Cheesy Bell Pepper & Herb Quiche

We had out of town guests come in late last night, so before they arrived I made a quiche to reheat in the morning for breakfast. Perfect. I can't believe I've never made a quiche before. Ridiculously easy and this one tastes amazing! It is certainly a great base and you can change up the vegetables however you like!

Cheesy Bell Pepper & Herb Quiche
original recipe from Woman's Day

• 1 refrigerated rolled pie crust or your own 9 inch crust
• 1 large onion, roughly chopped
• 1 bell pepper, roughly chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 4 large eggs
• 3/4 cups whole milk
• 1/2 cup sour cream, reduced fat
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Fit the pie crust into and up the sides of a 9-inch pie plate; fold the edge of dough underneath itself to create a thicker 1/2-inch border that rests on the lip of the plate and crimp as desired. Using a fork, prick the bottom of the crust. Place on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until lightly golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove, let cool slightly and reduce oven heat to 375 degrees F.
2. Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add the pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until just tender, 3 to 4 minutes more. Stir in the garlic and cook for 1 minute; remove from heat.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, sour cream, nutmeg, and salt and pepper. Stir in the parsley and Cheddar.
4. Scatter the onion–bell pepper mixture over the bottom of the crust. Pour the egg mixture on top and bake until set and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Let rest for 5 minutes. Serve with a salad, if desired. 

This could also easily be frozen and saved for another day!  

Slow Cooker Chicken & Cheater Dumplings

This recipe comes from my dear friend and cousin, Allison.  It's actually Carl's cousin's wife, or as I usually say, Cam's bff's mom.  :)  It is the perfect pick me up when you are sick or on a cool fall day.  Luckily it was just the latter we were working with today!
 
 This is just slightly modified from her version

Slow Cooker Chicken & Cheater Dumplings

4 boneless/skinless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons of butter
1 (10.75 oz) can of cream of chicken soup
1 (10.75 oz) can of cream of celery soup
3 1/2 cups of chicken broth (If you use low-sodium, you will just want to add salt to taste)
1 onion, finely diced
1 cup celery, diced-
1 1/2 cup carrots, diced
Pepper to taste- about 2 tsp

*As for the dumplings… You can make your own dumplings, or use 1 (10 oz) package of refrigerated biscuit dough, torn into small pieces
 
1. Excluding the biscuits,  put all ingredients in a slow cooker on low for 8 hours or high for 4.
2. About 60-90 minutes before serving, remove chicken and pull into pieces and return to the soup mixture, place the torn biscuit dough in and cook until the dough is no longer raw in the center.

Menu Planning Monday

One thing I have been doing, just not sharing, is my meal planning.  I don't know what we would do without it.  Well, I do know.  We'd spend probably twice as much on groceries and throw out a lot of unused stuff.  Oh and my favorite, I'd be whining at 4p that I didn't know what to make for dinner and wasting a lot of energy by staring into the fridge.  Anyway, if after reading those last couple of sentences you were thinking "Is she actually talking about me?" then maybe meal planning is something you could give a try!

Monday: Slow Cooker Chicken & Dumplings (recipe up soon!)
Tuesday: Cubed Steak with Mashed Potatoes and Gravy & Steamed Vegetables
Wednesday: Potato Leek Soup & Salads
Thursday: Baked Seasoned Salmon, Baked Potatoes & Steamed Vegetables
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: Panko Shrimp & Vegetable Fried Rice
Sunday: Out with friends

Menu Planning Monday

Sunday: Baked Macaroni & Cheese
Monday: Chicken Pot Pie (from the freezer)
Tuesday: Spaghetti & Salads
Wednesday: Chicken Fajitas
Thursday: Florentine Shells & Salads
Friday: Jalapeno Chicken & Rice Pilaf with Asparagus
Saturday: Birthday Party (Pizza)

Lunch: Ham & Swiss Sandwiches, PB&J, Potato Soup (from the freezer), bananas, cuties, Goldfish crackers, salads

Breakfast: Toast with jam, cereal, bananas, fruit smoothies, yogurt

Cilantro Lime Chicken Wraps

I saw this recipe on Life as We Know It, and she found it, where else but, on Pinterest!




