Broccoli Cheese Soup

I posted this previously, but it was smushed in with other recipes in the same post. I made this the other day and remember how delicious it was so I thought I'd post it again by itself. And since winter is coming, soups are so good and warm to serve!

Broccoli Cheese Soup

2 cans chicken broth
1 small onion, chopped (I'm not a big onion fan, so I just used 1-2 tbsp. of dried onion flakes)
2/3 cup flour
1/2 cup butter
1/2 tsp pepper
4 cups milk
3 cups extra sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup swiss cheese, shredded
Broccoli florets, steamed & chopped (I used 4 broccoli crowns, steamed them until they were tender but not too soft, then chopped them into bite sized piece)

Directions: Simmer chicken broth and chopped onion for 15 minutes in a covered saucepan, until onions are soft. (Because I just used dehydrated onions, it didn't have to heat so long) Heat the milk in the microwave for 1 to 2 minutes. In a large stockpot, melt the butter. Add the flour and pepper, whisk and cook together for a couple of minutes - it will be thick but just keep stirring. Whisk in warmed milk. Continue to stir and cook until the soup starts to thicken. Next add the chicken broth and continue to stir until well blended. Add the cheeses and steamed broccoli.

*This is really yummy served in bread bowls, but is good with crackers or just plain as well.

Italian Bread Bowls

These were super yummy, especially when paired with this soup.

Italian Bread Bowls

2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast (1 pkg yeast = 2 1/4 tsp. yeast)
2 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons oil (I prefer Olive Oil but vegetable oil works as well)
7 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon cornmeal
1 egg white
1 tablespoon water

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes. (You can add a small amount of sugar to the yeast to aid in the activation process without changing the taste of the bread)
2. Add salt, oil and 4 cups flour to the yeast mixture; beat well. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well with an electric mixer at medium speed after each addition.
3. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 6 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes.
4. Punch dough down, and divide into 8 equal portions. Shape each portion into a 4 inch round loaf. Place loaves on lightly greased baking sheets sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, until doubled in bulk, about 35 minutes. (to remove the cloth if it has dried, spray it lightly with a spray bottle and it will come right off without ruining your bread loaves. You don't want to handle or tug on the loaves or they collapse.)
5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). In a small bowl, beat together egg white and 1 tablespoon water.
6. Bake for 15 minutes. Brush with remaining egg mixture, and bake 10 to 15 more minutes or until golden. Cool on wire racks.
7. To make bowls: Cut a 1/2 inch thick slice from top of each loaf; scoop out centers, leaving 3/4-inch-thick shells. Fill bread bowls with hot soup and serve immediately.

Pumpkin Bread

In the spirit of Halloween and fall I've been craving pumpkin anything. So I found a recipe and tweaked it to my liking. I meant to take a picture of it, but it disappeared before I remembered. It was good bread, very moist, and had a great flavor.

Pumpkin Bread

1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree
4 eggs
1/3 cup oil
2/3 cup applesauce (plain or cinnamon)
2/3 cup water
3 cups sugar
3 ½ - 4 ½ cups flour*
2 tsp. Baking soda
1 ½ tsp. Salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp pumpkin pie spice
2/3 cup chocolate chips – optional
1 cup chopped nuts – optional
2/3 cup raisins – optional

¼ cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 300. Mix ¼ cup sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon together. Grease 3 7x3 pans, and sprinkle with sugar mixture.
2. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger and pumpkin pie spice. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Add optional ingredients if wanted and mix. Pour into the prepared pans. (I made 2 loaves because I have larger pans and ended up with not quite enough to make a third loaf so I out the extra batter in muffin tins a baked them that way, they baked for about 25 minutes, but checked them regularly so as to not burn them. They were great muffins!)
3. Baking time will vary, but generally it should bake for an hour. Check at 50 minutes, loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Yields 3 loaves.

*Flour and baking time depends on elevation, lower elevation uses less flour as well as less baking time. I bake at the elevation of 4500 and used the full 4 ½ cups and baked for over an hour.

