Quick, Yummy Sandwich!

Sometimes, all you need is a good sandwich. It's quick and easy, and if you add the right stuff, it's delicious!

INGREDIENTS

1 multigrain baguette

cheese (we used marble cheddar, but smoked gouda would be perfect!)

1 cooked chicken breast (ours was marinated in spicy bbq sauce and baked in the oven)

1 avocado

ASSEMBLY

Slice the baguette in half so that you can put the filling inside. Cut it into servings. Slice up the cheese and lay it on both sides of the baguette. Put in the oven on 350 degrees F for 5 to 10 minutes or until the cheese has melted and is bubbly.

While the cheese is melting, slice up the chicken breast (if it's leftovers, then you can reheat it quickly in the microwave) and the avocado.

Remove the cheesy baguette from the oven and top with chicken and avocado. Serve it up with some chips or veggie sticks.

Mmmmm!

Soft, Chewy Ginger Cookies

I love ginger cookies, both hard like gingersnaps or gingerbread men and soft like these chewy cookies. They're quick and easy to whip up and this recipe is foolproof!

INGREDIENTS

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon allspice

1/3 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

2 tablespoons molasses

2 tablespoons white sugar (for rolling cookies)

STEPS

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• In a medium mixing bowl, blend flour, baking soda and spices together and set aside.
• In another bowl, cream together butter and 1/2 cup of sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg until well mixed. Then add the molasses and mix to combine.
• Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture.
• Using rounded teaspoonfuls (or not quite full tablespoons), form dough into balls the size of walnuts and roll them in the extra 2 tablespoons of sugar. Place cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet, approximately two inches apart and lightly flatten.
• Bake in preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes. Allow to cool on cookie sheet for about 5 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely.

Cat Day

We know that things have been particularly tough on the cats lately, so we spent a few hours one day spoiling them rotten. They got some tuna and the water from the can. They got snuggled and petted. They got to climb on a bunch of stuff that they thought was super cool. Then, they got to play for over an hour straight! Stick toys, kitty strings, stuffed mice, stuffed fish. You name it, they got it!

Suffice to say, not much cooking has been going on lately. Although, I did whip up a pizza rather quickly. Well, as quickly as homemade dough can be made, anyway. But by the shape of the pizza, I think you can guess how quickly it was done. I like to call this the amoeba pizza :)

Well, at least the cats enjoyed eating the few pieces of cheese they got as a treat!

Apple Cake

We had some apples that needed to be used up, plus we wanted to make the house smell really nice, so I decided to bake an apple cake.

INGREDIENTS

2/3 cup butter, softened

2/3 cup white sugar

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

4 cups apples, peeled, cored and diced (I used Granny Smith apples)

STEPS

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Grease and lightly flour a 9x13-inch cake pan and line the bottom with parchment paper so that the cake comes out easily.
• Cream together butter and the white and brown sugars.
• Add the eggs and beat well. Then add the vanilla and mix to combine.
• In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves.
• Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture.
• Once the flour is fully mixed in, fold in the apples by hand. The batter will not fully cover all of the apple pieces.
• Pour the mixture into the prepared cake pan.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then remove the cake from the pan and allow to cool fully on a wire rack.

Superbowl Snacks

With the Superbowl coming up, I thought I'd share a dip with you that I made the other day just by looking through my herbs and spices and thinking about what would be different from our usual dip. This is what I came up with and it's perfect for dipping veggies or chips and it only takes 3 minutes to put it all together!

INGREDIENTS

3 tablespoons sour cream (I use fat free)

2 tablespoons mayonnaise (I use light)

1 tablespoon fresh dill (I only had dried dill so I used about 2 tablespoons)

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar (you can use lemon juice or even a cider vinegar)

STEPS

• Stir all ingredients together in a bowl and serve!

Tuna Casserole

Tuna casserole is a great comfort food if done right. Here's a recipe that I created on my own that gets gobbled up around here. The kitties help munch on a few pieces of tuna, too!

INGREDIENTS

1/2 bag of pasta (I use scoobidoo noodles, but you can use penne or macaroni)

1 can of your favorite creamy soup (or use 1 whole recipe of creamy soup substitute - recipe follows)

1/4 cup diced onions

2 cans tuna, drained

1 can corn, drained

1 cup shredded cheese

cayenne pepper to taste

garlic powder to taste

black pepper to taste

STEPS

• Boil the pasta for a few minutes less than the package requires. (It will continue cooking in the oven).
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• If using creamy soup substitute, prepare the recipe.
• Add the cayenne pepper, garlic powder and black pepper to the creamy soup substitute or the can of creamy soup.
• Stir the cheese into the creamy soup mixture.
• Add the flaked tuna and the can of corn to the mixture and stir well to combine.
• Stir in the pasta and pour into a 9x13-inch casserole dish. You can sprinkle additional grated cheese on top if you like.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes.

Creamy Soup Substitute

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)

10 ounces milk (or you can use 5 ounces milk and 5 ounces chicken stock)

OPTIONAL: you can add chopped celery or onions for flavor

STEPS

• Heat butter and oil in a pot, then add flour and salt, stirring to form a roux.
• If desired, add the celery or onions and cook for about a minute.
• Add the milk and stir until thickened.

Moist and Tender Ribs

My mother-in-law emailed me today with a delicious new recipe for ribs. It's a twist on the old faithful that we make in the family, but the ribs come out even more tender and the meat just falls off the bone and melts in your mouth.

INGREDIENTS

1 rack pork side ribs

1/2 cup ketchup

2 tablespoons corn syrup

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon basil

1/2 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon adobo sauce

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon chili powder

STEPS

• Put the ribs into a pot and cover it with hot water. Add 1 tablespoon of garlic and 1 tablespoon of chili powder. Cover the pot and bring the water to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat and allow the ribs to simmer for 30 minutes.
• Mix all other ingredients in a bowl to make the barbeque sauce.
• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
• Once the ribs have simmered, remove them from the pot and place on a large piece of aluminum foil. Cover both sides of the ribs with the barbeque sauce and wrap it fully in the foil.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 1.5 hours.

We had ours with whole wheat baguette and herbed butter. Yum!