Swiss Apple Grilled Cheeses

As I previously mentioned, I hosted a friend's birthday a while back and made various snacks, including these Swiss Apple Grilled Cheese triangles. My friend said it tasted like her favorite fondue (swiss with apples, who would have thought?!) Basically, very good.

I have made these like regular grilled cheese in a pan (with olive oil instead of butter) and in a panini press without any oil, and I think I liked the panini press better, but you can certainly make them as you would make a regular grilled cheese.

Grilled Apple Swiss Cheese

Ingredients
2 slices whole wheat bread
1/4 Granny Smith apple - cored and sliced
1/3 cup shredded Swiss cheese

Directions
Preheat the panini press to medium heat. Place 1 slice of bread onto the press, and arrange the apple slices evenly over the top. Sprinkle the Swiss cheese over the apple, then top with the remaining slice of bread. Cook until the bread is golden brown and the cheese is melted, 1 to 2 minutes. Cut into diagonal qurters for finger food.

We'll call them Franken-Muffins

I found this GREAT post a while ago on tastespotting. It was a basic muffin formula that you adapt for whatever type of muffin you wanted to make, and it gave some suggestions for combinations. But really, give me time to peruse the grocery store and I can come up with my own combination rather easily. And that's just what I did. Introducing, the delicious and rather healthy Franken-muffin. OK, so the name may not work, but my combination of ingredients did!

Here is MY Version:
Dry ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp spice cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Wet ingredients
1 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
scant 1 cup white sugar
1 egg, beaten
pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cups grated zucchini
3/4 cups grated apple

PROCEDURE
Preheat oven to 375˚F.
Grease a muffin tin (12 count- I needed about 14 muffin cups if they had all been full size, or 12 regular muffins and 12 minis) with grease spray or butter.
Get two big bowls. In the first bowl combine the dry ingredients except the dry muffinhancers.
In the other bowl combine yogurt, sugar, salt, melted butter, egg and extract. Mix it all up until it’s good and smooth. Now mix in both the wet and dry Muffinhancers and stir to distribute.
Make sure your oven is set and the muffin tin is greased up before you combine the wet and dry. It’ll need to happen pretty quickly.
Pour the dry mix into the wet bowl and fold gently with a spatula while you count slowly to 15-20. The result should be a very lumpy batter, with frequent dry floury spots. It’s better if it’s not a smooth batter.
Now use an ice-cream scoop or just a big spoon to fill the muffin tray evenly. Fill it up almost to the top of the tray. Bake for 20-25 minutes (about 13 minutes for the minis). When they are done, turn it over onto a clean tea towel to let them cool.

And here is the basic formula:
Dry ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp spice (cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, ground ginger, ground coriander, etc)
1 cup of dry Muffinhancers (can be chopped nuts, dried fruits, toasted coconut, chocolate chips, etc)

Wet ingredients
1 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup melted butter (or vegetable oil)
1 cup white sugar
1 egg, beaten
pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ cups of wet Muffinhancers (can inc: mashed banana, grated zucchini, grated carrots, grated apple, frozen berries, mango puree, chopped up orange, etc)

PROCEDURE
Preheat oven to 375˚F.
Grease a muffin tin (12 count- I needed about 14 muffin cups if they had all been full size, or 12 regular muffins and 12 minis) with grease spray or butter.
Get two big bowls. In the first bowl combine the dry ingredients except the dry muffinhancers.
In the other bowl combine yogurt, sugar, salt, melted butter, egg and extract. Mix it all up until it’s good and smooth. Now mix in both the wet and dry Muffinhancers and stir to distribute.
Make sure your oven is set and the muffin tin is greased up before you combine the wet and dry. It’ll need to happen pretty quickly.
Pour the dry mix into the wet bowl and fold gently with a spatula while you count slowly to 15-20. The result should be a very lumpy batter, with frequent dry floury spots. It’s better if it’s not a smooth batter.
Now use an ice-cream scoop or just a big spoon to fill the muffin tray evenly. Fill it up almost to the top of the tray.
Bake for 20-25 minutes (about 13 minutes for the minis).
When they are done, turn it over onto a clean tea towel to let them cool.