In a slow cooker, mix together:

• One 24-ounce jar medium or mild salsa
• Juice from one lime
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• One 1.25-oz. package taco seasoning
• 2 jalapeno peppers, finely chopped (optional)
• Add 4-6 thawed chicken breasts, cover with salsa mixture, and cook for 6 hours on low, or 4 hours on high.

You can eat the chicken plain served with tortilla strips and sour cream, but I chose to do it a little differently.  I served the chicken on tortillas (I like to fry mine for about 10 seconds a side each in a lightly sprayed fry pan on medium)  Add toppings like sour cream, shredded cheese and lettuce.
Top with sour cream/crushed tortilla chips to garnish.

My Happy Meals: Frozen Fruit Smoothie

I love smoothies.  Freaking love them.  But I've never been able to create one I like at home as much as when I buy one.  Until now.  You should know I don't like yogurt based smoothies.  I'm and ice and fruit kind of gal.  If you share my affinity for ice and fruit smoothies, check this one out!

Ingredients:
3 Cups of your favorite frozen fruit- I use a Dole blend of strawberries, pineapple, mango & peaches
3/4 C Orange/Mango/Peach Juice- it's by Dole by the regular orange juice
1/2 C Water
1 Ripe Banana

Blend all the ingredients in a blender until you reach a smooth consistency.  If you like it sweeter, use more juice, or less sweet, use more water.


Yield: 2 Smoothies

My Happy Meals: Baked Swiss Chicken

(In an effort to make my blogging life easier, you'll be getting all updates through My Happy House now!)

Carl grew up eating Swiss Chicken.  I had it for the first time a couple weeks ago.  I'm a big fan of easy casseroles like this for busy nights.  They come together quickly with little prep and can please all of the palettes.  Serve it with some steamed veggies, and dinner is done! 

Ingredients

• 2-3 large skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into 3 portions (cut the thin section into one piece, and slice the larger section in half to create to two thin cutlets)
• 4 slices Swiss cheese
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 (6 ounce) package dry bread stuffing mix- I used Sage Stove Top
• 1/2 cup melted butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. Arrange chicken breasts in the baking dish. Place one slice of Swiss cheese on top of each chicken breast. Combine cream of chicken soup and milk in a medium bowl, and pour over chicken breasts. Sprinkle with stuffing mix. Pour melted butter over top.
3. Bake 50-55 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear.  

 
 adapted from 

Cherry Nut Trail Mix

Inside the party favors for the adults, or CAMp counselors if you will, were homemade hot chocolate packets (nothing new around these parts) and a packet of homemade trail mix.  You can hardly call this a recipe, but I'm not really sure what else to call it.  It was my first time coming up with a trail mix, and I just mixed it until I felt I had a good thing going on :)  Enjoy!

This is just the basic ratio, but feel free to halve or multiply as needed.

3 cups peanuts
2 cups cashews
1 cup dried cherries
1 cup craisins
1 cup almonds
1/2 c dark chocolate morsels

Um, mix it together.  Now you have Cherry Nut Trail Mix :)

Happy CAMper Birthday Party!

MY baby. My BABY. My itty, bitty, teeny, tiny baby turned 1 yesterday. Yep. 1 Whole Year Old. I'll save the tears for my pillow, and instead share with you the celebration part. The part that helped this entertaining loving momma look past the fact that we were entertaining because my baby is now a toddler.

Months ago, I was trying to come up with a theme of sorts. I thought the whole "Winter ONEderland" thing was adorable, but probably better suited for a girl. Back to the drawing board, and it dawned on me. Let's have a CAMping party. And it began. I am certainly not the first one to have a camping themed party, because as soon as I started searching I was bombarded with tons of cute ideas. I do believe, as far as the Internet goes, that I was the first person to have a CAMping party though, and that is where my creative intellectual property ends :)

I will warn you. It's time for photo overload. I am going to keep the dialogue to a minimum or this will, seriously, be the longest post in Blogger history.  Please feel free to ask any detail questions in the comments or the FB page!  :)

The Menu

• CAMping Chili
• CAMping Corn Chowder
• Baked Potatoes
• Potato Bar
• Fresh Cut Vegetables & Dip
• Dirt Pudding Cups
• Dirt Cupcakes
• S'Mores Bars
• Ants on a Log
• Bug Juice (Punch)
• Canteen Water (Punch)
• Bottled Water
• Assorted Beer
• Coffee

Weekend Prior: All decor and favors were completed

Thursday Prior: Cupcakes were baked

Friday: Chili and Chowder were made and refrigerated.  Dirt cups made and refrigerated.  S'mores Bars made and refrigerated.  Set up was started.

