Monthly Archives: July 2010

Italian Sausage Panini with Pickled Peppers and Onions

Yep, I pickled some peppers and onions today…I had no idea it was that easy or really what went into pickling something. You can do it too…it is SUPER easy! The pickled peppers and onion are what made all the difference in this sandwich too!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups white vinegar
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 tspn red pepper flakes
2 tspn. salt
1 T sugar
2 garlic cloves, smashed, but not chopped up
1/2 red bell pepper, cored, seeded and sliced
1/2 green bell pepper, cored, seeded and sliced
1/2 medium onion, sliced
4 Italian sausage links, butterflied, or split down the middle
4 T olive oil
4 ciabatta rolls
4 slices provolone cheese

Instructions:
In a large pot, combine the vinegar, water, pepper flakes, salt, sugar and garlic and bring to a boil over medium heat. Once boiling, remove from heat and add the peppers and the onion. Let them pickle for at least 30 minutes.

While those are pickling, preheat grill over medium-high heat. Cook sausages for 5 minutes on each side or until cooked through.

Slice the rolls in half and brush them with olive oil on the inside. Put the provolone on the bottom, put a piece of cooked sausage on top of the provolone and then top it off with some of the pickled onions and peppers. Put the top half of the bun on top and place in a panini press about 3-4 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the bread is crisp. If you don’t have a panini press, grill the sandwiches in a large pan like you would a grilled cheese sandwich, but put a heavy pan on top of the sandwiches to flatten them a bit. Cook for three minutes per side.

What did the family think? Everyone loved it! Hubby and I had it with the pickled veggies and it made ALL the difference. The tanginess of the veggies coupled with the spice from the Italian sausage was SO good! The boys had the same sandwich we did, but I left out the pickled bits.

We had this with corn on the cob and watermelon…a perfect summer meal.

from Food Network

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Filed under Definitely Making it Again, Everybody Ate It, Italian, Sandwich

Puff Up Pancakes

You know that look people get on their faces when they bite into something they have never tasted before and it turns out to be a little taste of heaven in their mouths? That’s the face our boys made this morning when they ate this. Wowzer…so good!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
5 eggs
1 1/4 cup flour
1 1/4 cup milk
1 tspn. vanilla

Instructions:
Melt butter in a 9×13-inch pan in oven while oven is preheating to 425 degrees.

Mix eggs, flour, milk and vanilla with wire wisk.

When butter is melted and oven is ready, add batter to 9 x 13 pan and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Serve with butter and maple syrup or maybe fresh fruit and powdered sugar.

What did the family think? Too good for words.

This is a fun recipe to make because it puffs UP. Our boys thought it was pretty cool how puffed up it got. That said, make sure you put it on a middle or lower rack in your oven.

from The Farmer’s Wife

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Filed under Breakfast, Definitely Making it Again, Six Ingredients or Less, Super Easy to Make, Vegetarian

Coucous Salad with Black Beans, Chicken and Corn

This is one of those recipes that is good the first day and even better the next….

2 T olive oil
1 cup Israeli coucous or just regular coucous
Salt and pepper to taste
4 scallions, white and green parts, thinly sliced
1 can corn
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 T lime juice
1 jalapeno, thinly sliced
1 large chicken breast, cooked and shredded
1 avocado, halved, pitted, peeled and sliced

1. Cook couscous according to package directions. You can also use orzo if you don’t have couscous.

2. In a large skillet, heat 2 teaspoons of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add scallions and corn to the skillet, stirring occasionally, for about 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

In a large bowl, combine couscous, black beans, lime juice, jalapeno, chicken, and scallion mixture and toss to combine. Divide among for bowls and top with avocado.

Did I change anything? This recipe originally called for 1/2 lb. mushrooms to be sauteed and added to the scallions. My hubby does not so mushrooms especially not 1/2 lb. of them, so I added chicken instead. I also added 1/2 of a chopped red bell pepper.

What did the family think? Everyone liked it, but me. It didn’t seem to have a lot of taste, but I figured out how to fix it. We had some leftovers that I decided to eat for lunch the next day. I added some Trader Joe’s Tuscan salad dressing to the leftovers and it was DELICIOUS!!! I think Greek dressing would taste good with this too. Maybe add a little feta…yum!

from Everyday Food

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Filed under Chicken, Everybody Ate It, Salad

Meatball Sandwich

Our oldest child made a request for this for dinner this week. Thankfully, it was a hit with everyone!

