Chili Maple Mustard Ribs

When Lisa, Doug & Briana joined us last Saturday for an afternoon of play and food, you’d think by my previous posts about the meal that it was all Thai inspired food between the Thai Cucumber Salad and Grilled Thai Chicken but it wasn’t as I was craving ribs, so I made them too.  The ribs weren’t Thai inspired but they were moist, meaty, juicy and fall-off-the-bone tender delicious and they sure hit the spot for me.  The final item that I made for last weekend’s dinner was chocolate deliciousness but as that recipe is my July Secret Recipe Club entry you’ll just have to come back to Cook Lisa Cook on posting day, Monday July 9th to see who’s blog I cooked from and what I actually made…and trust me when I say that it was gorgeous and loved by all.

Back to these ribs though.  I went with regular pork ribs instead of baby backs as I wanted the nice thick layer of meat…plus they were on a great sale at less than a quarter of the cost of baby backs so a great deal all around.  I did all the cooking in the oven but when I’ve cooked ribs like this in the past I’ve often finished them on the grill for the last 15-20 minutes just to give that grilled smoky flavor but it really isn’t necessary.  In addition the ribs stay a lot moister when not put on the grill.  After our meal last weekend I cut the leftover racks into pieces of 4-5 ribs and placed each section into FoodSaver bags and vacuum sealed the ribs.  Tonight Eammon wanted ribs so I quickly pulled out a package from the freezer, defrosted it (still sealed in the FoodSaver bag) in a bowl of water and then was able to quickly reheat the ribs in the microwave…just as moist and wonderful as the first day they were made.  This oven method is my preferred way to make ribs and I have used many different rubs and glazes, all with great results so if you’re craving delicious ribs, give this method of cooking them and this recipe a try, you won’t be disappointed.

Chili Maple Mustard Ribs 

• 2 full racks pork ribs, approx. 10 lbs total

Dry rub:

• 2 TBS. dark chili powder 
• 1 TBS. dry mustard 
• 1 TBS. sea salt 
• 1 TBS. fresh ground pepper

Glaze:

• 3 TBS. peanut oil (or oil of your choice)
• 2 medium red onions, finely minced
• 6 TBS. prepared Dijon mustard
• 6 TBS. Zinfandel vinegar or red wine vinegar
• 3 TBS. sugar free maple syrup (or real maple syrup)
• 3 TBS. sugar free honey (or real honey)  
• 2 TBS. dark chili powder 
• 1/4 tsp. maple extract

In a small bowl mix together the 2 TBS. dark chili powder, 1 TBS. dry mustard, 1 TBS. sea salt and 1 TBS. ground pepper. Wash and dry the ribs and place each rack on a foil lined baking sheet.  Sprinkle the dry rub all over the ribs, top and bottom.  Place the ribs meat side up on the pans and cover tightly with foil and refrigerated for 24-48 hours.

Preheat oven to 325F.  Place the pans of ribs, still tightly covered with foil, into the oven and bake for 90 minutes.

While the ribs are baking, heat a pan and add the oil.  Sautee the onions until they are translucent and tender.  Add the remaining glaze ingredients and cook, stirring continuously until the mixture is thick, approx. 2 minutes. 

Once the ribs have cooked for 90 minutes, remove the foil and spread the glaze mixture evenly over the tops of the ribs.  Increase the oven temperature to 400F and continue baking the ribs for 45 minutes. 

Remove from the oven and using poultry shears cut the ribs into individual servings of one to three ribs depending on the size desired.

Enjoy!

Grilled Thai Chicken

Saturday our friends Lisa, Doug & Briana came over for dinner and some play time and I had fun making a meal out of all new-to-me recipes.  I mentioned over on my Moments with Maisie blog that I would post all the recipes as everything was delicious.  One of the dishes that I served was a Thai Cucumber Salad which I adored and posted previously and today I’m posting another recipe, Grilled Thai Chicken.  The interesting thing about these recipes is that both were inspired by recipes I found on Roz’s blog la bella vita.  Roz posted a delicious looking recipe for Grilled Thai Chicken and within that post she had a picture of her Thai Cucumber Salad  and she mentioned that the recipes would pair beautifully but that her husband’s stomach couldn’t take cucumbers.  I decided to test it out and I can wholeheartedly say that the chicken and cucumbers go together perfectly, a gorgeous match. 

