Lunch Box: Tomato Sandwich

I don't eat sandwiches very often.  But every now and then, I get the urge to stuff some sort of goodness between a couple slices of bread.  My husband had brought up sandwiches, and I was trying to decide what to stick in them.  While in the produce department, I caught a whiff of tomato and knew exactly what I wanted to do.

These sandwiches are pretty simple compared to the normal stacked concoctions I usually make, but the flavor is big enough that it makes up for it.  I took some bakery bread (sour dough is my favorite), slathered one slice with pesto, the other with goat cheese, and then added a couple thick slices of tomato.

So much flavor with so few ingredients.  Even my husband was happy to leave off his usual mayo.  He hates a 'dry' sandwich, but the juicy tomato took care of that.

You can easily replace the goat cheese with cream cheese.  I love the tang of the former, but I must admit it's a little pricey.  I was giving myself a treat this time given that I had pesto in the fridge and the tomatoes were a great price.  I promise the cream cheese is quite delicious if you aren't up to the splurge, though.

I wrapped them in parchment paper and packed them with grapes and crackers.  An easy and delicious lunch to keep one chugging along through their day!

Recipe: Peanut Butter Popcorn

My husband loves popcorn.  I like it all right.  We got a stove top popper last Christmas (thanks Mom and Dad!), and I've started eating it more often.  It's more work than putting a bag into the microwave, but waaaay better tasting.  We have a variety of salts and seasonings we put on it.

My husband was craving popcorn and a movie the other night, but I just wasn't feeling our usual salty selections.  And the caramel salt topping we got...eh.  I wanted some sort of sweetness drizzled over the top, but I have yet to really get the hang of making caramel.  So what to do?

Peanut butter sauce.  I just grabbed a little pot and threw some sugar, peanut butter, a splash of milk and a pat of butter in, let it melt together, and drizzled it over the pop corn.  Quick and delicious.  Actually, some of the most satisfying popcorn I've had in a while.  My husband gave it his stamp of approval, so I think this will be gracing movie night more often.

Recipe:

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup peanut butter

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp milk

Bowl of unbuttered and unsalted popcorn (1/4 cup kernels, popped on stove top)

1. Melt butter and sugar together over medium heat, stirring constantly.

2. Add peanut butter and milk.  Continue to stir until ingredients are blended and peanut butter is runny.

3. Pour immediately over popcorn.  Toss to coat.

4. Kick back with movie, and enjoy!

Recipe: Halloween Rice

I've been wanting to try black rice for a while, and with Halloween on my mind, I thought I'd make a dish revolving around Halloween colors.  Also pumpkin.  Like I mentioned in my tomato soup recipe, I like finding ways to use it in savory dishes.  

It didn't turn out quite how I expected visually, but the taste was fantastic.  Since I plan on making it again, I'll probably come back and either edit this post with my tweaks, or do a 2.0 update.  Either way, I'll walk you through what I actually did, and what I would have done differently.

I chopped up an onion and a pepper for the base of my rice dish.  I started with the onions.  As I've explained before, onions haven't been my friend, and I can't do them if they aren't completely softened in the dish.  I let them start getting golden before I added the peppers.  Now, looking back, I shouldn't have added the peppers at all.  Just let the onions get to your desired level of softness, then add some garlic. 

Time to toss in the rice.  While white or brown rice might be cheaper, I got a one pound bag of the black rice for $2.90, so I think that's still a fair price.  Not a big impact on the wallet, but a huge impact on the dish.  Originally I thought to cook this risotto style, but I didn't feel like standing over the stove.  How I finished it off gets it pretty close feeling to that anyways, so I'm glad I saved myself the energy.

I used a 1:2 rice to liquid ratio.  If you were just eating the black rice plain, it would be a little wet, but the extra liquid is perfect for this dish.  I used beef stock to amp up the flavor, but you could use any type of broth you like.  I added my herbs, brought to boil, then covered it and lowered the heat.  Once done cooking, I turned off the burner to let it rest.  This is the point you'd want to saute the peppers in a separate pan...

...and add them when the rice is done resting.  That way you won't cook out the color like I did.  Live and learn.  Anyways, at this point I also added black beans, peas, pumpkin, and shredded cheese.  It's kinda ugly, but that doesn't bother me much.  I think having the peppers stay properly orange will give it more appeal.  Like I said, I'll let you know when I do a second round.

Even if it doesn't look pretty, the smell and taste was delicious.  The wild rice definitely seems to be heartier than the white rice I usually get.  I didn't serve up as much as I usually would, but I still felt plenty full by the time I was done scraping the bowl clean.  I recommend this to anyone who wants to do something different than the typical theme food seen at Halloween parties and potlucks.  Or who wants to make it just 'cuz.  

Recipe:

1 Onion

1 Bell Pepper (orange)

1 1/2 tsp Garlic

1 1/2 cups Black Rice

3 Cups Beef Stock

1 tsp Marjoram

1 tsp Celery Salt

1/2 tsp Thyme

1 15 oz can Pumpkin Puree

1 cup Peas (frozen)

1 15 oz can Black Beans (drained and rinsed)

3/4 cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese

1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese

Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Dice bell pepper and onion.  Set aside pepper.