**For a lower calorie recipe, substitute remaining oil for all applesauce, and use 5 egg whites instead of 4 whole eggs.

Cheddar Bruschetta

Cheddar Bruschetta

24 slices French Bread (3/4 inch thick)
2 medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped
2/3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. pepper

Place bread slices on ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 5 minutes on each side or until toasted. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Spread over toasted bread. Bake 8-10 minutes longer or until bubbly. Serve warm.

Breakfast Cake

This recipe can be kind of confusing and dish-intensive, but it's yummy! My daughter requests it any time I ask what she wants for breakfast. (I don't ask her often...) ☺

2 ½ cups flour (OR-- 2 cups flour, 3/4 cup oatmeal. OR-- half whole wheat flour, half white flour)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon

Mix; remove ½ cup and add to (extra) topping. (see below).

Then, to the remaining dry ingredients, add:

½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda

Stir dry ingredients.

In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients together:

½ cup applesauce
3 Tb oil
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk (may substitute 1 Tb lemon juice(or vinegar) plus milk to make 1 cup. Let stand 5 minutes before adding.)

Mix wet and dry ingredients together. Pour into a greased 9x13 pan.

For (extra) topping:
In a separate bowl, mix together:

1/2 cup taken from dry ingredients (above)
3 Tb flour
3 Tb brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
4 Tb soft butter
1/2 cup pecans, chopped (optional)

Sprinkle topping over batter. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until it seems firm on top. It’s fine when it appears collapsed in center as long as sides have lifted slightly from baking dish.

Serve warm. Optional: serve with cool whip, cinnamon sugar, or fresh fruit.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

I got this recipe from here and here. I combined them, using the ingredients/measurements I wanted, and then re-named it "cake" instead of "brownies." Also, I added chocolate chips to the batter.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 cups grated zucchini
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional -- I don't add nuts because my kids won't eat them. ... I think next time I'll add nuts. ☺)
1/2 cup chocolate chips (also optional)


Frosting:

6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
powder
1/4 cup margarine
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch baking pan.
• In a large bowl, mix together the oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla until well blended. Combine the flour, 1/2 cup cocoa, baking soda and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. Fold in the zucchini and walnuts. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
• Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until cake springs back when gently touched. To make the frosting, melt together the 6 tablespoons of cocoa and margarine; set aside to cool. In a medium bowl, blend together the confectioners' sugar, milk and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Stir in the cocoa mixture. Spread over cooled cake before cutting into squares. (I put the frosting on while both the frosting and cake are still hot -- I like how the frosting seeps into the cake.)
  

Blackberry Oatmeal Bars

Where I live in the Northwest, there are a lot of blackberry bushes, and we can pick them to our heart's content. Tonight (and, truth be told, last night, too) we made a yummy dessert with blackberries. I got the recipe out of my Better Homes & Gardens cookbook. It's called "Fruit-Filled Oatmeal Bars" and you can select any fruit filling to put in it. I made up a blackberry filling for it. The first night it wasn't sweet enough, tonight it was too sweet. I guess we'll have to try it again. Darn.

Here's the cookie part of it:

1 cup flour
1 cup quick oats
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup butter

Combine dry ingredients. Cut in butter. Set aside 1/2 cup crumbs. Press the rest of the crumbs into an ungreased 9x9 pan. Spread with fruit of choice (blackberry recipe below). Top with reserved 1/2 cup crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes at 350.

Blackberry filling:

The first night I used about 2 cups blackberries, and crushed them with 1/2 cup brown sugar, a dash of cinnamon and 2 Tb. flour.

Tonight, we were making blackberry jam, so we just used some of the jam for the filling. I thought it was too sweet, but I liked the overall taste and consistency better. I think it's because I cooked it, and it had pectin in it to set it up better. I also pushed about half of the berries through a sieve, so it wasn't quite so seedy.

Next time, I will use this recipe:

3 cups blackberries crushed and half pushed through sieve
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 Tb flour or corn starch

Stir together. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Put in crust.

Serve with ice cream. Yum!

Pear Butter

I haven't tried this, but it sounded good, so I'm sharing...

Pear Butter
8 cups thick pear pulp
4 cups sugar
1 ½ tsp. cinnamon

Wash pears. Core and slice but do not peel. Put in a pan, add enough water to cover fruit and cook until very soft. Drain off excess water and press through a sieve. Add sugar and spice. Cook until thick, stirring frequently to prevent burning. Pour into jars and seal while hot.

