Toasted Sandwich

This is really less of a recipe and more of an idea. About once a month we do our own version of Quiznos by toasting our sandwiches and creating a quick and delicious meal. The key to a great toasted sandwich is to start with great bread. I found these wheat mini-loafs at supertarget but I often use a large ciabatta loaf and slice it into 4 servings. The possibilities are endless for this meal. Use my suggestions as a guide but get creative!




Good quality bread - sliced in half

Place bread cut side up on a sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil or spread with pesto.

Top each piece with desired deli meat and top with sliced cheese.

(I used Apple Gate's organic turkey and ham. We topped one half of the bread with Havarti cheese and the other half with shredded cheddar.)

Place under the broiler for 5-10 minutes or until cheese is melted and bread is toasted.

Place pickles, tomato, spinach, onions, lettuce, etc. (whatever toppings you like!) inside your sandwich and enjoy!

Caprese Pasta

This pasta dish is a no brainer. I looked in my fridge and saw I had fresh basil next to a ball of fresh mozzarella. And what do you know? Sitting on my countertop was a container of cherry tomatoes that I didn't even have a plan for (they were buy one get one free this week at the grocery store)! And so this caprese pasta dish was born. I also added spinach since I'm always trying to get more greens in. I made this as a sidedish, but it ended up being the main event since we all gobbled it up happlily. I love roasting the cherry tomatoes until they are literally bursting with flavor. You could add cooked Italian sausage to this and it would be a perfect meal.

Caprese Pasta

1 pint cherry tomatoes
2 Tbls extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper

2 c mafalda pasta (or your favorite pasta)
2-3 Tbls fresh basil, chopped
1 c baby spinach
1 c whole milk mozzarella, cut in chunks
1 Tbls extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 400. On a half sheet pan, arrange cherry tomatoes and drizzle with two Tbls of olive oil. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast for 20 minutes or until tomatoes start to burst.

Meanwhile, boil water for pasta. Add salt and pasta and cook until al dente, about 7 minutes. Drain pasta and place back in the sauce pan. Add basil, spinach, mozzarella, olive oil, salt and pepper and roasted cherry tomatoes. Heat through and serve.

Chicken Marinade

This is my sister Stacy's favorite marinade and it is now my favorite too. These are ingredients that I always have on hand and I love the fact that you can marinade the meat for only an hour and still have great results. With grilling season just around the corner, this is the perfect marinade to spice up your grilled chicken. Pictured is our grilled chicken: one plain and one topped with Havarti cheese.

 

 

 

 

Easy Chicken Marinade

1 c vegetable oil
1/2 c lemon juice
1/4 c yellow mustard
1-2 tsp garlic, minced
3/4 c soy sauce
1/4 c Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tsp pepper
In a gallon size Ziploc bag, combine all ingredients. Add chicken or pork and marinade for 1-4 hours. Grill and enjoy!

White Leek Soup

I guess I should really call this recipe Potato-Leek-Pear Soup but it seemed too lengthy. To help "sell" this soup to my toddler I called it: pear soup. Call it what you like, this recipe is so unique, so easy, and so delicious. I know it is a bit "out there" but we tried is last week and ate every last spoonful. Yes, my family ate soup with leeks and enjoyed them! I got this recipe from reading the book "French Kids Eat Everything" (if you have kids you should read it). I guess most babies in France eat leek soup as one of their first foods, and here I was, 29 and not sure if I had ever tried a leek. I will certainly be making this recipe again and I will now be on a mission to try cooking in other ways with leeks.

White Leek Soup

1 c. potatoes, peeled and diced small

2 c. leeks, washed and sliced white part only (about 6 leeks)

1 1/2 c water

2 pears, cored, peeled and chopped

2 tsp. honey or pure maple syrup

Pinch of salt

Dash of nutmeg (optional)

In a sauce pan, add potatoes, leeks and water and simmer over medium-high heat for 5 minutes. Add the chopped pear and simmer an additional 2-3 minutes. Drain but reserve the liquid! Add honey/syrup to vegetables and blend. Add reserved liquid to the vegetables a little at a time until you get the consistency you like. I used about 1/2 of the remaining water and my consistency was close to apple sauce. Add in salt and nutmeg.

