Hawaiian Grilled Cheese

A Hawaiian twist on a classic, this recipe will certainly leave you satisfied.

Ingredients:
2 slices of bread (I used Hawaiian bread)
1 slice pineapple
4 slices canadian bacon
Shredded or sliced Monterey Jack cheese
Butter

Directions:
1. Melt a pat of butter on low-medium heat in frying pan.
2. Assemble the sandwich bread-cheese-ham-pineapple-ham-cheese-bread.
3. Cook on a low heat for longer for better cheese melting. I added more butter to the pan as needed to get both sides of the sandwich buttered. Keep in the pan on each side until desired toastiness!

Assembled sandwich, with butter melting in the pan

Grill to desired crunchiness

Variations:
If you'd like extra flavor, put oregano or parsley in the butter / on the outside of the bread!

Happy Cooking!

Ham & Swiss Hawaiian Sliders

 A great lunch or dinner recipe, these sliders are one of my favorites!

 Ingredients:

1 package King's Hawaiian Rolls (12 rolls)

16 slices swiss cheese

10 slices honey ham

1/3 cup mayonnaise

1/3 cup miracle whip

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

1 tablespoon yellow mustard

3/4 cup melted butter

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

 Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix together the mayonnaise and miracle whip in a small bowl.
3. Cut the rolls, lengthwise, to form a top and a bottom. Spread the mayonnaise mixture on both sides of the roll.
4. Lay out a layer of swiss cheese over all of the rolls, then a layer of ham, and then a layer of swiss cheese again. Place the tops of the rolls back on, and then using a knife cut apart each slider.
5. Place all of the sliders in a deep baking dish, close together.
6. Whisk together the poppy seed sauce ingredients (poppy seeds, butter, yellow mustard, and worcestershire sauce) in a medium bowl. When blended evenly, pour over the sandwiches. Let the sandwiches sit for 5-10 minutes to allow the butter to set.
7. Cover with foil and bake for 10-15 minutes, until cheese is melted. Uncover and bake for an additional 2-3 minutes if you'd like the tops of the rolls to be crispy.
8. Remove from the oven and enjoy!

Rolls cut and mayo mixture applied to both sides.

Swiss, ham, and swiss layered onto the rolls

Poppyseed sauce applied haphazardly to the tops of the sliders

Covered and placed in the oven to cook...

And the final product!

Variations:

You can add 1 tablespoon of minced onion to the poppyseed sauce if you'd like. I'm not a fan of onions. 

Definitely a fan favorite, this recipe has gotten 2 thumbs up from several of my friends.

Happy Cooking!

Spinach & Feta Crescent Rolls

An absolute hit with my roommates, these crescent rolls are super simple to make!

Ingredients:
Dough for 16 crescent rolls
4 oz crumbled feta
4 oz shredded mozzarella
3 oz chopped baby spinach
1-2 beaten egg whites
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Finely chop the spinach and crumble the feta.
3. Add all ingredients except for the egg white and dough to a mixing bowl, mix thoroughly, and set aside.
4. Unroll the dough on a baking sheet greased or lined with tin foil or parchment paper for easy clean up.
5. Place small spoonfulls of the spinach and cheese mixture onto the widest part of the dough triangles. Roll them up into crescent shapes.
6. Lightly brush all of the rolls with egg white.
7. Bake for 15 minutes.
8. Enjoy!

 Preparing the crescents

Ready for the oven (plus a cheddar one in the bottom right corner)

The finished product! You can bake yours for longer if you prefer a more golden brown color.

I've cooked this recipe several times and am always quite pleased with the results.

Happy Cooking!

Fried Rice

Fried Rice
To be served alone or with baked sweet & sour chicken! Recipe adapted from a couple sources.

