The Exploration of the Grilled Cheese Sandwich

I have recently become a fan of the simple joy of a grilled cheese sandwich.  My husband and children love the tradition cheddar grilled cheese and quite often make them for lunches on the weekend or even for a snack, they are growing and all!  As good as those are they aren't really my thing.  I recently posted my brie and apple grilled cheese, which was spectacular by the way, and the hunt for other amazing recipes involving cheese and bread started to take place.  After doing some painstaking research...hehe, here are a few for you all to try and enjoy.

Special thanks to Jen Scott of Jenscottmedia.com for being my photographer.

The Cheddar, Candied Bacon and Jalapeno Grilled Cheese:  Used a croissant for this but any good bread would do just fine.

What you'll need:  aged cheddar sliced, pickled jalapeno's and three slices candied bacon.

Assembly:  croissant, slices of aged cheddar, pickled jalapeno's, candied bacon, more slices of aged cheddar, butter both sides of the croissant and cook.

Candied bacon:  1/4 cup brown sugar and 2 teaspoons of chili powder, mix together well, dredge bacon through brown sugar mixture and bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes.  I will admit that I put my bacon on a cookie sheet lined with foil.  The brown sugar mixture is for 8 slices of bacon.

The Dessert Grilled Cheese:

What you'll need:  pound cake, brie, fig spread, fresh rosemary

Assembly:  take one piece of pound cake (thickness is up to you), spread fig on the cake, place pieces of brie on top of fig and then top with other piece of pound cake.

Cooking:  this one is a bit different because you will heat your pan, place a slab of butter in pan and let it start to melt and get bubbly. While the butter is doing it's thing chop rosemary, amount is up to you.  When butter is good and bubbly throw in the chopped rosemary and wait until it starts to release it's wonderful fragrance. Once this happens place your pound cake sandwich in the butter and flip so the other side can also get this yummy goodness soaked into it.  Then cook just like a regular grilled cheese.

Both of these sandwiches were insanely good and easy to make.  Enjoy! Kristen

Cookie Dough Eggrolls

No, this isn't healthy but it is ridiculously good!  I have now made these three times and they are a perfect dessert to make quickly if you want to impress guests.  Kristen

What you'll need:  eggroll wrappers
                              pre-made cookie dough (I used Nestle Tollhouse)
                              canola oil (you will need 2 inches in your pan)

Place wrappers on surface, take a tablespoon of dough and place in the middle of the wrapper, fold wrapper following the directions on the package. Heat oil until bubbly, place one eggroll in oil and cook for about 10 seconds per side.  Place cooked eggroll on paper towel to get excess oil off and then serve with ice cream and toppings.

Brie and apple grilled cheese

Lately this little sandwich has become a staple in this house.  We are super busy and for some reason all these ingredients are always on hand.  Play around with your grilled cheese sandwiches, they are super versatile and always yummy!  Kristen

What you'll need: bread (your choice)
                             thinly sliced brie
                             thinly sliced apple or pear
                             butter for grilling

Grilled Fish Tacos w/Creamy Chipotle Sauce

I have been in search for the perfect fish taco recipe for three years now and I FINALLY found it!!!  The rub for the fish is spectacular and incredibly easy to make and the chipotle sauce adds a flavor I never realized was missing from fish tacos.  Super yummy and very easy I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!  Kristen

Rub for Fish: 1t garlic powder and paprika, 1/2t cayenne powder, 1/2t cumin and 1/2t dried oregano, sea salt to taste. This rub worked on five tilapia fillets.

Chipotle Sauce: 1/2c mayo, 1/3c plain Greek yogurt, 1/2t oregano, 1/4t each of cumin and dill, 1 canned chipotle chile in adobo sauce plus 1+t sauce, sea salt to taste.  Throw all these together in a mixer until creamy.  Sauce can be adjusted easily to be hotter.

Bacon Blue Cheese Burgers

Day two of amazing weather and the grill is back in full force!!  Made these killer burgers with tons of garlic mixed into the meat, my pesto aioli, uncured bacon and good blue cheese........YUMMY!
Enjoy!

