Grilled cheese. Need I say more?

And so my love affair has begun with all things cheesy and bready. I've long been a lover of fondue, but there is something to be said about the simplistic rustication of The Grilled Cheese Sandwich.

Lately I've been craving one, so I bought myself a crusty loaf of artisan Tuscan bread. Picked up a package of marbled Swiss & Colby cheese and prepared to soften up some butter. Assemble as normal, brush with softened butter and let the heat do it's magic. It was just as delicious as I had hoped. Gooey, crusty, crunchy, chewy, buttery and warm. The perfect lunch for a cold day!


Agreed, this is not a healthy sandwich, but it is soooo good no matter which way you make it. However, better bread, better cheese, and using real butter will give you the BEST that grilled cheese has to offer. Also, a nice clean griddle is always a plus.



Now, the magic of grilling things in bread is that the options and combination never cease to vary. I showed you a traditional grilled cheese, now let me share with you a sweet variation:


Same Tuscan artisan bread, this time smeared with Berry whipped-cream cheese, topped with a few slices of banana and a dozen or so chocolate chips. Brush with butter and grilled to warm ooey-goodness! The only change I would make to this delicious dessert edition would be to halve the chocolate chips next time. 6 or 7 strategically placed chips would have been perfect.

Give it a try! Experiment with grilled cheese: sweet and savory! The possibilities are endless!

Pretzel Turtles

These are delicious and unbelievably easy to make! You know I'm all about the easy! This is one of my favorite holiday treats. It's my "go to" snack for cookie swaps and office potlucks, etc. One set of supplies will make a ton of these, so let me walk you through the simplicity:

1 bag of Rolos
(or if you can find them on sale, rolls of Rolos... save yourself all that unwrapping time)
1 bag of square waffle style pretzels
1 bag of Pecans

Heat oven to 250. On a baking sheet, lay out pretzels and top each one with an un-foiled Rolo. Place them in the oven for no more than 3 minutes! Take them out and top each one with a pecan, smoosh down.

Let them cool and set, place them in the fridge to get them to cool faster if you like, but they are best served at room temp. The pecan can also be replaced by a cashew or walnut.
For those that don't care for nuts, a few M & M's or another pretzel makes a great topper too!

Chili By Any Other Name....

.... would still taste awesome. I love chili. Who doesn't?! There are so many different ways to make it. It's really hard to go wrong when you mix meat and beans and spices together. Yum yum. So I thought I'd share with you one of my favorite ways to make chili: Spicy Pepper Style

Like all of my recipes, ingredients and measurements are approximate and slightly vague. Sorry about that.... it's the way I cook. But a little of this, a little more of that, leave something out... usually that's not going to make or break a recipe. So feel free to mix things up!

1 package of HOT Italian sausage (I like Johnsonville)
1 can of black beans (undrained)
1 onion
1 red pepper
2 green peppers
1 package of chili seasoning (any brand will do)
1 large can of Petite Diced tomatoes (about 28 oz)
Chicken stock/broth (aprox 32ish oz)
Cheese and sour cream to top
Serves about 4-5 adults

De-case the sausage. Just poke your thumb or finger into it and peel off the casing. Throw that away and toss the sausage in a stock pot. Do that for the whole package of sausage (usually 5 links) Cook that up while chop-chopping with a spatula to get the sausage down to bite-size.

Once the sausage seems mostly cooked, dump the diced tomatoes, juice and all, into the stockpot. Cut up those peppers and the onion to bite sized chunks and dump that in too. Add chicken stock, spice packet, and can of beans (don't drain them first.)

Bring that to a boil then turn down the heat and just simmer it until the peppers are nice and soft (20 minutes or so). Dish it up and top it off with some Mexican cheese blend and light sour cream.

This is a pretty spicy chili, so that bit of sour cream on the top helps cut out the bite. Now, you can always play around with this recipe and add more or less beans, more or less peppers, a different kind of bean, the only thing I definitely wouldn't change it the Hot Italian sausage. That's really the heart of this chili.

Now, this chili does run on the thin side. If you like it thicker you can stir in a can of fat free refried beans. You can also thicken it with corn starch, if you'd like. It's great served with corn bread ::lick lips::

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Buffalo Chicken Pinwheels

Who doesn't like Buffalo Chicken, Hmm? It's delicious! The perfect pairing of *zing*, creaminess, heat, and spices. It really is a perfect flavor combination.