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground turkey, beef or chicken
3/4 c. Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 T parmesan, grated
1 egg, beaten
4 sub sandwich-type buns or a baguette
1 T olive oil
1/2 tspn. garlic powder
14 oz. jar spaghetti sauce
4 slices provolone

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, mix ground meat, bread crumbs, garlic, parmesan, and egg by hand. Form into about 12 meatballs and place in a baking dish. (I used a couple of glass pie dishes.)

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cooked through.

While the meatballs are cooking, cut the bread in half length-wise, brush with olive oil and season with garlic powder. (You may want to remove some of the bread from the inside to make a well for the meatballs before you oil and season the bread.) Put the bread on a baking sheet and toast for the last five minutes of the meatball’s cooking time.

Warm the spaghetti sauce in a medium sauce pan. When the meatballs are done put them in the spaghetti sauce and gently coat them with spaghetti sauce. Place the meatballs on the bread, top with provolone and place back in the oven for about 2 minutes so the cheese can melt. Yum!

Did I change anything? I used twice as much spaghetti sauce as this recipe calls for. I couldn’t get enough sauce on all of the meatballs when I just used one jar. Luckily, I happened to have another jar in the pantry.

What did the family think? They all loved it!

from allrecipes.com

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Filed under Definitely Making it Again, Everybody Ate It, Italian, Sandwich

Ice Cream

I found out about this recipe from a gal from church and this stuff is so good it will make you weep. It was our first attempt at making ice cream in our new ice cream maker, so we kept it simple and just made vanilla.

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/4 tspn. salt
2 1/2 cups whipping cream
2 cups half and half
2 1/4 tspn. vanilla extract

Instructions:
In a heavy saucepan combine all of the ingredients except the vanilla. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until it reaches 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove from the heat and cool quickly by placing the pan in a bowl filled with ice. Continue to stir the mixture. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

When ready to make the mixture into ice cream, pour it into your ice cream maker along with the vanilla and continue from there following the directions on your ice cream maker.

What did the family think? Heavens to Betsy this stuff is good!!! It is not for those watching their weight either…did you check out all the cream that goes into this? Yowsers! We had some after lunch today with just a few mini chocolate chips sprinkled in it and then tonight we went gangbusters and made ice cream sandwiches. We had some oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies that we used and then we rolled the sandwiches in mini-chocolate chips so they stuck to the ice cream. Too sweet for me, but the boys loved them.

from allrecipes.com via LeeAnn

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Filed under After School Snacks, Definitely Making it Again, Desserts, Everybody Ate It, Make Ahead of Time, Six Ingredients or Less

Curry-spiced Lamb Burgers

Spicy little numbers…

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground lamb
1/2 onion, peeled and cut into chunks
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
1 tspn. ground coriander
1 tspn. ground cumin
1/2 tspn. turmeric
Salt and pepper to taste
Hamburger buns or pita bread
Garnishes: mango, red bell pepper, mayo, lettuce

Instructions:
Preheat grill to medium-high.

Put onion in a food processor and pulse until coarsely ground. Put lamb, onion, jalapeno, coriander, cumin, turmeric, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix well. (I used my hands.) Shape into four burgers.

Put burgers on grill and cook for about 5-6 minutes on each side.

Serve hamburgers on hamburger buns or in pita bread with garnish. We had ours on hamburger buns because the pitas I bought turned out to me moldy. I HATE it when that happens. We had the burgers with sliced mango, thinly sliced red bell peppers and mayo.

What did the family think? Everybody are it which totally surprised me because these are a bit spicy with the jalapeno. I think what made these super yummy was the crispiness of the red bell peppers coupled with the sweetness of the mango which kind of balances out the spiciness of the burger.
We were going to have these with corn on the cob and some fruit, but I totally forgot about the corn on the cob. I guess we’ll save it for another dinner.

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Filed under Everybody Ate It, Sandwich, Spicy

Brown Sugar and Soy Grilled Salmon

Yes, we are eating a lot of salmon around here lately.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lb. salmon fillet
Lemon pepper to taste
Garlic powder to taste
1/3 c soy sauce
1/3 c brown sugar
1/3 c water
1/4 c vegetable oil

Instructions:
Season salmon with lemon pepper and garlic powder.

In a small bowl mix together the remaining ingredients and stir until brown sugar has dissolved. Place fish in a large Ziploc bag with the soy sauce mixture, seal, turn to coat and let marinate in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

Preheat grill to medium.

