Oat Bread Tartine

My Hearty Oat Bread really makes this open faced sandwich substantial enough for a light lunch and healthier than a slice of regular sandwich bread.  I give the bread a good toasting before topping it with fresh veggies and a poached egg.

Oat Bread Tartine

1 slice oat bread (*recipe follows)
1 slice swiss cheese
thinly sliced zucchini
thinly sliced red pepper
lettuce
1 poached egg
salt and pepper
butter (optional)
Slice, and toast oat bread.  Spread with butter, if desired.  Add a slice of cheese while bread is hot.  Add sliced veggies and lettuce.  Top with a poached egg and season with salt and freshly ground pepper.

*Oat Bread
adapted from Kathleen's Bake Shop Cookbook
3/4 cup brown sugar, not packed
1 tablespoon salt
1 3/4 cups old fashioned oats
3 cups boiling water
2 tablespoon butter
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/4 cup milk
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons wheat germ (optional)
1/4 cup flax seed (optional)
Place brown sugar, salt, and oats in a large bowl.  Pour boiling water over mixture, stir, and let stand for 30 minutes or until water is luke warm.  In a small bowl, sprinkle yeast over milk and let stand 5 minutes.  Add this to the cooled oat mixture and stir.  Combine flours, wheat germ, and flax seed.  Add half of it to the oat mixture and stir with a wooden spoon.  Slowly add remaining flour until all of it is fully incorporated.  Cover and let rest in a warm place until doubled in size, 1-2 hours.   I like to turn the oven on for a minute and then turn it off, this creates a warm draft free environment for the dough.
When the dough has doubled in bulk, punch it down and divide into two halves.  Place in greased loaf pans (sprinkle tops with extra oats, if desired), cover them with plastic wrap and place back in the warm oven to rise for 1 hour.  Preheat oven to 425°F and bake bread for 10 minutes.  Reduce oven temperature to 350°F and bake another 40-45 minutes.  Remove from heat, and turn loaves out onto a cooling rack immediately.  I tip mine on their sides to cool.   We normally eat one loaf and wrap the other cooled loaf in plastic wrap and then foil and store it in the freezer for later.

Chicken Noodle Soup with Homemade Stock

This chicken noodle soup makes full use of a leftover rotisserie chicken.  The bones create a rich and flavorful stock and any leftover meat is added to the soup at the end to leave the meat tender and succulent.  The next time you buy a rotisserie chicken make sure to put all of it to use!

Chicken Noodle Soup

stock
1 leftover rotisserie chicken
1 onion
2 stalks celery
2 carrots
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon peppercorns

soup
1 onion, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
4 carrots, peeled and sliced
4-6 ounces egg noodles
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
salt and pepper

Remove any remaining meat from the chicken and set aside.  Place chicken carcass and any remaining juices in a stock pot and add 12 cups of water, salt and peppercorns.  Next add celery, onion, and carrots.  Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for 2-3 hours.  Remove form heat, strain and discard bones and vegetables.

In a large pot heat a bit of oil.  Add
onion and celery and sauté over medium heat until translucent.  Add carrot, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper, and thyme.  Stir to coat and then add 8-9 cups of stock.  Bring to a rolling boil and then add noodles.  Cook for 6-8 minutes and then reduce heat to a simmer and add shredded chicken meat.  Remove form heat once chicken is heated through and serve.

Hot Ham & Cheese Sandwiches

This tasty sandwich is a breeze to put together but it feels dressed up enough to serve for a get together with friends or family.  The first time I made these I followed this recipe for ham and cheese sliders, but I used mini potato rolls.  They were amazing!  They were warm and nicely crisp on the bottoms and they were perfect for our playgroup lunch.  I think the mini version would also make a great 2-3 bite appetizer.  My only problem was that they were not filling enough, so I used torta bread that I had bought from Costco to make a quick sandwich for my lunch the next day.  It was so delicious, much more filling, and it really hit the spot.  I think an entire tray of these would be the perfect food for our next game day meal.

