This Planning/Grading Break Brought to You By... Not Your Momma's Grilled Cheese

My brain is fried from grading and planning.  We're all around the kitchen table. I'm grading and planning.  The husband is planning.  The High Schooler is doing Geometry.  The Middle Schooler is doing Math - Fractions more specifically.  Fractions make me want to curl up in a ball and cry.  The Husband is left to help.  I want to go to my happy place during Math homework.  So, here I am!  Talking about food and cooking and cooking and food.

Grilled cheese and tomato soup....  That's the ultimate in comfort food for me.  I don't know if I wasn't a fan of chicken noodle soup when I was growing up or if my Mom didn't like it and thus didn't buy it.  Every time I was sick, Momma made me grilled cheese and tomato soup.  To this day it's what I want to eat when I'm sick.  I'm not sick today but wanted something quick and easy for lunch today because I had a ton of grading to catch up and lots of planning for the week ahead.

I may have mentioned a love of all things Trader Joe's.  If I haven't said it before.... I LOOOOOOVE TRADER JOE'S!!!!!  We always buy cheese at Trader Joe's for our Saturday Date Night.  We buy some fancy cheese, some fancy crackers, some fancy meat.  It's fancy.

We bought a Danish Havarti - so creamy and mild!

We bought an Unexpected English Cheddar - sharp with a lovely bite!

And we bought a Red Leister Cheese - creamy and sweet with a hint of heat and roasted red pepper.

We had a lovely cheese and fruit plate which we shared with the boys - not quite Date Night.  I didn't want them to eat the grapes.  They remind me of what we called "Squeezy Grapes" growing up.  Grandpa would bring them home from trips to the lake - I think.  Where he got them is a mystery to me.  All I know is that we  snarfed them down.

Today, we had some of the cheese left over.  We decided these cheeses would make some fabulous grilled cheese sandwiches.  I also threw some Pumpernickel bread into the cart yesterday.

Sandwich #1 - White bread and American Cheese (for The Fussy One)
Sandwich #2 - White bread and Red Leister
Sandwich #3 - White bread and Havarti
Sandwich #4 - Pumpernickel and Red Leister
Sandwich #5 - Pumpernickel and Red Leister and Roasted Red Peppers
Sandwich #6 - Pumpernickel and Havarti
Sandwich #7 - Pumpernickel and Havarti and Red Leister
Sandwich #8 - Pumpernickel and Unexpected English Cheddar

Make these just like grilled cheese.  Butter a slice of bread.  Put the butter side down in a skillet or griddle.  Top with cheese.  Top with a second slice of buttered bread, butter up.  Cook until lightly browned.  Flip.  Cook until lightly browned and cheese is melted.  Remove from heat.  Cool slightly.  Cut.

We cut each sandwich into 4 pieces so we could all try each one.

Our faves?

Mine:  Pumpernickel and Unexpected English Cheddar followed by Pumpernickel and Red Leister and Roasted Red Pepper
The Husband:  Pumpernickel and Havarti
The High Schooler:  Pumpernickel and Red Leister followed closely by Pumpernickel and Havarti and Red Leister
The Middle Schooler:  Pumpernickel and Havarti

Back to School - There's still time for a breakfast sandwich or two!!!

We've been back to school for 2 weeks now.  I know a lot of people are headed back this week or the following week.  Mornings are hectic!!!  We get up extra early to go to the gym most mornings.  I really, really am NOT a morning person.  The gym is alarmingly bright and loud at 4:30 a.m. Alarmingly.  But...  I feel better for it.  I'm not very fast or very fit - YET...

.... and everybody who is still asleep.  I daydream about sleeping while I'm on the elliptical trainer.  The first 10 minutes are the worst.  [I've thought about NOT going but all My Lovelies keep telling me how proud they are or that they're inspired by me or my fave... "You're looking good, girl!" I LOOOOOOOOVE MY LOVELIES!!!!!]

When we get home from the gym, I am starving!!!!  (Starved???  I don't know which is correct...). And sweaty.  And energized.  But mostly HUNGRY!!!!!

I've made at least 4 different sandwiches since school started but only remembered to take pics of two...  ACK!!!!

Smoked Sausage and Egg Muffin Sandwich
1 package Smoked Sausage (I used Chicken Hardwood - it's our favorite)
4 eggs
4 slices cheddar cheese (I use the extra thin sliced cheese from Sargento - only 45 calories a slice)
4 English Muffins
salt and pepper to taste
spray butter ( I use I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray - you can use real butter or margarine if you prefer.)