Lightly oil grill. Place salmon on the grill and discard marinade. Cook salmon for 6-8 minutes on each side.

What does the family think? This was really yummy; hubby and I both really liked it. I have recently re-discovered my indoor grill and have been using it A LOT. I liked this salmon because it was kind of sweet, but then there was the saltiness of the soy. It was a good combo and it was super easy to make.

We had this with some salad, a baguette and some berries. Yum!

from allrecipes.com

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Filed under Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Fish, Lent

Cinnamon and Cocoa Popcorn

I read an article somewhere on-line today about the top ten foods kids should be eating. Two of them were cocoa and cinnamon. It also said a good way to get your kids to eat these two things was to put it on their popcorn. So, after a post-dinner swim tonight, the boys decided to settle in and watch a movie and they requested popcorn. Perfect! I happened to have some cinnamon and cocoa on hand. I asked them which one they wanted. Our youngest said neither and the oldest said he wanted the cinnamon and cocoa combined.

Ingredients:
Popcorn
Cinnamon and/or cocoa
Large Ziploc baggie

Instructions:
Place popped popcorn in a large Ziploc baggie. Sprinkle with cinnamon and/or cocoa. Zip up the Ziploc and shake. Serve.

What did the family think? Like I said, our oldest tried the cinnamon and the cocoa together. He ate it for a while and then decided the cocoa tasted like coffee (which he doesn’t like). He said next time he wanted to try it with just cinnamon. That said, I think I put in too much cocoa. Next time I will start off with a little cinnamon and then add more if he says he wants more. I will do that with the cocoa too if I can get him to try it again. Sometimes less is more.

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Filed under After School Snacks, Easy, Six Ingredients or Less, Super Easy to Make

Grilled Wild Salmon with Cucumber-Avocado Salsa

I had never grilled salmon before and thought this turned out magnificently! The salsa salad on the side adds a nice summery flare to the dish.

For the Salmon
Ingredients:
2 lbs. side of salmon, skin on
1 T olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
2 T fresh chives, chopped
2 T fresh cilantro, chopped
2 limes
Aluminum foil

Instructions:
Preheat grill to medium high.

Place salmon on a large flat surface. Rub with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper, chives and cilantro.

Squeeze juice of one lime over the salmon just before putting it on the grill.

When grill is hot, cook flesh side down and cook, undisturbed for about six minutes. (It should release easily from the grill when you try to turn it over.)

Take salmon off grill and place skin side up on a piece of aluminum foil that is bigger than the salmon. Squeeze the juice from the second lime on the salmon.

Place salmon back on grill on the aluminum foil, close the grill lid and cook for another six minutes.

Lift aluminum foil and salmon off the of drill and let the salmon rest for five minutes. (It will continue to cook a little while it rests.)

Serve with avocado salsa.

Avocado Salsa
Ingredients:
2 1/2 c. English cucumber, sliced
2 scallions, green and white parts, minced
3 T red wine vinegar
2 T lime juice
1 T honey
1 T olive oil
3 T chopped fresh cilantro
Salt and pepper to taste
1 avocado, peeled, seeded and chopped

Combine scallion and cucumber together in a bowl. Whisk together vinegar and next four ingredients in a small bowl. Pour vinaigrette over cucumber mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Add avocado just before serving and stir gently.

I served the salmon and the salsa separately. We ate the salsa more like a salad. We also had this lovely meal with a side of black beans. Yum!

What did the family think? Hubby and I both loved this. The salmon came out PERFECT! I also loved the cool summeriness of the salad/salsa. The kids had fish sticks. I always let them have fish sticks on fish night.

from Cooking Light

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Filed under Definitely Making it Again, Fish, Lent

Banana Dogs

Banana dogs are not for the more gastronomically sophisticated people in your house…but they might be great for the ten and under crowd. I used to make these all the time when our oldest was younger and then just forgot about them. We brought them back this summer though and they are a hit all over again.

Ingredients:
Peanut butter
Jelly
Hot dog bun
Banana

Instructions:
Put peanut butter and jelly on a hot dog bun like you were making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Put a banana where the hot dog should be. Enjoy!

What does the family think? Our oldest has eaten these just about every morning of summer break for breakfast. He also likes them for lunch, but only if he didn’t already eat one for breakfast. 🙂

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Filed under After School Snacks, Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Sandwich, Six Ingredients or Less