Gourmet Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and Squash Soup

Does the thought of grilled cheese sandwiches get you salivating? I think they are the best and have been dying to make some fancy versions with up-scale ingredients.

When Malcolm and Christie came over for lunch this past weekend I just knew they would enjoy making gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches as much as I would. And they did.  There were many yummy noises as we tried each of the four grilled cheese sandwiches we made. Everyone voted on which was their favourite and the funny thing was we each selected a different sandwich as the best. So they're all winners!

We used two types of bread - multigrain walnut bread and challa bread.  And four kinds of cheese each paired with some delicious ingredients.

I made the caramelized onions the night before as they take a ridiculously long time to cook. Have you ever made them? They are really simple, but cooking them a long time at a low temp is the key.  I chopped four onions added two tablespoons butter and cooked on low for 50 minutes until they were mouth-wateringly caramelized.

I also roasted some red peppers to use and then we set to work making our gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches. We buttered the outside of each slice of bread, added the ingredients, and broiled them in the oven.

We also had squash soup with them because grilled cheese and soup go together like a hug and a squeeze, like salt and pepper, like bread and butter ... well, you get the idea. 

I had some frozen squash on hand so used that to make the soup. I modified a recipe from Skinny Taste which tasted great. Here's my version of it:

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

2 teaspoons curry powder

4 cups cooked squash

3 cups chicken bouillon

1 400 ml can light coconut milk

pepper to taste

Method:

1. Cook the onion, celery, and garlic in the olive oil until softened (about 10 minutes)

2. Add the spices and cook for a minute longer

3. Then add the bouillon and squash and bring to a boil.

4. Cook for about 15 minutes and then add the coconut milk.

5. Use an immersion blender and blend until smooth. 

6. Bring up to heat and serve.

When I looked at my photos that night after we had eaten our grilled cheese sandwhiches I realized about half way though a greasy finger (mine no doubt) had touched my camera lens and all the photos looked like the one below with the greasy smear on the top half of the photo. Thank heavens for Picmonkey so with careful cropping I was able to get some photos for this post.

Have you ever made gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches?  I thought they were so delicious that I had to have them again the next day for lunch. I would seriously eat them every day if I could.

Peanut Soup

My brother sent me a recipe for African Peanut Soup about two weeks ago and I've already made it twice and am thinking about making it again.  It really is that good!

  

It is adapted from this recipe.
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 onion, diced 1 red pepper, diced 2 cloves garlic, minced 1/2 can (28 ozs) crushed tomatoes 4 cups vegetable broth 1/8 teaspoon pepper 1 teaspoon chili powder 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes 1/4 cup uncooked rice 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and diced 1/2 cup peanut butter
Method: 1. Heat oil in pan and cook onion and red peppers until softened.  Add the garlic for another minute of cooking. 2.  Stir in the tomatoes, vegetable broth, spices, rice, and sweet potato and cook for 30 minutes or until sweet potato is cooked through.  Mash with a potato masher, if desired. 3.  Add the peanut butter and stir until well blended.  Adjust seasoning and serve.

This soup has it all - vegetables, protein, creaminess, and a nice hit of spices (you can add more if you aren't a wimp like I am).  We had the soup with fresh bread which is great for wiping every last drop from your bowl.

Linked to Weekend Bloggy Reading at Serenity Now,
Project Inspired Link Party at Dukes and Duchesses

Fancy Pants Egg Tart

My husband often says that the caliber of cooking has gone up around our house in the past few years. He would be right and it is largely thanks to the cooking-our-way-around-the-world project and the influence of blogs and magazines.  

I was reading my April 2013 Canadian House and Home magazine and saw this scrumptious looking recipe for a Mushroom, Leek, and Egg Tart. I loved how pretty it looked in the magazine and the recipe seemed doable so I decided to get the ingredients and give it a try. There always seems to be something that I switch up in a recipe and this one was no different.  I couldn't find any puff pastry at the grocery store so I used phyllo dough instead and thankfully it worked - because I really wasn't sure how similar they were.

This is the recipe for you if you want to impress the pants off your guests (and I guess that would depend on who your guest is, whether that is what you want to do).  It tastes so good and doesn't involve any tricky cooking, but makes you feel like you have just opened a bistro. 