Day of: Cupcakes frosted, punch made, ants on a log made, all food was set up.

 

Kids received a "hiking bandana" with candy, homemade hot chocolate packets & Play-Doh

Adults received a take out box with homemade hot chocolate packets and homemade trail mix

I couldn't have been happier with how it all turned out.  We had about 50 guests, and just to tell you how big our families are, that accounted for no friends...at least that aren't family. :)  We are so fortunate to have had so many people come and celebrate with Cam!

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!!!

Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Wraps

I actually have made some new, yummy things the last couple months, but with the lack of natural light at dinner time, pictures are just about non-existent right now.

Exhibit A:

But even with no natural light and a crappy photo, this was worth blogging and when spring rolls around I'll update the post with a picture more worthy of this recipe. It's easy. Stupidly easy. It's so tasty. It will easily become a weekly meal for us. Much thanks to Mama G over at Growing Up Geeky for pointing me in the recipe's direction! I took that one and jazzed it up a bit, like the other Buffalo Chicken Wraps I've made in the past. But these ones are a bit healthier as there is no breading and it's not fried.

Ingredietns:
2 Large Chicken Breasts
1/2 c chicken broth
3/4 c buffalo sauce (I use Frank's Buffalo Sauce- you could easily use your favorite Buffalo Wild Wings sauce too!)
3/4 c ranch dressing
4 green onions, diced
1/4c cilantro, chopped finely
2 cups lettuce of your choosing, chopped
Blue Cheese Crumbles

Place chicken in a slow cooker and cover with broth. Cook on low for 6-7 hours or high for 4-5 hours. Remove the chicken, and shred with a fork. Discard the excess liquid. Put the chicken back in the slow cooker. Combine the buffalo sauce and 1/4c of the ranch dressing, stir into the chicken. Combine the green onions and cilantro in a small bowl.

Lastly , assemble the wraps- chicken, cheese, onion/cilantro mix, lettuce, and top with ranch dressing. You can also fry up the tortillas a bit. Heat a frying pan on med-high, spray with a bit of non-stick cooking spray and fry the tortillas one at a time for approximately 30 seconds a side.

adapted from Betty Crocker

Cherry & Apple Handpies

This is totally a cheater recipe, but they look so cute and rustic that it's easy to look the other way when I say I did nothing from scratch. Of course, you can substitute any of your favorite homemade recipes for dough or pie filling, just follow the general guidelines.

Need:

• 2 Rolls of refrigerated pie dough
• 1 Can of Pie filling (I used apple and cherry)
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 Tbsp water
• Crystal Sugar

Do:

1. Using very cold dough, unroll the dough and cut out six, circles, approximately 6 inches in diameter. I used a medium sized Pyrex bowl- works perfectly. You will have to re-roll the dough since you can only get 2 circles at a time from a 9 inch crust.
2. Place 2 Tbsp of pie filling in the center of each circle.
3. Whisk together the egg and water, and brush the mixture on the edges of the pie crust.
4. Prepare your egg wash by whisking together the egg yolk with a tablespoon of water. Brush egg wash on edge of dough circles, fold filled dough in half and seal the edges with a fork.
5. Chill hand pies for at least 30 minutes before baking.
6. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
7. Remove pies from refrigerator and brush with remaining egg wash. Sprinkle on crystal sugar and cut a small slit in the top of each pie to let out steam.
8. Bake about 20-25 minutes. When done, pies should be golden brown and flaky.
9. Cool to room temperature before serving. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Yield 6 Handpies

Adapted From

I'm linking up with The How To Mommy for Tasty Thursday!

Simple Apple Pancakes

This is another one of those "hardly a recipe" type deals. I've made apple pancakes before, but not quite like this. This one just seems genius. I spotted it on...wait for it...Pinterest. The Holy Grail. Anyway, it's simple.

1. Peel, core and slice an apple. I use an apple corer peeler slicer :)
2. Mix up your favorite pancake batter and heat up your griddle.
3. Dip the individual apple slices right into the batter and place them on the hot griddle.
4. Cook as you would a pancake.
5. Enjoy.