Snickerdoodles

I have an on-going love affair with Snickerdoodles, ever since getting them from Subway a year ago. What is that you say? Subway doesn't have Snickerdoodle. But alas, you would be wrong and right. Yes, they don't normally have them, but during the Christmas holidays they make them (I'm not sure if it's EVERY store, but mine does, so go check yours during the holidays). They are truly the best cookies ever.

This recipe isn't as good as Subway, but they are still good. And they are soft, which is a huge plus for me. Who wants a crunchy cookie?!

Snickerdoodles
Dough:
1 cup butter
1 ½ cups sugar (soft - if your butter is cold you can microwave it in the wrapper for about 10-15 seconds to soften)
2 large eggs
2 ¾ cups flour
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt

Coating to roll cookies in:
3 tbsp. sugar
3 tsp. cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350º.
2. Mix sugar for coating and cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside.
3. Mix butter, sugar and eggs thoroughly in a large bowl.
4. Combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl.
5. Blend dry ingredients into butter mixture.
6. Chill dough, and chill an ungreased cookie sheet for about 10-15 minutes in the fridge.
7. Once chilled, roll 1-inch globs of dough into balls and then roo in sugar/cinnamon mixture - coat well. (I leave my cookie sheet in the fridge while I roll the dough so it stays cold. The finished cookie balls I just place on a plate until I have enough to place on the cookie sheet)
8. Place balls on the chilled ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes.
(Cookies may not look done, they are misleading. Just trust that they are done and take them out. Although this may vary according to altitude, so test your first batch before cooking more.)
9. Once cooked, remove from pan immediately and cool on a cooling rack.

Depending on size of cookies, this make about 2 dozen large cookies.

Prickly Pear Jelly

I recently had the dumb idea of trying to make Prickly Pear Jam. If you live in the desert you can harvest prickly pears just about anywhere so I figured I'd try it. I found a site that showed you how to make jam, the only problem is that they have thorn, and lot of them. So after trying various ways to get the thorns off (we soaked them, and tried to burn them) we still had thorns in the meat of the fruit. So we changed out strategy and decided to do jelly. It was quite a learning process, and quite an undertaking. It took us two days to finish it all (with 3 of us working on it, I can't even fathom how long it would've taken just me to do it all). The catch is that it does take a sieve, and special cloth (either cheese cloth or muslin) to strain it through.

Anyway here is the process:

Pick the fruit. The best way we found was with tongs. You can wear leather gloves to protect your hands from the thorns, but don't try to attempt to pick the fruit with just the gloves, the thorns do go through the gloves. You want to pick the dark purple ones - the juicier the better, but want to pick some of the lighter fruit, about 20% of your total should be less ripe fruit.

Wash the fruit, we ended up soaking ours to see if the thorns would come off (which they don't) but a good soak (couple hours) helps clean them. Once cleaned, hold the fruit on a cutting board with tongs and cut in half. Place cut fruit (with seeds) in a large pot/kettle and fill ¾ full with fruit. Add water until the pot is a little more than half full. Bring to a boil (we had a lid on ours for a better steam and to save from splattering) and cook for 15-20 minutes after it comes to a steady boil. You may want to turn down the heat if it is bubbling over.

Once cooked run the fruit through a heavy duty canning sieve to juice. We found that if you mashed it with a potato masher first it wasn't as hard for the person working the sieve to get them juiced good. Our juice ended up kind of thick, so don't dump the water you boiled the fruit in, out, you may need it to thin your pulp. Discard squeezed fruit and seeds.

Once you've mashed and strained all of your fruit you can use either cheese cloth or muslin cloth to further strain any remaining seeds or thorns out. We probably rushed this process, it would be best to strain over night. We ended up just straining ours twice. We used cheese cloth and used a rubber band to strap it around a large pot and then slowly dumped the juice in. Here is where we ended up using part of the water we had boiled the fruit in, our pulp was semi thick so we thinned with the juice water. Since the fruit had boiled in it, it was flavored like the fruit and didn't change our juice.