MUSHROOM,LEEK, AND EGG TART
Ingredients:
olive oil for brushing and drizzling
salt and pepper to taste
2 portobello mushrooms (about 1/2 lb total)
1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme flakes
454 gm phyllo dough sheets
1 tablespoon butter
2 leeks (white and light green parts only), sliced
1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten
6 large eggs (the original recipe called for only 4 eggs, but I wanted to serve 3)
coarse sea salt

Method:
1.  Preheat the oven to 400F
2.  Brush the mushroom with oil.  Place on a parchment lined baking tray (I had to resort to foil), stem side up.  Drizzle with oil, season with salt and pepper, and scatter garlic and thyme over top. Bake until tender (20-25 minutes). Remove from oven, discard garlic and thyme, and thickly slice.
3. Meanwhile, heat butter in a pan and add leeks.  Add a splash of water and cover the leeks.  Cook for 4 to 5 minutes, discard any liquid in pan, and then cool.
4. Cut phyllo dough to just slightly larger than the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.  Place in the bottom of the pan bending the edges of the phyllo dough up slightly around the sides to form a lip.  Spread leeks over top, leaving 6 wells for eggs.  Arrange the mushrooms on top of the leeks. Brush edge of phyllo dough with egg yolk.  
5.  Bake 15 minutes.  Remove from oven. Crack 1 egg into each well (I had the eggs already cracked and waiting in 6 little dishes so the phyllo dough wouldn't cool down). Bake until egg whites are set , but yolks are runny (about 10 minutes).
6.  Sprinkle eggs with coarse sea salt.  Serve immediately.

Definitely a good recipe to file away for that moment when your heart is set on both cooking a yummy brunch and wanting to look like a top notch chef.

Israeli Food

Last week I gave you the low-down on our round-the-world cooking project (which you can read about here) and it's about time I shared one of my favourite countries so far - Israel.  I loved the seasoning on the meat and the crisp bright salad and best of all was the fresh bread my son baked.  Here's what we had:

SEARED LAMB WITH ISRAELI COUSCOUS We adapted a recipe from here and added some spices from other Google searches.  We hoped it was authentic, but even if it wasn't it sure tasted fantastic.    We also added a chicken breast because certain husbands don't like to eat cute little lambs.

Ingredients for the Seared Lamb (and Chicken): 2 tsp tumeric 1 tsp cinnamon 2 tsp paprika 1 onion  1 clove garlic 1 skinless boneless chicken breast, cut into chunks 1 lamb chop, bone taken out and cut into chunks 2 tablespoons of olive oil salt and pepper to taste water as needed
Method: 1.  Mix the tumeric, cinnamon, paprika together and coat the meat. 2.  Heat the oil in a pan and cook the onion and garlic for 2-3 minutes.  Add the meat and cook until the meat is no longer pink in the centre.  Add water as needed so there is a little sauce in the pan.

ISRAELI COUSCOUS
Ingredients: 1 1/4 cups couscous 2 1/2 cups water 2 tsp bouillon pinch saffron 1/2 cup raisins (or apricots) Method: 1.  Stir in the bouillon, saffron, couscous, and raisins/apricots to the water.  Bring to a boil then cover and remove from heat.  Set aside for 5 minutes. 2.  Fluff the couscous with a fork.

ISRAELI SALAD Two words best describe this salad - colourful and delicious!  I had the leftovers the next day in my lunch and it was even better, if that is even possible.  We adapted the recipe from here.
Ingredients: 4 tomatoes, diced 4 mini cucumbers, diced 1 orange pepper, seeded and diced 3 green onions, sliced 1 clove garlic sliced (so it could be removed before eating) 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley 1/2 cup olive oil (or was it 1/4 cup - I'd start with 1/4 and add more if needed) 1 tbsp lemon juice salt and pepper to taste
Method: Combine all ingredients in a bowl.  Mix together and refrigerate.

CHALLAH BREAD After mixing the dough and letting it rise, William divided the dough into three parts and braided them together.

He then coated the top of the dough with egg white and sprinkled it with sesame seeds and he made a beautiful loaf that looked like this.  It was as delicious as it looked.

I'm finally getting some of our cooking project posts done.  You can read about Egypt here and Persia and Pakistan are coming soon.

Kate's Recipe Book

Last year our daughter Kate lived in residence while at university, but this year she will be living in a house with two friends. While Kate may know how to fire a musket and a cannon (true facts - see here and here), she is not so accomplished in the kitchen.  We've worked on her cooking skills this summer and she is improving, but this year she will need to do a lot of cooking.  

I was inspired by Ricki Jill (from the blog Art@Home) to make Kate a recipe book to take with her to university so she has some basic recipes to use.

First page of the recipe book and envelope to hold recipe cards

I went to the dollar store and chose a book to use.  I then printed off all the recipes I thought she would want from my blog.  You may have noticed a flurry of cooking posts recently as Kate suggested recipes she would like to have included.

I also bought stickers at the dollar store to decorate the book and then I set to work.  The sticker books were full of quaint sentimental words and phrases which just seemed a bit too cheesy for our taste.  So I used some of the words in a way that suited Kate's wry sense of humour (e.g. "so happy together ... filling our faces" and "I love ... stir fries").

