Pesto Grilled Cheese

Well, I think we all knew that blogging was not my strong suit.  But, I have thought up one of our favorite recipes as of late that I haven't shared yet.  It was a recreation of one of my favorite lunch sandwiches at Dunn Bros in Mankato.  I'm not sure it is as good, but it's pretty close.

Pesto Grilled Cheese

Pesto:
Fresh basil leaves
Olive oil
1 clove of garlic

Directions:
Chop up your garlic
Pulse your basil leaves in a food processor or chop them up
Add your garlic and olive oil to the processor
Pulse until paste like consistency

Grilled Cheese:
Make a grilled cheese, but add pesto on the inside of both pieces of bread.  It's not hard.

Obviously, not my picture.  It's pretty delicious, and great with some soup for dinner or by itself for lunch.

Well, we'll see if I get to blogging more.  I do have a great bagel recipe I told Travis I would put up.  Otherwise, I don't get to cook much anymore.  Todd has, however, made a wonderful tortilla soup and chicken and wild rice soup the past few weeks.  Be on the look out for those!

Trips to Exotic Cheese

So no, the cheese I am about to talk about is in no way exotic.  However, this was my first experience with it, so  I will say it is exotic to me.  The exotic cheese is...Pepper Jack!  This may be the cheese that bridges food differences in my marriage.  I have used it twice this week, on both Mac and Cheese and Pizza.

First, the Mac and Cheese.  So you make this by making noodles and a cheese sauce, combining the two, and baking it with bread crumbs or more cheese on top.  And if you are my Grandma Joye, you put potato chips on top.  What a genius!  Anyway, you can see the original recipe here.  This week, I just substituted half the sharp cheddar cheese for Pepper Jack.  It gave this sauce a much needed kick.  We didn't bake it or add anything on top.  We just mixed and ate for dinner once and then again for lunch one day.  With our lack of income, repeat, fatty meals are a frequent happening.  (Though the stress of no job has made me stop eating and therefore loose about 10lbs since being here!  I guess some good does come from unemployment.)

Well, today Todd and I went grocery shopping.  I love grocery shopping here.  We walk the mile down to Andy's Fruit Ranch, load up on cheap, delicious produce, and walk it all home.  We have been spending, pretty consistently, about $30/week on food.  Not bad!  Back to the point.  We go grocery shopping and need pepperoni for pizza tonight.  Problem!  Andy's does not have many brand name anything and is missing some stuff that people would not consider staples of your menu.  Hence, no pepperoni.  Since I did not want to drive all the way down to Jewel once we got home, I decided to put the remaining Pepper Jack on the all cheese pizza.  Best decision I have made all week.  It had a little kick like pepperoni, but without all the grease and questioning of what you are eating!  So when you need a kick for your pizza, go with the Jack.

Otherwise, not much else is happening.  We are loving being in Chicago.  We are making friends and hanging out with Greg and Stef a lot.  Todd is loving class and doing well.  We have a wall covered in Greek flash cards and a white board.  Could life be any better?

I don't know who the bigger nerd is, the one studying Greek, or the one that finds the previous one quite the stud?

Cheese Sauce

So while at our farewell lunch for work at Grizzly's (pretty yummy I may add), the Food Network was on.  Not having cable, I was drawn into Rachel Ray's raspy vortex and was not let go since she was making some sort of Mac and Cheese.  Her's was with a cheese sauce, pancetta, bread crumbs, and lots of fresh grated cheese.  Keep in mind, I know all this from watching and only that since I could not hear the television.  So if that's not what it was, it was some variation of things that look like those.  Anyway, seeing this, I wanted to go home and make it myself with less of the pancetta and bread crumbs and more of the sauce, noodles, and baking it under the broiler for a few minutes.  I haven't done this yet, but I made a cheese sauce from un-fancy (in-fancy?) things in my kitchen.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup shredded cheese, such as cheddar or swiss
• Salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the flour, being sure to combine it with the butter very well, to make a roux. Let cook, stirring constantly, for about 2 minutes. Do not let it darken. Gradually add the milk, about 1/4 cup at a time, whisking or stirring vigorously to incorporate. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring often, until thickened and just starting to boil, about 10 to 15 minutes. Add the cheese and stir until melted. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper as desired.

Recipe taken from www.terriskitchen.com.  It's what I made, just explained better.  Sadly, no photo.  I poured it over my noodles and then ate it too quickly.  Sorry!