Hot Ham & Cheese Sandwiches
serves 4

4 torta sandwich rolls
12 slices deli ham
4-8 slices swiss cheese
mayonnaise or miracle whip
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
2 teaspoons poppy seeds
1-2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce

Line a large baking sheet with foil.  Cut rolls and place bottoms side by side on sheet pan.  Layer the meat and cheese on each roll.  Spread miracle whip or mayo (or a combo of the two like the original recipe) on the inside of the tops and place on rolls.  Melt butter in a small saucepan (or microwave in a pyrex measuring cup) and then whisk in remaining ingredients.  Brush butter mixture over the tops of each of the sandwiches, you do not need to use all of it, and then cover tray with foil.  Bake for 350° for 15 minutes.  Uncover and bake another 5 minutes.  Serve with napkins!

Salad in a Jar

Salad in a Jar is a terrific idea that I came across and wanted to share with everyone.  Lately I've found myself making up a few jars on Sunday night and eating them throughout the week.  I have found that they hold up really well in the fridge and last for 3-4 days. I look forward to lunch all week long when I know I have a fresh salad waiting for me each day.

Salad in a Jar  
Layer your favorite salad ingredients by placing the wettest ingredients toward the bottom of each jar and placing the lettuces on top.  It is best to use a wide mouth canning jar so you can easily get everything in and out.  When you are ready to eat just dump your salad onto a salad plate and top with your favorite dressing, an egg, croutons or Chow Mein noodles (like me) and enjoy.

Some of my favorite ingredients are:
Beans : kidney, pinto, or chick peas are my favorites
Green Onion or Red Onion
Cucumber
Red or Green Pepper
Carrot
Hard boiled Eggs (Leave the egg whole and place it on top of the lettuces.)
Feta cheese ( Place on top of the lettuces)
Ham
Cold Grilled Chicken
Bacon

There are no excuses when it comes to Salad in a Jar...even my kids can put them together with just a bit of supervision. As they like to say "Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy!"

Grilled Ham and Cheese Sandwich with Apples and Spinach

Here is a fun spin on a regular ham and cheese sandwich.  I added Granny Smith apple slices and spinach.  A smear of dijon mustard and a drizzle of honey add the perfect amount of zing to this sandwich.  Add as much cheese as you like, I went easy on the cheese for myself, but it is more decadent with 2-3 slices of cheese melting and oozing out everywhere.

Grilled Ham and Cheese Sandwich with Apples and Spinach
2 slices bread
4-5 thinly sliced ham (or turkey)
2-4 slices swiss cheese
1/2 Granny Smith apple, sliced
spinach
dijon mustard
honey
butter

Layer the first piece of bread with mustard, a drizzle of honey, cheese, ham, apple, spinach, more cheese, and top with second slice of bread.  Heat a skillet over medium heat, melt a pat of butter and place sandwich on top.  Grill until browned and toasty on first side.  Add another pat of butter to pan when flipping sandwich and grill second side until browned.  Remove from pan and serve.

Pressed Sandwiches

Pressed Sandwiches are becoming one of my favorite foods this summer because they are easy to make, travel well, and feed a crowd.  A couple of weeks ago we made this rendition based on one I saw on this terrific blog.  It was delightful and super tasty, but I wanted to modify it for a few reasons. The ciabatta bread had a dense and very chewy crust after pressing which made it difficult to eat and it was on the salty side for us so we changed it up and the second time around we used a loaf of french bread, ham, mozzarella, salami, and pickles. I know it is not quite as fancy-pants of a sandwich, but it was super tasty and we just liked it more than the original.  Head over to the original post for a step by step tutorial.

Pressed Sandwich
1 loaf french bread
8 slices mozzarella cheese
1/4 pound salami
1/4 pound sliced ham
3 pickles, sliced lengthwise
salt and pepper
mustard-optional

Slice the loaf of french bread lengthwise and layer the bread with cheese followed by ham and then the salami.  Add the pickles on top of the salami and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Spread the top piece of bread with mustard, if using, and place on top of the pickles.  Wrap sandwich tightly in plastic wrap.  Place in fridge and then place enough hard cover books on top to cover sandwich.  Place a few large tin cans of something heavy, like tomatoes or beans, on top of the books and let rest for 4-24 hours.  Sandwich will keep for 2-3 days.

Bento Boxes

Years ago I came across a few blogs that focus in on bentos...Japanese style lunch boxes that are super cute. At the time I had just had my son and dreamed about making him cute appealing lunches to take to school. Fast forward 5 years and it's finally time for me to pack his first school lunch.
A few weeks ago I started to acquire a few tools to make fun bento boxes. The first thing I ordered was a book by a fellow blogger called Yum-Yum Bento Box. It has pictures of cute bento boxes and lots of ideas for creating your own unique lunches. While many of the lunches are centered around Japanese cuisine they show you lots of examples that will appeal to the American palette as well. My son happens to love sushi and chinese food in general, so this works quite well for our family.
I also ordered two very cute Bento boxes, a travel utensil kit, a few sandwich cutters and rice molds. It is really quite fun to browse through the bento sites and see just how many cute things there are out there for creating cute lunches. Who knew??
Today I filled the bento boxes with a small lunch/snack to take with us in the car while we were out. I wanted to get my son acquainted with the box before heading off to school so that he could see how to use it. I made a version of a rice caterpillar with fruit and veggies. It was super easy and it only took me about 15 minutes, but both of the kids were delighted with their lunches and gobbled up everything. For myself and my husband I made larger onigiri (rice balls), filled with ham and I folded a piece of nori (seaweed) over it to make it more traditional looking. I was really surprised by how tasty it was and the kids both said they liked it a lot.
My son is excited about his new lunch box and says he can't wait to eat at school. I'm happy that he is excited and hopefully it will make sending him off to kindergarten for the whole day a little easier. I can put a little extra love into his lunch box and let him know that I'm thinking about him even while he is away.

Check out a few of these bento sites for more inspiration.

Bento Lunch

Just Bento

Cute Obento

Yum Yum Bento Box Book

Broccoli Salad

I ate my first bowl of this broccoli salad when I was in college and I was instantly hooked. It is such an interesting combination of ingredients, but it all works wonderfully together. I have had it many many times since, but friends of ours recently made it with big chunks of cashews and I fell in love with it again!

Broccoli Salad

1 large head broccoli
1/2 cup bacon bits
1/2 cup red onion, chopped
1/2 cups dried cranberries or raisins
1/2 cup cashews
1 cup mayonnaise
2 T white vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Wash broccoli thoroughly and cut florets into bite-sized pieces. Place in a colander to dry for a few minutes. In a large bowl combine mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper. Whisk until smooth. Add all remaining ingredients to large bowl and stir to coat with dressing.

Chicken Gyros

These chicken gyros really hit the spot the other night. They were full of flavor and all the components work together really well. Warm, cool, soft, crisp. Yum! We liked them so much that I actually served them for a get together I hosted this week. This recipe has a few steps, but everything can be done ahead and assembled just before serving. I actually had everything on platters and everyone just helped themselves which made the meal easy and I didn't have to miss out on chatting since the prep work was all done.

Chicken Gyros

For the chicken:

2 lbs chicken tenders or boneless chicken thighs cut into long strips

2 lemons

salt

pepper

2 T thyme

2 cloves minced garlic

Juice lemons into a ziploc bag and then add in everything else. Zip the bag closed, turn the bag over a few times to thoroughly mix, and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours.

Grill chicken tenders until center is white.