Crispy Chicken Over Creamy Pasta

I found this recipe over at Jamie Cooks It Up. I was intrigued by the new Philly Cooking Cremes, but the only review I had heard was a bad one. This recipe sounded tasty, and I wanted to give it a try myself. I was nervous, but there was no need to be. It was delicious and fairly simple to pull together for a weeknight meal. I'll definitely make it again and am interested in trying some of the other Cooking Cremes too!


Time: 45 minutes
Yield: 6 servings
Recipe from Jamie Cooks It Up!

3 large chicken breasts
5 C corn flakes
3/4 C flour
1/2 t salt
1/2 C milk
6 T olive oil
1 12 oz package bowtie noodles (farfalle)

Sauce:
1 10 oz container Philadelphia Cooking Cream (Italian Cheese and Herb Flavor)
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 C chicken broth
1/2 C milk
fresh parsley, chopped (optional)

1. In a small food processor crush the corn flakes into crumbs.
2. Add the 1/2 t salt to the 3/4 C flour. Stir to combine.
3. Place the flour, milk and crushed cornflakes each into their own separate pan. Loaf pans work well for this. If you don't have three loaf pans, do not dismay. You could use pie tins, or round cake pans...what ever works for you.
4. Place your chicken breasts in a gallon sized Ziploc bag and seal the top.
Pound the chicken flat with a meat mallet. You will really be thankful for the Ziploc bag in this step. Who wants a bunch of chicken guts flying around their kitchen? Not me...that's who.
5. Take a pair of sharp kitchen scissors and cut each breast in half.
6. Dredge the chicken in the flour. Be sure it gets covered on both sides.
Lay the floured chicken onto a small cookie sheet and slide the sheet into the freezer. Let it hang out there for about 5 minutes.
7. Start cooking your pasta.
8. Remove the chicken from the freezer and dredge each piece in the milkand then immediately into the corn flake crumbs. Again, be sure both sides are covered well.
9. Add the olive oil to a hot skillet.
10. Carefully lay each chicken piece into the hot oil. Sprinkle with a little bit of salt and pepper. Cook over medium high heat for about 5 minutes....
or until the underside of each piece is nice and golden brown. Turn the pieces over. If the bottom of the pan is dry add just a bit more olive oil to the side of the pan. Swirl the pan around a bit to let the oil flow to all sides.
11. Cover the pan and reduce the heat to medium. Let the chicken cook for about 7 more minutes, being careful not to burn the bottoms. Burned bottoms are not advised. In any shape or form. Thank you.
12. When your chicken has been cooked through remove it from the pan and place it on a plate. Cover with tin foil.
13. Into the same pan pour your broth. Philly Cooking Creme, Cream of Chicken, and milk. Whisk the sauce around and let it get all warm and bubbly. Should only take about 3 minutes.
14. Slice your chicken into strips and serve over your cooked pasta and sauce. Garnish with chopped parsley if you choose.
Enjoy

Baked Potato Soup

This isn't the first time I've made this recipe. It isn't even the second. It might be the third. I can't remember. Anyway, I've made it quite a few times, and every single time, Carl gets disappointed when it's gone. You might think, "Well gee Molly, just make a double batch!" And to that I'd say I was already ahead of you, and I make triple batches :/ It's delicious. It's the perfect soup for these cool fall days and I, too, get sad when it is all gone!

I've adapted a bit since that original recipe, so these are actually my instructions.

Ingredients

• 3 turkey bacon strips, diced
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3-4 tablespoons all-purpose flour (more if you like it thick, less if you like it thinner)
  
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 2 large baked potatoes, peeled and cubed
  
• 1 cup half-and-half cream
• 1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce

Optional (I don't use the following, I'm more of a purist :) )

• Shredded Cheddar cheese
• Minced fresh parsley

Directions

1. In a stockpot, cook bacon until crisp (I spray my pan with a little cooking spray since the Turkey Bacon doesn't produce grease). Set bacon aside. Saute onion and garlic in the same pot until tender. Stir in flour, salt, basil and pepper; mix well. Gradually add broth. Bring to boil; boil and stir for 2 minutes. Add the potatoes, cream and hot pepper sauce; heat through but do not boil. I add the bacon in at this point and stir, but you can also just top the soup with the crispy bacon.

