Do you have any vinegar or lemon juice on hand? I'd make a salad with the tomatoes, olives, onion, olive oil and hopefully a little lemon juice or vinegar.

If the cheese looks suspicious, just cut off the suspicious parts and the rest should be fine.

If the bread is good, you can have hunks of bread and hunks of cheese Heidi-style with salad on the side.

Or you can have tomato and cheese sandwich with salt and lots of pepper, with lots of olives on the side.

You could also do a panzanella -- bread salad, basically.

Cut off the parts of cheese you're worried about. Cube cheese.

Cube bread; toast.

Cut tomatoes into chunks. (Cut on a plate to reserve the juice.)

Chop olives.

Toss it all together, dress with olive oil, S & P, and an acid (balsamic, preferably, or other vinegar/lemon juice).

- chop olives, chop celery, chop onion and mix together into spreadable glop
- slice tomatoes
- slice good parts of cheese
- spread olive glop onto bread (toasted?) add sliced tomatoes and cheese
- eat!

I like onion on my grilled cheese and many people like tomatoes on grilled cheese. Stale bread grills or toasts up nicely and cooking can revive slightly withered fruits like tomatoes. Hard cheeses remain good, even if mold has grown on them or the edges have dried out (just chop off the suspicious parts, as noted above). I'd eat the olives as a side dish, like Marsha suggests.

I'm not a fan of panzanella, but it's a good option if you are. If you have eggs and milk, you can make bread pudding with the bread and cheese and tomato. It doesn't sound like you have the right stuff for zuppa arcidossana (Arcidossa being a small Tuscan town). That's typically made by browning sausage, then cooking garlic, carrots and celery in the oil. Add cubes of stale bread Then you wilt some spinach in there, then add liquid to make sufficient broth and serve. I skip the meat step (Guy doesn't do meat) and cook the aromatics in oil, and sometimes add canellini beans for the protein, but not always.

Aw, thanks guys. I made an overstuffed grilled cheese with the onion and tomato with a little bit of olive oil on top (It's really good, smelly oil) and S&P. Came out very well, almost rustic, and the olives where a nice side dish. I haven't made grilled cheese since I was 12, so it never would have occurred to me to make one.

I am intrigued by some of the suggestions here for the olives. I have a ton of olives and a ton of free time*. I used to think "No, I will never get tired of olives" but lo, here I am. That spread sounds like a great side dish, I'll have to try it out.

*Oh the ironies of modern living, the good olives are more expensive than just buying pre-made olive paste...

ooo. Whir up one cup of green olives, 1 clove of garlic, 1 can of artichoke hearts, some capers, and some olive oil in your food processor and serve on crostini. Or toss it with cold pasta. Or cook it on your pizza, under the cheese, with or without tomato sauce. It's yummy!

I haven't made grilled cheese since I was 12, so it never would have occurred to me to make one

Really good, right? I was in the same boat at some point this winter and made a grilled cheese on some hearty wheat bread from the bread machine. Ye gods, what a delicious lunch grilled cheese is.

Or perhaps we can term it "Panini Americano".

Grillllllled cheeeeeeeese! My sister came over for lunch today, and I couldn't decide what to make. Finally, I settled on a very simple meal:
- grilled cheese (cheddar and provolone) on oatmeal bread
- potato salad: red potatoes with yogurt-lemon-scallion dressing
- baby greens with chile pecans, chopped apple, and dried cranberries in lemon-pear dressing

She brought me a big bunch of chives, and I added some to the green salad at the last minute. Mmmm.

It was so good that I just had the exact same thing for dinner. Mmmm. Grilled cheese.

- grilled cheese (cheddar and provolone) on oatmeal bread
- potato salad: red potatoes with yogurt-lemon-scallion dressing
- baby greens with chile pecans, chopped apple, and dried cranberries in lemon-pear dressing

I have never put that much thought into anything let alone lunch. Ye-owza.

Or perhaps we can term it "Panini Americano".

I am so ganking that. The mister makes a great five cheese Panini Americano on sourdough.

Rustia Americano cuisine includes such hearty fare as the Panini with cheese and onion and the Three-Cheese bacon and garlic Macaroni.

I have never put that much thought into anything let alone lunch. Ye-owza.

But! But! It sounds a tiny bit fancy all spelled out, when it's really just a decent lunch. I had the potato salad and the pear dressing in the fridge, and the chili pecans in the cabinet; all I did at lunchtime was grill the sandwiches, chop an apple, and put everything on plates.

It was a good little lunch, though. And a good little dinner.

If you want to say "Ye-owza," say it about the coffeecake streusel muffins I made this morning, That's right. Mmmm.

Hey, sometimes the menu is the most important, and most rewarding, decision of the day. I'm all for putting major thought into it.

Planning a great dinner has gotten me through many a lousy workday.

Oh, I'm with you on the importance of small decisions.

Sometimes simplicity is the hardest dang thing to think up. Happily, it can be pretty easy to execute once you have thought it up.