I have always believed that the great thing about cheese is that so many different things can be done with it. For example, it can be sprinkled on pizza, soup, tacos, and many other types of food. Cheese is the perfect complement to any sandwich, obviously like the classic Grilled Cheese, or you can add some variety by putting it on a chicken, roast beef, or turkey sandwich. Cheese is the most common thing that comes to mind when I think about snack foods like Cheetos, Baked Lays Sour Cream and Cheddar potatoe chips, cheddar flavored popcorn, or what I always reach for at a baseball game, nachos. Cheese can also be added to baked potatoes directly from the warm oven, when it begins to melt deep into the crevaces of the potatoe. Cheese is the main ingredient in many types of foods, like macaroni and cheese, or potatoe soup. A lot of people like to sprinkle cheese on chili, or eat cheese with crackers. Parmesian cheese is usually added to Italian food, to give it that cheesy bite everyone loves. A salad is a great way to start any meal, especially with a huge mound of cheese on top of the lettuce.
Cheese can come in many different forms, like cottage cheese, cream cheese, and goat cheese. The flavors of cheese are endless, but some are PepperJack, Colby, Bleu Cheese, Cheddar, Swiss, Munster, White Cheese, and Limburger. Some types of cheese have holes like Swiss, while others are aged for a better flavor, like Bleu Cheese. PepperJack, Colby, Cheddar, Munster, Swiss, and White Cheese all have a rich, creamy texture, while Limburger smells awful. Personally, I think that Bleu Cheese has a disgusting flavor, but some people love it. I found this out the hard way when I ordered the Cobb Salad at Bob Evans. I forgot to ask them to reomove the Bleu Cheese from the salad, like I always do. When the waitress brought my salad to the table, I quickly noticed the blue, moldy, stinky, cubes on my lettuce. It was extremely difficult to pick them out of my salad, and unfortunately I missed a few pieces. I took a big bite of lettuce, tomatoe, and chicken, without realizing that a small chunk of the smelly cheese had made its way to my fork. The taste was awful, like warm vomit, an extremely nasty sensation to my tastebuds. At least other types of cheese taste much better, like PepperJack, which tends to be very spicy. This cheese is the perfect complement for a plate of nachos, or melted, and served as a zesty dip. Cottage cheese is usually a sidedish in a meal, while cream cheese tends to appear in desserts, like Cheesecake. Cheese can also be added to chili dogs as a topping, or as a cheese sauce to many different dishes. Some cheeses are soft and squishy when touched, liquidy, or firm. Parmesian is an especially firm cheese, that must be grated when added to certain dishes, or when used as a topping. White Cheese is usually added to certain ethnic foods, to add an element of creaminess.
I always enjoy it when my mom makes potatoe soup, especially since the broth is a cheese sauce. She always makes it for my family and I, especially in the fall and winter months. It has a creamy cheesy flavor, but the potatoes add an interesting bite to the soup. We can not make potatoe soup every night, so when my brother and I want to know what is for dinner, sometimes my mom will suggest a Grilled Cheese. Unfortunatly, she loves this warm, melty, sandwich so much, that she tends to overly suggest this, which only makes my brother and I groan after a while. She simply says that she loves Grilled Cheese, and she does not realize that she brings it up that often. Cheese was not always involved with my favorite foods, but it did teach me to enjoy broccoli more when I was little. My mom would melt American Cheese on the detestable green menace, but I eventually learned to like it without this complement. Another fond memory of cheese involves my brown and white Chihuahua, Champ. Every dog loves cheese, but whenever the word is said in my house, Champ will look toward the kitchen. What began this love affair, was when I decided to train Champ when he was a puppy with cheese, because he seemed to like it, and he would learn the behaviors like sit, stay, and come, more easily. Unfortunatley, now every time he hears us say cheese, or if we begin to eat anything with cheese on it, Champ will come running, and will stare longinly at our forks, sacrificing his dignity, until he gets that well-earned bite.
Cheese is the perfect compliment to any meal, and still continues to be. It is very versatile because it comes in so many forms, textures, and flavors. There is a type of cheese for everyone, in any flavor that they prefer. For some this could be Bleu Cheese, Pepprejack, or Swiss. Others prefer the sharpness that Parmesian has to offer to our favorite Italian dishes, like Spaghetti. Not only have the different forms, flavors, and types of cheese made cooking easier, they can make even the most picky eater finish his vegetables. For example, whenever I did not want to eat my broccoli, my mom would just melt some cheese on top. The creaminess of the cheese overpowered the nasty taste of the broccoli. It always amazes me how much people will go crazy for cheese, but my dog will take this even further. Champ will ignore his dog food if anyone is eating cheese, or any food with cheese at the kitchen table. Eventually, his persistance pays off, and he will get a bite, especially because his "cute look" works every time. He will stare up at you with his big brown eyes, until you feed him. From the many different uses, forms, tastes, and smells, to the happiness most people experience when they eat it, cheese will always be the perfect choice for any meal, or sidedish.
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