Optional: Serve with a little tab of butter on top.

Key Lime Cheesecake

I love cheesecake. For that reason I only bake cheesecake when I am with my extended family so I am not able to eat the whole thing by myself. This weekend I made this key lime version and it was so easy and so delicious. I love the top layer of glaze that gives it that key lime pie feel. Make this cheesecake for your family...or yourself. : )

Key Lime Cheesecake

Crust

1 pkg graham crackers, crushed
1 stick butter, melted
1/4 sugar

In a medium bowl combine crushed graham crackers, butter and sugar. Press mixture into a pie pan. Set aside.

Filling

2 pkgs cream cheese, softened
1/2 c sugar
1 tsp grated lime zest
2 Tbls fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs

In a large bowl or stand mixer beat cream cheese, sugar, lime zest, lime juice and vanilla until smooth. Add in eggs and mix until just combined. Pour cream cheese batter into unbaked graham crust.
Bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Cool for 1 hour before topping with glaze.

Glaze Topping

1/4 c sugar
3/4 Tbls cornstarch
1/4 c water
2 Tbls lime juice
In a small sauce pan whisk all ingredients and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Boil and stir for 3 minutes. Let cool for 15-20 minutes and then pour over baked cheesecake. Refrigerate 3 + hours.

Mac & Cheese & Peas

I made this recipe for Vaida's first birthday party specifically for the little kids that were invited but I remember many of the adults enjoyed it just as much. Why wouldn't they? It's cute ditalini pasta covered in gooey, buttery, cheese sauce. Oh, and the peas are added to make it "healthy". : ) Actually, I often stir in the frozen peas at the dinner table to help "cool off" the pasta quickly for Vaida. The cheeses I used tonight were just the ones I had on hand. You can use any one or combination of cheeses that you like; just be sure to use a block of cheese and shred it by hand for the best results!

Mac & Cheese & Peas

2 c ditalini pasta (or elbow)
1 tsp salt
1/2 c shredded white cheddar cheese
1/2 c shredded gruyere cheese
1 Tbls butter
1/4 c cream or half & half
1/3 c frozen peas

Fill a sauce pan half-way up with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Add salt and pasta to the boiling water and cook according to box instructions (about 10 minutes) or until al dente. Drain pasta and return to sauce pan. Add cheeses, butter and cream and stir until all of the cheese is melted. Add frozen peas and serve immediately.

Berry Sauce (for Yogurt)

Yogurt with strawberry sauce

I am pretty excited about this recipe. I think I have mentioned that I follow 100 Days of Real Food and love that I can get a little bit of information at a time from blogger, Lisa Leake. I certainly do not follow all of her rules (she cooks 100% unprocessed - pretty impressive!) but I have made small changes that fit our family and this berry sauce is now one of them. We eat a lot of yogurt in our house. Ryan packs it for lunch almost every day and Vaida eats Greek yogurt on a daily basis since we can't get her to eat a lot of meat (Greek yogurt has 45% of your daily protein). Leake pointed out on her blog that yogurt should only be made from 2 ingredients (milk & active, live cultures). I took a look at the Yoplait brand in our fridge and was surprised to see 10 ingredients listed. Since then I have been buying a bulk container of plain, Greek yogurt which is healthier and a whole lot cheaper than the individual cups. Then we top it with this delicious berry sauce using real ingredients. It is so easy. It took Vaida a few times to get on board with this new yogurt but now she asks for it and loves to stir in the sauce to change her yogurt to purple or red. So far we have tried strawberries and blueberries - tomorrow I will make a raspberry sauce!
Note: You could use this sauce on top of ice cream, pancakes, and/or mixed in Cream of Wheat or oatmeal.



Yogurt with wild blueberry sauce

Berry Sauce

¾ c frozen berries

2 Tbls pure maple syrup

¼ c water

 

Combine ingredients in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Bring to a light simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and puree with hand immersion or countertop blender.
Use immediately or store in the fridge for later.

 

Note: This doesn't make a huge batch so feel free to double recipe if needed. One batch seems to be enough to flavor one 32oz tub of yogurt.
 

Original recipe found: http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/05/03/recipe-berry-sauce/