My Favorite Grilled Cheese

Today we're going to talk about grilled cheese.  I don't know about you, but I grew up pretty much living on the stuff.  Sick?  Make grilled cheese.  Parents working late?  Yup, grilled cheese.

When my husband and I started dating, he couldn't boil his way out of a pasta box...but damn if the man couldn't make the best grilled cheese that I've ever had.  (Sorry Pop Shop, he only beats you by an inch, but trust me, it's a super yummy inch nonetheless.)  He uses so much butter, I simply can't justify it, so when he makes it, I do the right thing.  I ask for less butter.  He may use less, he may not, but man, it is SO good.

Kyle's Super Yummy, Super Easy Grilled Cheese
serves 1

Ingredients:
(2) slices American cheese
(1) slice Provolone cheese
(2) slices Wheat bread
Butter
Mustard (Optional)

Directions:
Toast both slices of bread to your liking.  Spread butter or margarine on both sides of the bread. (I know.  It sounds gross, and truthfully, when I make this, I don't do it, I just can't.  It's just too much butter.)  Place all of the cheese on the buttered bread.  Spread mustard onto the bread if you like it.  Put it in a medium hot pan and flip once it has toasted to your desired consistency.  After the sandwich is toasted to your liking, or is just about there, place a lid on the pan to help "goo-ify" the cheese.

Serve and eat immediately. (Kyle always serves it with my favorite tomato soup and goldfish crackers!)

In Case You Were Wondering...

I've been a very busy lady!  Here are some of the yummy things I"ve made lately.

Homemade honey wheat bread:

I have a newfound respect for people that make bread from scratch for a living.  Kneading for ten minutes!  For two loaves of bread!  My arms felt like jelly afterwards!  But you know what?  It's the best wheat bread I've ever had, and I think I'm going to make bread every week now.  Buff arms here I come!  (Oh wait, I carry around a 30-pound toddler...already have those...well, a little extra never hurt!)

Last Friday, my best friend Juice needed 24 creme brulees for his dance instructor's birthday party.  I topped them with homemade whipped cream and served them with a side of sugar-crusted mango tossed in lemon juice.  I forgot to get a photo of the mango salad...but here are some photos of the creme brulees:

I made some steamed sweet potato slices as a side for dinner the other night.  I melted some butter, brown sugar and cinnamon in a ramekin and drizzled it over the sweet potatoes.  Yum!



Last Saturday I whipped up some killer breakfast sandwiches.  I toasted my homemade honey wheat bread and filled them with simple cheesy scrambled eggs and crispy bacon.

Lastly, here's a cake I made for my Daddy.  He's officially a pilot!

The cake was 2 layers of chocolate and one layer of vanilla, filled and iced with vanilla buttercream, and topped with my favorite candy from Canada, Coffee Crisp!

I'll be sharing more of my baking and cooking adventures next week!  Have a great weekend!!

If you've got English grandparents, or have ever been to an English restaurant, there's no doubt you've had peas and cream.  I think they're one of those things that the English decided that they'd use to bribe unruly, picky children to eat peas (or in my case, a husband that has lackluster feelings towards vegetables).  They're a great side for steak, chicken, or pretty much anything roasted.  The best part?  Your friends and family will swear you're a gourmet cook when all it took is less than ten minutes and very, very little work.

This recipe is going to be a bit different than some of my other recipes in that I'm not going to give you exact amounts. 

Ingredients:

• Peas (I prefer frozen.)
• Grated Parmesan cheese (fresh if you have it on hand, but really out of the jar is fine too!)
• Heavy Cream
• Garlic Powder
• Onion Powder
• Salt and Pepper

Directions:

In a medium saucepan on medium heat, pour the amount of peas that you want to make.  Pour in the heavy cream until it is just covering the peas.  Shake in a big heap of the parmesan.  Add a few good shakes of garlic and onion powder into the saucepan, and then mix the whole thing together really well.  As the mixture begins to simmer, give it a good stir to make sure the ingredients are fully mixed.  When you can pick up a pea and pop it in between your fingers with no effort, see how it tastes, and then and add salt and pepper to your liking.  You want your peas to be coated with thick, cheesy, silky cream.

Enjoy!

