Tag Archives: grilled

Fancy Schmancy Grilled Cheese ~ Provolone, Goat, Prosciutto & Jam

Today is a perfect June Gloom-y Monday. No pressure to get out to the pool or the park, just temps in the low 70s and a work-around-the-house kind of day. I’m enjoying it because before too long, it’s going to really heat up around here.

Elliott spent the morning at Cooking Camp while Holden and I {ok, just me} whizzed through the house filling trash bags, getting piles ready to donate, vacuuming and throwing a couple loads of laundry in.

Feels so good to just get rid of STUFF. Ugh! So. Over. It.

On this wonderfully overcast and cool day, it only seemed fitting to light a candle ~ this has been my favorite to burn lately and sends off and ever so slight tropical scent making you think wish you were on an island far, far away sucking down a daiquiri with sand between your toes…

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{Yankee Candle, Paradise Spice ~ banana, vanilla, cinnamon & cloves}

Also, I think a nice warm grilled cheese fits the bill for lunch on a day like today.

I have a whole board on Pinterest just for grilled cheeses. I’ve yet to try any of them, but when I saw this one on IG, well….I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Thanks, Cameron, for sharing! It was amazing…..duh.

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What you need:

Loaf of sourdough bread

Slices of provolone cheese

Log of goat cheese {or already crumbled. I used plain, but an herbed one would be even more delish}

Prosciutto

Jam of choice {I used homemade peach, but strawberry, fig, apricot or blackberry would be fantastic}

Softened butter

What you do:

Lightly butter two slices of bread. Flip them over and spread some jam on both slices. Add crumbled goat cheese to one slice and a couple thin slices of provolone to the other. Lay some prosciutto {I used 2 slices} on top of the cheeses and make into a sandwich. Place buttered side down onto a pre-heated grill pan or panini press. Flip after a couple minutes or cook as your panini press directs.

Slice diagonally and ENJOY!

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It’s crispy, gooey, sweet & salty!

This sandwich will be your sunshine on a cloudy day.

Trust me.

Pollo Two Ways {a la Pinterest}

Lately I’ve been at a loss of what meals to prepare…trying to eat healthier, but keep the menu exciting.

I also haven’t been spending a lot of time on Pinterest, but remembered that I have oodles of recipes just waiting to be tested. I clicked around and was reminded of two which I made this weekend ~ both yummy and on the healthier side. Win. Win. At least in my book!

Crispy Grilled Southwest Burritos

 Suuuper yum….just used some PAM on my grill pan and they turned out crispy and perfect!

Tonight we tried Chicken Tamale Casserole from Cooking Light.

This, too, was delicious and different.

I served it on a little chopped romaine and garden tomato salad with this spiiiicy sauce as a dressing. If you can handle heat and you want a lo-cal dip, dressing or condiment, you need to make this. I’ve had the Pioneer Woman version {made with full mayo}, the reduced guilt version that I attempted {half mayo, half light sour cream and the juice of 2-3 limes} and Julie’s brilliant concoction {fat free greek yogurt and lime juice…and the chipotles in adobo, too, of course!}. I can tell you that I cannot tell the difference AT ALL in all three versions. Julie is a genius and did the math on the calorie count for us and all you need to know is go with GREEK!

This sauce can go on anything that you want to spice up ~ baked potatoes, sandwiches, eggs, tacos, burritos, salads, fresh veggies, nachos, fish, burgers, etc.

 Make some….it really is awesome at 7 calories a tablespoon.

{cutest [and spiciest] recipe card ever! again, via}

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Attempting some homemade peanut butter frozen yogurt this evening. I hope to be able to come back and share that recipe with you, too!

Hope you had a super summery weekend!

XO

Do You Know The Way To {Santa Fe}?

Once upon a time, there was a restaurant/bar in Seattle’s university district called Rain Dancer. I would eat there with my dad and sister when visiting the Pacific Northwest.

They had the most amazing sandwiches on their lunch menu, but my sis and I would always get the same thing ~ the Southwestern grilled cheese.

