Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

You guys may or may not know this about me, but I love bread and cheese.
(And pasta, but that doesn’t really apply to this story.)

When I’m hungry and I don’t have a lot of time to spare (or when I’m hangry and if I don’t eat something soon I will explode into rage), I will make myself a grilled cheese sandwich.

I don’t care how fancy you are, a good grilled cheese sandwich should make you so happy inside you could burst into rainbows. (Well, unless you are lactose intolerance or allergic to dairy or wheat.) My trick is: always use more than one kind of cheese. Shredded melts better, but sliced will do.

Putting a lid on the pan will speed the melting process, or you can nuke it in the microwave for a few seconds to get it gooey. Whatever you do, DO NOT BURN THE BREAD!

You have to be careful. I’ve burned a few sandwiches. They are not rainbow bursters. No no no. You have to get the bread that it’s just perfectly toasty brown. This is why the heat should be at medium and why you need to have some patience sometimes. Eat a few pickles while you wait so you don’t die of hunger.

So yes, the rules are:

1. Always use more than one kind of cheese.
2. Shredded is best, but not compulsory.
3. DON’T BURN THE BREAD!!!
4. Use real butter. Not margarine.
5. Have pickles handy.

Anywho, that’s for your basic, delicious, no frills grilled cheese.

If you want to get fancy, and sometimes I do, you can add delicious things like dijon or spicy mustard to the inside of your bread. Roasted red peppers are delicious and easy. I’ve heard you can replace your butter with mayo, but I’ve never tried that. I plan on doing it soon, though. You can add meats like ham (Ham and cheese, duh.) or pepperoni (Mmmm. Dip it in sauce!) or whatever you like. I usually do something along those lines. Turkey (unless it’s super flavored) is sort of bland, so I don’t recommend that.

Oh, you could use pesto, mozzarella, provolone and tomato! Or Salami! Tapenade and cheese! I don’t know how it would work out, but I’m sure you could incorporate pickles into it somehow. Pickles are delicious.

Banana peppers! Sauteed mushrooms! Grilled onions! The possibilities are endless!

My most recent creation was this delicious piece of yum:

Red pepper and dijon grilled cheese

It was just two slices of oatmeal bread buttered on one side and dijoned on the other. You lay the buttered side down in a hot (medium heat) skillet and top one side with jarred red peppers and provolone and the other side with sharp cheddar. Put a lid on the pan (or a large plate) and let the cheese get all melty, checking periodically that the bread is not burning. Once the bread is toasted and the cheese is melty, flip one side on top of the other, press down and transfer to a plate.

I swear by cutting your sandwich diagonally (I want to type Diagon Alley because I’m reading Harry Potter at the moment). I think it makes it more delicious and easier to eat, but you may do whatever you please.

Now, you! Go make me a sandwich!

Food decisions of a grown-up.

Today, I had a delicious, mostly organic salad for lunch. It was super tasty. Tell me, is it possible organic lettuce actually tastes better?

Then, you know, ’cause I’m Christina, I ate red velvet ice from Rita’s. It was delicious and about 90% red food coloring. Holy artificial dye.

It tasted delicious, but is it possible to OD on food dye?

Tomorrow, I’ll probably eat another salad. And then a tomato or two when I get home. Tomorrow I’ll make better choices.

Scout’s honor?

A pound of cheese, an expanding waistline and a very happy gal. (Mac & Cheese)

I made this:

The most yummiest mac & cheese. <3

The recipe came from Smitten Kitchen (who adapted it from The NY Times)

This fed 4… but my family has no shame about downing a quarter pound of cheese per person.

What you’ll need:

• 1.5 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup cottage cheese (I used low fat, but not non-fat!)
• 2 cups milk (I used 2%)
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• Pinch cayenne
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pound sharp cheddar, grated (I used a bag of 2% sharp cheddar and a bag of 2% Colby Jack.)
• 1/2 pound uncooked elbow pasta

1. Heat oven to 375°F. Grease a 9-inch round or square baking pan with about half a tablespoon of butter.

2. In a blender, purée cottage cheese, mustard, cayenne and salt and pepper together. Once smooth, add milk and pulse a few times to incorporate.

