Paninis and Soup

I got a panini grill a year or so ago and I love it! It makes the best sandwiches, even if its just a grilled cheese. All you need is some good bread (french, sourdough, foccacia, etc) and sandwich toppings and you are set. Here are some we have made recently that have been a big hit!

Tomato, Avocado and Mozzarella Panini

2 slices bread (I used french bread)

Tomatoes, sliced

Avocado, sliced

Mozzarella cheese in thick slices

Assemble sandwich with a little salt and pepper and pop on the grill. So tasty.

Amazing Turkey Panini

Spinach Artichoke Mayo

Pesto

Turkey slices

Muenster slices

Tomato slices

Foccacia Bread

On one slice of bread spread Spinach Artichoke Mayo, on the other slice spread some pesto. Then build your sandwich with turkey, muenster and tomato. Throw it on the panini grill. This one has tons of flavor. The idea for it came from a sandwich at Zupas and from what I hear our rendition was better than the original!

To make the spinach artichoke mayo: put a glob of mayo, a handful of spinach and a few artichoke hearts in a food processor and blend them all together.

Its been rainy and cold for over a week here in Utah so soup has sounded really good. This was really easy to make and tastes really good!

Tomato Basil Soup

1 can tomato soup (26 oz)

1 can milk (fill up soup can)

1 can diced tomatoes (14.5 oz)

1 T olive oil

Salt, pepper and garlic to taste

Chopped up basil, grated cheese and croutons.

Put first four ingredients in pan and simmer on stove until hot. Season with salt, pepper and garlic to taste. When ready to eat dish into bowls and sprinkle with basil, cheese and croutons.

NieNie's Chocolate Cake Magnifique

Kimberly found this cake on a blog and we had to make it...enjoy the pics for now! This cake was super chocolatey and super rich but really good!

I Am Not a Perfect Cook!

I don't have any new recipes to put on here today...there was the possibility of two but that just didn't happen. On Monday night I made some Strawberry/Lemon Muffins that sounded really good. I looked in the oven when they were baking and thought they look a little flat, then looked at the recipe and realized I forgot to put in the baking powder!! When I realized this my roommate Jill piped in, "I need to take a picture, Jamie actually messed something up". So my strawberry/lemon bricks went into the trash. I tried tasting them, disgusting! Then last night Kimberly made some really good brownies that had pecans in them and were going to have homemade caramel on top. The directions weren't printed out, so we improvised, then found the directions and realized we were doing it horribly wrong. Instead of caramel we ended up with sugary white stuff that tasted ok warm but got scraped off the brownies before we ate them. This weekend I am going to attempt an amazing looking chocolate cake, keep your fingers crossed!!

Ice Cream and Sorbet

We have gotten in the habit of making homemade icecream a couple times a month and have come up with some pretty good stuff. I didn't take any pictures because I was too busy eating it so instead I will put up some pics of the people that helped make and or eat it! Poor Dave is probably getting really tired of hauling ice cream back and forth the 35 steps from his house since our freezer is too full to put it in!

Strawberry Ice Cream

4 cups strawberries sliced or pureed in blender/food processor

2 1/2 cups sugar

1 quart half and half

1 cup lemon juice

Mix all ingredients together and put in ice cream maker. It tastes amazing...strawberry with a hint of lemon, yum!

Pineapple Sorbet

1 pineapple

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

2 tsp vanilla

Cook sugar and water in pan until sugar is dissolved. Cut up pinapple and puree with sugar water and vanilla. Chill in fridge for four hours and then put in ice cream maker.

Make Strawberry Mango Sorbet by substituting 1 pound of strawberries and 3 mangoes for the pineapple.

Rice Krispie Treats

Everyone always raves about my rice krispie treats...the secret people is extra marshmallows! No one wants crunchy, dried out treats, they want gooey, chewy ones! They work really well to bribe my friend Nick...

Rice Krispie Treats

6 cups rice krispies

1/4 cup margarine

16 ounce bag of marshmallows

Melt butter and marshmallows together...just till melted, stir periodically. If you cook them too long they will go hard once they cool. Dump in the rice krispies and mix till everything is nicely coated. Put in a 9X13 pan, grease your hand and press them down lightly, dont smash them!

Mix-ins are also fun...reeses pieces, m&ms, and the newest discovery Oreos! They were incredible...I think I am going to go eat one of them right now...

Avocado Cilantro Hummus

A couple of weeks ago a bunch of friends came with me to stay in my boss's condo in St. George.

We were at Costco buying all of the food for the weekend and there was some company there selling all types of hummus. We sampled the Avocado Cilantro and it was so yummy! So I decided to recreate it.

I attempted to make homemade pita bread to go along with the humus. They looked like big fluffy pillows and sounded so easy on the blog that I found them. Mine never "puffed" so we had flat breads instead. One of these days I will try them again and put the recipe up. Even though the pitas were less than perfect the hummus was pretty darn good!

Avocado Cilantro Hummus

1 can garbanzo beans (drain and reserve the liquid)

4 T lemon juice

4 T olive oil

1 tsp salt (I like salt and added a lot more than this)

1 avocado

1 bunch of cilantro

Put all the ingredients in a food processor or blender with some of the reserve liquid. Blend, adding more liquid until it reaches the consistency you want. I probably used three-fourths of the liquid. Eat on pita bread or with pita or corn chips.

Its really tasty, low-fat and has some good protein!

Thai Chicken Pizza

I am a slacker, I know...but after sitting at work for 8 hours a day staring at a computer the last thing I want to do when I get home is get on the computer and update my blog. But I going to do better, well try to do better, I promise!

The other day I told Jill that I was craving two random things, Thai food and pizza, and she told me I could have both! I have never had this kind of pizza but it was incredible...really incredible!! You have to try it!

Thai Chicken Pizza

Pizza Dough:

1 cup warm water

1 T honey

2 tsp yeast

3 cups flour

1 tsp salt

2 T olive oil

Pizza Sauce: (double the sauce, it will make pizza even better!)

3 1/2 T peanut butter

3 T rice vinegar

2 T soy sauce

1 T minced fresh ginger

2 tsp honey

Pizza topping:

1 chicken breast cooked and sliced or shredded

1 tsp salt

4 green onions, sliced

1 cup grated mozzarella cheese (I used a lot more!)

1 carrot, peeled and grated

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1/2 cup chopped dry roasted peanuts

Directions:

1. Pour warm water into small bowl; stir in honey until dissolved. Add the yeast, stirring until dissolved. Let stand till creamy, about ten minutes

2. In large bowl combine flour and salt. Add yeast mixture and olive oil; stir well to combine. When dough has pulled together dump out onto lightly floured surface and knead in more flour till dough is no longer sticky. Put in a large greased bowl, cover and let raise until doubled, about 1 hour.

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

4. Punch down risen dough on a floured surface. Roll dough out onto large cookie sheet or pizza pan.

5. To make pizza sauce combine all ingredients and stir until smooth.

6. Spread sauce over crust and then sprinkle with all of the ingredients. Top with mozzarella cheese.

7. Bake for 20 minutes or until cheese is lightly browned.

8. Enjoy!!