2. Saute onion on medium heat until soft.  Add garlic.

3.  Add rice, broth, marjoram, celery salt, thyme, salt and pepper.  Bring to boil, cover and reduce heat to low.  Cook for 30 minutes.

4.  Remove rice from heat.  In a separate pan, saute bell pepper until tender.  Add to rice along with pumpkin puree, peas, black beans, and cheeses.  Stir well, add additional salt and pepper to taste.

5. Enjoy!

Recipe: Caramel Dutch Apple Pie

I was never much of a cooked fruit eater growing up.  Whether it was jelly, pie, or sauce, I just wasn't interested.  I liked my fruit fresh.  Over all, that's still my preference, but I've come to enjoy fruit in a larger variety of ways.

Now that Fall is here, I'm feeling the need to make fall type stuff.  With apples on prominent display at the grocery store, I decided to try my hand at making apple pie.  I only started eating it about a year ago.  My parents live close to an orchard, and the town that keeps it has a few pie shops.  They bought us some pie while we were visiting, and I was finally converted.

I decided to go Dutch with this pie.  It's like the best of both a pie and a crisp.  Flaky crust, delicious crumble.  I started by making a slightly altered version of my mom's pie crust.  I substituted the shortening for coconut oil (chilled) and a couple tablespoons of butter.  A little sugar and a dash of cinnamon to play up the fact it's being used for a sweet pie.  I popped it in the fridge while I got down to business.

While prepping the fruit is probably usually the most time consuming, I recently acquired my mom's...apple...whirly...thing.  The peeler-cutter?  It's cool even if I don't know what it's called, alright?  Pop on an apple...

...and crank it.  It took a couple tries before I remembered the little tips and tricks to using it, but once done right, you end up with a lovely spiral of peeled, cored, and sliced apple.  Simply break it apart, and it's ready to use.

I tossed the apples in sugar, both white and brown, cinnamon, and cloves.  I should probably mention I personally used Red Delicious.  I like their sweetness.  Others like tart apples.  Use whatever apples you like best, in my opinion.

Once in the shell, I added some caramel.  Now, I meant to grab a jar of sauce to simply scoop over, but since I forgot it and didn't want to walk all the way over to get it, I just grabbed some cubes that were near the registers.  I used about ten, pulling them apart to distribute them over the pie.

Time for the crumble.  While browsing recipes, I noticed most recipes just use a traditional crumble of flour, sugar, and butter.  While I'm sure that's perfectly delicious, I wanted something more.  So I substituted some of the flour for oats.  I love the texture it adds.  I poured it over the top, placed the pie on a pan with foil, and popped it in the oven.

Let me just say, the smell while it was cooking was both divine and torture.  I think my favorite moment of cooking something in the oven is when you open the door when it's done, and that big waft of scented, warm air rushes out.  Mmm.  A little browned, and bubbly at the edges, I knew it was ready to come out.  This is always the real test of patience: letting it cool.

But the reward for waiting?  So well worth it.  Unfortunately, I will probably never serve up a perfect looking piece of pie, but as long as it tastes amazing, who cares?  A scoop of ice cream, and the warmth had it melting into it.  I love a la mode.  Sweet apples and caramel.  A zing of spice from the cinnamon and cloves.  It was delicious.

Perhaps I'll have a slice for breakfast instead of waiting for more dessert...

Recipe

Preheat oven to 375.

Pie Crust (use store bought if you prefer):

2 cups Flour

2/3 cups Shortening OR Coconut Oil (chilled)

(optional if using coconut oil) 2 tbsp Butter

1 tsp Salt

2 tsp sugar

dash of Cinnamon

6-9 tbsp cold water

1. Sift together dry ingredients.

2. Cut in shortening or coconut oil.  Texture should be small crumbles.

3. Add water and knead until dough just sticks together enough to form a ball.

4. Roll out and place in pie pan.  Crimp edges.  Chill while making apple filling.  

Apple Filling

5 medium large Apples (Mine came to 2.4 pounds when weighed at the grocery store)
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/2 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
3 tbsp Flour
1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Cloves
1/2 cup Caramel sauce OR 10 Caramel cube candies, pulled apart.

1. Peel and cut up apples.  Place in large bowl.  Add vanilla extract, and toss.
2. In a separate bowl, mix both sugars, flour, cinnamon, and cloves.
3. Pour mixture over apples, and toss to coat evenly.
4. Put apple mixture into pie crust.  Distribute caramel evenly over the top.

Crumble Topping
1/2 cup Flour
1/2 cup Oats
1/3 cup Butter, partially softened
1/4 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 dash Cloves

1. In medium bowl, sift together dry ingredients.
2. Cut in butter to form crumbly texture.  (I used my hands to work it into the dry ingredients)
3. Distribute mixture evenly over pie filling.
4. Place pie on foil lined cookie sheet, then bake in oven for about 40-50 minutes.
5. Let cool, and enjoy!