However, when I would place my order I would always call it the {Santa Fe} grilled cheese. The waiter always knew what I meant….

One time we went over for lunch, parked in the rear parking lot, walked up to the back door and…..gasp! The door was locked. We went to the front. Rain Dancer was no mas.

Sad, sad day.

I have been wanting to recreate this sammie for AWHILE now and this afternoon I finally did…

Brought back LOTS of memories.

This is a pic of Jay’s…he requested cheddar rather than the traditional pepper jack….gasp! I would have taken a picture of mine with the {proper} queso, however when I went to flip it in the pan, it got all jacked up and was no longer as photo worthy as this one. BUT it was still delish!

All you need is some sourdough bread, butter, black bean and corn salsa {just some black beans, corn, red onion, cilantro, cumin, salt & pepper, lime juice and a tad bit of olive oil}, tomato slices, avocado slices, and cheddar pepper jack cheese. Butter one side of each piece of bread, put on a slice {or two} of cheese, spoon on some of the salsa, add your tomato & avocado slices, put more cheese on top of that to act as glue to hold the whole thing together. Preheat your grill pan or skillet on medium and grill away! I put a lid over it to help with the melting process. Maybe 3-5 minutes on each side and you’re good to go.

You could most certainly add some turkey or use guacamole instead of sliced avocado. I thought about smashing the beans a little {kinda like refried beans} because they tend to spill out of the sandwich when grilling and flipping…

These would be great to make as minis for an appetizer of sorts, too.

SO yum!

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This is my 700th post!

Wow.

SEVEN HUNDY!

Two year bloggy anniversary is coming up on November 1st…I have a little giveaway in the works. Please check back soon for the deets!

Thanks for reading! I cherish each and every one of you!

{BIG hug!}

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Linking up over at Gingerbread ~ Sweet Saturday

Come on over and browse!

XO

Rocking the {Cedar} Plank

Sunday night din din…

Cedar plank salmon & tilapia tacos with honey-cumin and chipotle slaw, grilled romaine and corn salad with cilantro dressing.

Grilled peaches with vanilla ice cream for dessert!

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Jay cheated and used McCormick Grill Mates Baja Citrus to marinate the fish.

I just flaked the fish, added some honey-cumin & chipotle slaw and a little salsa:

Almost like Rubio’s!

{Next time we’re going to try small flour tortillas}

For the salad, I just cut a romaine heart lengthwise, sprayed with a little olive oil cooking spray and grilled for 2 minutes on each side. I added some grilled red pepper, onion and sweet white corn and topped with TJ’s cilantro dressing. {Have you tried this dressing? It’s in the refrigerated section and it’s remarkable. Thanks, Mom!}

This was our first “grilled salad” experience and it was delish. The lettuce still had plenty of crunch in case you were wondering about super soggy salad! Will definitely be grilling our rabbit food more often.

For dessert, I had some over-ripe peaches that we needed to eat up. I just added a tiny bit of water to a little brown sugar and glazed the halved, seeded peaches before Jay grilled them for a few minutes on each side. {No oil}

They paired perfectly with the vanilla ice cream I whipped up:

The grill still had some of the cedar plank smell on it so the dessert had a nice sweet, tart, smokey mix of flavors.

Grilled fruit rocks!

And so do cedar planks!

Check them out if you haven’t done so already. Perfect for poultry, shrimp and even lobster.

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I’ll leave you with a few other moments from our Sunday…

{Superchargerboy!}

Hopefully a sign of things to come this season…the Chargers being our superheroes IN the Superbowl!

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There was a 40-acre brush fire about 4-5 miles from us yesterday.

We were on our way to the pool and were stopped in our tracks by a couple Sheriffs and this helicopter taking water out of the pond at our clubhouse!

Craziness to watch!

There were two ‘copters that would take turns running water to the fire.

Those heli pilots are amazing….how they just put it down in the tightest of spots, grab the water and run!

Too cool.

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Watching ‘copters is hard work: