Sophistimom Tartines

I saw these on Sophistimom's blog a few years ago and made them not too long after that.  They are so delicious!

Granny Smith Tartines with Black Forest Ham and Brie

french bread
1 Granny Smith apple
6 oz Brie cheese
4 or 5 slices of Black Forest Ham

Preheat the oven to 400.  Then start slicing, first the bread.

And give the bread a nice little toast in the oven.

Now, the apple and cheese.

Now, you're ready to build.

Place them in the oven for 8-10 minutes.  And have a snack while you wait...with the dog looking longingly at your food.

When done, the cheese will be all melty and yummy-looking.

Enjoy!

Ham and Cheese Mac 'n' Cheese

So, I know I'm just about the worst blogger in the world since I never post on my blog, but hey, I'm a busy girl.  And Pinterest is my one Internet weakness that keeps me from just about everything else.

Anyway, I have something delicious to share.  However, I don't have a recipe- I made it up as I went along.  I have ingredients for you, though.  And I'll give you an estimate of how much I used.

Ham and Cheese Mac 'n' Cheese

1/4 c butter
4 tbsp. flour
5 or 6 slices of mild cheddar cheese
5 slices of ham, cubed
1/2 c milk
1- 1 1/2 c elbow macaroni pasta
1/2 c Panko bread crumbs

First start your water to boil for the pasta then once it's bubbling, add your pasta.

While that's cooking, start your sauce by melting your butter in a saucepan.

Then your going to make a roux by adding the flour to your melted butter.

It's going to thicken and darken quickly, so add the milk next and whisk well so it's not lumpy.

Now add the cheese.  I like cheddar and I use the real stuff not the processed cheese like Velveeta.

Salt and pepper to taste.

In this time your pasta has cooked, so drain it **I cook mine a little al dente**  Next, add the pasta to the sauce.

Now, add the cubed ham.  You can use the ham steak as well, I just happened to have the slices in the fridge, so I decided to use them.

Grab a baking dish, mine was a glass 8 x 8 dish, and spray it with a little cooking spray.

Pour in the mac 'n' cheese and spread it out.

Now, sprinkle the top with the Panko bread crumbs.  I love the Panko because they're light and just add a little crunch without any extra flavor.

Warm up the broiler and broil the mac 'n' cheese for about 5 minutes.  Yes, only 5 minutes!

Then enjoy!  And maybe have seconds... and thirds ;)

And I had a little of this with mine:

 

Delish!

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Muffins

The other night Jessie and I were supposed to go with The Chad to the midnight release of "Halo Reach," but The Chad fell asleep.  Jessie and I were still going to go so we decided to make muffins to keep ourselves awake.  I wanted to make something with apples, or applesauce.  So, I found a recipe and tweeked it a little to come up with something DELICIOUS!

All the ingredients laid out here, no not nice and neat because Jessica wasn't paying attention enough when I started to take that picture.  (I love you, Jessie :)

First, let me say I let Jessica take all the pictures (I guess since she's a photographer she should be the one to take them), but she wasn't paying attention the whole time so there aren't pictures of every step.

But first throw all the wet ingredients and the sugar into a bowl.

Now add the flour.

Then add the rest of your dry ingredients.

And...let your measuring spoons and cups stack up nicely.

Now everything's mixed up so nicely.

Spoon the batter into the muffin tin.  I used three tablespoons in each cup, but if you want more of a top to them I'd use four.

In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar and oatmeal.

Sprinkle the muffin batter with brown sugar and oatmeal mix.  Then pop them in the oven.

Then after 50 excruciating minutes of smelling the amazing-ness and waiting impatiently, they come out like this and are AMAZING!

Jessica and I shared this one then...a few minutes later I ate my own.

The Chad ate two of these for breakfast the next day and took the rest to the guys at work and they didn't last very long.

I have to add a little tip for all you bakers out there.