Easy Banana Roll Ups

Forgive me for my drool. These little wraps may not look all that impressive, but man are they good. They are closely derived from a recipe I learned back in highschool. One of my good friend's dad ran a BBQ biz on the side, and one day he needed some extra help, so my friends and I became day labor. I learned so much that day from how to make rocking, fresh cut french fries, a seafood boil and these lovely wraps. At the BBQ I think we used hershey bars instead of chocolate chips, and we did them on a griddle type surface, but the yumminess from that day stuck with me.

These could NOT be easier. 4 ingredients (3 if you don't count the cooking spray). About 5 minutes of work. Easy Peasy and so great tasting. The Boy loves these, which makes me happy because they are a way to sneak a banana into a less than vitamin filled diet.

Easy Banana Roll Ups
2 servings

1 large banana
2 handfuls chocolate chips
1 large or 2 small flour tortillas
cooking spray

1. Slice bananas on a diagonal. Lay banana slices in an even line about 1/3 of the way into the tortilla (like you would for a burrito or taco). Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top. Roll like a burrito ( fold in the top and bottom and then roll sideways).
2. Heat a skillet to medium, medium high. Spray with the cooking spray. Add the roll up, seam side down. Cook a minute or 2, until golden brown. Turn and repeat until browned all over and chocolate has melted.

Blueberry Muffins

If you are like some of my dear friends and you don't like the romantic stuff, I suggest just skipping to the bottom for the recipe (it's worth it!). These muffins were a gift. For the boy. For...our four year anniversary...FOUR YEARS. Take that in for a moment. You may be shocked at the dating for four years part, but I think most people are shocked by the fact that my gift to him for the occasion was... a pan of blueberry muffins?

But it was more than blueberry muffins. The weekend before, he had been over at my place, and, as is the norm, Food Network was on in the background. It was some Paula Deen special and she was making blueberry muffins. The boy started drooling and commenting about how he hadn't had blueberry muffins in ages and how he used to love them.

And, while we had agreed not to get each other gifts (paying an obscene amount for school each year takes a toll on your wallet), I could not help but whip up a batch to show him that I cared. Cue the sappy music.

His reaction? He loved them. He devoured them. My reaction? I'll just keep 2 of them for myself, he'll never realize it was a batch of 16 ;)

They really were good. I decided to hold back a handful of the berries when mixing and then top each muffin with a few so that some stayed at the very top to make them pretty. And they were both pretty and delicious.

Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup milk
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
scant 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups frozen blueberries

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place 16 paper liners in muffin pans.

2. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs 1 at a time, then add the vanilla, yogurt, and milk.

3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the batter and beat until just mixed. Fold in all but a handful of the blueberries with a spatula and be sure the batter is completely mixed.

4. Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin pans, filling each cup just over the top. Sprinkle the remaining berries on top and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the muffins are lightly browned on top and a cake tester comes out clean.

Apple Dumplings

Ok, so I admit the ingredients in this one sound a little weird. Ok, more than a LITTLE weird. Sprite? Crescent rolls? Oh what did I get my self into? But I first saw a version of this recipe over on Pioneer Woman Cooks, and then Rachaelf Ray mag had another version, so I HAD to try it. Wow...it was actully pretty good. More than pretty good, it was great. Not great for my arteries, but that's what the run the next afternoon is for. So enjoy it, but make it up to your heart later.

Despite the odd list of ingredients, these babies end up sweet and tender, not at all sour like the sprite/mountain dew would suggest. The apples tenderize and are covered in what becomes an almost apple flavored caramel sauce. Definately worth a try!

Apple Dumplings
flour for dusting
1 can (of 8) crescent rolls
1 large apple cut into 8 wedges
1 stick butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon.
3/4 cup Mountain Dew (I used sprite because it was on hand. worked fine)

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. On a surface dusted with flour, unfold the rolls. Place an apple wedge on the wide edge of each piece of dough and roll up; place the dumplings in an 8-inch square baking dish.
2. In a saucepan, melt the butter with the sugar and cinnamon over medium heat; stir in the Mountain Dew. Pour the mixture on the dumplings. Cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes; remove the foil and bake 15 minutes longer.