Once all of your juice has been run through the cloth of your choice, it's time to make jelly! We did 4 buckets of fruit so we cut, boiled and strained it all in one day and did the jelly on another day. If that happens to you, be sure to refrigerate the juice because it can spoil.

Prickly Pear Jelly
6 ½ cups of prickly pear juice (if necessary, add up to a ½ cup of water to get exact amount of prepared juice needed. This is another place where the boiled juice water is good as long as your strain it)
2/3 cup lemon juice
2 packages of Sure Jell
½ tsp. butter to reduce foaming - but this is optional
9 cups of sugar (Use exact amount of sugar. Reducing sugar or using sugar substitutes will cause it to not set up)

Put juice, lemon juice, Sure Jell and butter (if desired) in a large pot and bring to a hard boil. Once boiling add sugar all at once. Stir well, continuing to stir until it comes back to a boil. Once it returns to a boil (in which you can't stir down) cook for 3 minutes all the while stirring. Remove from heat, you can skim off any foam at this point. (we tried that, but didn't find it really necessary). You are now ready to fill jars.

Most people use a water bath but my friend showed me that you can still can with out one. Clean the jars, seals and lids thoroughly. Put the lids and seals in a pan on the stove and bring to a boil, then simmer them until ready to use. Once the jars are clean, fill with about 2 inches of water and place in your microwave (You can also put them in a pot and boil them) and microwave them for 10-20 minutes until the jars are hot and the water inside has boiled. We pretty much just ran my microwave during the time it took to cook the jelly and then removed them when it was time to fill them. Once you have heated them long enough, dump the water out slowly in the sink while turning the jars to coat the entire edge of the jar with the hot water. Fill with jelly using a canning funnel, wipe the edge of the jar to remove and jelly, get a seal and lid from your pan with tongs and screw on the jar tightly, but not forced. Turn upside down on a towel and allow to cool.

Once cooled you'll need to check the seal, just press the top of the jar, if it pops it's not sealed and will need to be refrigerated, if it stays down it's properly sealed and can be stored.

Store unopened jelly in a cool, dry, dark place for up to a year. Opened or unsealed jars need to be refrigerated and can be kept for up to 3 weeks.

*For some reason, your jelly may have batches that don't turn into jelly. Even using the exactly recipe, they may not. But don't fret, un-set jelly can be used as syrup!

**I meant to take pictures of our process, but was too involved that I forgot. So, sorry, no pictures. I do have the finished product, but do you really want to see a picture of a jar of jelly??

***We also found this website that gave a whole bunch of other things that can be done with the fruit. Happy Cooking!

Rice Flour and Yogurt Pancakes

Rice Flour and Yogurt Pancakes
Wheat Free Recipe

Ingredients:
2/3 cup brown rice flour
1/3 cup cornstarch
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch salt
1 large egg
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1/2 cup low-fat milk

Directions:
Sift rice flour, cornstarch, sugar, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Mix egg with oil and yogurt; stir in milk. Pour liquid ingredients over dry ingredients and mix until just blended.

Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Pour batter by tablespoonfuls into the dry pan.

Cook pancakes until golden brown on both sides, 2 minutes or less. Stack on warm plates.

Serve with butter and preserves, syrup or honey.

Recipe makes seven to eight Rice Flour and Yogurt Pancakes, four to five inches in diameter.

To make your own brown rice flour:

Rinse brown rice well. Lay paper towels on cooling racks, spread rice on paper towels until dry. Grind in wheat grinder on the finest setting.

**I stopped eating wheat due to some stomach pains I was having. I eat these pancakes every day (I make a big batch and freeze them), and I love them! I spread crunchy peanut butter on them and eat with peach jam or real maple syrup.

Creamy Chicken Burritos

Creamy Chicken Burritos

2-3 chicken breasts
Olive Oil
1 cup sour cream
2 tbs. Taco seasoning
1/2 cup shredded cheese
Flour tortillas

Cup up chicken into bite size pieces and cook in Olive oil until done. Combine sour cream, taco seasoning and half of the cheese in a bowl. Once mixed good add chicken and mix. Heat flour tortillas until warm (I use my big cast iron pan). You can do this any way you want, one way is to, once warmed, add chicken mixture to the tortilla and top with some of the remaining cheese and roll. Or you can just take the tortilla, add some chicken mix roll and put on a plate, top with cheese and microwave until the cheese on top is melted. Enjoy!