3. Reserve a handful of cheese for topping. In a large bowl, combine the rest of the cheese, milk mixture and the uncooked pasta. Give it a good stir and pour into the greased pan. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

4. Uncover pan, dot with remaining tablespoon of butter and sprinkle with reserved cheese.* Bake, uncovered, for another 30 minutes until it’s pretty and browned. Let cool 10 -15 minutes before serving.

5. Eat it and pretend it’s health food, ok? I served mine with peas so, hah! Veggies!

*In step 4, you’re suppose to stir it a little before you dot it and add the extra cheese. I didn’t do this. I don’t think it makes a huge difference as long as you mixed it up really well before you poured it into the pan.

Veggie soup!

Ok, so veggie soup is kind of awesome. This is mostly because, well, you can make it with whatever you want, really. Last night I made some like this:

What I used: (makes about 6-10 servings, I guess)

• Olive oil
• 4 carrots
• 4 stalks of celery
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 pinch dried thyme
• 2 pinches dried parsley
• a bag of frozen corn
• 28 oz can of diced tomatoes
• 1 14 oz can of white beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 14 oz cans of veggie broth
• 1 14 oz can of water
• 1 cup cooked pasta

What I did:

1. Chop clean, peeled carrots. Chop garlic. Dump into a pot with oil over medium heat. Stir.
2. Chop celery and onion. Dump into same pot with oil. Saute for a few mintues until veggies become softer. Add corn, warm through. Add herbs.
3. Dump in tomatoes with juice and beans. Stir. Add broth and water. Simmer for 20 – 30 minutes.
4. Add pasta and serve.

Next time:

This soup was actually very good, but next time, I think I’ll add a jar of pizza sauce instead of water. Or maybe I’ll replace a can of broth with it and keep the water. I don’t know. Maybe I’ll skip the thyme then too (since pizza sauce is kind of herb-y to begin with). It’s worth playing with. : )

Oh, and I’ll just use the whole bunch of carrots (about 6?) because carrots are the best part of veggie soup in my world.

Strawberry cakes, oh my!

I am currently making this cake for the fourth time. It deserves a post.

Strawberry Summer Cake. (It’s a smitten kitchen recipe (which was adapted from Martha Stewart) and I didn’t change it at all, except to get rid of some of the notes. I’m too lazy to seek out barley flour and I love sugar and yada yada.)

You’ll need some of these.
They smell like heaven.
They make your hands look like part of a murder scene as you cut them.

You’ll need butter, sugar, flour, baking powder, salt (if your butter isn’t salted), milk, an egg and some vanilla.

Here… these are the amounts and measurements.

6 tbsp butter, room temperature
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp table salt (only if you’re using unsalted butter
1 c granulated sugar for batter plus 2 tbsp for sprinkling before baking
1 large egg
1/2 c milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 lb strawberries, greens lopped off and berries halved.

What you’ll want to do (other than eat all the strawberries in front of you):

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Pam/butter a 9-inch cake pan (I’ve also made it in a 10″ disposable pie pan).
2. Whisk flour and baking powder (and salt, if using) together in a bowl. In another bowl, beat butter and 1 cup of sugar until light colored and fluffy with an electric mixer/KitchenAid (I love my KitchenAid), this will take a few minutes. Add egg, milk and vanilla and mix until just combined. Add flour mixture gradually and mix until smooth.
3. Pour batter into greased cake pan. Arrange strawberries (with the cut side down) on top of the batter as evenly as possible. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over the strawberries.
4. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees and then reduce temperature to 325 degrees and bake cake until golden brown and a toothpick comes out batter-free, about 50-60 minutes. Let cool and then cut into wedges.

Prepare to eat this for breakfast every day for a week + as a snack on Monday just because you can. Legitimize this by remembering that you’re eating fruit and you wouldn’t want such deliciousness to go to waste. Or… share with a friend. Whichever is your style.