Well, it's off to make dinner.  I just woke up from a three hour power nap.  I say power nap since those are to replenish just a little bit of sleep you didn't get the night before.  I was at a junior high ADD haven since Thursday and returned today.  Yes, three hours qualifies as "power nap".  I will leave you with a photo of the chaos since there is none for the cheese sauce.

Gotta love youth ministry!

Maszjudatha

It's pronounced "ma-jUD-thah-dah" and it's delicious.  This is a dish Todd and I had at Brad Nassif's house, our senior seminar professor for Biblical Studies.  He is a smart man that loves his Lebanese heritage.  So, I assume this recipe is Lebanese or at the very least, middle eastern.  Nassif made this for us when he invited all the senior seminar students to his house toward the end of the semester.  Earlier this year, I emailed him asking for the recipe and have now gotten around to making it.

Ingredients:
1-2 yellow onions
1/2 bag of lentils
cracked wheat

Directions:
Nassif explained it best, so I'll let his words do the directing.

Take a half bag of lentils and bring to a boil and the lentils are soft to your taste.
When the lentils are about 5 minutes from being fully cooked, add one half cup (or a full cup, as you wish) of cracked wheat (burghl) to the boiling water.  Use "fine" or "medium" cracted wheat. (By the way, you may want to first rinse the wheat with cold water in a cup before adding it)
As the lentils are cooking, cut up one or two onions (however many you like) and glaze them in Virgin Olive oil in a pan.  Use just enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan.  Don't overdo the oil.  Cook the onions until they are golden brown or even slightly blackened.
When the lentils are fully cooked with the wheat, shut off the fire and add the onions.
Salt to taste.
Enjoy!

It was so tasty!  We made it with some pan cooked chicken for dinner, but it's great for lunch all by itself.  And I know what you are thinking mom, "Erin and Lentils?  What?!"  We should all know by know that I am much more willing to try new foods.  Although, this meal was especially brown, so a bit like old white food Erin.  Anyway, it was good!  You should try it sometime.  Now, I am off to make fruit dip for our small group.

Pita Pockets

I was, very admittedly, a picky eater for the better part of my life. It wasn't until I moved to Chicago that I started liking a lot of veggies and anything that wasn't mostly white. Don't get me wrong, some days I could still go for a buttered noodles and milk, but those are very rare cravings.

BTW, it is storming outside right now, so Todd and I have opened the windows, turned out all the lights, and are playing Halo, blogging, and listening to the rain. Thanks Dad for bringing me out on the porch when I was little so I would not be scared of thunderstorms.

Back to the picky eating. Todd and I decided to leave tonight's dinner option open to whatever new recipe we want to try. I had this idea a while ago to find a new recipe out of any book while at Barns and Noble. It's the cheap way to get new recipes and kill an hour reading books in the store instead of staring at a computer screen. Anyway, we left tonight open and decided I would pick something new to make. Since our Seder Meal, we have been meaning to try something a little Mediterranean, so we picked Pita Pockets! Yes, the pockets are white food, but the rest was not reminiscent of the picky eater I once was. It's homemade pita pockets, a cooked chicken breast, and (you gasp while I hang my head in shame) store bought bell pepper hummus. We have not yet learned how to make our own; all reviews say once you make your own, you will never buy it again. Also, store bought strawberries. Come on, I'm not some strawberry farmer, though that would be cool (and delicious).

Pita Bread
Ingredients:
1 cup warm water (110-115 degrees)
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons dry yeast
Instructions:
1. In a large bowl, combine first 4 ingredients. Add 1 cup of the flour, along with the yeast, and stir to mix. Add remaining flour and knead to make a soft dough. (Add additional flour if necessary during kneading.)
2. Put your dough into a bowl, lightly oil the top, and cover. Set in a warm place to rise, until almost double (about an hour). I like to turn my oven on for a minute or two, then turn it off, and let the dough rise in there, since our house is cool.
3. Punch dough down and turn onto a lightly floured surface. Using a sharp knife, cut dough into 8 equal pieces. Form each piece into a ball. On a lightly floured surface, roll each ball into a 6- or 7-inch circle.
4. As you roll the rounds, set them aside on a lightly floured countertop or table, and cover loosely with a towel. Let rise for about 25-35 minutes, until slightly puffy. (The rounds will still be thin though! :D)
5. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Place 2 rounds, side-by-side, onto a wire rack, such as is used for cooling things. Place rack in the middle of the oven. Bake for 4-5 minutes, until puffy and just slightly browned. (If bread is too browned, it will be dry and not pliable.)
6. Remove rack from oven and immediately wrap/layer pita breads in a damp towel, to soften. Continue baking the remaining breads, layering them between damp towels as soon as they're baked. Allow breads to completely cool.
7. Cut pita breads in half, or split the top edge, and fill as desired.