Cut the sausage into 3 inch pieces.  Cut those in half (length-wise) to lay flat on the muffin.  Cook on a griddle until browned (the sausage is already cooked - you only need to heat it up)

Crack 4 eggs into a preheated skillet.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Flip the eggs when the bottom looks done.  Be careful not to break the yolk.

Toast the English Muffins.

When the eggs are done, put on the English muffin.  Top with a slice of cheese and a piece of sausage. Enjoy!  This took less than 10 minutes to make.  Even on mornings when we don't go to the gym, I have 10 minutes to make a healthy breakfast.  It would take that long at the drive thru.

Some mornings, I don't want meat or egg yolks so I make this instead...

Egg White and Cheese Muffin Sandwich
6 eggs - separate the whites and yolks.  Save the yolks for later if you want
1 teaspoon water
4 English Muffins
4 slices cheddar cheese (I used the Sargento thin sliced cheese - I don't like American Cheese)
spray butter (use butter or margarine if you prefer)
1 teaspoon dill (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Separate the egg whites and the yolks.  Save the yolks for later if you'd like.  You can also use cartoned egg whites.  I always forget to buy them and just use whole eggs.  Whip with a fork.  Add water.  Continue to whip.  Add 1 teaspoon dill.  Add the eggs to a pre-heated pan.  Scrape the sides and let the uncooked portion fill the "hole" left by the scrape.  Continue until you can flip the egg.  Cook until done.  Cut the egg into 4 pieces.

Toast the English Muffin.  Spray with butter.  Top with cheese and egg.  YUMMY!!!!  My eggs are never pretty but they sure do taste good!

I also made Bacon and Cheese Bagel Sandwiches (we use bagel thins!) but didn't take a picture.  Also lacking a picture is the Roasted Red Pepper and Vegetable Cream Cheese (Laughing Cow) Bagel (thin) sandwich.  I'll try to remember to take pictures next time I make those!

I love sending my family off to school with a belly full of warm food.  We save money and don't eat as many empty calories.  I feel like the Tick...  SPOOOOOOOOOON!!!!!  (only in this case it's handheld food but it's The TICK!!!!!)

What's for Lunch?

Life is hectic:  work, gym, kids...  We only have 30 minutes for lunch every day.  I don't let the kids eat the food in the cafeteria after trying one meal.  The snack bar has pizza, burritos, Chinese... too fattening and unhealthy!!!  I ate myself sick of Lean Cuisine, Smart Ones, Healthy Choice and canned soups.  Our school is too far from anything to go get lunch.  Leftovers are the way to go for tomorrow!!!  

I cooked some chicken tonight - so easy.  I took 2 pounds of chicken and marinated in in Speidi Sauce that my Momma brought me from NY last time she was here.  

We ran out of propane for the grill last weekend and I haven't had time to get a refill.  I threw the chicken in the oven and watched Monday's episode of Under the Dome.  

I had a bag of frozen grilled potatoes  and a bag of frozen corn.  Dinner is served.  I made a ton of chicken so there is enough for leftovers.  Lunch for tomorrow!!!!

I'd like to add more quick breakfast and lunch ideas on here that are much more exciting than this.  This was quick, easy, filling, and tasty.  No, it wasn't fancy or even a real recipe but I'm going to enjoy my leftovers tomorrow!!! 

From the bounty of the garden to the heat of my oven Zucchini Squash Blueberry Muffins

Our friends have a lovely garden.  They have a bounty of zucchini and yellow squash.  I was super excited when they gave us some!

The Menfolk aren't huge fans but I sure am!!!  It reminded me of harvest time when I was growing up.  My grandparents had a huge garden in the back yard.  Oh how I hated going out in the garden to weed or to pick veggies.  I was always more than happy to eat the veggies though.   There were bushel baskets lined up in the kitchen full of corn, peaches, tomatoes, zucchini, green beans, bell peppers, carrots, and cucumbers.  I'm sure there were more that I can't remember - I'll have to ask my Mom.