Since there’s so much butter in this, I’d like to give it a try with a butter/olive oil combo. I’m also sure I’ll make it using fruit other than strawberries. Right now I’m making a strawberry-peach cake… so we’ll see how awesome that is.

Poppyseedless chicken casserole!

(John Coulter Illustration)

What you’ll need:

• 3 pieces chicken breast (about 1 1/2 lb.)
• ½ pounds bowtie pasta (or other pasta)
• 1 can cream of chicken condensed soup (Campbell’s Healthy Request)
• 2 cups light (or fat free) sour Cream
• 1 cup shredded swiss cheese
• 2 cups crackers (Ritz), crushed
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons oil (Smart Balance or something light in flavor)

What you’ll do:

1 – Boil chicken breasts (in water) for 30 minutes (or until cooked through). Remove chicken with tongs.

2- To boiling water/broth, add the 1/2 lbs of pasta and cook according to the directions on the pasta packaging. Shred chicken while the pasta is cooking. (Be careful, the chicken is hot.) Drain pasta.

3 – Mix the cream of chicken soup and sour cream in a large bowl. Add the chicken pieces and pasta to the bowl and mix. Once everything is coated evenly, pour into a greased 9×13 pan.

4- Top the chicken & pasta mixture with shredded cheese.

5 – In a separate bowl, melt 3 tbsp. butter and 2 tbsp oil in the microwave (30 seconds or so). Add the cracker crumbs and mix to coat.

6 – Sprinkle cracker crumbs over top of the casserole and pop into the oven for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Serve (with salt and pepper, so everyone can season to their perfect levels).

Recipes from last last weekend.

So, not this weekend, but last… I went on a dinner-cooking binge. I had dinner ready Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday night, we had eggs in tomato sauce.

Sunday night — Olive and pimento grilled cheese sandwiches (with potato chips, of course).

The eggs in tomato sauce was so-so. I mean, the sauce was ah-maz-ing. The eggs + tomato sauce combination was just too different for my sister to handle. To be honest, it was good and everything, but it wasn’t my favorite. It was much better (in my mind) when the egg yolks were just set. The timing is… a little fussy.

Of course, I served the eggs over noodles. It might be different if you have bread to soak up the runny yolks. If I make it again, I’ll have to do toast rather than noodles.

The olive and pimento grilled cheese sandwich was delicious. It was so salty and just… yum. The first bite seemed bizarre, but it got sooo much better as you ate it. (If you don’t like olives, you can easily use only pimentos. Or I imagine you could use roasted red peppers instead. Hmmmm.)

Also, the recipe asked me to make mayonnaise. I obliged. It was a good experience. The first batch, which I tried to make in a food processor, was a gross, runny, yellow mess. The second batch, in which I consulted Mastering the Art of French Cooking, turned out much better. I used my KitchenAid instead of a food processor. A wisk-action blend is really really important… as is adding the oil verrrrrry slowly at first. (Drop. By. Drop.)

Of course, I didn’t take photos. Just like I didn’t take photos of the green bean casserole I made for Easter. (My only defense was that I was super rushed and the whole cheese-sauce-creation took longer than I thought. AND I WAS GOING TO BE LATE TO MY MEEMAW’S! One should never be late to their Meemaw’s.)

The casserole was yummy, though. Suuuuper cheesy and a little spicy. When I make it again, I’ll cook the green beans a little longer so they’re a bit softer. But that’s just preference… not necessity. I also promise to take photos.

I can’t wait for full swing fruit/vegetable season!

Er, Monday Monday…

I made myself some tortellini soup and a baked potato (with wine) tonight. I was feeding myself, so I had a bit left over. (I’ll thank myself at lunch time tomorrow.)

Yeah, so it was kind of loaded with cheese. Bite me.

The soup was easy. Soften an onion and garlic over medium heat. Dump in a can of diced tomatoes and a can of broth (chicken, beef or veggie… I used beef). Bring that to a boil and dump in some frozen veggies (I used corn). Then, once the liquid is boil-y, dump in the tortellini and cook it! Then eat it. I sprinkled extra cheese on it because I’m a cheese ho.

