Showing posts with label Cheese. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cheese. Show all posts

Grilled Spinach and Artichoke Sandwich

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For my birthday I received a new Sandwich Press/Waffle Maker. It is pretty wonderful. It has inserts that detach from the machine, allowing it to be extra fabulous and useful for more than one thing!

Of course, I could not wait to use this new addition to my kitchen and I knew exactly what I was going to make, a Grilled Spinach and Artichoke Sandwich! I found the idea for this sandwich somewhere online, probably Pinterest, and have been wanting to make it ever since. The following recipe is what I decided to do with ingredients I had on hand. I have added notes throughout the recipe, on how the sandwich could be improved, it is mostly about the cheese! :)


 Grilled Spinach and Artichoke Sandwich

 Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 5-10 minutes (it takes closer to 10 without a sandwich press)
Serves: 3 people


 Ingredients:
  • 2-3oz of marinated artichoke hearts
  • 3 small handfuls of fresh spinach leaves
  • 1 tablespoon, plain low-fat yogurt
  • 6 slices of bread (some sort of flavored bread. I used Potato Rosemary Bread)
  • Cheese (I used fresh mozzarella and cheddar. I think Havarti, Gouda, or Aged Cheddar would have made this sandwich even better!)

Directions:
This is about the size the artichoke and spinach should be.

  1. Chop the artichoke hearts into small pieces
  2. Chop the spinach leaves into small pieces
  3. Combine artichoke pieces and spinach in a small bowl
  4. Add the 1 tablespoon of yogurt and mix
  5. Take one slice of the bread and place 1/2 of the cheese on it
  6. Spread 1/3 of the artichoke and spinach mixture over the whole piece of bread
  7. Place the other 1/2 of the cheese on top of the artichoke and spinach mixture
  8. Place in the sandwich press and cook for about 3-5 minutes

  9. If you do not have a sandwich press, spray a medium size pan with cooking spray, add the sandwich, and cook the one side for 3-5 minutes over medium heat. Re-spray the pan lightly and flip the sandwich over and cook the other side for another 3-5 minutes.

ENJOY!

Delicious Broccoli Cheddar Soup

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This morning I woke up with a hankering for some broccoli cheddar soup. There were two problems with this abnormal craving. First, I did not have time to make it for breakfast, or I might have done so, and thoroughly enjoyed an odd start to the day. Second, because I did not have time this morning, I would have to wait until dinner to appease my stomach's desires.

Now, I do not have a go to recipe for this soup, as the few times I have made it in the past it never lived up to its potential. Well, the morning craving stayed with me the entire day, keeping my slower moments at work occupied with sifting through a variety of recipes before attempting to create my own.

By the end of the work day, I had managed to find a couple recipes that sounded wonderful. I ended up picking and choosing elements from both The Comfort of Cooking and The Way to His Heart Blog's recipes. Both are very similar, but I added a little twist to it and  made it my own.
I paired the soup with some delicious Pesto Bread and
a Gorgonzola and Fuji Apple Salad. There were a lot of
competing flavors, but still good.

First, as a vegetarian I do not understand why most soup recipe call for chicken stock, especially a vegetarian soup, like this one. I used vegetable stock with very good results.

Second, I chose to add fresh minced garlic, largely because I absolutely love garlic. I can never get enough! But I also feel that garlic powder, as The Comfort of Cooking's recipe calls for, does not give way to the stronger flavor that I feel is needed in soups.

And finally, third, The Way to His Heart Blog calls for the soup to be pureed before adding the cheese. I chose to eliminate this step, and instead chop the broccoli into small pieces, for a couple of reasons. One, I am not usually fond of pureed soups. And Two, typically the broccoli in broccoli cheese soup is cooked into a very, very tender state, giving the soup a thickish consistency. I was not at all disappointed and I do not think you will be either!