Suggestions:
You can substitute chicken for turkey.
Serve with lettuce and other veggies!
Use low fat/no fat sour cream and tortillas to cut down calories.

Strawberries & Cream Cake

I made an awesome cake for Bo's birthday, if I do say so myself. It was inspired by the cakes that my work used to buy for birthday. I believe they were made by the Safeway Bakery.

First I cooked a white cake. A vanilla cake could probably be used if wanted. Cook the cake as directed on the box. Allow the cake to cool. Turn the cake out onto a cooling rack and cut it in half like this:

Return the bottom piece to the pan and then frost the bottom piece with cool whip or whipped cream. Then layer it with fresh, sliced strawberries. **Now here is where I would make a change, the middle needed more "juice", so when I make this again, I will add some sugar/stevia/sweetener to the strawberries with a little water to make a little syrup to add to the layer.

Carefully add the top layer back on. This was the hard part, it took some "finesse", and mine didn't turn out pretty, I had to do a little repair.

Frost the top with more whipped cream. Then more strawberries if desired. (Since I'm off of chocolate, I didn't, but I thought it would be pretty/artistic/yummy to shave some chocolate on top)

A view from the side. Refrigerate leftovers.

And it was SUPER good! Mmmm... I wish I had some fresh strawberries...

St. Patricks Day Recipe Ideas

I found these on one of the blogs I read and thought I'd share in honor of St. Patricks Day. Find the original posts here, here and here (they have pictures).

Broccoli Cheese Soup

2 cans chicken broth
1 small onion, chopped (I'm not a big onion fan, so I just used about a tbsp. of dried onion flakes)
2/3 cup flour
1/2 cup butter
1/2 tsp pepper
4 cups milk
3 cups extra sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup swiss cheese, shredded
Broccoli florets, steamed & chopped (I used 4 broccoli crowns, steamed them until they were tender but not too soft, then cut them into bite sized piece)

Directions: Simmer chicken broth and chopped onion for 15 minutes in a covered saucepan, until onions are soft. (Because I just used dehydrated onions, it didn't have to heat so long) Heat the milk in the microwave for 1 to 2 minutes. In a large stockpot, melt the butter. Add the flour and pepper, whisk and cook together for a couple of minutes - it will be thick but just keep stirring. Whisk in warmed milk. Continue to stir and cook until the soup starts to thicken. Next add the chicken broth and continue to stir until well blended. Add the cheeses and steamed broccoli.

**This soup is SUPER good, and I'm not really a fan of soups. I served mine in bread bowls - so yummy! Also, I tend to be a salty person, but next time I make this I will probably add some salt to the soup before serving, maybe 1/2 to 1 tsp. salt.


Rainbow Cupcakes

Mix a white or Vanilla cake mix as directed (I used the egg white only version to save a couple calories). Divide the batter into separate bowls (I used 6 bowls for all the colors of the rainbow). I used food coloring to color the batter, it took about 10 drops each color. Then layer each of the colors into every cupcake liner. You can try to perfectly push each color to the edge of the liner, but bare in mind that you can only fill the cups 2/3 of the way full or they overflow when baked. Bake and frost.

**This was a really fun activity for my daughter, she enjoyed frosting them and decorating them and of course also eating them.

Key Lime Pie

Crust:
1 pkg. graham cracker crumbs
3 TBS sugar
1 stick melted butter
¼ tsp. sea salt

Filling:
4 egg yolks
1 can (14 oz.) Key Lime juice
1 lime, grated zest
*green food coloring if you want the pie to be actually green.

Whipped Cream:
1 cup heavy cream
½ cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Directions: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Crush graham cracker crumbs with pastry roller. Add the sugar and melted butter. Work together and then press in the bottom and sides of a pie dish. Bake for 10 min. Allow the crust to cool. While the crust is resting, use a mixer with whisk attachment to whip the egg yolks and lime zest at high speed until fluffy, 5 minutes. Gradually add the condensed milk and continue to whip until thick, 4 minutes longer. Lower the mixer speed and slowly add the lime juice until incorporated. Pour the mixture into the crust and bake for 15 minutes, or until the filling has set. Cool on a wire rack and then chill for 30 minutes, plus.

