BLT and Cheese Panini

The BLT is one of my favorite sandwiches, so I couldn't wait to try making one on our new panini maker. Ideally, I would use a good french bread to make this version, but my store-bought bread didn't quite survive the week the way I had hoped it would! In place of it, I used a basic sandwich bread. It was still good, but the french bread would have been better. The only other bit of advice would be to carefully monitor how long the sandwich cooks for. You obviously want the cheese to melt, but do not cook it much past that or your lettuce will get quite soggy.

BLT and Cheese Panini

2 pieces of french bread per sandwich, cut at a diagonal
cooked bacon
sliced tomato
lettuce
mayonnaise
mustard
provolone cheese
olive oil

Mix mayonnaise and mustard to taste and spread on one side of each slice of bread. Drizzle olive oil over the entire back side of each piece. Place oil side down. Assemble sandwich by placing one piece of cheese, bacon, tomato, and lettuce (in that order) on each sandwich half. Carefully place sandwich together and put onto the center of the panini grill. Press down on the top of the grill for about 10-15 seconds, then grill only until cheese is melted. Remove from the grill and cut diagonally.

Balsamic-Glazed Pork Chops with Rosemary Garlic Potatoes

If you are ever in need of a 30 minute meal that tastes like day-long, traditional home cooking, this is certainly a great choice! I first found this recipe for Balsamic-Rosemary Vinaigrette in the newest issue of Everyday Food magazine and knew it was one that would be great on a crisp salad. As I continued to browse, I found the pork chops marinated in the vinaigrette and the perfect pairing of rosemary potatoes. I was a bit weary of the potato recipe as it is cooked in the microwave, but I was very pleasantly surprised by the finished product. The entire meal was easy to prep and cooked within 20 minutes. It is definitely one I will hold onto as a quick, weekday meal.



Balsamic-Glazed Pork Chops

4 bone-in pork rib chops (I used a simple thick cut chop)
course salt and ground pepper
1/2 cup Balsamic-Rosemary Vinaigrette (recipe to follow)

Place pork in a shallow dish and season with salt and pepper. Pour vinaigrette over pork, and turn to coat. Cover, and refrigerate at least 1 hour (or up to a day). Heat broiler, with rack set 4 inches from heat. Remove pork from marinate (letting excess drip off); place on a foil-lined, rimmed baking sheet. Broil, without turning, until opaque throughout, 8-10 minutes. (If chops are browning too quickly, turn them.) Let rest 5 minutes before serving.



**I had to turn mine to keep the browning even and too cook evenly.



Balsamic-Rosemary Vinaigrette


1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 small garlic clove
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary (or 1/4 teaspoon dried)
2 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil



Combine first 7 ingredients in a blender, blending until smooth. With machine running, add olive oil in a thin stream, blend until creamy. (To store, refrigerate up to 2 weeks.) Makes 3/4 cup.





Rosemary Garlic Potatoes

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves, sliced
2 sprigs fresh rosemary (or 1/4 teaspoon dried)
1.5 pounds red new potatoes, scrubbed and thinly sliced
coarse salt and ground pepper

Combine oil, garlic, and rosemary in a 2 quart microwave safe baking dish with a lid. Cover, and microwave on high until garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in potatoes. Cover and microwave on high until potatoes are tender, 13-15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Source: Everyday Food Magazine (March 2009)

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

After reading my blog entry about traditional banana bread, my friend Kelly mentioned that she loves to add chocolate chips to her version. This seems like such an obvious pairing and I'm so upset that I haven't played with it before now! (Thanks, Kelly!) Any time that I can play the chocolate card, I'm much more likely to get a favorable response from my little boy... and this recipe was no exception. The thing that I liked most about this recipe was that the muffin itself had much more of a cupcake texture and was very light and easy to enjoy. These are a definite 'make again' for our household.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used a bit more than this!)
1 egg
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup milk
1 cup mashed bananas

Measure flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and chocolate chips into a large mixing bowl. Mix well and make a well in the center of the bowl. Beat the egg in a small bowl until frothy. Mix in cooking oil, milk, and bananas. Pour the mixture in the well and mix only to moisten. The batter will be lumpy. Fill greased muffin tins 3/4 full. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Source: AllRecipes.com

Baked Apple Doughnuts

As we've been working on our cookie bouquets for Valentine's Day, my friend Christy and I have been spending a lot of time together planning, rolling, baking, decorating, etc. What better way is there to spend our downtime while the cookies were in the oven than to bake something else? :) Christy had mentioned that she found this great breakfast option and we decided to play together to make this for the first time. These doughnuts came together quickly and baked right in the oven (providing a slightly healthier option-- at least until we rolled them in the butter, cinnamon, and sugar). We did make one change with the directions. The recipe calls for rolling each baked doughnut in the butter before the cinnamon/sugar mixture. We decided that this would be a bit excessive, so we instead brushed each with the melted butter before rolling in the sugar. This worked just fine and is definitely the way to go in the future. These little doughnuts had a great texture and a wonderfully simple apple flavor. They even passed the picky toddler test in our home!