Even though the chicken marinates in a wonderful sauce which contains very spicy Thai red chilies, once the chicken is cooked there is almost no heat at all, just wonderful flavor.  I think that the pairing of the Grilled Thai Chicken and the Thai Cucumber Salad is so wonderful because there is a similar flavor combination to both but the chicken is mild and served temperature hot while the cucumber salad is served cold but is spicy hot.  Whatever the reason, these two items on your plate makes for delicious dining.

 Grilled Thai Chicken (adapted from here)

• 1 - 14 oz. can lite coconut milk 
• 1/2 cup nam pla (Thai fish sauce)
• zest & juice of 4 fresh limes
• 6 large cloves garlic
• 2 small red onions, peeled and diced
• 2 Thai red chilies (leave the seeds in for heat or remove them for less heat)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Whey Low Gold (or palm sugar or brown sugar)
• 1/2 large bunch fresh cilantro
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 8 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 6 scallions, trimmed and minced, for garnish or Thai basil
• 1 fresh lime, cut in wedges for garnish

Combine the coconut milk, nam pla, lime zest & juice, garlic, onions, Thai red chilies, Whey Low Gold, cilantro and black pepper in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. 

Pour the coconut mixture into a large Ziplock bag and  add the chicken.  Allow it to marinate for at least 4 hours in the refrigerator, or two days as I did. 

Prepare a gas or charcoal grill.  When the temperature is medium-hot, remove the chicken from the bag and discard the marinade. Place the chicken on the grill; cover and cook for about 8 minutes on one side. Turn the chicken over and cook another 8 - 10 minutes, or until cooked through but still juicy and moist.  Transfer the chicken to a platter and if you have your act together better than I did, garnish with the scallions or Thai basil and serve with a beautiful wedge of lime on the side.

Enjoy!

Thai Cucumber Salad

It’s that time of year again when our garden is busting with cucumbers so I’m once again on the lookout for delicious ways to enjoy our bounty.  Last summer my absolute favorite way to enjoy the cucumbers was my Spicy Asian Cucumber Salad and though I know that I’ll be making that salad many times this summer I decided to try a new salad this year with our first harvest.  I was reading Roz’s blog la bella vita and she had a recipe for a Thai Cucumber Salad which really caught my attention so with my first cucumber harvest of the season I present my version of Roz’s salad which was wonderfully delicious and going into the cucumber salad rotation for future harvests.  

Thai Cucumber Salad (adapted from here)

• 5 cucumbers, seeded (you can also peel them if you like)
• 2 medium red onions
• 4 Thai red chilies, minced (I left the seeds in for the heat but they can be removed)
• 1 large bunch cilantro, chopped

Dressing:

• 3 TBS. peanut oil 
• 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar 
• 2 TBS. soy sauce 
• 3 TBS. Thai garlic chili pepper sauce (this is not HOT sauce at all)
• the zest and juice of 4 fresh limes
• 1/4 cup Whey Low Gold (or palm sugar or brown sugar)
• 3 TBS Thai Fish Sauce 
• 1/2 tsp. fresh ground pepper

Using a mandolin or food processor, thinly slice the cucumber and the onions and add to a large bowl.  Slice the Thai red chilies into rings, leaving in the seeds for extra heat and add to the cucumber & onions.  Chop a bunch of cilantro and also add to the bowl. 

In a separate bowl mix together the dressing ingredients and then pour over the cucumber mixture and stir to coat.  Put the entire mixture in a Ziploc bag and allow to marinate overnight.  This easily keeps in the refrigerator for a good week…if it lasts that long.

Enjoy!

Dried Cherry Almond Tart

Can you believe it, we are now at month nine of the Improv Cooking Challenge and I haven’t missed a month yet.  The challenge is hosted by Kristen of Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker.  As always I looked forward to participating and finding or coming up with a great recipe which included the two theme ingredients.  This month the participating bloggers were asked to make any recipe of their choosing using the two given ingredients of cherries & almonds.  After all of our recent travels (If anyone is interested, cruise posts are here, here & here.  Travel posts: Ponta Delgada (Azores), Amsterdam, Malmö, Sweden, Copenhagen day 1, day 2 & day 3 and lastly London.) I have been very careful with the amount of sugar, carbs, chemicals & preservatives in our food so this month I wanted to make something delicious which didn’t do the diet in…yet I wanted something on the sweet side so this tart was born.