Canning week was the WORST!  It was ALWAYS the hottest week of the summer and with the stove going it was even hotter.  We didn't have air conditioning either.  All the women sat around the table and chatted while they worked.  I remember that part of it fondly.  Nonnie (my great-grandma) made these incredible sweet pickles that we called Christmas Pickles.  She made Bread & Butter Pickles too.  I remember making chili sauce as well.  We shucked and froze corn.  We sliced carrots.  We chopped green beans.  We made crushed tomatoes.  It was a chore but we appreciated all that hard work when we had delicious sweet corn that tasted like fresh in the cold winter months!  Growing up, we ate the vegetables that the women canned or froze.  I never saw veggies in aluminum cans.  The only frozen veggies we ever got from the store were peas and spinach.

We ate a lot of fried zucchini but I have no idea what we did with all the zucchini that grew in the garden.  We ate a lot of zucchini bread so I imagine we shredded it up and froze it.

When I opened the fridge after a cleaning spree, I saw the zucchini as well as a sad, lonely lemon and a crate of blueberries.  I dragged The Husband to Costco JUST for blueberries last weekend.  We've been eating them everyday and we STILL had a ton left.

I sent this picture to My Lovelies with the caption, "What's a gal to do with all this???" [The yellow squash didn't make it into the pic because I hadn't planned to use it initially.  Same with the apple.]

One of My Lovelies responded, "Muffins, BABY!!!"

Zucchini Squash Apple Blueberry Muffins were born!!!  Soooo good!  Just enough tart from the lemon to be bright and enough spice to hint at Fall.


You'll need:
1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
1 apple ** you may need more of the 1st 3 ingredients to make 3 cups of shredded/chopped amazingness
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1 lemon
1 snack size (1/2 cup) container of lite cinnamon applesauce [or whatever kind you like]

3 cups all purpose flour (mine is actually half all purpose and half whole wheat - can't get The Menfolk to do all whole wheat  no matter how hard I try) [Use the flour you and yours prefer]
1 cup packed brown sugar [I used the Splenda Brown Sugar Blend to save calories]
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon apple pie spice (optional - I would easily substitute pumpkin pie spice as well)

3 whole eggs
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 cups fresh (or frozen) blueberries


I may have mentioned in the past how much I ADORE my food processor. It's my favorite kitchen appliance after the stove...

Chop 1 zucchini, 1 yellow squash, and 1 apple in the food processor.  (You need 3 cups of veggie/fruit mixture for the muffins).  Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, and apple sauce.  Mix well.

In a separate bowl, blend all of the dry ingredients.  Once blended, mix in the zucchini/squash/apple mixture.  Add the vanilla.  Blend well.  Add the eggs.  Mix until batter is well blended.

Pour the batter into muffin tins.  I like the line the tins with cupcake wrappers (liners?) to avoid a mess.  Pour about a 1/2 cup into each.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes.

Let cool.  Or try to...

Pesto Pasta... and once more for good measure!

Have you ever eaten at Nothing but Noodles?  There were 2 locations here in Albuquerque but they've gone out of business.  I really liked the pesto dish.  Lots of yummy mushrooms and spinach in the most divine pesto creaminess.  It still makes me a little sad when we drive by where it was.  Sad face.  Such a sad, sad face.  There was also a thai curry soup that is good enough to make you smack your spouse.  [I know, most people say "Slap your Grandma" but my Gram is to sweet to slap.]

Anyway.  Pesto.  Right.  I love it.  Well, not always.  I didn't love it at all - I didn't even like it a little bit until The Husband ordered it at NBN and I tried a bite.  Swoon.  I've tried it other places but it's too oily and heavy.  Blech.  No thank you.  

One of the many reasons I enjoy cooking at home is the cost benefit.  It's so much cheeper to eat at home.  I love that I can control what my family eats.  The older I get, the more freaked out I am by restaurant food.  What goes in there?  Are the chefs (cooks???) dripping sweat into my food?  Did the salad guy wash his hands?  Is someone wearing a bandaid without a glove?  Thank you Hell's Kitchen and some of the creepy contestants that skeeved me out...

When we went to Trader Joe's last month, I bought some fresh basil and a bag of walnuts. 

Pesto is so quick and easy to make...  SOOOO quick and easy!!!!  I made a batch of pesto and was able to get two meals out of it.  It freezes fabulously!!!  