I like to play around with it in several forms, because it never get's old. Buffalo chicken salad, pizza, pasta, dip.... aaaand roll-ups! My newest creation. Here I will walk you though the easy and quick recipe. Added bonus? It's low fat, low cal.




You will need:

~ 1 Package flour tortillas. (I used Mission Sun-dried Tomato Basil because I liked the color, but you can use whatever)

~ Hot sauce (I used Frank's. Mmmmm)

~ Chicken, finely chopped (I used a 9 oz package of Perdue Short Cuts because I was pressed for time, but you can use any type of chicken that you would like ... canned, shredded, or even sliced chicken deli-meat.)

~ Blue Cheese (I used a package of Laughing Cow Blue Cheese spread. Each wedge has aprox. 50 calories and I used two wedges per tortilla.)

To make these, all you do is lay out the tortilla and spread the creamy blue cheese all over it, toss on some finely diced chicken (Tip, I used my pizza cutter to get a nice mince!), and then dash on as much hot sauce as you think you'd like!

Roll them up starting at one end and just roll, roll, roll. Trim the ends off and then slice to desired thickness!

They are best served chilled but they can also sit out at room temp for a while and be perfectly delicious.

This recipe is a perfect example of a recipe you can play with. I've given you the basic 3 ingredients, but you can mix it up as much as you like. Examples: used a coating of blue cheese or ranch dressing instead of the Laughing Cow, sprinkle real blue cheese crumbs inside, add some shredded lettuce to give it added bulk, use different types/flavors of tortillas, etc.

Buffalo Chicken is such a great flavor combination, as long as you stick with the basics it will be had to mess this one up and people will gobble them down!

You can't cook it if you don't know what it is.

Ahhhh, the Grocery Store. That place full of food and stuff. The place we've been to thousands of times in our lives, but never really get to know.

The Hot Pockets? Over there!
Lunch meat? Got it covered.
Ground Beef? I know right where that is.

Kale? Ummm, huh? Mango nectar?! What on earth to do with that?!
Why would anyone need to buy a WHOLE BAG of flour? Why is some butter salted and some unsalted?

Have you ever really just looked around? Taken your time and browsed the grocery store like you're window shopping in a fine department store?

My challenge to you: Go to the store... alone. No kids. Find a way to swing it, even if it's 11pm at night. Look around slowly. Browse. Find something you've never eaten before and buy it.

Google is your friend, so find a recipe... any recipe... with that ingredient and make it. It could be something as easy as tofu or as unusual as smoked turkey legs. Think outside the box a bit and stop cooking the same old, same old!!!

Next.... I'll probably post some recipes to get you started since we all know you probably won't do any of ^that^ ;P

Why I blog....

I'm not a blogger, at least, not yet. However here I am, typing away like I think I know what I'm doing.

So why am I doing this?! When more than one or two of my friends suggested I blog about the food I cook, suddenly I felt like I might have something of actual usefulness to impart! Perhaps I can share my love of all things yummy and delicious with the masses!... or at least the two or three people who will read this.

Food: Yeah, yeah. We'll get to that, but first I want to talk about my general food philosophy: Eat good. I am constantly amazed by the way a lot of people feed themselves and their families. Not to be all Judgey McJudgerson, but cooking doesn't have to be a chore! It doesn't have to be the last thing on the "How to get food in my belly" list ....
1. Take Out
2. Eat Out
3. Buy prepared meals
4. Eat frozen meals
5. Cook something

Now, I'm all for quick and easy meals here too. I'm not some organic-loving, farmer-market shopping, grass fed-beef kinda girl. You will see me shoving chicken nuggets and mac and cheese at my children, and you will see me eating canned soups and chili (Gasp! The Horror!) but for the most part I put some thought behind what I cook.

I started to get the impression that a lot of my friends WANT to cook, but we grew up in the TV Dinner generation and well, honestly, cooking doesn't exactly come naturally for a lot of people anymore. They want to be able to feed themselves and their families without too much effort (let's face it, we're used to instant gratification these days) ... but cooking is a casual thing that can just be a part of your day, as simple as taking a shower or doing laundry.

So that will be my next post: The Grocery Store.
Don't be scared. I'll hold your hand.. and eventually we will get to The Food.