Please enjoy, I know I did.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Serves: 4 - 5 people

 Ingredients:
  • 1 stick of butter
  • 1/2 yellow onion
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/4 heaping cup flour
  • 7 ounces of Half and Half
  • 4 cups of vegetable stock
  • 1 pound fresh broccoli florets chopped into very small pieces (including the upper stem)
  • 1 1/4 cups of finely shredded carrots (about two medium sized carrots)
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • 8 ounces shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Directions:
Yep! This soup is full of broccoli!!
  1. Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter on medium high heat and saute onion and garlic for 2-3 minutes, or until onion is tender.
  2. Add the remaining 7 tablespoons of butter and allow it to melt, stirring often. 
  3. Add the 1/4 cup of flour and stir constantly for about 5 minutes and try to make a roux. (I have seen this a ton of times in recipes and can never get my flour and butter to become a roux and I am not sure it makes that much of a difference. So, do not fret if you are like me, a roux rookie.)
  4. Add the 7 ounces of Half and Half and the 4 cups of vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Allow soup to simmer on low heat for 20 minutes stirring occasionally.
  5. Add the finely chopped broccoli florets, shredded carrots, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Simmer for an additional 30 minutes stirring occasionally.
  6. Stir in the shredded cheddar cheese and stir until melted and serve warm.
Yummy!













With this delicious soup I also made a Gorgonzola and Fuji Apple Salad and a great Yummy Pesto Bread. It made for a great, albeit strong arrangement of flavors.


Caramelized Onions and Mushrooms Grilled Cheese

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As a vegetarian living in a rural college town I find that it is virtually impossible to find a decent vegetarian meal at our local restaurants. That is not to say that most restaurants don't try, they do, but they usually do so by offering a grilled veggie and cheese sandwich. I am a connoisseur of grilled cheeses, so this particular trend does not bother me in the slightest. In fact, I am delighted when I see it on a menu. What does bother me is when the local restaurants decide it is a good idea to take the lonely vegetarian option away and replace it with a grilled meat and cheese variety. This happened to me just last month at the new pub in town, The Handlebar. They not only have a very limited vegetarian menu (consisting of literally beer and their fabulous beer cheese and pretzels), but they also had the nerve to offer a caramelized onion grilled cheese sandwich with BACON. And if you do not want bacon, guess what? You cannot have the caramelized onions either, because they are cooked together. *sigh*

Tonight as I was rummaging through my refrigerator trying to figure out what my husband and I were going to have for dinner, I realized that I had the perfect ingredients to make a vegetarian friendly caramelized onion grilled cheese sandwich. The following recipe is what I concocted. Enjoy.

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Serves: 2 people


Ingredients:
  • A large handful of mushrooms
  • Half of a small onion
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • Cheddar cheese
  • Swiss cheese
  • Butter
  • Four pieces of sourdough bread (I used multi grain sourdough because I think it tastes fabulous)

Directions:

 1.   Heat the teaspoon of olive oil in a small pan.
2.   Slice the mushrooms and the half onion (keep the onion slices on the larger side)
3.   Put the sliced mushrooms and onion in the pan with the olive oil and cook for about 30 minutes on low heat. Cook until the onions brown, turning every couple of minutes.






(They should look something like this, when they are done.)











4.   Assemble your grilled cheese sandwich, adding the cooked caramelized onions and mushrooms to the sandwich. (I put the caramelized onions and mushrooms between the cheeses because the melted cheese on both sides will help keep the onions and mushrooms from falling out while you are eating it.)
5.   Cook the grilled cheese sandwich.
6.   Heat some tomato soup.
7.   Enjoy!















Enjoy, I know I did!

Edit: Based on reader response, I have a couple of suggestions for those of you who do not like mushrooms, or as someone put it, think they are out to kill you.

  1. You could replace the mushrooms with bell pepper
  2. You could leave the mushroom out all together and add a tomato when you cook the grilled cheese
  3. OR, if you like mushrooms, you could choose to add the bell pepper and tomato and make an even tastier grilled cheese





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