I decided to use an almond crust which I’ve used numerous times before when making cheese cakes, pies and other tarts and it’s a favorite of mine and oh-so-simple to make.

The crust easily comes together in the food processor and then I just dump it out into the pan I’m using which has been coated with cooking spray.

Then there’s no rolling involved, just press it evenly into the tart pan.

Place the tart pan on a baking sheet.  In this case, because I would be cooking the tart further with the filling, I only cooked the crust for five minutes but if you’re cooking the crust to then add a filling that won’t require further baking, the cooking time increases to about ten minutes or until it is lightly browned.

Without even washing it, I made the filling in the same bowl of the food processor in which I made the crust, so this is a one “bowl” recipe.  I poured the filling over the partially baked crust, added my cherries and it was back into the oven for this tart.

Golden and delicious.  The crust is tender and the filling is custard like and creamy.  The entire tart had a wonderful almond flavor and the cherries were sweet little surprises hidden throughout.  Overall the tart isn’t especially sweet but with a little dot of whipped cream and with the sweetness of the dried cherries, it’s a perfect dessert. 

My previous Improv Cooking Challenge entries:

May 2012  Strawberries & Cream:  Strawberry Soup 
April 2012  Peanut butter & Jelly:  Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars 
March 2012  Potato & Cheese:  Loaded Potato & Buffalo Chicken Casserole 
February 2012  Ginger & Carrots:  Shrimp & Avocado Salad with Carrot Ginger Dressing 
January 2012 Lemon & Sour Cream:  Ponderosa Lemon & Sour Cream Tart 
December 2011 Eggnog & Cranberries:  Eggnog Popovers with Cranberry Butter 
November 2011 Pumpkin & Cream Cheese:  Praline Pumpkin Cheesecake 
October 2011 Caramel & Apples:  Caramel Stuffed Apple Cider Cookies

 Dried Cherry Almond Tart 

• 1 1/2 c. blanched slivered almonds
• 3 packets Stevia 
• 3 TBS. butter, softened
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 4 large eggs
• 2 tsp almond extract 
• 4 packets Stevia 
• 20-24 dried cherries (You can use more but as they’re very high in sugar I kept my amount low)
• Whey Low powdered, for dusting the plate
• whipped cream, for decorating the plate
• extra dried cherries, to decorate the plate 

Preheat the oven to 350F.  To make the crust, add the almonds to the bowl of a food processor and using the pulse button, process until the almonds are finely ground.  Add the butter and 3 packets of Stevia and process until it all comes together and starts to form a ball.  Put the almond mixture into a 9-inch tart pan which has been sprayed with cooking spray and press the mixture to cover the bottom and up the sides of the pan.  Place the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes.  The crust will still be very pale but that is okay.   

While the crust is baking, no need to clean out the food processor bowl, just add the whipping cream, eggs, almond extract and 4 packets of stevia and process until fully blended and smooth.

Once the crust comes out of the oven, lower the temperature to 325F.  Pour the egg mixture into the hot crust and place the cherries evenly spread out in the mixture.  They will sink but don’t worry about that. 

Bake for 20-22 minutes until the top is lightly browned and set.  Check the tart as it bakes and if it starts to get too brown just gently place a sheet of foil over the top.

Once baked, remove from the oven and allow the tart to cool completely before slicing.  Tart can be served at room temperature or chilled.  Decorate with a dusting of Whey Low powdered, some whipped cream and an extra cherry.

Enjoy!

Father’s Day Dinner

Today was a nice quiet Father’s Day…well quiet for me which was wonderful because I haven’t been feeling well with a sinus infection and I needed a quiet day.  Eammon spent the day with Maisie as he took her to play mini-golf and ride the go-karts at Mountasia and then they went to the pool.

When they arrived home from the pool Eammon had one of his favorite dinners waiting for him, steamed lobster tails, steamed shrimp, seaweed salad and of course some melted butter.

Maisie wasn’t feeling in the mood for lobster so she enjoyed shrimp, corn and seaweed salad.  Though I don’t generally serve corn off the cob, wee little Maisie Miao Miao has her first loose tooth and has been hesitant to eat corn on the cob even though it’s one of her favorites.   