A Super Easy Breakfast Bake

I don't know if I've ever made it clear just how much I love breakfast.  It's an absolute favorite in my house for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and everything in between!  After years of loathing eggs, it feels totally new and exciting to me to make the simplest of things with them...especially this deliciously easy egg, bread and cheesy gooey goodness.

Ingredients:

• (1/2) loaf of French bread (leftover Italian bread would be fine too)
• (1 1/2) cups of shredded Cheddar cheese
• (6-12) eggs (depending on your number of guests, I usually do 2 to 3 eggs per person, depending on what type's of eaters you're baking this for)
• (6-12 Tablespoons) milk (about 1Tb of milk per egg.  It's not an exact science; you really don't need to bust out the measuring spoons, just guestimate and I can assure you, the bake will turn out great.
• salt and pepper to taste.

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Slice your bread.
• Place the sliced bread in your cake pan. (I used a 13x9 pan).
• Whisk your eggs, milk, salt, and pepper in a bowl until well beaten.
• Pour the mixture into the pan over the bread.  Make sure it's spread throughout the pan.
• Place in the hot oven for 15 minutes, or until the bake looks golden and firm. 
• Sprinkle the cheese over the bake and cook for 5 more minutes.  I prefer my bread and cheese a little gooey and crunchy, so I tend to leave it in a few minutes longer.  If you don't like your bread or cheese that dark, take it out when it's just melted.
• Enjoy!

This is also great to make ahead of time.  You can mix the eggs, add them to the bread in the pan, wrap it up and refrigerate until you're ready to bake the next morning.  Just let the pan sit out for ten to fifteen minutes before you bake it, so that it doesn't need extra time in the oven.

Mandolin vs. Cara

I fought the mandolin and the mandolin won. 

Kyle got me a mandolin for Christmas since I've always wanted one and because he thought it would make my life easier.  The problems came when I decided not to read the safety instructions, throw caution to the wind and slice up some fingers, er, I mean, potatoes.  Mandolin: 1  Cara:  0

I wrapped my finger in some towel and finished my potato slicing (even though Kyle was totally freaking out telling me to bandage my hand and that dinner could wait!)  I finished slicing the potatoes and tossed them in the hot pan with spices and proceeded to bandage my blood-gushing finger.  Mandolin: 1  Cara: 1

Kyle and I had a talk about how I'm too anal about hand-washing things like pots and pans and things that are sharp, even though the directions clearly say that they are dishwasher-safe.  Hey, you can do what you want, but my last set of pots and pans lasted 11 years, and baby, they never saw a dishwasher, even though they could.

Regardless, I decided to be a good wife and give in to his whim.  I put a few pots and pans and my mandolin in the dishwasher.  (Can you see where this is going?)

A few hours later, I start emptying the dishwasher.  Laela yelped for mama, and as I went to pull out a large pot, you guessed it, the mandolin won.  And I had to re-run the dishwasher.  Mandolin: 2  Cara: 1

Moral of the story?  No, I am not going to be a hypocrite who tells you that safety comes first and not to get super excited about a new "toy".  Just don't put anything sharp in the damn dishwasher.  Sometimes your way is the right way!

I'll be back next week (when it isn't so painful to type) with a great peas and cream recipe, a special breakfast recipe, and a bunch of pictures of some awesome goodies I created over the last two weeks.

Quick and Easy Lemon Garlic Tilapia

I had a pretty rough night last night.  Laela was chanting for Daddy before bed, so it really didn't help that the snow plows woke her up three times and reminded her that, nope, Daddy still isn't home to come cuddle her when she's freaked out.  If you see Mr. Snow Plow, thank him for cleaning our roads, but ask him if it's necessary to be so loud?  I'm just sayin'.

Since I'm so zonked, I'm going to give you the easiest fish recipe you'll ever make in  your life.  Seriously.  I came up with this the other night when I realized that it was 6pm and I had nothing defrosted.  A quick stop at the fish market and I had dinner ready in ten minutes, prep and all!

You'll need:

1lb tilapia
1 lemon
4Tb olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 heaping tablespoon of garlic

Heat your pan to medium heat.  Drizzle your 4Tb of olive oil in the pan.  Add the garlic.  Slice one half a lemon into thin slices and place them in the pan.  Salt and pepper both sides of your fish.  Place your fish on top of the lemon slices.  Squeeze the other half of lemon, drizzling the juice all over the fish.  Cook about 4 minutes per side and you're done!

