Recipe #332: Curried Egg Salad Sandwich

Another Real Simple Recipe!

you need:
4 eggs
1/4 cup mayo
1/2 tsp curry powder
chives,
cucumber
2 tortillas
spinach

• place eggs in water, bring to a boil, then turn off heat and cover. let it sit for 12 minutes
• then run under cold water, peel and chop up
• in a small bowl mix together mayo and curry powder
• add eggs and mix together.
• add chopped up chives
• on a tortilla later some sliced cucumber and spinach, top with half of the egg salad

Recipe #288: Cheese Toast

I ate this on bread we made, but I think it would actually be a nice appetizer to put bits of this mixture on little slices of baguettes...

you need:
cheese mixture (originally from here)

1/2 container of ricotta cheese
1 cup mozzarella
1 cup spinach, chopped
3 Tbsp parmesan
2 tsp parsley
sliced bread

• mix together ricotta, mozzarella, spinach, parmesan, and parsley
• put some on top of bread and toast until cheese is melted

Recipe #259: Teriyaki Fried Rice Ball

I had this at an amazing sushi restaurant in Charlotte and tried to replicate it. I do have some work to do to master it though! :)

You need:
1 cup of rice
teriyaki sauce

• take hot rice and put it in a saran wrap.
• shape into a ball or triangle
• heat a fry pan with a little bit of teriyaki sauce 
• heat rice ball on both sides until a little brown.
• it may fall apart so be careful not to saturate it too much with the sauce!

Recipe #259: Teriyaki Fried Rice Ball

I had this at an amazing sushi restaurant in Charlotte and tried to replicate it. I do have some work to do to master it though! :)

You need:
1 cup of rice
teriyaki sauce

• take hot rice and put it in a saran wrap.
• shape into a ball or triangle
• heat a fry pan with a little bit of teriyaki sauce 
• heat rice ball on both sides until a little brown.
• it may fall apart so be careful not to saturate it too much with the sauce!

Recipe #207: Pigs in a Blanket

Well, I think there will be a couple more variations of this coming, but I had some leftover sausages to use up so this became a quick and easy lunch

You need:
1 can of crescent rolls
2 italian sausages
cheddar cheese

• cook sausages and cut in thirds
• spread rolls out
• top with cheese and then a sausage on wide part of roll
• roll up
• bake at 350 for 11-13 minutes

Recipe #153: Herb Crusted Chicken

This is a quick and easy Sunday lunch dish! I found the recipe in a Real Simple magazine in their 10 ideas for...section. I love their recipes!

You need:
3 chicken breasts, cut into smaller pieces
2 cups panko
2 Tbsp of rosemary, chopped up
2 Tbsp of dill weed
1 egg beaten
olive oil

• cut up chicken so that they are smaller, thin pieces
• mix together herbs and panko in a bowl
• beat eggs in another bowl
• add oil to pan so 1/2 inch is covered
• once oil is warm start dipping chicken into egg and then into panko mixture
• cook until both sides are crispy brown, turning at least once
• remove to a paper towel covered plate to remove more oil!

Pretty delicious!!

Recipe #122: Pizza Bread...

Yep, different then a calzone, still need to work how much stuff to put in the bread, the top always opens up when baking, but it was very delicious and a tastier alternative to the original plan of spaghetti!

You need:
a grapefruit size amount of boule dough
ground turkey (or hamburger)
spaghetti sauce
cheddar cheese, shredded
parsley

• take our your dough and allow to rest for about 40 minutes (preheat oven and stone about 20 minutes before baking)
• brown meat, add some basil and oregano
• mix with some spaghetti sauce, but not too much. you don't want to to be really wet
• use some flour and a rolling pin to roll out the dough to a thin layer, about 1/2 inch thick
• layer meat and cheese across top of surface (I am wondering if maybe it would help if you did only two thirds of the surface so that the last bit you roll up would not break open...)
• roll the dough up, make sure to turn in sides as you go.
• put bread on the stone in oven.
• bake at 450 for about 30 minutes or until bread is golden brown
• allow to rest a bit before cutting. 

eat with a fork or your fingers! 

(the pasta sauce is best eaten with a fork! Find the recipe here.)

Recipe #90: Grilled Teriyaki Pork and #91 Sliced Sweet Potato

So I had some random leftover pork in the freezer and after thawing it out to determine what type of meat it was, we decided to celebrate labor day by grilling!

You need:
some pork chops
teriyaki marinade. I used premade or you can make your own found here.
small handful of sesame seeds

• put pork in small ziploc,
• pour teriyaki and sesame over pork and allow to marinade for at least 30 minutes.
• grill for about 15 minutes over high heat.

Sliced Sweet Potato:
I got the idea from pinterest (see all my pins!), and the original post is found here.
but it used sweet potatoes instead

You need:
3 sweet potatoes
butter
pepper, cinnamon
little olive oil

• I first poked and microwaved the sweet potatoes for about 3 minutes so they wouldn't take so long to cook on the grill.
• Then slice the potato almost all the way through (my slices were a little bit thicker then the original too, but oh well)
• Spread some butter over top
• Sprinkle some pepper. i added some cinnamon to mine
• Grill for about 15 minutes

Alex got a potato too! He loved it! It was even better cold because the potato stayed together better...

Recipe #87: Ham and Bacon Wrap

When we get home from church we are usually pretty hungry so we don't so something fancy but fast!