Cooking on the grill

Sunday was an absolutely perfect day here in Spokane.  They don't happen often so you have to jump on them while you can!  Cj asked for her favorite dinner, awesome news because it can be cooked entirely on the grill and keep the kitchen nice and cool.  So, without further blogger nonsense here was our menu:

• Grilled chicken sandwiches with balsamic, pesto aioli
• Finger potatoes with olive oil and sea salt
• Grilled corn on the cob
• Grilled blue, black and strawberries over ice cream

Let's start with the chicken sandwiches: these are actually really simple.  Chicken breasts slathered in the balsamic pesto aioli and grilled to perfection, small ciabatta rolls (also slathered in balsamic pesto aioli) and grilled, top the chicken with Swiss cheese and let it get good and melty, top with uncured bacon, tomato and fresh basil......yummy!

Finger potatoes are always easy and always a hit.  Wash the potatoes and then toss them in olive oil and sea salt.  Place them in a foil pouch and let them cook, indirect heat please, for 10 minutes before you put the chicken on and then the entire time the chicken is cooking.

Corn on the cob, everyone has their own way of cooking it.  Have fun and experiment!

Dessert: after washing everything cut up the strawberries into smaller pieces and place in a homemade foil container, add as many blue and blackberries as you wish and grill away until bubbly.  Let sit for about 10 minutes to cool and then serve over vanilla ice cream.  I have made this with every possible variation of berry and each time it has been a HUGE hit!

Enjoy!

Roasted Broccoli

This house has become addicted to roasted broccoli! So incredibly simple and good that you will never want broccoli any other way!

What you need: broccoli cut up however you like it, olive oil, garlic (use or don't use, your choice), sea salt. Toss all together to coat broccoli and then place on a lined cookie sheet and put into a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes. Yummy!

Coconut Curry Shrimp

Good evening all!

Tonight was my first attempt at curry of any kind and it quickly became a "can we have this again?" dish. I served it over Jasmine sticky rice :)

Very simple recipe: oil heated, onion, garlic, shrimp, red curry paste, light coconut milk and fish sauce.

Sometimes this happens

Finally made it home tonight around 7:30. Got off work at 6 and then kid duty started. I will fully admit that this doesn't happen often but when it does I don't mind it completely. Nothing really beats a tuna sandwich with dill pickles and potato chips on top served along side a good beer.

Kristen

Sante Fe Chicken in the Crock pot

Good evening!

Monday's are a very busy day at this house.  Between work, Cj's soccer practice, Zak at climb team and scouts we have little time to actually make dinner.  We decided months ago that Monday's would be crock pot day and it rocks!  I serve this two ways: 1. over rice and 2. in tortillas.  I usually give people the option because it is simple.  We also serve it with grated cheese, sour cream and avocado.  Enjoy!

Ingredients: 3-4 chicken breasts, 2 cans diced tomatoes w/chiles, 2 cans chicken broth (we use the organic kind), 6 scallions diced up, 8 oz. frozen corn, 1 or 2 cans black beans, 2 t garlic, 2 t onion powder, 2 t cumin, 2 t cayenne pepper or to taste.

Directions: Throw it all in a crock pot and cook on low for 10 hours.  Take the chicken out and shred it.  Place chicken bake in the bean mixture and let sit for 10 minutes or so. It's ready to serve after that.

I will say that we plan on doing onions and peppers in the mixture next time, we all missed that.

Baked Apple Pie Filled Spring Rolls w/cardamom whipped cream

These are just TOO GOOD!!!  Super easy to make and so yummy!  The hint of cardamom in the whipped cream was perfect with these as well.  Oh, cold these are just as amazing.  We did mix things up a bit and add blueberries to our second batch..yum!

Quick shout out to Devin Scott and Zak Silver for basically making these and to Jen Scott, professional photographer extraordinaire and my wickedly cool friend!

Recipe: Egg roll wrappers (15), two eggs beaten for brushing onto the wrappers. Filling: 2 apples peeled and diced, 1 lemon juiced, 3 1/2 T instant tapioca pearls, 2t cinnamon, 1/2t nutmeg, 1/4t all spice.

Mix all the filling ingredients and let sit for 10 min, place 2T of filling onto egg roll wrapper, following egg roll wrapping directions and brushing with egg wash fold into cute egg rolls, place on a lined cookie sheet and bake for 20-25 min at 375.

Whipped cream: just make your basic whipped cream however add 1/2t of cardamom while mixing.  Enjoy!

Baked Jalapeno Poppers

Another recipe from SkinnyTaste.com and again, it was a hit.  If you haven't found this site please do yourself a favor and go check it out.

As with any recipe involving a hot pepper, please remember to wear gloves when cutting and taking the seeds out.  I have a horrible contact story that I don't wish upon anyone!!  These made everyone happy and were simple....two very good things.  I had two extra chefs helping and they did fantastic!  Thanks Zak and Devin!!!