Pineapple Kiwi Chicken

Because I have found myself a TAD bit busy (somewhere between torts briefs, training to run a 5k and trying to have a life, my schedule got crowded) this post is going to be an exercise in brevity. Trust me, I can use all the help I can get in staying brief; my current memo is over 7 pages and there is a 5 page limit! Law school is phenomenally interesting and I love it, but people are not kidding when they say there is a lot of work. Oh well, here is a quick and FANTASTIC recipe from last night. The ease of this recipe was much appreciated, but so were its spicy sweet flavors. I adapted this recipe from Robin Miller's seared pork version.
Pineapple Kiwi Chicken
serves 4

1 cup diced pineapple (fresh or canned in juice)1 cup peeled and diced kiwi (about 2 or 3 whole kiwi)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced (I used a jalapeno from a jar [technically pickled?] I rinsed it off, pulled out the seeds, rinsed the inside and dried it off to use, then I used less than called for because I didn't want too much spice)
1 tablespoon lime juice
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 chicken breasts, each cut into chicken strips
chili powder to taste
cooked brown rice

In a medium bowl, combine the pineapple, kiwi, cilantro, jalapeno, and lime juice and toss to combine. Season, to taste, with salt and set aside.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Season one side of each of the chicken strips with salt, pepper and chili powder. Put the seasoned side down into the pan. Spice the other side with salt, pepper and chili powder. Once the first side is cooked, turn the strips over and cook until done. Serve the chicken over the rice and spoon the pineapple kiwi salsa over top.

Peanut Butter Banana French Toast

I was so proud of myself for this one! After having made a loaf of no-knead challah bread from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, a read about the new Recipe Remix and immediately decided to make challah French toast…in some new way. I remember Rachael Ray doing cream cheese filled French toasts, so I thought of making it another way and All Recipes had my answer. Peanut Butter and Banana French Toast.

As it turned out, the boy was not going to work the next morning, so he and I had brunch together. His was PB free since, well, as he puts it “I don’t like cheddar cheese or peanut butter.” He also doesn’t like beans, spice or many veggies, but those are stories for other times.

This was super easy to whip up. Took some time just because I had a very thin loaf of bread and had to assemble many tiny sandwiches. While they tasted great, I would recommend using a wider/taller loaf of challah, or even potato or wonder bread, just so 1 sandwich per person is enough. Oh, and both with and without PB were a hit, though that takes away the Elvis Presely-ness of it all!Oh, and one last tip: these babies are super sticky and gooey, so have some milk or juice handy.

Peanut Butter Banana French Toast
Serves 1
• 1 egg
• 1 dash vanilla
• 1 tsp milk
• About 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
• 2 slices regularly sized bread (preferably challah) or 4-6 slices from a small loaf of bread
• ½-1 banana, sliced
• 1 tablespoons butter

• In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg, milk and vanilla together.
• Spread 1 tablespoon of peanut butter on top of each slice of bread. Place the banana slices on top of one of the slices of bread.

Place the other slice of bread on top of the first, to make a peanut butter and banana sandwich.
• In a skillet or frying pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Dip the sandwich into the egg mixture and place in the heated skillet. Cook until brown on both sides. Serve hot.

Candied Lemon Peels and Berry Lemonade

For this month's Taste and Create, I was paired with Laurie of Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska. She has many wonderful sounding mediterranean dishes, but sadly (or not so sadly) I didn't have much time to try them because I was on Spring Break. I have just returned from the Sunshine state with a fully relaxed body and a sub-par tan. Anyway, this week away from my kitchen left me with just one day to whip up some mediterranean goodies, so I made her candied lemon peels and sparkling lemonade, turning the lemonade into sparkling berry lemonade.

The candied lemon peels were fairly easy to make. The hardest part, by far, was removing the white pith from the yellow peel. Thankfully only cut myself once, but take your time on this step. Also, I realized it was easier to remove the pith after boiling the peels in the water. So, if you are having trouble removing the white part, get as much off as you can before hand, then boil the 2 times, then, before slicing, get off the pith.

The lemonade was SUPER easy. I just added some of the lemon sugar syrup to strawberry sparkling water I had laying around and some ice. Very good...but looked so plain. Well, I also had some blueberry juice laying around (from blueberry muffins I was making) so I added a teaspoon or 2 of that and it looked and tasted great.