I put the main course dishes at the front of the book and the sweeties (baking and desserts) at the back.  

I also glued an envelope to the inside flap for some recipe cards that Malcolm gave her last Christmas.  They are so cute as he wrote things like "You can do it!" around the edges of the recipes to encourage her.

Kate loves the recipe book and it will hopefully inspire her to cook healthy wholesome meals.

I will be linking to the Summer Smashing Party at Art @ Home

Stir Fry

I have a favoutite recipe that I use for stir fries.  I make stir fries often, at least once a week, and the vegetables vary depending on what i have available.  I sometimes use meat (beef or chicken) and I sometimes use tofu.  The sauce is pretty standard though.  It is very easy and I can whip it up in a minute.  Kate wanted to have a copy of the recipe to take to university next week so I thought I would share it with all my bloggy friends too.

Sauce: 1/2 cup water 1/4 cup soy sauce 1 tbsp cornstarch 2 tbsp oyster sauce 1/2 tsp ground ginger 1/4 tsp black pepper
Stir all ingredients together.  Put some oil in a pan and cook onion, garlic, meat, and veggies that have a longer cooking time (like carrots and cauliflower) together until the meat is cooked.  Add the veggies with a shorter cooking time (like green peppers and snow peas) and add in the sauce.  Cook for about 5 - 8 minutes until the veggies are hot, but still crisp.  Serve over rice or noodles.

Do you make your own stir fry sauce or do you use one of the bottled ones?  I have to say there are some really yummy bottled ones out there and they sure make it easy to get dinner ready in a flash, but this recipe is pretty quick too.

A Mason Jar Picnic

Doesn't everything look better when it's put in a mason jar?  I have been reading about people making mason jar meals (which you can read about here and here) and I loved the idea.  I just knew salads and berries could be taken to a whole new level if they were put in mason jars. Last week I was taking Kate and her friend to Wasaga Beach for the day and thought this would be the perfect opportunity to have a mason jar picnic.

I bought two different sizes of mason jars and got some groceries to make the following: a salad; berries; blueberries with yogurt; guacamole with tortilla chips; banana chocolate chip muffins; juice; and water with ice.  

We loaded everything in the cooler and headed off to the beach. 

We set the table with pretty tablecloths and matching paper napkins.  I chose a red and yellow colour scheme as I thought it looked very summery - and I happened to have tablecloths in those colours that seemed a good size for a picnic table. Tablecloths are my favourite thing to thrift and both of these came from thrift stores a few years ago. 

We laid out our feast and dug in - well not before snapping a few photos.

I made bean salad to use in the mason jar salad meal.  It included the following:1 can wax beans, drained1 can green beans, drained1 can chick peas, drained1/2 vidalia onion, chopped1/3 cup canola oil1/2 cup vinegar1/4 cup sugar salt and pepper
The trick to mason jar salad meals is to put the dressing at the bottom of the jar and then add vegetables into the dressing that are firm and hardy and can benefit from marinating.  Then layer the more delicate vegetables - like lettuce and spinach - at the top so they are not in contact with the dressing and not getting squished by the heavier vegetables.  Shake the salad just before eating to mix the dressing with the rest of the salad.  The mason jar meals can last several days in the refrigerator and some people have been making a bunch of them to use for lunches all week long.
To make our mason jar salads I put some of the bean salad at the bottom of the jar along with two tablespoons of the oil/vinegar mix that the bean salad was marinating in.   Then I added the following (in order going up):1/4 cup chopped walnuts2 tablespoons sunflower seedschopped carrotssliced cucumberchopped red peppers
When I tried the salad at home I added a sliced egg on top, but I had run out of room in the jar on the day of the picnic so I just brought whole hard-boiled eggs along to eat with the salad.  

We also ate blueberries and yogurt for lunch.  Later in the afternoon we ate the berries, the muffins, and had the guacamole and tortilla chips.

We had juice and iced water to drink.  The ice also helped keep everything cool.

  

I had no idea that playing in the waves for several hours could be so exhausting.  There are no photos of the beach as it was very windy ... and wind is good for waves, but bad for cameras since there was sand in the air.  


The combination of a great picnic lunch and swimming in wild waves made it a perfect summer's day.

Have you ever made a mason jar meal?  Do tell.  I'm dying to try some other ones.

Linked to Summer Link Party at Ginger Snap Crafts,
Show and Share at Southern Lovely,
Inspiration Friday at At the Picket Fence,
Simply Creation's Home Party at Simple Home Life,
Flaunt it Friday at Chic on a Shoestring Decorating,
Sunday Showcase at Under the Table and Dreaming,
WOW us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style,
Fridays Unfolded at Stuff and Nonsense