For the insides, we chose red pepper hummus, romain lettuce, raw white onion, provolone cheese, and chicken, cooked and shredded.
Wash the lettuce and tear it into bigger pieces.
Cut the onion.
Break the cheese into bit sized pieces.
Cook the chicken however you want. We seasoned with garlic and onion seasoning and cooked on the stove.
Shred the chicken once it is done.

To build your pita pocket:
Spread hummus on the inside.
Press lettuce into hummus.
Layer chicken, onion, cheese until your pocket is full.




We had some strawberries with dinner that Todd so wonderfully picked up on a whim and we had a great new experience with easy and mild Mediterranean food. Make the pita bread and fill them up with whatever you like. Enjoy!

Grilled Salads

First, let me apologize for not having a photo for you. I forgot to take one, and all the grilled salads online look gross.

Second, grilled salads are amazing. My mom and I used to make salads a lot with bag lettuce and cut up chicken nuggets. While delicious (and I would totally eat them again), Todd and I opted for a bit nicer salad.

Ingredients
Romaine Lettuce
Iceberg lettuce (if you want some added crunch)
1/2 cucumber
Fennel seeds
1-2 chicken breasts
Extra virgin olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Carrots
Cheese (optional)
Pepper

Directions
1. Cut up lettuce and put in a large bowl so you can toss it all together.
2. Cut up the cucumber and toss them in.
3. Using your vegetable peeler, peel slices of carrot right into the salad.
4. Toast the fennel seeds. Put them in a dry, hot pan and cook them for 3 minutes, stirring them the entire time. Spread them over a baking sheet to let them cool.
5. Cook the chicken however you please. Todd found a good balsamic marinade for ours. I would like to try our leftover rosemary chicken from tonight on it later this week.
6. Mix together even parts balsamic vinegar and EVOO (I hate you Rachel Ray!) and put some pepper in (to taste). Do this in a little jar or something with a lid and shake the snot out of it.
7. Put the fennel seeds in the bowl and toss it all with the dressing.
8. Put it on a plate (or pasta bowls) and serve the chicken on top.
9. Do what you want with the cheese. It's not for me.

It's delicious, nutritious, and fills you up for a while. Make extra chicken or some bread to keep yourself fuller for longer. And it may be a TMI, but have some gas-x on hand.

Baked Potato Soup

It was pretty yummy last night. Todd and I made this once at his house and it was great (with a different recipe) and made it once at our apartment (with yet another recipe) and it was crap. So because Todd loves me and I love potato soup, he let me make it again with this recipe. Notice the "let me" part of the last sentence. Maybe he is a bit too manipulative. Oh well, I got my soup didn't I?

MAKES 4-5 SERVINGS

8 small potatoes or 4 large baking potatoes

Bacon, 12 strips cooked and cut up or buy the precut by the salad dressing in the store

4 green onions, chopped

2/3 (11 Tablespoons) of butter. Yikes!

2/3 cup flour

6 cups of milk

1 cup cheddar cheese

salt and pepper

-Chop the green onions and cook and cut the bacon (or get your bag out). Measure out all the things you will need because you do need to continually stir this recipe. Then you don't have to bother your husband who is playing a video game to come help. Oh wait, that's ridiculous. Make him do this part so he contributes in some way.

-Cook the potatoes in the microwave and scoop out the insides into a bowl. Set aside.

-Put a large pot on medium heat and melt your butter.

-When it is melted, add all the flour and cook for a minute. It will look like a lumpy mess now.

-Gradually add the milk and cook over medium heat. You can always add more at the end, so you may not want to add all the milk now (I put in four cups now and 1/2 cup later). It all depends on much potato insides you have. Let it bubble, but not boil.

-Add potatoes, cheese, bacon, and green onion. Add salt and pepper to taste.

-Let the entire soup heat up, but not boil. Here is where you can add the remaining milk if it seems to thick.

-When it's warm, serve it up and put some more cheese, bacon, and green onions on top. You can get some french bread to go with it, but it's a thick soup and was fine by itself.

So eat up. I will let you know if it's any good reheated in our microwave we finally got! Thank you Chris (our boss) for having a $15 good microwave.