Growing up, one of my favorite comfort foods was cheese toast. My dad would make it in our counter-top toaster oven for breakfast and have it sitting on the plate warm for us to grab on the way out the door to the bus. To this day, I can imagine the yummy orange cheese melted perfectly to the toasty bread. It wasn’t anything fancy – just a slice of sandwich bread with american cheese. But I loved it.
Over the years, I have tried to duplicate it. But without a toaster over, it just didn’t come out the way my dad made it. The microwave was too soggy – even if I toasted the bread in a toaster beforehand. And I could never seem to get it crisp in the oven broiler. So I gave up.
Last month, I was contacted by Panasonic asking me if I would be interested in participating in the Panasonic FlashXpress Toaster Oven Kids Challenge.
My first instinct was to say no. You see friends, this mom is NOT a cook. I have embraced the fact that I just don’t enjoy cooking and I’m really not that good at it. Really, I’m ok with it. So me competing in a cooking challenge didn’t seem to fit.
Yet, there was this little part of me that was ready to be challenged in different ways. Surely, I could cook something fun with my kiddos in a toaster over. And then I remembered the cheese toast.
I.WAS.IN
Panasonic FlashXpress Toaster Oven
The Panasonic FlashXpress Toaster Oven showed up on my doorstep in a much bigger box than I expected. And I pulled out the toaster oven thinking it was much fancier than I remembered the toaster ovens of my childhood being. I mean, look at how cool it is:
The Panasonic FlashXpress Toaster Oven uses double infrared heating technology to cook foods efficiently and quickly, and is simple to use. It cooks food up to 40% faster than other conventional toaster ovens. It has an easy-to-use control panel with 6-menu illustrated presets for toast bread, pizza, frozen foods and quick reheat. And it’s compact enough to fit easily on any kitchen countertop.
What surprised me the most about the FlashXpress was how very easy it was to use. Press the on button and then select what you are cooking. It’s that simple to use. Impressively easy.
Panasonic FlashXpress Toaster Oven Kids Challenge
I think y’all know me enough by now to see that I am not a recipe blogger. I do not know how to create the most Pinterest-worthy of pictures. But what I do know how to do is encourage you to make incredible memories with your family. By posting ideas of things to do, and showing you how easy it is, I hope that I am motivating you to spend time with your kids.
And as I racked my brain to come up with a recipe for the Kids challenge (cheese toast just wasn’t going to be the one), I realized it was less about the fancy snack or meal, and more about the moment of making it with my children.
So we decided to make one of the easiest and yummiest toaster oven recipes: English Muffin Pizza
My kids love make your own pizza night, so we took the concept and make out own personal pizzas with english muffins. I laid out a variety of toppings, filled a bowl with pre-made pizza sauce, and gave all the kids their own english muffins.
In our new Panasonic FlashXpress Toaster Oven Kids Challenge our pizzas took less than 3 minutes to cook. We were able to peek through the window to watch the muffins toast, the cheese melt and brown up and the sauce start to sizzle.
I will say I was impressed at how easy it was to make this snack. But beyond that, I enjoyed the time I spent with my 6 year old making it. I laughed as I let him make a mess while building his own pizza. We talked about his day as we waited for the pizzas to toast. And the pride he expressed at “making” his own snack was adorable.
As the kids are already back at school, the FlashXpress Toaster Oven is the perfect tool for your child to create a quick and easy after school snack. I am actually looking forward to seeing how many other snacks we can make in our new oven. Have you actually googled “Toaster Oven Recipes?
Learn more about the Panasonic FlashXpress Toaster Oven here.
Now to introduce them to cheese toast!