P.S. I apparently cannot photograph potato soup. I promise, I tried. Twice. I gave up.

Buffalo Chicken Tacos

We're 2 for 2 this week folks. Another one that's hitting the regular rotation list. I spotted these on Foodgawker thanks to Mrs. Regueiro's Plate. I modified it just slightly, but I'll note what I did differently below in purple. Both Carl and I loved these, and it was a quick process. This is a great weeknight dinner!

Ingredients:

• 1 pound chicken breasts, skinless, boneless, cut into 1 inch pieces
• ⅓ cup flour
• 3 tablespoon cornstarch
• ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• ⅓ cup buffalo wing sauce (Frank’s Buffalo Wing) , plus extra for garnishment
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 10 6-inch yellow corn tortillas

Toppings:

• Shredded butter Lettuce
• Diced onions mixed with cilantro- 1 small onion with about 2 Tbsp of chopped cilantro
• Avocado slices- I omitted
• Ranch dressing
• Green onions, sliced thinly
• Blue Cheese Crumbles- how do you not have blue cheese with buffalo?? You don't! :)

Preparation:

Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat.

In a large bowl, combine cornstarch, flour, cayenne, and garlic powder. Season the chicken pieces with pepper, then dredge in the flour mixture.

Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the Dutch oven and once it gets hot, add chicken and cook on both sides – about 3 to 4 minutes per side. Once the chicken is done, set it aside in a bowl and toss with ⅓ cup buffalo wing sauce.

Use the skillet from the chicken and fry up the tortillas on medium for about 10 seconds a side.

Assemble 10 tacos, dividing the toppings evenly among each taco.

Chopped Autumn Salad

You know when you find a recipe, and you think "Oh my goodness, I'm making this every night!"? Yeah, that happened tonight. I won't actually be making it every night, but it most certainly will be making it's way into our regular rotation.

Little story before we get to the recipe though, you can skip it if you don't like reading. I don't mind. Something really weird happened with this recipe/website. When I meal planned on Friday, it included chicken. But today, when I went to make it, gasp, no chicken. My dinner went from a main dish to a side dish, poof! :/ Oops. But no fear! I just sauteed a chicken breast seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic, sliced it and laid it on top. We'll call that a main course. Delish! (I'm still trying to figure out how I thought there was chicken in this salad...)

Ingredients
*6 to 8 cups chopped romaine lettuce
*2 medium pears, chopped
*1 cup dried cranberries
*1 cup chopped pecans
*8 slices thick-cut bacon, crisp-cooked and crumbled
*4 to 6 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
*Poppy seed Salad Dressing (I like T. Marzetti)
*Balsamic Vinaigrette (I like Newman's Own Light Balsamic Vinaigrette)

Instructions
*On a large platter, combine the lettuce, pears, cranberries, pecans, bacon and feta cheese. Drizzle generously with poppy seed dressing, followed by some of the balsamic vinaigrette. (I would estimate that I used about a cup of dressing: 70 percent poppy seed dressing and 30 percent balsamic vinaigrette) If you prefer your salad to have more dressing, feel free to experiment with the combination.

*I did not edit any of the recipe write up from the original source, however, I agree with all that she said. The only difference was that I only needed about 3/4 cup of dressing- 1/4 balsamic and 1/2 poppy seed. I also swapped dried cherries and walnuts in, just because that's what we usually use and had on hand. The chicken was most certainly a welcome addition, but it's delicious either way. I used 8 cups of romaine, and there was enough for 4 entree sized salads.

Makeshift Chicago Dogs

WARNING: This hot dog is an imposter! It is NOT a true Chicago Dog. You've been warned.

I love, love, loooooooooooooove Chicago Hot Dogs. The ingredients seem so strange together, but something about them just works. Delicious. Problem is, some of the ingredients are hard to come by, especially outside of Chicago. I made what I had work. You can try it too. :)

• Turkey Dog - It's supposed to be all beef :/
• Tomato, sliced
• Pickle Spear
• Pepperocini Pepper, sliced in half- these are supposed to be the very hard to attain sport peppers
• Onions, chopped
• Ground celery mixed with Kosher Salt - supposed to be celery salt
• Poppyseed Bun
• Mustard

Just assemble the dog as shown above. One thing to note is that poppyseed buns can be hard to come by. I just sprinkled some seeds on a plate, brushed the buns with some melted butter and dipped the buns to coat. Worked alright in my opinion!