It was pretty good considering it took all of 30 minutes to make it. And I could have made it quicker if I had been real serious about it.

Oh, yes. I baked the potato at 375 for 30 minutes and then microwaved it for 5 (because potatoes take forever to bake). Then I melted some butter and cheese on it. And I drank wine. I’m a fan of white zinfandel.

I’m not sure if it’s cool to admit that. Is that an ok wine or am I the saddest wine drinker ever?

ANYHOO…

I need to figure out what I’m making tomorrow. I want to avoid pasta, as I’ve eaten far too much of it, BUT there’s a sour cream egg noodle casserole that looks delicious. And it’s suppose to be colder tomorrow, which means meaty, cheesy casseroles will taste extra awesome.

But… I don’t know. Whims, you know? I like to work on whims when it comes to my foods.

Ok, I’m off to search out recipes. <3

Chicken pasta casserole.

From Pioneer Woman/Tasty Kitchen.

What you’ll need:

• 1 1/2 lb. chicken thighs
• 1/2 stick (4 tbsp) butter
• 4 tbsp oil (olive or canola or a mix of some sort), divided
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 lb white sliced white mushrooms
• approximately 1/2 cup dry white wine, divided
• ¼ cups Flour
• 2 cups Chicken Broth (from a can or reserved from cooking the thighs)
• 1-½ cup milk (I used 1%.)
• 1 cup Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese (plus a little extra for sprinkling on top of casserole before baking)
• approximately 1 cup sliced black olives
• salt and pepper
• 1 pound pasta

What you’ll do:

1. Place chicken in a pot of water and boil on medium-low heat for 40 minutes. Remove chicken from pot and allow to cool (until you can comfortably handle it). Keep some broth in the pot and reserve two cups of broth for later.
2. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large skillet; add garlic and mushrooms. Dump in 1/4 cup white wine and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes (or until liquid has totally evaporated). Remove mushrooms from skillet. Set aside.
3. Bring broth to a boil. Add pasta to boiling broth and cook according to package directions. Drain when al dente. Remove chicken from bones and shred.
4. Return skillet to medium-low heat. Add 4 tbsp butter and 2 tbsp oil. Sprinkle flour over butter and whisk to combine. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Pour in 2 cups broth and whisk to combine. Pour in milk, additional 1/4 cup wine, salt and pepper to taste. Simmer until thickened. Turn off heat, add Parmesan cheese, and stir.
5. Add mushrooms, chicken, and chopped olives to cheese mixture. Stir to combine and check seasonings.
6. Pour the pasta into a greased/oiled/Pammed 9 x 13 casserole pan and pour chicken mixture over top. Toss to incorporate. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.
7. Serve with something green, like brocolli or asparagus… and maybe some bread.

“Foolproof Jambalaya” (from Tasty Kitchen)

You can see the original recipe here.

I was sooooo hungry for kielbasa.

I proooomise it tastes so much better than this photo looks. This was after it was in my leftover container too. I'm a bad blogger when it comes to photos of food.

What you’ll need:

• 1/4 c vegetable/canola/Smart Balance oil
• 1 whole onion, chopped
• 3  garlic cloves, minced or run through a press
• 1 small pack of frozen okra, thawed
• 1 green/yellow/orange/red pepper, chopped
• 2 pounds chicken, bite sized pieces
• 1 pound (turkey) kielbasa, cubed
• 2 cups uncooked rice
• 1 14.5 oz can of chicken broth
• 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• ½ teaspoons dried thyme
• Salt To Taste

What you’ll do:

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan and saute the onion, garlic, (colored) pepper and okra over medium-high heat until the veggies are tender.
2. Add the kielbasa and chicken to the veggies and cook for 10 minutes. (If your large pan isn’t large enough to do this, cook the chicken in a separate pan and add it to the mix after it is cooked through. My large pan is apparently not an actual large pan.)
3. Add rice, broth, tomatoes with liquid, cayenne, and thyme. Cover pan and bring liquids to a boil.
4. Reduce heat until liquids are simmering; cook covered about 30-40 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.
5. Fluff the rice and give everything a good stir. Serve.