No recipes today as I just steamed the lobster and shrimp but if you’re looking for something wonderful to do with steamed lobster, and trust me had I had leftovers I’d be making these Wicked Good New England Lobster Roll, they’ll rock your world.

Hope that all the Dads out there had a wonderful Father’s Day. 

Enjoy!

Lacy Cheese Crackers

Today I tried a new recipe for cheese crackers and it was a huge hit with both me and my taste-testing guinea pig friend / cracker hand model Lisa.  I’m not linking this recipe as it’s all over the internet and I read about the crackers on no less than twenty different sites.

Not only are these crackers crunchy delicious but super simple as I made them with just one ingredient…cheese!  Many of the recipes I read added herbs or seasoning but I went super simple and the crackers came out perfect…well after the first batch which I didn’t cook quite long enough.  These crackers are totally addictive and I found them to be quite rich and filling too.

The crackers are super thin and crunchy.

They hold up beautifully to a nice thick spread of Jalapeno Yogurt Dip. 

Lacy Cheese Crackers

• Shredded Cheese of your choice.  I used Coastal Rugged Mature Cheddar Cheese

Preheat oven to 350F.  Line a baking sheet with a Silpat or parchment paper.  Using a one teaspoon measure, place shredded cheese in six piles spread out evenly on the lined baking pan.  You must leave a lot of space between the piles as these little piles of cheese will spread.  Bake for 10-12 minutes until the color starts to get golden and it looks like all the oil from the cheese has seeped out.  Remove from the oven and allow the crackers to cool before moving to a paper towel.  Allow the extra oil to be absorbed by the paper towel.  Store in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

Mango Melon Banana & Chia Smoothie

For this month’s Crazy Cooking Challenge the participating bloggers were challenged by our hostess Tina, of Moms Crazy Cooking to find the ultimate smoothie recipe.  The way that the Crazy Cooking Challenge works is that each month there is a dish that our hostess Tina challenges the participating bloggers to make.  We all go out searching non-celebrity blogs looking for what we think is the ultimate recipe for that dish and once we find it, we make it and then all on the same day we do our post featuring the recipe and the blog where it was found.  As I said, this month the challenge was to find the ultimate smoothie recipe and in our home Eammon is the big smoothie lover.  One of his favorite flavors is mango so when I came across Chaya’s Mango Melon Smoothie on her blog My Sweet and Savory I knew that I had found my recipe.  I only made two little additions to Chaya’s recipe in that I added 1/2 of a frozen banana which thickened up the smoothie a bit more and added another flavor and I also put in a tablespoon of chia seed gel just because I love adding it to our diet anyway that I can.  Eammon really loved his smoothie and I loved that I got some fruit into him.

Mango Melon Banana & Chia Smoothie 

• 1/4 mango, cut into chunks
• 1 slice of melon, cut into chunks
• 1/2 frozen banana
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 TBS. chia seed gel
• 1 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt

Place all ingredients into a blender and process until it’s the consistency you desire.

Enjoy!

My previous Crazy Cooking Challenge entries:

Grilled Cheese Sandwich Challenge: Totally Outrageous Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese Sandwich 
Blueberry Muffins Challenge:  Skinny Blueberry Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins 
Spaghetti with Red Sauce Challenge:  Tomato Sauce with Onion & Butter 
Chocolate Cake Challenge:  Double Chocolate Meyer Lemon Mousse Cake 
Chicken Noodle Soup Challenge: Thai Chicken Noodle Soup 
Fudge Challenge: Biscoff Fudge 
Mashed Potato Challenge: Aloo Tikki 
Chocolate Chip Cookie Challenge: Chocolate Chip Gingersnaps 
Mac & Cheese Challenge: Velvety Mac & Cheese

Candied Popcorn

After missing last month with the Secret Recipe Club because of our three weeks of traveling, it feels great to be back and posting again .  If anyone is interested, cruise posts are here, here & here.  Travel posts: Ponta Delgada (Azores), Amsterdam, Malmö, Sweden, Copenhagen day 1, day 2 & day 3 and lastly London. We had a fabulous trip and I was honestly bummed to miss a month of the Secret Recipe Club but I just couldn’t squeeze it in before we traveled and the reveal date was on my birthday and I was busy with my daughter in Denmark touring Frederiksborg Palace, one of the most opulent castles I have ever visited.  Anyhow, back to reality and this post. 

