There is officially a love affair going on, between my panini press and I. It is the best think I have added into my kitchen in a long time. When I have some left over ingredients that I don't know what to do with, they seem to always work perfectly, cooked into a panini. I have my two staples that I always make, cheddar apple, and southwestern, but I have been wanting to add a new panini to my menu. With my recent leftovers of feta and olives, and hummus on sale two for one, it was Greek style panini time!
What you need:
2 slices of bread
6-8 pitted Kalamata olives
Feta cheese
Your favorite hummus
Half a tomato, sliced
What to do:
Assemble your sandwich with the hummus spread on, feta, olives, and tomato
Put everything into the panini press and cook until golden brown on the outside
I ate my panini with a side salad.
This panini was s incredibly delicious! It tasted like I ordered it right out of a sandwich shop. The hummus was creamy, and added an element of protein from the chick peas. The olives and feta were briny, and the tomato was hot a juicy. All the Greek flavors came together perfectly all in a hot and crispy crust.
What is your favorite panini combination? Will you try out this Greek style one?
Now that I go grocery shopping for myself, I have discovered lots of gems that I never knew existed. There are so many awesome foods tucked away and I want to try them all. Sadly, they are usually on the pricier side, but that doesn't stop me from indulging once in a while (plus I feel like I deserve it after buying 77 cent pasta). I am often buying foods in the small soy section of the supermarket, and while I usually just stick with tofu and soy crumbles, they have lots of other foods that I would love to try. I saw a package of Lightlife Smart Sausages Italian Style, and my mind instantly wandered as I tried to figure out all the ways I wanted to eat them.
I decided to go with sausage on a bun sandwhiches. I have seen Ben make them before, so I turned to my resident meat-eater to figure out what else to put on the sandwich. I had to ask Ben what people eat with sausages, because I honestly didn't know! He said usually peppers or onions...both of which I'm not a fan of. After thinking a while I decided on sauteed spinach. I thought it was kind of like onions and peppers...right?
I love sauteed spinach, its so easy and fast to whip up, and its a great way to use up the not-so-fresh spinach you might have left over.
All you need is spinach, a little olive oil, a couple cloves of garlic, and some salt & pepper.
Heat up the oil in a pan over medium heat, add in the garlic and spinach. Saute until spinach wilts.
Then I cooked my sausage according to the directions on the package, put it on a bun with the spinach, and topped with mustard.
I ate my sausage on a bun with a side of potato chips, for that All-American cookout effect.
The sausage itself had a nice texture, and a mild, meaty flavor filled with Italian spices. The flavor of the sausage went really well with the garlicy spinach. The garlic complimented the sausage and the spinach added a great veggie flavor. Everything was tied together with a nice, toasty, crunchy bun and a bit of mustard for some heat. This meal actually made me happy. It was so good and I loved trying something new!
Have you tried these Lightlife Italian Style Smart Sausages? What is your favorite thing to add to a sausage on a bun?
Oh technology. You either love it...or it ruins your life. Not too long ago I have a minor computer hiccup, and the resulted in me losing a few recipes I had saved. It really saddened me for three reasons. First of all, I am sad that I can't recreate to perfection the amazingness that I cooked. Second, I wont be able to give proper credit to the person that initially invented the recipe. And finally, I can't share the recipe with all of you lovely followers. I will do my best to share with you the parts of the recipe that I remember, and if I find the original copy, I will post it right away so I can give credit where credit is due!
Today's lost recipe is for vegetarian sloppy joes. I felt weird calling them sloppy joes, when they were 100% meat free. I decided that I will dub them Meatless Messy Joes!
What You Need:
1 Package Smart Ground soy crumbles
3/4 tsp Mustard
1/2 cup Ketchup
2 1/2 tsp Brown suagr
3 cloves Garlic
Onion powder
Salt & Pepper to taste
What To Do:
Like I said, I lost the recipe, so I don't remember exactly what I did. But I'm pretty sure I just cooked the soy crumbles according to the instructions, then mixed in all the rest of the ingredients.
Plop it all on some bread, and you got yourself a Meatless Messy Joe!
I could not get over how good this was! It instantly took me back to eating sloppy (turkey) joes as a kid. The sauce was the perfect mix of tomatoey from the ketchup, and a hint of sweetness and spice from the brown sugar and mustard. I even had Ben try it and he said it tasted almost exactly like a real sloppy joe! As a vegetarian cook, that is one of the best compliments I can get!
Do you like making Meatless Messy Joes too? What is your favorite recipe?
Hello hello! I hope you are all doing well. I am actually in Ocean City this weekend to see my dad sing in his chorus. I love seeing my dad, but its always bittersweet having to say bye.
It has been really nice getting back to writing. I have to say, that little break I took was quite refreshing. I feel so much more connected to my blog, and really enjoying writing again. I sadly don't have much free time lately, but I am going to do my best to keep on blogging!
Today I have the ultimate in classic comfort food. Its not mac and cheese, not meat loaf, and definitely not stew: its grilled cheese and tomato soup!