This is no true Chicago dog, but it definitely works in a pinch when the craving is too much to fight!

Buffalo Chicken Macaroni & Cheese

I love all things buffalo. It's a delicious flavor. My good friend, Lindsay, sent me this recipe and said I simply must try it. So I did, because I always follow directions. Did we love it? Eh. Was it tasty, absolutely. I think it was a little more rich than I expected. I was hoping for more spice. It was then that Lindsay told me she had doubled the Frank's. Ah....that would definitely help! So, without trying it that way, I hesitantly suggest you double the Frank's.

*Little tip, if you want a quick way to shred chicken, the food processor works in a pinch. Just be cautious with it so you don't puree the chicken. A few quick pulses is all it needs.

Ingredients

• 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for the dish
• Kosher salt
• 1 pound elbow macaroni
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 stalks celery, finely chopped
• 3 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3/4 cup hot sauce (preferably Frank's)
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons dry mustard
• 2 1/2 cups half-and-half
• 1 pound yellow sharp cheddar cheese, cut into 1-inch cubes (about 3 1/2 cups)
• 8 ounces pepper jack cheese, shredded (about 2 cups)
• 2/3 cup sour cream
• 1 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
• 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil; add the pasta and cook until al dente, about 7 minutes. Drain.

Meanwhile, melt 3 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chicken and garlic and cook 2 minutes, then add 1/2 cup hot sauce and simmer until slightly thickened, about 1 more minute.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the flour and mustard with a wooden spoon until smooth. Whisk in the half-and-half, then add the remaining 1/4 cup hot sauce and stir until thick, about 2 minutes. Whisk in the cheddar and pepper jack cheeses, then whisk in the sour cream until smooth.

Spread half of the macaroni in the prepared baking dish, then top with the chicken mixture and the remaining macaroni. Pour the cheese sauce evenly on top.

Put the remaining 2 tablespoons butter in a medium microwave-safe bowl and microwave until melted. Stir in the panko, blue cheese and parsley. Sprinkle over the macaroni and bake until bubbly, 30 to 40 minutes. Let rest 10 minutes before serving.

Tomato Sandwiches with Basil Mayonnaise

Carl wanted a tomato sandwich today.  I had no tomatoes, but we were about to leave for the Farmer's Market.  Sounded like a win to me.  I bought some heirloom tomatoes since mine are not cooperating.  Then he took it up a notch and asked if I could make some sort of basil mayonnaise.  Sure!  Why not?  Ina had a perfectly acceptable sounding one, and I had all the ingredients, including basil from the garden, so I got to work. 

Uh, yum!!!!  We'll be using a lot of this, and if I can figure out how to freeze it, I will.  Otherwise, I'll just freeze my basil and use it all year long!  Too bad heirloom tomatoes aren't in season all year long.  That would rock.  I just used some English Toasting Bread I had bought at the market last week.  Carl had two sandwiches...that should tell you something.

Ingredients

• 1 cup good mayonnaise
• 10 to 15 basil leaves, chopped
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon good olive oil
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 2 slices country loaf bread
• 1 heirloom or Israeli tomato, sliced

Directions

Whisk together the mayonnaise, basil, salt, pepper, lemon juice, olive oil and garlic. Spread the mayonnaise mixture on the top of 2 slices of bread. Place the sliced tomato on top of one

bread slice. Place the remaining slice of bread, mayonnaise side down, on top of the tomato. Cut the sandwich in half and serve.

Buffalo Chicken Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Uh yeah. If you like buffalo sauce, go make this. I'm not saying anything else.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup cooked shredded chicken, warm
• 1 tablespoon hot sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon mayo (optional)
• 1 tablespoon carrot, grated
• 1 tablespoon celery, sliced
• 1 tablespoon green or red onion, sliced or diced
• 1 tablespoon blue cheese, room temperature, crumbled
• 1/4 cup cheddar cheese, room temperature, grated
• 1 tablespoon butter.

Directions

1. Mix the chicken, hot sauce, mayo, carrot, celery and onion in a small bowl.
2. Assemble sandwich and grill until golden brown and the cheese has melted, about 2-3 minutes per side.

Notes: I omitted the celery and mayo. I also used a butter substitute for the bread.

Source