Waffle Sammies - total time 15 minutes

I love sandwiches.  And I am very particular about them.  Everything has to be stacked in a specific order.  No condiments because I hate soggy bread.  And everything has to be even... I don't want one bite of veggies, then one of cheese, then one of just bread... ick.  My husband makes fun of me for restacking my sandwiches at restaurants.  They just taste better that way!  I don't know if it is the order that it hits your tastebuds or the fact that the veggies need to be with other veggies.

Paninis are great too, kind of like grilled cheese sandwiches.  I have a panini pan that I have used in the past...  Even though it has a paddle to press the sandwich together, it is just not the same as a panini press.  I do have a waffle maker though.  If you can squish your sandwich enough to close it... waffle makers make cute panini presses!

slices of soft bread (like white or wheat, not sour dough or rye)
cheese
avocado
tomato
lettuce
meat (optional)

1.  Heat up waffle iron.  
2.  Prepare sandwich like you would for a panini.
3.  Spray waffle iron with olive oil.  Put sandwich on iron, squeeze and close shut.  Trim any pieces sticking out of waffle iron.
4.  After 3-5 minutes, remove sammie and enjoy!

oops, bread slicer skipped a loaf!

Weekly Menu

Summer time is finally here!  Well, not officially.  But there have been multiple days around 80 degrees, so it better not get cold again.  The garden is planted... and as long as the bunnies and birds leave everything alone (and the deer and the bugs too)... we should be starting to harvest things in about a month (our spinach is already trying to bolt).

Our CSA starts this week and I am so excited!  Next week's menu will be planned around what comes in our CSA cooler on Friday.  This week is all about our bin delivery...

springtime pizza - shaved asparagus, spring onions, and prosciutto
broccolette alfredo
sliders and salad
tacos or lettuce wraps
Guinness pulled chicken

Asparagus Frittata - total time 30 minutes

When I found the local produce options on my Green Bean delivery account, the only thing available was asparagus... so of course I got some for my bin.  Something about Spring makes me want to cook asparagus all of the time!  There are other vegetables in season, but asparagus has such a short window that you want to savor the moment as often as possible before the tender stalks become tough and woody.

I was planning to make this frittata last week (since I had it on my menu plan)... but my husband vetoed it calling it 'egg pie'.  That's okay, more for me, because he really missed out on this one!  While a frittata is kind of like an omelet... maybe it is the roasted asparagus or the broiled finish, but it is so much better.

1 bunch of asparagus
6 eggs
2 tbsp cream
1 small onion, chopped
1 tbsp lemon juice
.25 cup shredded white cheese (I used white cheddar)
rosemary
salt and pepper

1.  Roast asparagus in a dry cast iron skillet for about 5 minutes on medium heat (shift asparagus around to avoid burning).  Remove asparagus and set aside.  Add butter and chopped onions, cook for 2 minutes.
2.  While onions cook, whisk together six eggs, cream, lemon juice, rosemary, salt, and pepper.  Pour egg mixture over the cooked onions.  Add asparagus, then cheese.  Cook for 5 minutes, or until egg is mostly set.
3.  Turn on broiler and finish cooking eggs under broiler for 3 minutes.  Enjoy!

Weekly Menu

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there!  Several of my friends and coworkers are celebrating their first Mother's Day today, how exciting!  :)

I spent several hours last night working on my mom's Mother's Day gift... a week of homemade meals that she just needs to pop in the oven before dinner, including some of her favorites, like lasagna and pulled chicken sandwiches, and a few she has never had before, like baked ravioli.  I hope she likes it!

Time for menu planning!  My husband is out of town for work part of this week, so I am making things that he doesn't like (but I do) while he is away... which means breakfast for dinner!  I tried getting the asparagus frittata on the menu last week and he vetoed it before I could actually make it.  Guess what's for dinner tonight while he is driving to DC?!  :)

breakfast cups
asparagus frittata
french toast or crepes of some sort
peanut butter soup
maple dijon chicken with baked avocados

Guinness Caramel Pretzel Cookies - total time 2 hours

Are you the kind of person that goes out of your way to try something new, something different?  It seems like that has been the trend for a lot of things, but especially beer.  Microbreweries popping up everywhere.  Growler stations, mix and match six packs, and bars with 50+ beers on tap making it hard to just go with a Bud Light.  Some of the concoctions seem a little crazy, like one of my husband's go to summer beers Hell or High Watermelon; a wheat beer fermented with watermelon.

Any way, one of my co-workers loves to try new beers (I mean, I do too... but not as much as he does) and his birthday was coming up... so I tried to think of something to bake that would incorporate this interest.  I figured beer and pretzels is a traditional bar combination.  And while we had some different beer in the fridge... none quite as flavorful as Guinness.  Add some chocolate and caramel and we really have cookie that everyone will love!

Warning: because the Guinness has to be reduced, this recipe takes a while!

2 cups Guinness
1.5 cups brown sugar, divided
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter
2 eggs
.25 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp vanilla
2.5 cups flour
pinch of salt
1 cup caramel
1.5 cups pretzels, crushed

1.  In a double broil, add Guinness and half cup of brown sugar.  Allow Guinness to reduce to about .5 cup over low heat for about 30 minutes.  The Guinness won't really get syrupy like other reductions... so measurement is key.  Allow to cool in fridge for 15 minutes.
2.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Whip butter in mixer, then add all remaining sugar and whip until well combined.  Add eggs and mix.
3.  Add vanilla, Guinness reduction, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, and baking powder and mix to combine.  Slowly add flour a half cup at a time incorporating into batter each time.
4.  Remove batter from mixer and stir in chocolate chips, half cup of caramel, and half cup or crushed pretzels.  Refrigerate dough for 15 minutes (or up to 24 hours).
5.  Roll 1 inch balls and place onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet.  Bake for 15 minutes.  After cookies have cooled, drizzle caramel and sprinkle crushed pretzels on top.  