Pesto Sauce

2 cups fresh basil leaves

1/2 cup walnuts

1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese - get the good stuff and grate it yourself - it makes a difference

Salt and Pepper to taste (you shouldn't need much salt because the cheese has a nice salty bite)

Olive Oil - enough to make it all smooth

Add everything to the food processor and run until well chopped.  Add enough olive oil to make it smooth.  Sometimes if I want to make it creamier, I add 1/4 cup of the pasta water.  The starch from the pasta does its magic and you won't have to add cream or butter or extra calories.  The walnuts, cheese, and olive oil don't necessarily make this a low cal dish.  I'm sure making this at home versus ordering it in a restaurant cuts the calories.  [I'm not so arrogant to think that my pesto beats out a great Italian place but this is my favorite pesto ever!]  

Put half in a container (or plastic baggie) to freeze.  

Cook pasta according to package directions.  I used rigatoni but use what you have on hand.  

Drain pasta (saving some water if you want to creamify (yeah, creamify!) the sauce.

Mix the remaining pesto into the noodles.  Sprinkle with parmesan and chopped parsley.  Dig in!!!  

Sooo good!!!!

I took chicken out of the freezer yesterday but the boys coerced me into Panda Express yesterday.  I put my foot down today and told them I was cooking dinner.  It's such a nice transition from hectic work week to weekend.  I had no idea what to do with the chicken. I toyed with the idea of Chicken Parmesan but didn't have any marinara in the freezer.  I have plans for lone can of crushed tomatoes in the pantry so I scrapped that idea.  I remembered the leftover pesto in the freezer.  OH HAPPY DANCE!!!!

I marinated 3 chicken breasts (each cut in half) in 2 tablespoons of the pesto sauce and 2 minced garlic cloves for about 20 minutes.

Chicken Coating

1/2 cup italian bread crumbs

1/4 cup shredded parmesan

2 teaspoons italian seasoning

2 teaspoons garlic powder

dash cayenne

Mix all of the ingredients in a plastic baggie.  Add the chicken.  Shake Shake Shake.  

Place the chicken on a line cookie sheet.  Put in a 375 degree oven until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees (about 20 minutes).

Meanwhile, cook (and drain) some pasta and toss with the remaining pesto sauce.  Top with the chicken when done.  Get out of the way because you may get trampled if you don't!  It's THAT good!!!!  

Happy Friday!!! Time to unplug for  a little bit!!!  

That Gator (Noodle Bowl) has a BITE!

The past week has been a blur of activity.  We're back at work.  The Husband and I have been getting up at 4 a.m. to go to the gym - It's nice to know it's done but I've been draaaaaaaagging by the end of the day.   I've been cooking quick and easy.

I took out chicken on Tuesday thinking I'd come home from the first day of school and cook something fabulous and worthy of the epicness I was sure the day would be.

Who was I kidding???? I made Mac n Cheese.  My Mac n Cheese IS epic but it is also fast and easy!  I poached the chicken for something later in the week.  When I came home yesterday, I was equally exhausted and needed something fast and easy.  I saw a recipe for Dragon Noodles recently and it looked amazing.  I immediately wrote my own recipe for it and decided the chicken would be perfect with it!

I call these Gator Noodles because we came across a hot sauce that we love called Gator Hammock.  Oh. Em. Gee.  I'm a devout I-love-Buffalo-sauce kinda gal but I may like this sauce better.  It's got some heat but the flavor is outta this world!!!

2 packages wide noodles (or any type of noodle you prefer)
2 poached chicken breasts <=== you could skip this and use another protein or even tofu - OH YUM!
1 small head broccoli
1 stalk celery
1/4 cup matchstick carrots (or chopped carrots)
2 teaspoons butter
2 teaspoons canola oil
2 teaspoons Gator Hammock Sauce (or whichever hot sauce you like)

Sauce - Make 2 batches of the sauce - One for the recipe and the second to drizzle over the noodles as you eat
2 tablespoons tamari (or soy sauce)
2 tablespoons brown sugar (I use Splenda brown sugar blend)
2 tablespoons hot sauce (sriracha or garlic chile sauce would be awesome here as well)

Cook the noodles according to package directions.

While the noodles are cooking, melt the butter in a pan.  Add the oil.  Add the hot sauce.  It smells so crazy good!  Shred the chicken and add it to the pan.  Stir in the veggies and cook until tender-crisp.

Mix the sauce ingredients together.  You're going to want to make extra.  We fought over the sauce.  Elbows flying kinda fighting.  It's that good.  It really is. I wouldn't lie about food.

