10 Minute "Grilled" Cheese, With NO Oil!

"Grilled" Cheese, sans OIL

Okay, I'm going to keep this super quick today, because this sandwich is only going to take you 10 minutes to make! Seriously. Go ahead and pre-heat your oven to ~350 degrees, and let's get started!

Gather up your supplies. I like whole-wheat bread and three slices of American cheese, but you can mix and match breads and cheeses, this is not an exact science, after all. You will also need two (2) cookies sheets, and one (1) large piece of aluminum foil (or a silicone baking mat if you have one!).

I love my baking mats, and I highly recommend them!

Assemble your sandwich however you like, and when you're ready, take the second cookie sheet, and go ahead and put it on top of your sandwich. Yes, you read that correctly, on top. Still with me?

Yup, just like that

 Now go ahead and put the whole shebang in your heated oven, and leave it alone for about 10 minutes. That's all it's going to take before you get a beautiful, scrumptious, perfectly toasted "grilled" cheese sandwich, without any OIL!

Your results may vary, but I promise you, it'll be yum. I recommend dipping in ketchup, but that's just me.

Enjoy!

 

Super-Easy Veggie "Chili"

Okay, I was going to write about more home-improvement DIY type projects, but I thought I'd take a little break and talk about food instead, because you know, everybody's got to eat.
So today, rather than regal you with tales of my DIY prowess, I'm going to share a quick, easy and absolutely delicious recipe with you. Because I like food, and I think you probably like food too, and I especially like food that is quick and easy to make.

So, without further ado:

Super-Easy Vegetarian "Chili"

 

 

 

First of all, I'm putting chili in quotes because this is not going to be the type of chili you cook and simmer for hours, so therefore, some people might say it's not "real" chili. I don't care. It's yummy, and I enjoy eating it. So there. Second, YES! this is vegetarian! You could easily add meat though, if you are so inclined. My husband and I are not vegetarians, but we do like to have a lot of meat-free dishes. Why? 1, because meat is expensive, and we can't really afford to be eating it every single night. 2. because we keep kosher, and can't mix milk and meat. So if we want our food to be cheesy, we go vegetarian.

 

Alright, enough chat, on with the recipe! You will need...

 

• 1 package (~16oz) Morningstar Farms Crumbles (you could substitute any veggie-meat you like, or real meat!)
• 1/2 can cooked kidney beans
• 1/2 can cooked cannellini beans
• 1/2 can diced tomatoes (if you can get the kind with chilies in them, good!)
• 1/8 or 1/4 tsp chili powder: depending on how spicy you want it
• 2-3 tbsp. tomato paste: to thicken it up

 

Now this recipe is really complicated, so pay attention:

 

Step 1: Put everything in a pot, and stir over med-high heat until cooked and delicious.

 

Got it? I know, I know, so much work. But trust me, it's worth it. ;op Seriously though, this is such a quick and easy meal, I can't even tell you how much I love it. Now, if you are using real meat, you might need to cook things a bit longer, to ensure that your meat is cooked through. Since I use veggie-meat, I don't worry as much about this, and really just heat & stir until things are nice and hot.

 

If you want to make your meal extra yum, you can serve it with cornbread. I'm not going to give you my recipe, since I just use the one that comes on the can of corn-meal, and besides, I'm sure Pinterest has one or two recipes you could try.

 

 

Okay, so that's it! My super-easy vegetarian "chili". Feel free to substitute anything you want. More beans, less tomato, more spices, whatever! If you make changes, and it comes out good, let me know here in the comments! I'd love to see what you guys can do with such a basic simple recipe, and I'll try your substitutions if they sound yummy to me!

 

Stay tuned next time for more DIY, and maybe some cooking. We'll see.