Guinness Pulled Chicken - total time 5 minutes prep & 4 hours cook

Pretty sure this could not get any easier!  I came home for lunch the other day and threw all these ingredients in my slow cooker in about two minutes... went back to work and then came home and dinner was ready to eat!  I may have to do this every time I come home for lunch.  The chicken is so tender.  I think the bed of onions might be the trick though.  Maybe having the chicken lifted away from the pot makes it taste better.  Or maybe the onions are caramelized on the bottom.  Or maybe it is the mix of ingredients for the sauce.  Whatever it is, it is the perfect mix...

1 lb chicken
1 medium onion, sliced
.75 cup Guinness
.75 cup bbq sauce
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp red pepper flakes
salt and pepper

1.  Slice onions.  Toss onions into slow cooker.
2.  Place chicken in slow cooker on top of onions.  Mix Guinness, bbq sauce, and spices together in a small mixing bowl and pour over chicken.
3.  Cook for 4 hours on high or 6 hours on low.
4.  Shred chicken with forks (will basically fall apart) and toss back into crock pot to soak up the juices.  Serve on a bun, on top of salad, or by itself with some sides.

Weekly Menu

Oops, I didn't get around to menu planning yesterday.  I ended up planting most of my vegetable garden and then we went to see Iron Man 3.  Hard to believe the small plants barely sticking out of the dirt will be five times as big and starting to fruit in a month.  Can't wait to be able to get produce from my backyard instead of the grocery store!

We got our second delivery from Green BEAN delivery on Friday.  This week's menu is partially centered around items we got in our bin last week; turkey fillets, asparagus, and eggs to name a few.  So here is this week's menu...

asparagus frittata
stuffed turkey fillet with mashed potatoes
italian chicken braid or bbq chicken braid
waffle sammies
stuffed shells

Fish Tacos - total time 20 minutes

Cinco de Mayo is only a few days away!  How do you plan on celebrating?  We love all things Mexican food in our house, we have tacos, quesadillas, and enchiladas on the regular.  So I can't believe it was only three years ago when I was introduced to the idea of fish tacos!  I was visiting my friend in Florida and the restaurant specialized in fish tacos... I was hesitant, but love to try new things especially while on vacation.  White flaky fish, crunchy cabbage, and the tang of lime wrapped up in a tortilla... yum!  So now they are in our rotation for Taco Tuesdays and other nights we feel like Mexican.

1 lb white fish (I used ocean perch)
1.5 cup shredded red cabbage
1 medium onion, sliced
.5 cup salsa
.5 cup sour cream
6 flour tortillas
1 lime
1 tbsp chili powder
2 green onions
parsley (or lemon balm)
salt and pepper

1.  Cook fish in pan on medium heat.  Add lime juice, chili powder, parsley, salt, and pepper.  Cook for about eight minutes or until fish is cooked all the way through.  
2.  Remove fish from pan, remove any skin, and separate into medium-sized chunks.  Add cabbage and onion to pan for two minutes.
3.  Microwave tortillas for 30 seconds.  Add fish, cabbage and onions, salsa, sour cream, and green onions to the tortillas.  Add a little lime juice and serve!

Pan Ravioli - total time 30 minutes

For those of you that think bacon makes everything better... here is a dish for you!  I have never been that into bacon.  I mean, it is good in small amounts on occasion.  This dish kind of changes my mind.  The bacon gives it a salty, rich flavor with the crunch of the pan toasted ravioli tossed in some delicious veggies.  Basically, I can't wait to make this again!

1 package cheese ravioli
3 pieces bacon
.5 cup milk
.5 cup bread crumbs
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 tomatoes, chopped
1.5 cups spinach, chopped
basil
salt and pepper

1.  Chop bacon into one inch pieces.  Cook over medium heat for about five minutes.  Remove bacon from pan and set on paper towel and reserve the bacon fat.
2.  Coat raviolis in milk and then bread crumbs.  Lay ravioli flat in pan over medium-low heat for about four minutes per side until nice and toasted.
3.  Chop tomatoes and spinach, mince garlic and add to pan with bacon, salt, and pepper.  Stir and cook for five minutes.  Sprinkle shredded basil over top and serve!

Weekly Menu

Hope everyone's weekends were fabulous!  It was pretty nice weather here in Ohio until it rained all day today.  So I was able to get my vegetable garden weeded, fertilized, and semi-tilled to plant next week (snow peas and spinach are starting to grow already).  It was nice to get in the dirt again after our long Ohio winter (I could complain about how I hate winter, but lets look forward toward summer)!

After getting the garden ready, we did a little tailgating and went to see the Columbus Crew take on DC United.  When we got into the stadium, I overheard one of the Crew staff ask another if the scoreboard was on fire.  I didn't think twice about it, just thought it was code for the scoreboard was on.  I walked around the corner to see this...

It took about an hour to put the fire out.  Everyone was okay, but the smell of burning plastic filled the air.  It was probably some sort of electrical malfunction since the scoreboard is sort of old.  It is also the only source of audio for the game... so once they were able to start the match, there were no announcers!  Pretty wild game and the Crew won 3-0!

On to this week... I can't believe it is the end of April.  Hopefully the year will slow down during the summer so we can enjoy it!  We get our second bin from Green Bean delivery this week (I found the local produce options!) and hopefully the weather will be nice this week because the vet told us our dog needs to lose nine pounds!  He is 39 pounds, so that's a lot to lose!  If only he would stop getting into everything...  Oh well, here is this week's menu...

quesadillas with mexican rice

shrimp po' boys with crispy roast potatoes

mini taco pies

homemade pierogies with salad

crispy baked wings