This month I was assigned Carol’s No Reason Needed and as I hadn’t cooked in so many weeks I was anxious to get cooking again.  Carol’s blog is just filled with recipes…nothing with fish though as she doesn’t like fish, okay there was one recipe, but even though we love fish I could work around that one.  In the end it was Maisie who chose the recipe this month as she saw me scrolling through Carol’s blog and the Candy Popcorn caught her eye and she begged to make it.  In the end Maisie read the recipe and made most of it herself and I was only there to deal with the super-heated sugar mix and when the popcorn had to be baked as Maisie’s still too small to be taking things out of the wall oven.

Maisie mixing the sugar mixture ingredients.

I poured the super hot sugar mixture over the popcorn and Maisie mixed it all together.

She spread the coated popcorn on the pan and then we baked it.

Maisie absolutely adored making and eating the popcorn and she’s asked a couple of times to make it again so I think this is a winning recipe in her book.

Candied Popcorn

• 1/8 cup plus 2 tsp. margarine
• 1/8 cup honey 
• 1/4 cup coconut palm sugar 
• 3 TBS. plus 1/2 tsp. Jello (flavored gelatin mix) we used strawberry
• 1 full sized bag microwave popcorn, popped (approx. 4.5 cups)

Preheat oven to 250F.

Combine margarine & honey in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave until melted.
Add the sugar & Jello powder. Stir to mix. Put in microwave and cook until it comes to a rolling boil (doubles in size).
Put the popcorn in a large bowl and carefully pour the sugar mixture over the popcorn. Stir to coat.
Place the popcorn on a Silpat lined or greased baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.
Cool & break apart.  Very important, store in an airtight container otherwise it will get sticky wet.

Enjoy!

My previous Secret Recipe Club Recipe Posts:

Fruit, Nut & Poppy Seed Chicken Salad 
Broiled Sushi 
Health(ier) Peanut Brittle 
Crunchy Fudgy Heart Bites 
Texas Chicken with Lime Butter 
Pork Belly Soup with Collard Greens 
Thin Mint Irish Coffee 
Levain Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies 
Welsh Cakes 
Nutella Crêpes 
Cilantro Lime Chicken 
Holy Guacamole 
and
Home Style Chicken Curry

Chicken Tenders

Maisie has never been a chicken nuggets type of girl and now with her food allergies we obviously can’t just go to the drive through to get some but I did want to try and make some which maybe she would enjoy and with these I succeeded.  These chicken tenders were super simple to make, Maisie “safe” and delicious for all of of us. Best of all, there are no weird processed chicken parts involved.

Chicken Tenders

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup instant potato flakes 
• 1 TBS. Italian seasoning
• 1 TBS. garlic powder 
• 1 tsp. salt 
• 1/2 tsp. fresh ground pepper
• Peanut oil or cooking oil of your choice

Slice the chicken breasts into strips about pointer finger wide.  In a shallow bowl mix together the potato flakes, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, salt & pepper and set aside.  Over a medium-high flame, heat a large heavy bottomed or cast iron skillet.  When hot, add just enough oil to lightly coat the bottom of the pan.  One-by-one press the chicken strips into the potato flake mixture to coat completely and then carefully add to hot pan.  Do not crowd the pan.  Turn the chicken when the potato flakes get golden brown and remove from pan once the chicken strips are cooked through.  Add oil as needed throughout the cooking process.  Serve with a dipping sauce of your choice…Maisie chose ketchup.

Enjoy!    

Strawberry Soup

Strawberries and Cream, those are this month’s Improv Cooking Challenge ingredients assigned by our hostess Kristen of Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker.  I went back and forth thinking about all the wonderful and delicious things I could make with the assigned ingredients but after enjoying delicious cold fruit soups every lunchtime during our recent 2 week transatlantic cruise I decided that I needed to make my own cold soup.  I did a bit of searching on the internet and the recipe that kept coming up as a standout winning recipe was the Strawberry Soup from the 1900 Park Fare restaurant in Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. 