 

"Mock" & Cheese

Every year on Passover, I face the same challenge: what to feed my picky husband. He won't eat fish, or eggs, or veggies, or... grown-up foods, really. He mostly lives on pasta & pizza and bread, and on a holiday when we can't have any of those, not eating the same thing 10 nights in a row becomes... difficult. So my plan is to try to collect a list of easy go-to recipes that I can make any night of the week with little or no prep. This is the first one in my new collection. A friend gave me the recipe just two days ago, and I already love it. So, here it is:

Tova's "Mock" & Cheese

Ingredients:

3 eggs

3 1/2 cups matzah farfel (I made my own with regular matzah, a plastic baggie & a hammer)

1/2 lb. (or more) of cheddar cheese

1 cup milk

1/2 pint sour cream

1/2 pint cottage cheese

Salt & Pepper to taste

1. Grease an 8x8 baking pan, pre-heat oven to 350. Beat the eggs with the milk & seasonings, and add in the matzah farfel, to soak. Cut or shred the cheese into small bits.

2. Mix in the cheese, sour cream & cottage cheese. Pour the mix into the baking pan and try to make it look all even and pretty.

3. Bake covered for 30 minutes, then uncover and bake for another 30 minutes, or until golden-brown and delicious.

4. Enjoy!

Belated Happy Turkey-Day!

Hey everyone! I just wanted to take a minute out of what I'm assuming is a busy Black Friday to share some pictures of our Thanksgiving meal! (pictures of food on the internet, what? Is that a thing?)

Let me give you a brief over-view of the menu:

• Two different kinds of salad
• Salmon patties 
• Two different kinds of wine (1 homemade)
• Split-pea soup
• Homemade bread
• Turkey (of course)
• Gravy
• Stuffing
• Sweet potato casserole
• Cranberry sauce
• Roasted white potatoes
• Honey cupcakes
• Ginger-apple cake
• Chocolate bumpy cake
• Pumpkin pie

A feast I tell you! We did it all kind-of pot-luck style, where everyone brought something. And by everything, I mean the woman. It's not a sexist thing, but the men in our family just don't cook for whatever reason, although my Father-in-Law did bring us homemade wine!

And now for some pictures:

Yours truly, putting the finishing touches on my bird.

And it was a beautiful bird, if I do say so myself.

My family and I usually head out to my aunt's house for Thanksgiving, so this was actually only the second time I've ever had to put the Thanksgiving meal together. I think the turkey came out pretty damned good! I was really proud of myself and what I was able to accomplish. Would I do it again? In a heart-beat. It was fun, and the turkey was actually easy (and tasty!).

And these are just the leftovers!

Okay, so I know that Thanksgiving isn't just about food, so I want to take a minute to talk about all of the things that I'm thankful for this year.

• I'm thankful for my job.
• I work in am amazing library, where they treat the staff like family. My coworkers are fun and amazing people, and my boss is one of the sweetest people I know.
• I'm thankful for my family.
• My parents and In-Laws both live about 15 minutes away from us (okay, 20 with traffic), and I love that we're close enough to pop over whenever we want and spend time with our families.
• I'm thankful for my education.
• I'm working on my Master's in Library and Information Science, and I'm just about done with my second semester. That's 1/3 of the way!
• I'm thankful for my health.
• While I'm not always the healthiest person (I could eat less and exercise more), I don't have any big health issues, and that's a blessing.
• I'm thankful for a great place to live.
• Our apartment might not be much (though we're slowly improving it), but it's ours, and I love it.

So that's it for right now. How did you guys celebrate Thanksgiving? And if you don't celebrate, did you do anything fun/cool on Thursday? What are you thankful for this year? 
Stay tuned for another post in the next few days, I'm going to be talking about the end of NaNoWriMo, and my plans for next year (yes, I plan ahead. no, I don't always stick to those plans), and of course, what I learned from NaNo this year and what I love about the event!
Also, look for a new Librarian's Corner next month (on-time, I hope), and some year-end recaps!

Happy Friday, and enjoy your leftovers, I know I will!