 

 Ingredients:

3 cups of rice (I used the precooked boil-in-a-bag for convenience)

6-8 oz frozen veggies (I used peas & carrots)

3 eggs

Soy sauce to taste (Around 3 Tbsp)

Garlic Salt to taste (If not using the minced garlic)

3 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 small chopped onion (optional)
2 tsp minced garlic (optional)

Directions:
1. Cook rice according to directions.
2.  Heat the oil in a skillet. I use medium heat.
3. Add vegetables (can be frozen) to the skillet. Also add onion and garlic, if using. Stir fry until tender.
4.  Lower heat slightly. Push vegetable mix to the side, add eggs to clear area in pan and scramble.
5. Once eggs are scrambled, use your spatula to break up the eggs into smaller bits and mix with the vegetables.
6. Add the rice and soy sauce (and garlic salt, if using). Mix thoroughly and stir fry some more to heat up the rice, if needed.
7. Enjoy!

Right after adding the eggs to the skillet

All the ingredients combined!

Happy Cooking!

Baked Sweet & Sour Chicken

Baked Sweet & Sour Chicken
To be served with fried rice, I adapted these recipes from a few sources!

Ingredients for the Sauce:
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
 4 Tbsp Ketchup
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp garlic salt

Ingredients for the Chicken:
3 boneless chicken breasts
3/4 cup cornstarch
2-3 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Salt & Pepper

Directions:
1. Make the sauce by whisking together the sauce ingredients. Set aside.
2. Preheat your oven to 325º.
3. Rinse the chicken breasts, then cut them into bite-sized cubes.
4. Season the chicken with salt & pepper.
5. Coat the chicken pieces by dipping them first into the cornstarch and then into the eggs.
6. Heat the oil in a skillet, then begin pan-frying the chicken pieces until they just begin to firm and change color.
7. Place pan-fried chicken into a (deep) greased baking dish.
8. Pour the sauce over the chicken. (I recommend using a deeper dish so that more of the chicken is covered).
9. Bake the chicken for one hour, uncovered. You will need to turn the chicken every 15-30 minutes, depending on how much chicken is "exposed," or not covered by the sauce.
10. Enjoy!

Picture of the sauce, after mixing. Deep red color.

Dipping Station

Chicken, post-coating. Slight yellow color from the egg.

This is the color of the chicken when I removed it from the pan - starting to firm, yellowed in color from the cooked egg, most of the "pink" color gone. (When in doubt, overcook rather than under!)

Finally, the sweet & sour goodness after cooking!

Enjoy, and Happy Cooking!

Homemade Chicken Salad

Homemade Chicken Salad
After seeing this image, I decided to make a few adjustments and make some chicken salad!

Ingredients:

3 stalks chopped celery

3 chopped green onions

1 1/2 cups halved purple grapes

1 rotisserie shredded chicken (I got the lemon pepper - it was delicious!)

1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice

1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar

3/4 cup mayonnaise

3/4 cup plain yogurt

salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Chop up celery, green onions, and grapes. Put into bowl.
2. Shred chicken (I did it by hand) into small pieces.
3. Add mayo, yogurt, lemon juice, brown sugar, salt & pepper.
4. Mix all ingredients together until rather uniform in texture. Add more of step 3 until desired consistency is reached.
5. Enjoy!

When I was making this recipe, originally I started with 1/2 cup each of mayo and yogurt, and ended up with this:

I felt that it needed more dressing, so I doubled the amounts and ended up with this:

The next time that I make this dish, I'm going to use the ingredient amounts listed above because the perfect consistency is somewhere in between the two photographs.

Happy Cooking!

Turkey & Spinach Roll-Ups

Turkey & Spinach Roll-Ups
My mother has always made these during the holidays, so I decided to try and make them myself.

Ingredients:
1 (8-oz) package of cream cheese
3 tablespoons chutney
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
8 (8-in) flour tortillas
1 lb thinly sliced, cooked turkey
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 (6-oz) package fresh spinach leaves

Directions:

1. Combine the cream cheese, chutney, and mayonnaise.

2. Spread the mixture evenly over the tortillas.

3. Top with the turkey, spinach, and green onions.

4. Tightly roll the tortillas, and cut in half.

5. Enjoy!

Successful Variations:
*Mango Jam - this time I used mango jam instead of my mother's usual hot mango chutney, and it tasted just as good! It was a little bit harder to spread, just because of the difference of thickness between a jam and a chutney.

Unsuccessful Variations:
*Corn tortillas - I started with corn tortillas, since that's what I had on hand. I stopped making these half-way through and went to the store to get flour tortillas. It was that bad.


Happy Cooking!