Oh hey, sandwich.

Okay, let’s be dramatic and confess things.  I really don’t even like pumpkin that much. I just feel super compelled to make pumpkin evrrrthing since I’m such an impressionable person and everyone else is doing it. You know, it’s like peer pressure, that thing my public school education spent years trying to convince me I was better than.  Not a chance.

And if we want to blame anyone for this pumpkin recipe overload, we can blame pinterest. Because they’re the ones filling my life with so many pumpkin recipes…and not to mention filling my life with unrealistic expectations of me being able to pull off super classy+sophisticated+cute business casual outfits.   I try to pull off those outfits, but mine never quite come together like the ones on my pinterest board.

Moving on.  So when I opened the can of pumpkin puree to make this recipe I was all like, “wow, this pumpkin puree smells really good. Did they add cinnamon to this thing?!” And then I looked at the ingredients and realized I had bought pumpkin pie mix. Good thing I feel compelled to hoard cans of pumpkin puree, so my pantry was stocked with the stuff.  Crisis averted.  Okay, pumpkin pie mix isn’t really a crisis, but you know what I mean.

And then in addition to pumpkin there is gorgonzola in this sandwich which in my mind is the wanna-be blue cheese.  Which came first? Gorgonzola or blue cheese.  They are like the same thing.  I don’t understand the difference.  Nope, not one bit.  The other night at a restaurant I ordered a salad and asked for no cheese on the salad with blue cheese dressing on the side.  They we’re like, “so, no cheese, with blue cheese.”  And I was like, “yes.”

So lately I’ve become really obsessed with vanilla beans. It all started when I got these free KIND bars which have madagascar vanilla…or at least they’re called madagascar vanilla bars.  There is definitely something to being able to see the little specks of vanilla beans that makes all vanilla things that much better. I eat them and feel all cultured because I’m eating madagascar vanilla…not just plain ol’ imitation vanilla.  Did you know how you make vanilla extract?!  Vodka?  I would totally make this for a Christmas gift for people.    But I feel like it’d somehow go wrong and I’d just be gifting people jars of Vodka.  Which would be weird.  Or wonderful.  Not sure.

But more than vanilla beans, lately my life has been me obsessing over tomato soup + grilled cheeses.  Or tomato soup + quesadillas.  But for the sake of this post, we’ll just say it’s grilled cheeses.  I could really use some California sourdough bread in this grilled cheese obsessed equation.  If you live in California, eat some sourdough bread for me and know that I am insanely jealous.  And if you do it while having an ocean view, I want your life.

Speaking of sourdough, we had our wedding food tasting this week and I sent the caterer a long email with what I wanted (none of which I actually picked) and then concluded the email with:

“LOVE: sourdough & sweet potatoes

DISLIKE: mushrooms & asparagus”

And then go figure I chose 2 dishes with mushrooms.  Don’t even know who I am anymore.

So pumpkin + cheese + more carbs is just a natural smash together of delicious things.  Plus, using pumpkin in a grilled cheese is nice since you don’t have to use excessive amounts of cheese which likely makes you feel like eating too much cheese makes you feel.  Yaknowwhatimmsayin’?

If you’re not a pumpkin fan, you should most surely try this with roasted and mashed sweet potatoes.  And then tell me all about it.

{side note}: holy smokes, why is my pinky finger so red in that picture?! I think I should be concerned.