Soft Pretzels
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast
2 TBS. brown sugar
1 1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup bread flour
3 cups flour
2 cups water
2 TBS. baking soda
(Any toppings you want or dips)

Directions: Dissolve yeast in 1 1/2 cups warm water. Add sugar, salt and stir to dissolve. Add the flours and knead the dough for a few minutes. Cover the dough and let it rise for at least a half hour. After it has risen, break of pieces and roll into thin ropes. Shape into pretzels (or any other shape). Dip it into a bath of 2 cups warm water and 2 TBS. baking soda. Place on a greased cookie sheet. Cover the dough pretzels and let rise another half hour or more. Bake at 450 degrees from 7 to 10 minutes until slightly golden on top. Brush with melted butter and add toppings (salt, parmesan, cinnamon & sugar, etc.)

**These were AWESOME!! My dough took longer to rise so I just let it keep rising until it doubled in size. I also let them rise on the cookie sheet longer as well. Needless to say they are a bit time consuming. I coated mine in cinnamon and sugar and they were so SO good, Bo ate most of them as soon as they were done.

Grilled Turkey & Havarti

This is something I made up. Which usually turn out being my favorite things. Although I can't really take all the credit for this masterpiece because it was inspired by one of the signature sandwiches at Safeway. It has also made me fall in love with havarti cheese.... Mmmm....

Grilled Turkey & Havarti

2 pieces of wheat bread
a slice of havarti cheese (sliced from the deli)
honey mustard
4-6 quartered artichoke hearts (marinated or not, but I prefer the little spice that the marinated ones add)
3-5 thin slices of deli sliced turkey
Spray butter

1. Lightly spray one side of each piece of bread the lay them on your pan to grill.

2. Spread honey mustard on both pieces of bread.
3. Lay your slice of havarti cheese on one piece of bread, with turkey folded on the other.
4. Place artichoke hearts on top of turkey.

5. Turn on your stove and grill for about 2 minutes until you can see the havarti start to heat. Take a spatula and put the sandwich together and grill until nice and crispy brown. Enjoy!

This sandwich is SO good! The way the make it in the store is in the oven and they toast it, but I have found that the oven scorches the cheese and you don't want to do that. Anyway, try it!

Grilled Chicken with Penne Pasta in a Tomato Cream Sauce

I tried a recipe I found on a friends blog a while back and totally forgot to post it here because it turned out SO good. Bo couldn't stop talking about how good it was, and he doesn't even really like pasta! Anyway, it can originally be found HERE, so check it out - it has better instructions and pictures.

Grilled Chicken with Penne Pasta in a Tomato Cream Sauce

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Montreal Steak seasoning
1/2 pound penne pasta
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup chicken broth
1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 to 1 tsp salt & pepper (to taste)
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
6-8 fresh basil leaves, chiffonaded*

Rinse chicken breasts in cold water. Layer between sheets of wax paper and pound to even thickness. Season both sides with Montreal Steak seasoning. Preheat grill for medium high heat, lightly oil grate, and grill chicken breasts on medium high heat for 6-8 mins each side.

OR heat 2 tbsp butter & 2 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once the butter and olive oil is nice and hot, add chicken breasts and cook 5 mins each side.

Set chicken aside to cool.

In a large pot, boil water with 1 tbsp salt. Add 1/2 lb penne pasta noodles and boil according to package directions.

Heat 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons olive oil in the skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until garlic is tender, but do not let the garlic turn brown (about 3-5 mins).

Add the chicken broth to the pan and allow to reduce by half. Meanwhile, slice chicken.

Once the broth has reduced, stir in tomato sauce. Add the heavy cream and stir well to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Turn heat to low.

Chop the parsley and chiffonade the basil, then add to sauce and mix well. Drain pasta and add to sauce. Stir well to coat. Serve pasta on plates, top with sliced chicken or mix it in.

*If you're wondering what chiffonaded means, it means to stack the basil leaves on top of one another, roll them up and thinly slice the leaves.