I made this with some yummy couscous (takes five minutes), peas (2 minutes), and steamed carrots (5 minutes).  The couscous and veggies all cooked while I waited for the tilapia.  It doesn't get much easier or faster than that!

Chasing Laela

Holy moly am I beat.  Kyle's been traveling a lot, and as much as I love Laela walking, sometimes it was easier when I could throw her in the baby carrier and get things done.  Now when I clean, I've got this cute little tornado following me, tossing things out of containers and drawers, giggling all the way.  When I bake, I have to give her dough to play with- and then dunk her in the tub promptly after.  The most hilarious thing is that she's totally convinced that she wants to jump out of the stroller and run through the mall, but the second she's two feet away, she turns around, yelps "Mommy!" and runs back to me to hold my leg/arm/pinky because as much as she wants to try new things, she wants that reassurance that I'm there.  So that's where I've been lately- chasing Laela, and being chased by Laela.

What have we been eating, might you ask?  Toddler food.  Edamame and peas as snacks.  Sliced up oranges and grapes.  Sun butter on whole wheat crackers.  Cinnamon toast, turkey and cheese sandwiches, vegetarian lasagne, tacos, roasted chicken, meatballs, or her absolute favorite, hummus and whole wheat pita.  When you're on the run all the time, you want to munch on the go!  I've had to learn to adjust my program.  We sit down for our meals (breakfast and dinner are the constants- that's family time and I won't allow it to change), but on days that we go to the park, or to somewhere super fun like the museum or the playhouse, we snack or have special packed lunches that we eat picnic style either on benches, or tables set up at the museum.  I think it's helping my little girl learn that healthy eating and snacking is important, regardless of where we are.  On top of that, I think it's helping her learn to ease into different situations.  Eating in different places may seem like something small to a grown up, but to a little person, it's a regular introduction to an entirely different atmosphere, thus making the eating experience totally new!

No matter what parenting style you may have, you don't want to get stuck in a situation where you can't go anywhere because your little one can't adjust to a change of scenery or a disruption of his/her schedule.  We have a difficult time getting Laela to sleep in strange places, so we've had to learn what works for her when we travel.  How did we learn this?  By having a terrible traveling experience and going to our friends' wedding feeling like miserable zombies!!  The point is, you can be a good parent and still do fun things.  If you want to go to the park, or meet up with girlfriends, do it.  The worst that could happen is that your kid flips out and your friends look at you like you're nuts (which hey, they're your friends, they probably think this anyway), and you drag your cute little demon home- where he or she will probably be a little angel the second you walk through the door and you'll want to cry.  If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

Donut French Toast

This morning, my little brother's holiday leave ended.  Farewells are never easy, but they're especially difficult when it's a loved one in the military leaving.  Even those with the safest jobs are putting themselves at risk, and I know that even though my brother minimizes his job, he's a part of a really important machine- his part matter as much as the next; his risk is as big as the next.

Since Navy food is notoriously terrible, I knew he'd be coming home wanting all his favorites (ginger cookies, good ol' eggs and bacon, hamburgers, hot dogs, fried chicken, etc. etc.).  I made sure we were fully stocked and ready to stuff him to the gills while he was home and send him back with plenty of goodies.  One of his favorites are donuts, so I decided to try Nigella Lawson's donut french toast recipe.  It's really simple, and my husband, his best friend Darin, and my brother swooned over it.

Ingredients

•  (2) eggs

•  (1/2) cup full fat milk

•  (4) teaspoons vanilla extract

•  (4) slices from a small white loaf or 2 slices from a large white loaf, each large slice cut in half
•  (1) ounce butter, plus a drop flavourless oil, for frying
•  (1/4) cup sugar

Directions

• Beat the eggs with the milk and vanilla in a wide shallow bowl.
• Soak the bread halves in the eggy mixture for 5 minutes a side.
• Heat the butter and oil in a frying pan/skillet, fry the egg-soaked bread until golden and scorched in parts on both sides.
• Put the sugar onto a plate and then dredge the cooked bread until coated like a sugared doughnut

Enjoy!