There is something so special and grilled cheese and tomato soup. Dipping the sandwich into the warm tomatoey goodness just makes you feel like a kid again. Its warm and tasty with those classic comfort flavors.
On the soup side of the plate, I opted for Amy's Chunky Tomato Bisque. It was actually the first time trying this flavor.
This soup had such a fresh, tomatoey taste. I could actually taste a difference between this soup, and the non-organic ones that I sometimes eat. I especially loved the chunks of tomato and the hint of cheesiness. It was definitely a grown up version of the basic tomato soup.
Next, I bring you the grilled cheese part of this dynamic duo.
While for the cheese, I used the classic, individually wrapped, American cheese slices, I decided to add a little something special. Recently, while visiting a friend, she let me pick a couple jalapenos off her plant! I thought they would be the perfect compliment to a grilled cheese, so I diced them up, put it in the sandwich, and cooked it in my panini press.
YUM! I love that you can see the jalapeno pieces. This sandwich had two of my favorite qualities, meltiness and cheesiness. I couldn't get over how cheesy it was. The jalapeno bits gave it the perfect amount of spice. It really brought this classic sandwich to a whole new, grown up, level.
It was so fun getting to regress to childhood for a meal, but still feeling like just a little bit of an adult.
Hello everyone! I just want to start off by saying sorry for missing my last few posts. Things got pretty stressful around here and I felt that blogging needed to take a little break while I got things in order. I still have a lot of things going on right now, but I was really missing blogging and I knew I needed to come back!
Today's post is really exciting for me. I'll start with a little story...
Three years ago, Ben and I took a weekend trip to Baltimore. While seeing some of the touristy things (like the zoo) and some me things (like the dental museum), we also ate at a few different places. One night, it was getting late, and we still couldn't decide where to eat. We looked online and saw a near-by diner and decided that was good enough. When we got there, we saw photos of Guy Fieri from Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives all over the place. Apparently the place we had chosen to eat at out of pure desperation, was actually a really popular and amazing place.
I had never seen the show before, but after that experience, I would watch it on TV when I saw it was on, just in case it was the episode about that diner in Baltimore. Along the way came an episode about this little place in Philly, called the Memphis Taproom. Now, while Guy usually talks about BBQ and burgers, at the Taproom, he showed us a smoked coconut and tofu sandwich. With Ben still living in the Philly area, I had instantly decided that I needed to try this place.
After 3 years of begging for Ben to take me to the Taproom while I visited him in Philly once a month, we ended up moving in together, to Virginia, without ever getting to go to the Memphis Taproom.
We did plan a trip to Philly last weekend, for Ben's birthday, and he told me that if I still wanted to go, we could hit the Taproom on our way home. I had never said "yes" so fast in my life!
I had been dreaming of the Smoked Coconut Club for years, but once I saw the extensive vegetarian, and vegan menu, it was hard to not stray from the whole reason we came! But in the end I knew that's what I had to order.
While I have to say this sandwich was worth the wait, I am sad that this was not in my life sooner. The lettuce and tomato were so fresh and the sauce was perfectly tangy. The smoked coconut was incredibly amazing! It was so smoky and had a great bite to it. Moist and with a bit of crunch, all I kept thinking of was its resemblance to bacon. Ben actually said it was the most accurate fake bacon he has ever had. I even caught him stealing pieces off my plate!
The tofu itself was a bit on the bland side, with a bit of an eggy taste and texture. The bread was a crunchy and toasty wheat bread that was vegan. Actually the entire sandwich was vegan! As you can see, the sandwich came with a large mountain of french fries, which were crunchy and perfectly spiced.
We decided to split an order of onion rings too.
These O-rings were super spicy and had a nice crunch. The sauce was cool and creamy, which paired perfectly with the spicy fried onions.
This place definitely lived up to my expectations. Even Ben couldn't stop talking about the Memphis Taproom for days. I think he might have enjoyed it more than I did, which is funny since I was the once begging him to take me and he kept putting it off! I wish we could have gone more while he still lived in the area, but I know we will be back. I still need to try the rest of the items on the vegetarian/vegan menu!
I am still getting in the last bit of summer food. Even though it is September, its not Fall just yet. With Labor Day just passed, I decided it was time to make some barbecue! Ok well I didn't use a grill, or meat of course, but I still made an amazing summer BBQ meal!
What you need:
1 Package of tofu
Your favorite BBQ sauce
2 Slices of bread
Lettuce
What to do:
Slice the tofu about 1/2 an inch thick, and press it for about 30-45 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and then put the tofu in a baking dish, and cover it with BBQ sauce.
Let it marinade for at least 15 minutes, more if you would like.
Place the tofu strips on a baking sheet (sprayed with cooking spray) and coat again with BBQ sauce.
Bake for 20 minutes, then flip over the tofu strips, Add some more BBQ sauce, and bake for another 20 minutes.
Then assemble your sandwich with the bread, lettuce, tofu, and of course, a little more sauce.