Overall this was an easy set of recipes and I Loved the lemonade. The candied lemon peel isn't really up my ally, but I think I just woundn't like candied peels at all. Nothing against the recipe. Oh, and my room mates kept commenting on how DELICIOUS the ENTIRE aprtment smelled during the process. I recomend this if you have company coming over, because, not only will you have lemonade to serve, it will also make your house smell so fresh.

Candied Lemon Peel

(Candied lemon peel is tasty on its own as a sweet treat, and adds flavor when added to cookies, cakes, or ice cream. I have yet to tyr it baked into things)

2 cups lemon peel (peel from 4 - 6 lemons)

3 cups sugar, divided

2 cups water

Peel the lemons in large pieces. With a sharp knife, remove as much white pith from the lemon peels as is possible; the edge of a teaspoon works well to remove pith from a lemon’s top or bottom end. Place the peels in a pot, cover with cold water, bring to a boil, cook for one minute, and drain. Return peels to the pot, cover with cold water, bring to a boil, cook for one minute, and drain. Cut the blanched peel into thin strips.

Mix 2 cups sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook, without stirring, over medium heat until you have light syrup, about 45 minutes. Stir in the strips of lemon peel and cook for 10 minutes.

Let the lemon peels sit in the syrup until the syrup is cool and the lemon peels slightly translucent (She lets the peels sit in the syrup overnight, Mine sat for 2 hours). Drain the lemon peel and reserve the syrup for another use (lemonade).

Put the remaining 1 cup sugar in a plastic bag. Add a handful of lemon strips to the sugar and shake until the pieces of peel are completely coated with sugar. Spread out the candied peel on two baking sheets and let sit until dry. Repeat until all the lemon strips are coated with sugar.Put in an airtight jar and store in the refrigerator.

Sparkling Berry Lemonade

Makes 1 drink

3 Tbsp. lemon syrup (from above)

1 cup strawberry seltzer water

1-2 tsp blueberry juice

Put lemon syrup, blueberry juice and seltzer water in a glass. Stir to combine. Add ice cubes and serve.

German Pancake and Sitting on the Porch

When I read about the Blog Party for the month, I was elated. You see, I had just made a German Pancake slathered in warm apples for a potluck I attended, and I wanted a way to share it. Then along came the veggie-friendly Blog Party, and I knew I had found people who could virtual-party with me and enjoy the fruity goodness.

So I had my "bite" (though not an appetizer per se, it is a great "bite" and would work as the dessert bite or even at a brunch party), but I still needed my "sip." Ah the wonders of the food blogging community! I remembered I had recently read about wonderful drinks in copious numbers over at "Oh you tasty little things." Her sparkle ninja drink sounded just right, laced with multiple fruit juices and banana flavored rum. Fruity and appropriate.I ended up changing the Sparkle Ninja drink into what I am dubbing a "Sitting on the Porch" because I used peach juice instead of guava (my supermarket was lacking yet again). The change made it less pink than the original, and far less tropical, but so tasty. It is a drink to sip while sitting on your front porch in a rocking chair on a hot summer day. Seriously. One sip and you are transported to Georgia where the peach you garnish with is fresh and the air is warm. Perfect for working out these winter duldrums. But watch out; don't use the drink to warm you up too much: you can't taste the liquor. It will pack a powerful punch without any rum taste.

The German Pancake (aka Dutch Baby) recipe is from my "Best of the Best" cookbook. I am FINALLY having some luck with that book. The first 3 or 4 recipes I tried from it were either mediocre or bad. I am finally getting to the good ones. In this recipe I LOVED the apple topping. I left the skins on for convenience, but I think it actually made it better, and my friend who normally does not like apple topping or filling said she actually liked this one. I also liked the base and the WOW factor it delivers when you get the puffed up pancake out of the oven, but it does deflate rapidly. It's ok, still tastes good deflated. It tasted to me a little like french toast. Very yummy.

My one complaint was the amount of butter. There was waaaaayyy too much butter. The 6 TBSP in the pan lead to a PUDDLE of butter that got passed on top of the batter and ended up as a PUDDLE of butter on top of the cake. EW. I dabbed it off before anyone else saw it cuz it was nasty. Lesson learned: Don't put tons of butter on pan then expect none of it to end up on top of the batter. I'd suggest using 1 TBSP for the apples and about 3-4 TBSP for the pan next time and see how that goes.

