Babysitter Resources: Hallie's Famous Grilled Cheese

I never had a huge or noteworthy babysitting career. My two main clients were my mom when she needed someone to watch my little sister, and a nearby family with two angelic children who never caused me any problems. Once I got to be about 15 or 16, I started to have a life outside of school and books, and consequently my weekends were no longer available for babysitting. Nevertheless, there are some skills that every babysitter absolutely must have, and one is the ability to quickly cook something that takes very few ingredients and will still be deemed acceptable by the charges.

My 'signature' dish was grilled cheese. This fact, even then, was a source of amusement to me. I grew up not liking cheese. I don't even remember how I came to know how to make them, but my sister especially used to beg for these. The secret is not to get too fancy with ingredients. Butter, off-the-shelf bread full of preservatives, and American cheese pre-sliced, are the essentials. Don't mess with them. Save the fancy stuff for the parents.

For one sandwich

2 slices generic white or wheat bread
2 slices American cheese
1 Tbsp butter

Butter one side of each slice of bread. Make a cheese sandwich so that the buttered sides of the bread are facing OUT (i.e. not touching the cheese). Place a frying pan over medium-high heat. Cook the sandwich on one side until bread is nicely toasted. Cheese might not be melted at this point. Flip and cook until bread is toasted and cheese is melted. You might need to reduce the heat to make sure the bread doesn't burn. DO NOT SMASH WITH THE SPATULA. This is not allowed. Makes 1 sandwich.