I just have to start by saying that this sandwich was amazing! I literally thought about it all day at work, I couldn't wait to come home and make more for dinner! The tofu really took on the sweet and smokey BBQ flavor, since you know tofu takes on the flavor of whatever you cook it in like it's its job. Pressing the tofu really gave it a great, very firm texture. The crisp and cool lettuce balanced out the sandwich perfectly. I loved biting into the soft white bread, it really helped hold the sandwich together. This was the perfect summer dish. It was so satisfying, I think this could be the meal that would turn a tofu skeptic into a tofu lover!
Do you love BBQ tofu as much as I do? Are you going to try this sandwich?
Hey everyone. Today I wanted to show you an awesome panini that I have been eating non-stop the past few days. I love making paninis and I have been really loving my panini maker. It cooks my paninis really quickly, and to perfection! The cheese is always melty, and the bread is perfectly grilled. The best party of paninis is that you can either throw one together with whatever you have in the house, or you can carefully plan out what you are going to add. This panini was one of the planned varieties.
This panini was both inspired by this recipe, and The Melting Pot. My favorite Melting Pot course is the cheese course. Ben and I usually get the fondue made of cheddar cheeses, and I am obsessed with dipping in those green apples. When I saw that panini recipe on Panini Happy, I knew I had to try it!
What you need:
2 slices of bread
Shredded cheddar cheese
Half of a green apple
Spicy brown mustard
What to do:
While your press is heating up, cut your apple in half. I wrapped up the extra half and put it away for tomorrow's panini. Then cut the apple in slices.
Spread on the mustard on one slice of bread, and place the apple slices on top.
Pile on the cheddar cheese shreds, and place the second slice of bread on top.
Put it all of the panini press and grill until you get nice brown grill lines.
The hot, juicy apple really gave this sandwich a meaty bite, which is nice in a meatless sandwich. You might think the apple would be too sweet for a lunch panini, but the sharpness of the cheddar, and the spicy mustard helped to cut the sweetness of the apple. I just loved the melty cheese, and the crispy bread!
Green apples and cheddar are just a perfect marriage!
I just loved this panini, I can't wait to make it again. Or maybe go to the melting pot, which ever comes first.
Do you love cheddar and apples like I do? Are you going to make this panini?
Hey everyone, I hope you all had a nice week and are enjoying your weekend. I just finished my first week of work. I can't say its fun, but its going really well and I'm enjoying it so far. Being back at work also means packing lunches. I have been scoping my Pinterest pins for perfect lunches for work. I came across Amuse Your Bouche's creamy chickpea salad sandwiches.
What you need:
2 Cans of chickpeas (I only had one in the photo, sowwy!)
1 Cucumber
6 tsp Mayonnaise
Pepper
Garlic powder
Basil
Fresh spinach leaves
Slices of bread
What do to:
Drain the liquid out of the cans of chickpeas and dump them in a big bowl. Chop up the cucumber in small pieces and add them to the chickpeas. Mix in the mayo, pepper, garlic, and basil until everything is evenly coated.
That's it! Just scoop a big spoonful on some bread and add a few spinach leaves.
I was a little skeptical of trying this at first because I really am not a fan of mayo, but adding in the spices made it a creamy and delicious dressing! I thought that little bit of mayo wouldn't be enough, but it was actually the perfect amount. Every chickpea and cucumber was perfectly coated, and the mayo flavor wasn't super strong. The only downside is this sandwich was incredibly messy. After about 2 bites, almost all of the chickpeas had fallen out the other side. I ended up taking a handful of the spinach leaves and a few scoops of the salad and mixing them together in a bowl and eating with a fork and some bread on the side. I am so happy I tried this. I can't wait to make it again!
Do you want to try making this chickpea salad sandwich?
Hello everyone! This marks a special post for a few reasons. First, this is my first post that I am writing from my new apartment in Virginia! Moving away from home was one of the hardest things that I have ever done, but each day that I get settled in my new place, the easier it gets.
This is also the first post that I am going to show you food I made in my brand new kitchen, on my brand new plates, with my brand new panini press. My dad's girlfriend gave Ben and I a panini press for a housewarming gift, but since Ben was going to use it to cook his meaty foods, the panini press was basically just a gift for me. Ahh, the perks of living with your boyfriend!
I had never used a panini press before, but I was too excited to open it up and start using it that I decided to forgo the instructions and just wing it. We had just had vegetarian tacos for dinner, so I decide to put the leftovers together and make my first Southwestern panini.
What you need:
2 Slices of bread
Salsa
Avocado
Mexican blend cheese
What to do:
Start by cutting your avocado in half and opening it to remove the pit. Scoop out half or the meat and press it to one slice of bread.
Layer on a few spoonfuls of salsa and top with lots of cheese. Add the other slice of bread on top and its time to press!
I was really proud of my first panini! The bread was perfectly cooked with the perfect amount of crunch that matched with the creaminess of the avocado. The salsa and the Mexican cheese gave it that Southwestern flavor.
I loved how beautifully melted the cheese was. This tasted just like it was made in a little sandwich shop!
I decided to take the other half of the avocado and add it to a little salad on the side.
I really loved making my first panini. It was so much fun finding ingredients to add and it looked so cute. I am so excited to try even more combinations!
Do you like making your own paninis? What kind should I try next?