Sitting on the Porch

3 parts lemon lime soda (I may try decreasing this amount next time because there was not even a slight hint of alcohol taste, so you can likely cut back on the mixers a little)

2 parts strawberry nectar

1 part peach juice

1 shot Malibu Banana flavored rum

Combine all ingredients (prefferably all cold). Serve with a slice of peach as a garnish.
German Pancake
Serves 4 (no, it actually serves 6)
7 tablespoons butter, at room temperature (I'd say to use about 4-5 total next time)
2 large apples, peeled, cored, and sliced (I did not peel)
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
6 eggs, at room temperature
1 cup milk, at room temperature
1 cup bread flour
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Confectioners’ sugar, to serve

1. Preheat the oven to 450° F. Place a large ovenproof skillet in the oven to preheat.
2. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a medium skillet over medium heat.
Add the apples and sauté until they are softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the sugar and a 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon until the sugar is melted. Remove the skillet from the heat and set it aside.
3. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat the eggs until they are light and frothy. Add the milk, flour, vanilla extract, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon. Beat for more 5 minutes. The batter will be thin but very smooth and creamy.
4. Remove the hot skillet from the oven. Add the remaining 6 (next time 3-4) tablespoons of butter, tilting the pan to melt the butter and coat the skillet. Pour the prepared batter into the hot skillet all at once, and immediately place the skillet in the oven.
5. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the pancake is puffed up and golden brown.
6. Remove the pancake from the oven, bringing it to the table in its pan or sliding it onto a serving plate. Once it is out of the oven, the pancake will begin to deflate. Dust it with confectioners’ sugar. Cut it into wedges and transfer them to individual serving plates. Top the wedges with the apple mixture and serve immediately.

Banana Pudding Cupcakes

The boy is back! I briefly mentioned it in the previous posts, but I created something especially for the boy’s return. He LOVES banana pudding. Banana pudding and cheesecake are the only desserts he really likes. So I started thinking. Banana pudding. But I don’t want plain banana pudding. Banana pudding in a cupcake form? And so it was born. The banana pudding cupcake.

I started with a banana cupcake recipe on allrecipes. Then I wanted to find a way to incorporate the pudding flavor and the nilla wafers. I decided to swap part of the flour with nilla wafer crumbs and top and fill with a combination of vanilla pudding, bananas, cream cheese frosting and nilla wafers. OMG! Phenomenal!
When it was time to give them to the boy, I took them out of the fridge to take the chill off. Once warm, he had it and said it was “amazing! It tastes just like banana pudding!” I’d call that a success.

As I just mentioned, I had these stored in the fridge. The combination of cream cheese frosting and pudding made me think that was the best place to keep them. They tasted and felt better at room temperature though, so be sure to sit them out a bit before eating.
Overall, these were great! I loved the texture, the color, and the flavor. They weren’t too crumbly or too heavy. They were a lovely light golden brown with banana flecks inside and a creamy colored frosting. And they tasted just like banana pudding (with a little touch of cream cheese).

Tips and changes for next time: only real change I would make is altering the frosting a bit. I would start with the 2 pudding packs, banana and nilla wafer crumbs, then only add as much frosting as is needed to keep the frosting on the cupcakes. This would minimize the cream cheese flavor (while it tasted good, it wasn’t the flavor I wanted to emphasize). Otherwise, I need to remember to limit the amount of batter in the mini muffin cups because, once again, some overflowed on me. I think this is partially to do with my oven because ones in the front were fine, but the back overflowed.
Banana Pudding Cupcakes
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
¾ cup nilla wafer crumbs
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
FROSTING:
2 vanilla pudding snack packs
½ cup nilla wafer crumbs, divided
¾ cup cream cheese frosting (will use less next time)
1 ½ ripe bananas, mashed

DIRECTIONS
In a large mixing bowl, cream shortening and sugar.

Add the eggs, vanilla, bananas and buttermilk.

Combine the flour, wafer crumbs, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to banana mixture.

Fill 18 paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes (much closer to 20 min) or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

In a small mixing bowl, combine pudding, ¼ cup wafer crumbs and bananas. Add frosting to taste.
Cut a small cone from the top of the cupcake. Frost the inside of the cone (but do not completely fill). Replace top. Frost. Sprinkle with remaining wafer crumbs for decoration.