You need:
a wrap or tortilla
cold cut ham or turkey
bacon
lettuce
cucumber
ranch dressing

• heat the wrap for 15 seconds
• fry up the bacon
• add ingredients
• roll up and enjoy!

Recipe #85: Quick Quesadilla

So you might notice a couple of wrap recipes coming up...they needed to get used up....
The first one was a quick quesadilla I made for lunch yesterday. I was hungry and this was a nice alternative to a sandwich...

You need:
One wrap or tortilla
handful of shredded mozarella cheese
2-3 slices of ham, cut up
2 spoonfuls of salsa
some salsa and sour cream for top

Heat a little oil in a fry pan.
On one half of wrap mix together ham, cheese and salsa
Fold over and put in pan.
Heat for 10 or so minutes flip over so both sides are a little brown.
Take off heat and top with salsa and sour cream

Recipe #80: Chef Salad

For a fast Sunday lunch, we decided to have a chef salad!

you need:
lettuce
tomato
carrots
cucumber
ham
cheese
boiled egg
croutons
etc.

mix together your lettuce and toppings.

Will likes thousand island with this, but I used my favorite Japanese Goma (sesame seed) dressing!

Recipe #72: Not your average PB&J

If you live near a Trader Joe's you need to make sure you own Dark Chocolate Dreams, a delightful mixture of peanut butter and dark chocolate. I used it to make chocolate croissants found here. Well, for lunch on Saturday I decided to make a "grown up" peanut butter and jelly sandwich, using, of course, Dark Chocolate Dreams.

You need:
two pieces whole wheat bread
blueberry jam (my favorite!)
Dark Chocolate Dreams (you will have good dreams, I promise!)

On one piece of bread spread some sweet blueberry jam.
On the other piece spread a wonderful layer (a thick layer of course) of Dark chocolate Dreams.
The end result: AMAZING!

you honestly could cut it in to smaller pieces and serve it at a party. people would love it!

Recipe #64: Egg Salad Sandwhich

So, life has suddenly gotten really crazy (goodbye summer vacation!), and while I have been cooking, there are just not enough hours to write it all down! So these entries will probably be short and to the point!
Last Saturday, for lunch I let Will have the leftover chicken biscuits found here, and I decided to use up some of our huge amount of eggs to make an egg salad sandwich. Will hates it, but they had such good egg salad sandwiches in Japan that I just loved it! Anyways, there is really nothing special about it, plain and simple, which is probably why it tastes good! Also my mayo of choice is kewpie mayo from japan, but I unfortunately did not have any on hand! :(

You need:
5 eggs, boiled
2 Tbsp mayo, give or take depending on how much you like. me not a lot.

Boil your eggs.

So does anyone else have trouble with the eggs cracking when they start moving against the pan? I have tried putting them in after the water is boiling and , using different pans etc...finally this idea came to me--i used my silicone steamer! It worked great!
*update: I also learned that putting eggs in right after water is boiled and then sitting with no heat for 12 minutes is a good way too! :)

After your eggs are boiled. (I started them in the water so the whole time took about 12 minutes) run them under cold water so they peel easily.
Peel two eggs, cut up into small pieces
add mayo, mix up.
put on bread. I toasted mine and added a little cheddar cheese

The next day I cracked and peeled the other three which lasted two more meals...why not boil extra eggs to save some for later!

Recipe #51: Healthier BLTs

Since I had opened the bacon last night for our breakfast, I decided it would be a great time to make some BLTs! I love going to sandwich places and getting a BLT, it is so classic. Plus BLTs were a treat for us in Japan because bacon is hard to come by, and when we did have it, it was rationed very carefully! Of course when you add up the mayo, white bread, bacon, etc, it is not the healthiest sandwich to eat, but here is a twist that will hopefully cut the calories a little bit.

For one sandwich

You need:

2 pieces whole wheat bread

3 pieces turkey bacon

tomato

lettuce

honey mustard

• Start frying up that bacon first!
• pop your bread into the toaster.
• Cut up some tomato and lettuce. Also, cheese is a nice addition
• Put it all together!

Some fun variations:

instead of regular sandwich bread use sandwich thins, wraps, pita bread

give it a southwestern flavor by adding some guacamole or salsa instead of mayo or mustard

any other ideas?

Recipe #20: Perfect Grilled Cheese

I used to rush through the making of grilled cheese sandwiches until Will made them one day and they were so divine! I realized that you need to pay a little bit more attention to them to make them taste good!

You need:
bread
your choice of cheese
butter
sandwich meat

Really coat the outsides of the bread with butter. It makes it so much better. Add plenty of thin slices of cheese and some ham or turkey if you want. Heat one at a time in a medium-sized pan on medium heat. If you cook too fast the bread will burn before the cheese totally melts. Don't go too far away in case it burns! :)
End result = deliciousness!

p.s. you could eat this with soup, but why would you want to!

Recipe #14: Mini Pizzas

The other day I had only a couple minutes for lunch. I could have made a sandwich but instead used some leftovers to make mini pizzas! Super easy, fast and filling!

You need:
english muffins or mini bagels
cheese
tomato sauce (i actually used the left over spaghetti sauce from the other night!)

Toast the english muffins or bagels so they are slightly toasted. (so they won't taste soggy at the end)
Put the sauce and cheese on top. add any other little pieces of meat or veggies you would like.
Put in the toaster oven (or oven depending on how many you are making) until cheese has melted, about 5 minutes.

They are great by themselves or can be a side for soup or salad!