I scaled back on the amounts in the recipe as I was going to be the only one eating the soup as it’s not Maisie “safe” and Eammon doesn’t care for cold or fruit soups, but had I put this in a glass and told him it was a smoothie he would have gobbled it down and loved it!  I was happy to have it all to myself as the soup was absolutely delicious and when you read the recipe, beyond simple to make.  I wish that Maisie could enjoy this soup as it would be so special to serve for a Princess lunch.  With strawberries in season, this is a perfect soup to make and enjoy.

My previous Improv Cooking Challenge entries:

April 2012  Peanut butter & Jelly:  Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars  
March 2012  Potato & Cheese:  Loaded Potato & Buffalo Chicken Casserole 
February 2012  Ginger & Carrots:  Shrimp & Avocado Salad with Carrot Ginger Dressing 
January 2012 Lemon & Sour Cream:  Ponderosa Lemon & Sour Cream Tart 
December 2011 Eggnog & Cranberries:  Eggnog Popovers with Cranberry Butter 
November 2011 Pumpkin & Cream Cheese:  Praline Pumpkin Cheesecake 
October 2011 Caramel & Apples:  Caramel Stuffed Apple Cider Cookies 

Strawberry Soup (Adapted from here) 

• 1 lb.strawberries (frozen variety with no added sugar, thaw with juice)
• 6.4 oz. heavy cream
• 0.8 oz.sour cream
• 1.2 oz. vanilla yogurt
• fresh strawberries for garnish
• sour cream for garnish
• fresh mint for garnish

Using a blender mix together the strawberries, heavy cream, sour cream & yogurt until smooth.

Chill.

Shake well before serving. Add a dollop of sour cream, fresh strawberries and mint leaves as garnish.

Makes 3 servings.

Enjoy!

Hearty Sausage, Mushroom & Cheddar Mini Quiche

Generally when I make quiche I do the traditional pie plate sized quiche with a pie crust and cut it into slices or if the mood strikes me I’ll make something special like my Potato Crusted Garden Quiche but I’m always trying to neatly freeze leftover slices and as I’m just not a pie crust person I always scrape the filling out of the crust and end up throwing it away.  I wanted to make things easier so I thought that I would make individual crustless mini quiches and they would be super simple to freeze and we’d be able to pull out just as many as we needed when we wanted to enjoy some for breakfast, lunch or dinner.  These mini quiches are delicious and worked out wonderfully for freezing and re-heating.  Once the quiches were fully cooked and cooled I vacuum sealed them in bags using my FoodSaver.  I was then easily able to pull out just the number of quiches I wanted and they were quick to reheat for a fast delicious meal.

Hearty Sausage, Mushroom & Cheddar Mini Quiche (From here)

• 1-16 oz pkg. Jimmy Dean Regular Flavor Pork Sausage Roll
• 1 cup fresh chopped mushrooms
• 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 10 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 4 ounces Cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1/2 cup sliced green onions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Cook sausage, mushrooms and bell pepper in large skillet over medium-high heat 8-10 minutes or until sausage is thoroughly cooked, stirring frequently; drain.  Beat eggs, milk and black pepper in large bowl with wire whisk until well blended. Stir in sausage mixture, cheese, and green onion. Line 2 cupcake pans with 16 foil baking cups sprayed with cooking spray or if not using baking cups spray muffin pan with cooking spray. Spoon mixture evenly into baking cups. Bake 18-22 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.  If freezing, allow quiches to cool completely then seal in Ziplock bags removing as much of the air as possible or use a FoodSaver with the zipper bags.  To reheat, thaw and then heat in the microwave (f used, remove the foil liner before microwaving.)

Enjoy!

Totally Outrageous Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

For this month’s Crazy Cooking Challenge the participating bloggers were challenged by our hostess Tina, of Moms Crazy Cooking to find the ultimate grilled cheese sandwich and I’m telling you, I found it.  This is no ordinary grilled cheese sandwich, this is an over the top totally outrageous Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese Sandwich.  Let me explain the challenge a bit and then I’ll get to the sandwich.  The way that the Crazy Cooking Challenge works is that each month there is a dish that our hostess Tina challenges the participating bloggers to make.  We all go out searching non-celebrity blogs looking for what we think is the ultimate recipe for that dish and once we find it, we make it and then all on the same day we do our post featuring the recipe and the blog where it was found.  As I said, this month the challenge was to find the ultimate grilled cheese sandwich and I was excited because though I’m not a real sandwich lover, I have always adored grilled cheese sandwiches.  Honestly, school cafeteria grilled cheese and tomato soup was my absolute favorite when I was growing up.  Can’t say that you’d get me to eat it today but oh, the sweet delicious memories.

