BLT Grilled Cheese

What is better than a gourmet grilled cheese? YUM!!! This one is based on the classic BLT, with bacon, tomato, spinach (in place of lettuce), and 2 kinds of cheese.

The best part of recipes like this, though, is making them work with what you like (or have on hand). I would have loved to add some avocado to this! The key to cooking a perfect melty grilled cheese when it's this thick is simple: slow and steady wins the race! Keep the heat low! It's not a light meal, but it definitely hit the spot on this chilly snowy day!

Christmas Cookies, Take 1!

Hooray for cookies! I figured this is take one, since I'll probably make some more at some point when I'm with family for Christmas!

With my new apron on, snow falling outside, and Christmas music filling the house, it was a perfect day to bake cookies!

Here are the two recipes I made today:

First, was an Andes Mint cookie from Mrs. Clark's Kitchen. Karen is the mother of a good friend from college, and I can tell you without even trying them that I recommend everything on her blog! She has great tips for this cookie - there really isn't much to add. They are DELICIOUS! Here's how mine turned out:

The second recipe I made was a shortbread cookie. This was one of the top shortbread recipes on allrecipes.com, called Melt-in-your-mouth Shortbread, and it truly does! One tip for this site if you haven't used it before is to always look at the reviews! Some people rate the recipe very well, but make a lot of changes. Some people have tips that may have been left out of the original recipe, as well. Luckily, they are sorted by which are most helpful, so by reading the first 10-15 reviews, you should get the information you need. With the help of some of these reviews, my cookies turned out great!

If you're in town, come see us, because we have plenty of cookies to share!!

Apple Cranberry Sticky Buns

Talk about heart-warming fall food! YUM!

I got the idea for apple sticky-buns from the Pioneer Woman, who made a caramel apple version. Her version, however, is a little more time-intensive than I was up for this weekend. So, I found a bread-machine version of sticky buns, and added my apples and cranberries to the topping! The recipe I used is here. Instead of the pecans and raisins, I used 1 apple, finely chopped, and a sprinkling of dried cranberries (sorry, I don't measure things). Everything else I followed as written! Here's how they turned out:

YUMMMM!!! The sauce turned out quite a bit thinner than a typical "sticky bun" but it was really yummy that way! The dough also didn't rise as much as I would have liked, but I don't know if that's because of the dough or user error :-) Overall, really delicious, and I will definitely make these again!

New Bases for Delicious Meals!

This month I got really gutsy and decided to try a few new bases for meals that I had read about (and maybe eaten at a restaurant), but never made. These are new to us! My other favorite bases: pasta, of course; couscous; rice; and even mashed potatoes. We love making a simple onion/pepper mix, or a meat with a thick sauce, or even just opening a can of Chunky stew, and serving it over one of these bases. The possibilities are endless - use what you have and like! The slow cooker is a great way to make your topping, too! Now, without further ado, our newest delicious bases:

Polenta: Pan Fried

Polenta is basically just cooked corn meal, but you can buy it already cooked,in a tube, like this:

I did have some trouble finding polenta in a tube, but finally found it at HyVee. I'm sure any specialty or health food store would have it. To pan fry, just slice up the polenta from the tube, coat in cooking spray (Pam), and toss on a skillet on the stove. They did take longer to brown up than I expected them to, but that was good because I knew they were really heated and cooked through. We tried both plain and flavored, and both were delicious.

Our topping for pan fried polenta:
Italian sausage (removed from the casing), onion, red pepper, garlic and tomatoes

Polenta: Creamy

So, since polenta is just cooked corn meal, the other way to make it is by cooking corn meal! I used a recipe and instructions from thekitchn.com and it was great! Super easy to follow and doesn't make you stir for 40 minutes straight. I will note that I don't think I stirred quite long enough at the beginning, because I got some of the polenta stuck to the bottom of the pan, and it was very hard to clean off. So stir a little longer than you think you need to, and if you do get it stuck to the bottom of the pan, make sure to get it in water to soak when you're done cooking! I tried the cooked polenta before adding the butter and cheese at the end, and I would say it's nothing to write home about, but with the mix-ins and the topping, it was wonderful!

Our topping for creamy polenta:

Pulled pork (we made a big batch awhile back and had some frozen, but use whatever meat you have), sweet peppers (green, red, etc), onion, garlic, and fajita seasoning (cumin, chili powder, paprika)

Risotto

Last, but certainly not least - one of my new favorite foods of all time - Risotto! Risotto is a creamy rice, and while it is a little time consuming, it was not difficult, and totally worth the time! I again used a recipe and instructions from thekitchn.com, which were wonderfully easy to follow. You do need a special kind of rice for risotto - I got Arborio. I found it in the specialty food section of my local HyVee. It wasn't on the shelf - I had to get it from the dispenser things. Also, to me, the parmesan is a must for this recipe - it's the perfect finishing touch!

Instead of a topping for our risotto, we mixed in cubed acorn squash from the farmer's market during the first step with the onions. It was perfect with the parmesan and creaminess of the rice.

Now go!! Make something new tonight!! 

Yorkshire Pudding Surprise!

My husband brought up wanting to make Yorkshire Pudding a few weeks ago, and I can honestly say, I wasn't sure what to expect. I was interested to find out, though! The first adventure of making Yorkshire pudding: finding a recipe that isn't in metric, or converting a metric recipe.

Here's what I ended up using:

1 cup flour with 1 tsp salt added

Beat in 4 eggs until smooth

add 200ml milk, gradually

That's all that's in the batter. You add it to the cups after heating a small (very small!) amount of oil in each cup. Everything I saw just said "a small amount." I finally found a site that listed "a pea size amount of lard/drippings" or "1/4t. of oil." Bake for 20 minutes at 450 degrees.

While I knew they were supposed to puff up, I was so excited when I went to the oven to check on them! This would be a really fun recipe to do with kids - seeing them all puffed up in the oven is pretty cool! Here's how ours turned out:

They are quite good! An egg-y bread as a perfect side to a meat or soup dinner. Enjoy!

Artsy in the Kitchen

My goal this summer: Keep up with my blog! I have been completely ignoring it for quite some time, but we're back and ready to roll!

Last night, my husband and I were trying to decide what to have for dinner after a weekend camping and decided we wanted something kind of light. My husband suggested something with egg noodles, which eventually progressed into this gem of a recipe:

Summer Vegetable Pasta:

(Makes 3-4 Servings)

1. Boil 3 cups egg noodles (or pasta of choice) as directed, to al dente
2. Meanwhile, cook about 4-5 slices of bacon in a skillet. Remove bacon to a paper towel to drain, and add 1 zucchini, cubed.
3. After a few minutes, add diced onion, and salt and pepper to taste
4. In the last few minutes, add garlic to taste (I used 2 cloves), followed shortly by 2 diced tomatoes.
5. Stir pasta and bacon (chopped) into the vegetable mixture. 
6. Now, this dish already has tons of flavor due to the bacon, garlic, onion, etc, but I added a few squirts of Italian dressing to kick it up a notch! The result was delicious!

Veggies before the pasta and bacon are added! So Yummy!

Take this recipe and make it your own! There is no wrong way to make a dish like this - add whatever veggies you have on hand, and whatever flavors you love! I love summer cooking!