I needed cake flour for a recipe we were going to make this muffin night, but we didn't have something else so we couldn't make it.  We also didn't have cake flour, but I found a substitution for it.  So, moral of the story is- if you need cake flour for a recipe, but have none here's what you do:

1 3/4 cup of all-purpose flour + 1/4 cup of cornstarch = 2 cups of cake flour  I can do math!  Aren't you proud?!

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Muffins

1 1/4 cup plain applesauce

2 apples (Fuji or Gala are probably best), cored, peeled, and cut up into small pieces.

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup oil

2 eggs

3 tbsp milk

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup oatmeal

1/4 cup brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350.  Line a muffin tin with papers.

Combine the first six ingredients in a bowl, and mix thoroughly.  Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.  Then add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture.  Use a tablespoon measuring spoon, and spoon 4 tablespoons into each muffin cup.  Combine in a small bowl then oatmeal and brown sugar.  Sprinkle the mixture on the top of each cup of batter.  Bake for 50 minutes.

Orzo with Grilled Shrimp and Summer Vegetables

Tonight, my sister asked me to make dinner, so I decided to make this yummy dish.  Then as I started cooking Jessica got a message from The Chad and he asked if she wanted to meet him at "World Sports Grille" for "Happy Hour."  I, of course, said it was fine.  But I went on to make the dish anyway.

It's a great dish for picnic and BBQs too.  For Jessica and The Chad's anniversary I made them a picnic because I didn't have a lot of money to spend on a gift.  I made this dish, put in some cheese and crackers, and made raspberry lemon cheesecake bars, and I put in a bottle of wine.  It was super cute.  When I made it for them, though, I used feta cheese instead of mozzerella and I don't think I put tomatoes in it.

It's a light and fresh dish and great for summer.  Yes, it's still summer here and probably will be for another couple months.

First, cook up the Orzo.  My mom calls it Uzo, and I tell her "Uzo is Greek liquor."

Slice two zucchinis into quarters.

Do the same with the red pepper.

I hate when my fingers smell like peppers, especially if it's a spicy one, so I use a spoon to scrape out all the seeds and membrane into a trash can.  I think I saw it on a cooking show one time or something.

When the orzo is done, drain it and give it a little rinse.

Get the grill pan ready.  I like the grill pan better than using the grill outside because it's freaking hot outside.

Drizzle (or brush) the olive oil and red wine vinegar mixture on the vegetables then sprinkle with some salt and pepper.

Arrange the zucchini and red pepper on the grill.  I love love love grilled zucchini.

Yum!  Can I get an "amen?"

Toss the orzo with some olive oil.

Whisk together olive oil, red wine vinegar, pesto, and lime juice.  I love this little whisk that my sister had, it's perfect for making dressings and sauces.

To thaw the shrimp, toss it with hot water until they're bendable.

Toss the shrimp with a little of the pesto-oil-vinegar mixture.

Place the shrimp in the grill pan.

While the shrimp are grilling, and smelling quite nice, cut up the grilled zucchini and red pepper into bite-size pieces.

Add the veggies to the orzo and give it a good toss.

I love grilled food with a good char to it.  It takes a few minutes each side to get it perfect.

Add the shrimp to the orzo and veggies mix and give it a good toss.

Add the remaining pesto vinaigrette.

Cut up 2 heirloom or roma tomatoes and add the to mix.

Cut a block of fresh mozzarella into cubes then add to the mix.

Then "voila!"  Doesn't it look tasty?!  It is also supposed to have slices of basil, but we forgot it :)

Let the drooling commence :)

You can find the original recipe here.

And this is the serving I had, so there is a large bowl if this left in our refrigerator.  Anybody want to come over for leftovers??

This is my cooking buddy- music playing from Pandora.  Country, of course.

I bought this little rose plant at the store today.  It was on "manager's special" lol.  My mom said "Those are hard to take care of," which in mom-speak means "you're probably gonna kill it."