoted to sweet sammiches. Since grilled cheese isn’t typically thought of as dessert, I think this is one of the most creative (not to mention delicious!) categories at the competition. Some of the sweet ingredients as this year’s GCI included honey, ice cream, berries, jam… and of course, lots of sugar!

We’re so proud of Loaf Love Tour team members Liam and Kelly! They won a judges award for Liam’s tasty dessert sammich creation: Apple ‘n Cheddar Nothing Better (made with Tillamook Cheese, of course!).

I’m still kicking myself for not having taken a bite of this cinnamony-sugary treat at the GCI. Luckily Liam passed along his recipe so I can try it at home!

Apple ‘n Cheddar Nothing Better

Ingredients:

1 loaf apple cinnamon bread
8 oz Tillamook Special Reserve Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Tillamook Salted Butter
Raw sugar
Granny Smith apples
Cinnamon

Instructions:

Heat a burner to medium, warm a frying pan on the burner.

Butter one side of a slice of bread. Pour some of the sugar on a plate and dip the buttered side of the bread in the sugar. Place buttered/sugared bread on pan to start caramelizing the sugar.

Cut cheese into thin slices and cover the bread with the slices as it cooks. Cut apple into thin slices and cover the cheese with the slices. Sprinkle some cinnamon on top of the apple slices. Thinly slice more cheese (enough to cover one slice of bread) and place it on top of the apples and cinnamon.

Cover pan with a plate or lid in order to melt down the cheese. Butter a second slice of the bread and dip the buttered side in the sugar.

Remove plate or lid from pan and place second slice of bread on top of the cheese. Flip sandwich and caramelize the sugar on the second slice of bread.

Cover the pan with a plate or lid. Once the sugar on the second slice is caramelized, remove sandwich from pan. Let cool for a few minutes, then slice and enjoy!

Liam working his grilled cheese-making magic.

Yay! Kelly with their trophy.

By Loafy

We are slowly but surely recovering from cheese coma after this weekend’s festivities at The Grilled Cheese Invitational (GCI)! Here are a few highlights from this delicious event: 

- Loafy had a dance-off with one of the members of MarchFourth Marching Band. 

Technically, there weren't any dance judges, but I think Loafy totally brought the best moves.

- Tillamook sampled free cheese and served over 20,000 free grilled cheese samples. 

Loaf Love Tour Brand Ambassador Jenn

- We ran a Twitter contest and six different people won a year’s supply of Tillamook Cheese! 

- Over 200 competitors tried their hand at making delicious grilled cheese sandwiches (and many of them used Tillamook Cheese!) 

The winners!

- Cameron McClean won the coveted Tillamook Trophy for his Barkin Farker Grilled Cheese Sandwich (sourdough bread, orange-zest butter, New Belgium braised short ribs, Tillamook Cheddar, fontina, and bacon jam-YUM!). 

Cameron and his family

- Heidi Gibson, prior GCI champion from The American Grilled Cheese Kitchen, was sharing her grilled cheese knowledge through on-stage cooking demos. 

- Liam and Kelly from our very own Loaf Love Tour won an award for their “Apple ‘n Cheddar Nothing Better” dessert grilled cheese made with Granny Smith, Tillamook Special Reserve Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese, and cinnamon bread. Make their recipe at home. 

Liam & Kelly

- And MacKenzie Smith, winner of our Trip for 2 to the GCI, wowed fans and Tillamook alike with her candied bacon cornbread, fried green tomatoes, and Tillamook Sharp Cheddar Grilled Cheese! 

MacKenzie (left)

Thanks to all who came to this insanely awesome event! Think I’ll go celebrate with a grilled cheese (why not?!).

By Gillian

Bread-Butter-Cheese-Victory!

While you’re stuffing your face at the Grilled Cheese Invitational this Saturday, follow me, Loafy (@TillamookCheese), on Twitter. Every hour between noon and 5pm, I’ll tweet a question or cheesy task for event attendees. Be the first to reply and you could win a year’s supply* of tasty Tillamook Cheese! 

Grilled Cheese Invitational – Twitter Giveaway
April 23, 2011
Noon – 5pm (every hour, on the hour)
@TillamookCheese
#GCI2011

You must be present at the Grilled Cheese Invitational to win! See official giveaway rules.

*12 coupons for a free 2lb loaf of Tillamook Cheese.

By Loafy