Drain the noodles.  Toss 'em back in the pot.  Add the the chicken and veggies.  Pour the sauce over the top.  Mix well.  Put in a bowl and top with chopped cilantro and green onions.  Chopped peanuts would be so good on this but I'm allergic to them.  Insert sad face here.  I love this dish!  The noodles are wide enough to tame the heat of the sauce.  I really didn't think it was that hot but I loooooooooove spicy food.  If you're not a fan of heat, cut the hot sauce in half or more to suit your own taste.

You can see the chaos that was my kitchen in the background.  I ignored it and sat down to eat - I'll make more sauce next time so I won't have to get up to make more.  I was really shocked that there were any leftovers.  The Husband and I shared them today at lunch.  I wanted to lick my plate but there were kids and other teachers right outside the window to my classroom.  I didn't want to scare them.  It's only the first week after all. Wait until late October.

Sunday, Sunday... Slow Roasted Beef Sandwiches

This has been yet another amazing weekend.  Yesterday, we did our long work out and came home for a quiet day.  We all know that a happy day for me includes cooking.  Oh how it makes me happy!!!  If I'm not cooking on the weekend, I'm spending time on Food Gawker and Pinterest searching for new ideas.  I'm a total food nerd.  A few weeks ago I was stumped when writing my meal plan for the week.      I asked my FaceBook friends for ideas.  Several suggested pull pork sandwiches.  I'm always game for a good pulled pork.  The husband was all for it BUUUUUUT only if we went to Firehouse Subs to buy a bottle of their signature hot sauce.  It's sweet and hot and perfectly lovely.  So, I added pulled pork to the list.  I have a tattered notebook that I write all of my recipe ideas and meal plans in.  It's a mess....

I go to the grocery store with this list and the grocery list I create.  We stood in front of the pork and there wasn't a single piece that looked good for pulled pork.  We were pretty full from lunch and I truly believe that may be just as bad as going grocery shopping when hungry.  Nothing looks or sounds good.  It's a real dilemma.  The butcher came out with some serious hunks of beef.  Even though I wasn't hungry, I knew one of those babies needed to go into our cart.  Pulled pork morphed into slow roasted beef.  I write recipes driving, running, showering...  Why not shopping????  

Look at this hunk of beef....  How gorgeous is that????  

I want a smoker but haven't found one that grabs me yet.  I thought "What if I buy the wood chips and put them in the oven with the hunk o' meat???"  So... that's what I did....  These are Alder wood chips.  I liked the way the word Alder felt in my mouth so I bought them.  I did some research and found out these chips are best for pork, poultry, and fish.  {I bought these before the hunk o'meat...}

I poured about 1/3 of the bag into a small baking pan and filled it with water to the top.

I rubbed the beef with a little olive oil and some seasoning - I love Canadian Steak Seasoning.  I bought this container at Costco.  It's a fave here.

I rubbed both sides of the roast and put it in an oven safe pot.  I covered it with foil and put it in the sauna (errr, oven!) with the wood chips.  Low and slow.... 300 degrees for 3 hours....

It smelled so good in our house!!!  While the beef was cooking, I made my cole slaw.  It's sweet and spicy and creamy.  SOOOOO good.

1 bag shredded cabbage (cole slaw mix)
1/2 cup mayo
1/4 cup milk
1 - 2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Mix the mayo, milk, sugar, and cayenne in a bowl.  Pour over the cabbage.  Mix it together.  It may seem a little dry at first but after it sits, it will come together.

I took the beef out of the oven to let it rest.  Oh my!!!  It smelled sooooooooooo soooooooo sooooooo good!!!!

My oh my!!!!

Slice it up.

We bought some yummy rolls just for this meal.  Fresh bread makes a great sandwich!!!!

Place the meat on the roll.  Top with the Datil Hot Sauce.  Add Cole Slaw.  Cut in half.  Dig in!!!!

I love the blend of savory beef, the sweet spice of the Datil Sauce, and the creaminess of the coleslaw.

In a side note, I don't know that the wood chips imparted any smokiness into the beef but it was quite tasty!!!

We had another jam packed day today so now I'm ready to sit on the sofa and veg.  I already watched True Blood - this is the season that Sookie gets in touch with her anger.  OOOPH!   I need to go to Foodnetwork.com/star to vote for my favorite pilot for The Next Food Network Star - GOOOOO DAMARIS!!!! {GIRL POWER!!!!!}  :)  There's a new show airing tonight... The Shed...  It looks like Duck Dynasty meets cooking show.  It looks like a TV train wreck...  I can't wait!!!!  I'll tell y'all about our Sensational Sunday later!!!