Basic recipe: 12 jalapenos cut in half and seeds and membrane taken out, 1/2 a package of light cream cheese, 3 scallions chopped, garlic to taste (mix this all together well), put cream cheese mixture into each jalapeno then dunk the entire thing in an egg wash and roll in panko crumbs.  Bake and eat!

Enjoy!

Homemade Chocolate (Sugar free and Vegan)

Good morning everyone!

The sun is out, the sky has a particularly amazing hue to it and I am home alone having a mimosa and listening to what I want to on the stereo....kinda nice!!

Like the title says this is a simple recipe for some KILLER chocolate that is absolutely sugar free and vegan (if you know anyone that is).  The basic recipe is easy and then you just add what you want to it to make it your own.  We just put it one foil on a cookie sheet however molds would be perfect.  So far we have made cacao nibs and raspberries, just cacao nibs, plain, blueberries and one with a Chambord.  All were fantastic but the cacao nib and raspberries was gone in a day!

Here's the recipe: 4 T coconut oil melted, 1/4 cup Agave, 1/2 + 1T of good cocoa powder.  Mix the melted coconut oil and agave together very well then pour mixture into the cocoa.  Mix really, really well and then add your favorite things....easy!

Enjoy!

Kristen
                          

Pad Thai

Made Pad Thai for the first time and other than a noodle issue and a double batch not being enough for 5 people, it was a success. I want to play around a bit with how long I soak the noodles and adding shrimp or chicken for protein but that's about it.

Happy Friday!
Kristen

Texas Cheese Fries

Yes, I said Texas Cheese Fries!!!!  I have made them twice now and they are spectacular and so incredibly easy.  I take no credit for them because I got the recipe off of SkinnyTaste.com but did change a few things up and think I added to the overall recipe.  We used Yukon gold potatoes the first time and regular russets the second.  Both were wonderful so I don't think that really matters.  Use real garlic instead of garlic powder....why garlic powder even exists is beyond anyone in this house!!!  I also did a layering technique and did fries, cheese, bacon, green onions and jalapenos and then repeated it again before baking until the cheese was melted.  Also, did a Greek yogurt ranch dip with garlic that was perfect for dipping!

Enjoy!

Kristen

Baked Oatmeal with Bananas and Apples

Ok, another round of the baked oatmeal but this time with apples instead of blueberries and a cinnamon/nutmeg mixture instead of just cinnamon. Used more flax seed as well with the oatmeal.

Baked Oatmeal with Bananas and Blueberries

Found this recipe on skinnytaste.com and thought I would give it a shot. Zak and Ceej are so weird about oatmeal....it's super annoying!  I topped theirs with a little whipped cream......the whole dish was a hit!

Basic Caesar Salad with Garlic Shrimp

Ceej got to pick dinner tonight and she went with a fav: Caesar salad with garlic shrimp. I love this dinner because A) it's yummy, B) it's easy and C) it's yummy :)

Tomatoes, fresh grated parmesan, croutons and a very morphed dressing (my crew are specific people!) Were topped with shrimp that had been marinating in garlic and olive oil all day....delicious!

Lots of crazy dancing in the kitchen for this dinner.....Kristen

Spaghetti Pie

Decided to try a very different recipe from our "old standby," I should have trusted my gut and stuck with tried and true. I say that and only two of us tried it and one loved it and one felt it was missing things. I will try it again but throw the recipe out the window and go more creative with flavors.

Sharing

Because I am not the type of person who won't share cool food creations from the people I love I am posting two pictures of cupcakes my sister Gail made.  They look ridiculously good!!

The first is the "Irish Car Bomb," a Guinness chocolate cake filled with Jameson's Irish Whiskey chocolate ganache and frosted with Bailey's Irish Cream Buttercream.

The Second is the "Tropical Banana," topped with toasted coconut and cream cheese frosting.

 Enjoy!

Bon Bon Update

Went back to Bon Bon last night and had a classic Manhattan served just like Falke and Freda would and it was AMAZING!!!  If all Manhattan's tasted like the one last night I would drink them more often.  On another note, if you ever get the chance to order a Van Gogh's Ear....do it, it tasted yummy!

Swedish Ninja Scramble

We are a small bunch but a very active and stealthy one. We take each day and live it to it's fullest. You might be asking how we are able to do such amazing things each day.....it's this killer scramble. Make it for yourselves and see if you can join our ranks!

Eggs, Korv, potatoes and cheddar