Baked Apple Doughnuts

1 1/2 cup flour
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup shortening
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup peeled and grated apple
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup melted butter

Stir the first four ingredients and 1/2 cup sugar together in a bowl. Cut in the shortening until crumbly. Stir in egg, milk, and apple, mixing well. Fill greased muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Mix 1/3 cup sugar and cinnamon in small bowl. Remove the doughnuts from the pan and brush with the melted butter, then roll in the sugar mixture.

Source: Adapted from A View of America - Recipes

Cookie Bouquets

I'm so excited to share pictures of our new business venture! My good friend Christy and I decided to take our love of baking to the next level by selling hand-crafted cookie bouquets, as well as other cakes, cupcakes, cookies, muffins, pastries, etc. I think Christy said it best with, "If you can dream it, we can bake it!" We took advantage of the Valentine's Day weekend (given that it is a personal favorite of both of ours) and opened up for business. We sold many bouquets, each with our signature raspberry-flavor iced sugar cookies (the icing flavor that we specially designed for Valentine's Day) and a hand-painted pot.

The bouquets were a hit and we are so excited to continue to share these delicious treats. Keep an eye out for our adorable St. Patrick's Day and Easter bouquets, both of which can be ordered for those you love! I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Pioneer Woman Chocolate Sheet Cake

If you have not already done so, you MUST check out the Pioneer Woman website! In addition to her beautiful photography and hysterical stories, she posts the most mouth-watering recipes with step-by-step, photography-filled directions. This recipe has been on my 'must make' list for quite some time, and had I known how easy it was going to be to throw together, I certainly would have made it before now. Tbe entire cake was put together from start to finish in about a half hour-- including baking time. It's a great quick fix and has a wonderfully rich chocolate flavor. Pioneer Woman says this is the 'best sheet cake ever' and as quickly as ours disappeared, I'd say she's telling the truth!

One hint that the Pioneer Woman offered and came in incredibly useful was regarding buttermilk. Buttermilk is not an ingredient that I typically keep in my refrigerator. She suggests that you fill the measuring cup a little under the 1/2 cup mark (for this particular recipe) and then fill with vinegar to hit the 1/2 cup mark. I used this substitution and it seemed to work wonderfully.

Pioneer Woman Chocolate Sheet Cake

2 cups flour

2 cups granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 and 3/4 sticks butter

8 heaping tablespoons cocoa, divided

1 cup boiling water

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 beaten eggs

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons vanilla, divided

1/2 cup pecans (I omitted)

6 tablespoons milk

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Combine the flour, granulated sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a mixing bowl. In a saucepan, melt the 2 sticks butter. Add 4 heaping tablespoons cocoa and stir together. Add 1 cup boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool. In a measuring cup, pour the buttermilk. Add the eggs, baking soda, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into sheet cake pan and bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

While the cake is baking, make icing. Chop the pecans finely (I omitted these due to nut allergies in our house.) Melt 1 3/4 sticks of butter in a saucepan. Add the final 4 heaping tablespoons of cocoa, stiring to combine. Turn off the heat. To this, add the milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla and powdered sugar. Stir together, then add pecans, continuing to stir. Pour the frosting over the warm cake.

Source: The Pioneer Woman

Sweet and Sour Chicken

As explained in an earlier post, I am a huge Chinese food fan but have yet to find great Chinese food on the west side of Indy. I typically prefer a traditional beef and broccoli dish, but my husband always looks for a good sweet and sour chicken. When I found this recipe on Amber's Delectable Delights, I knew it was one that I would have to play with for him! The flavor of this dish was wonderful and certainly reminiscent of some of our favorite restaurants back up north. Amber recommends making an extra recipe of the sauce to pour over the finished chicken and I was glad that I had followed that advice. The sauce has a great flavor and most of the sauce used to cook the chicken was absorbed into it by the time it finished cooking. It was nice to have the extra sauce to pour over the rice.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

salt and pepper, to taste

1 cup cornstarch

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup canola oil

Cut boneless chicken breasts into chunks. Season with salt and pepper. Dip chicken in cornstarch and then in egg. Fry in a little oil until brown but not cooked through. Place in a single layer in a baking dish. Mix sauce ingredients (below) together and pour over chicken.

Sauce ingredients:

3/4 cup sugar

4 tablespoons ketchup

1/2 cup vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon garlic salt

Bake for one hour at 325 degrees. Turn the chicken every 15 minutes. If you like extra sauce, make another batch of sauce and bring it to a boil on the stove top. Stir constantly and let cook over medium heat until thickened and reduced-- about 6-8 minutes.

Source: Amber's Delectable Delights