When I started searching blogs for grilled cheese inspiration my first thought was to do a more grown up version of my childhood favorite, maybe mini grilled cheese sandwich croutons floating on creamy roasted tomato soup but then decided that I needed to leave my childhood behind so I ventured out into a whole new world of grilled cheese sandwiches.  I found so many fabu grilled cheese sandwiches the choices were overwhelming.  I drooled over a gorgeous pepper jack cheese, bacon, avocado & apple grilled sandwich as well as a caprese sandwich with pesto, tomato & fresh mozzarella, but I make an open faced version of that so I thought I’d move on.  I was tempted to make a pizza grilled cheese on rosemary focaccia as well as a very unique and delicious sounding goat cheese, strawberry & watercress sandwich.  Then I happened upon Kevin’s Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese Sandwich and I knew I had found my sandwich because I am a jalapeno popper lover and I knew that by using his sandwich as inspiration I could create popper grilled cheese nirvana…and I did. 

 I started with a mini jalapeno cheddar loaf which I had sliced thin.  I then spread the bread liberally with soft, room-temperature salted butter.

I laid half the slices of bread, buttered side down, in a cool cast iron skillet.

I added a generous layer of shredded Fiesta Blend Cheese.

Topped the cheese with crispy bacon bits.

Back after our final summer harvest of 8 million jalapenos, I stuffed some of them with cream cheese and froze them to be used later.  I pulled a few of them from the freezer and baked them from frozen at 500F for 20 minutes, until they were cooked through and delicious.  Thankfully I made more than I needed as I couldn’t resist eating a few and man were they delicious and really got me even more excited about the sandwiches I was making.  So after I popped a few of the hot poppers in my mouth I added the cooled down ones to the sandwiches.

 After the poppers another layer of cheese was essential.

I then topped all the deliciousness off with the remaining slices of buttered bread.  I then started cooking the sandwiches over a medium low flame.

As the sandwiches were stuffed so full I decided to press them a bit and one of my pot lids worked perfectly.

Using a medium low flame so that all the cheese would perfectly melt, I cooked the first side until golden delicious and then carefully flipped to cook the other side.

This sandwich is not for the faint of heart and don’t even ask how you can turn down the heat on it because it ain’t gonna happen.  This is hot, cheesy, creamy, bacony, buttery, crispy over-the-top deliciousness.  And see all those crispy little bits of cheese in the pan and attached to the sandwiches?  Yep I ate every last piece.

Totally Outrageous Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese Sandwich

• thinly sliced jalapeno cheddar bread
• salted butter, room temperature
• Fiesta Blend Cheese 
• bacon bits 
• cream cheese filled jalapenos, roasted and cooled

Generously butter one side of each slice of bread and place half of the slices buttered side down in a cool cast iron skillet or heavy bottomed pan.  Add a generous amount of shredded cheese to each slice of bread.  Top the cheese with desired amount of bacon bits.  Add the roasted jalapenos and more cheese.  Add the remaining buttered slices of bread, buttered side up.  Turn on the heat to medium low and using a press or a pot lid, press the sandwiches a little.  Cook sandwiches until the bottom is golden brown and then carefully flip the sandwich and cook until the cheese is completely melted and the remaining side of bread is golden.  Allow to sit for a minute or two before slicing.

Enjoy!

My previous Crazy Cooking Challenge entries:

Blueberry Muffins Challenge:  Skinny Blueberry Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Spaghetti with Red Sauce Challenge:  Tomato Sauce with Onion & Butter 
Chocolate Cake Challenge:  Double Chocolate Meyer Lemon Mousse Cake 
Chicken Noodle Soup Challenge: Thai Chicken Noodle Soup 
Fudge Challenge: Biscoff Fudge 
Mashed Potato Challenge: Aloo Tikki 
Chocolate Chip Cookie Challenge: Chocolate Chip Gingersnaps 
Mac & Cheese Challenge: Velvety Mac & Cheese