Tzatziki Sauce

1 1/2 cups greek style yogurt

2 cucumbers

1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped dill

salt

pepper

2 cloves garlic, smashed to a paste

2 T olive oil

Peel, seed, and chop cucumbers in small chunks. Place cucumbers in a strainer set over a bowl. Add a few pinches of salt and stir cucumbers together. Let water drain for 30 to 45 minutes. Once drained, add everything to a large bowl and stir together. Place in fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Assemble Gyros:

6-8 flatbreads

sliced red onion

sliced tomato

crumbled feta cheese

lettuce

Grill flatbread until warm and toasty. Add grilled chicken and top with tzatziki sauce, and any toppings you like. Wrap in foil for easy handling and enjoy!

Barefoot Contessa Clam Chowder

This is another recipe adapted from Ina Garten. I love her style, her recipes, and cookbooks. They all have such honest, good food. The only thing is that some of her recipes call for much more fat (butter, usually) than I want to use. So, I normally cut it by quite a bit, and amazingly, the recipes still work and the food is still great. This chowder was the best, it beat all the chowder that we ate in Key West last week - hands down. Try it, it is easy and really tasty. Toast a piece of ciabatta with some olive oil, salt, and pepper and you'll love it even more!

Clam Chowder

adapted from Barefoot Contessa Family Style by Ina Garten

3/4 stick of butter

1 large onion, chopped

2 stalks celery, diced

3 carrots, diced

3 potatoes, diced

3 sprigs fresh thyme

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

3 cups clam juice

1/4 cup flour

2 cups milk

1 small can chopped clams - drained

Melt half the butter in a large pot over medium. Add onions and saute for 6-8 minutes. Add celery, carrots, potatoes, and thyme. Continue cooking for another 8-10 minutes until vegetables are starting to soften. Add clam juice and simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes or until potatoes are cooked through.

In a separate pan melt remaining butter and whisk in flour. Cook a few minutes to make sure the raw flour is cooked a bit. Add a cup or so of hot broth to flour mixture and then whisk everything back into large pot of hot liquid. Cook until thick and then add in the milk and clams. Leave on low for a couple of minutes or until clams are cooked through.

Foccacia Panini

Nothing could be easier than making sandwiches. We have our fair share of sandwiches around here, but I love to dress up our plain ham and cheese and make it something special. Sometimes we grill them, add special sauces, or extra veggies. Today, however, I went to the grocery store and picked up a loaf of foccacia bread to go with our sandwich fixings. I didn't think much of it, I just figured it would make our dinner a little more interesting. So, when my husband bit into his panini-that took just minutes to prepare-and went on and on about how much he liked it, I was surprised. After I sat down and gave it a try I was pleased with myself and my bread selection as well. These were truly tasty sandwiches. These were out of the ordinary and quite delicious.
These ham and provolone sandwiches were good. The bread had crisped up nicely in the panini press and they had a good bite to them. I also liked the fact that I could buy one round of foccacia, make one big sandwich, and share it between us. I'm pretty sure we're going to be having these often. They will definitely be replacing the regular old sandwiches and would be a great option for serving to lunch guests. I can't wait to play with other meat and cheese combinations.

Foccacia Panini

1 loaf foccacia, sliced

deli meats and cheeses of your choice

olive oil

Drizzle a little olive oil on the insides of the bread. Assemble the sandwich to your liking. Drizzle a tiny bit of olive oil on the outside of the bread. Place in a preheated panini press until browned and crisp. (If you do not have a panini press, you could use a griddle, grill pan, or saute pan and either place a heavy cast iron pan on top of the sandwich or use a tin-foil wrapped brick on top of the sandwich to press it down.)

Reuben Sandwiches

Here's our second round of reuben sandwiches in the past couple of weeks. You know it's good when you're craving it again and again.

Reuben

rye bread
1 cooked corned beef
sauerkraut
Russian, french, or thousand island dressing
baby swiss cheese
butter

We put a slice of cheese on each piece of bread. Then we layer in the meat (as much as you like), kraut, and a drizzle of the dressing. I melt a pat of butter in the pan and then add in the sandwiches. Flip when browned and serve with extra sauce for dipping. (We're all about the dipping around here!)