Tag Archives: lunch

“After School Snack” Smoothie

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It may sound weird, but one of the things that I am most about graduating this year is the fact that I will finally be able to eat lunch at my own time.

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Any guesses on my absurd lunch time this year?

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9:45 AM.

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Yep…if it was my choice I would not even be awake at that time! 9:45…who seriously would ever think that is somewhat close to a normal lunch time?! Anyways, I eat my lunch like an obedient little student, and then by my final class of the day it sounds like my stomach is playing it’s theme song. Yes, I could bring snacks and save some of my lunch for later, but something about being the only one in class, making all the eating and chewing noises pushes me away a little. So there is my life problem in a nut shell for you. It’s a torturous life, but someone’s got to live it (sarcasm..)

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So here is a wonderful smoothie I love to make that energizes me and fills me up when I get home. If I woke up early enough, this would be awesome as a breakfast smoothie before I take off to school, but I guess you can’t win em all. One of my favorite things about this smoothie is that it is 100% fruit, and with the frozen banana, a creamy smoothie is made!

“After School Snack” Smoothie

(Serves 1)

1/2 cup sliced, frozen bananas

1/4 cup blackberries

1/3 cup blueberries

1/4 cup juice (I used cranberry-grape juice, but grape or cranberry on their own would work well, this juice is not totally necessary)

  1. In a blender, blend together all the ingredients until smooth and you don’t hear the frozen bananas making a ruckus anymore.

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Random Fact of the Day: On some Caribbean islands, the oysters can climb trees.

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Summertime, and the Dinner is Easy!

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On a hot, sticky night, I really don’t feel like making a big dinner with the stove or oven.  When it’s really hot I don’t even want to use the outdoor grill.  These nights I like to make panini sandwiches.  I have a panini griddle, but there are many ways to make a panini.  If you do not have a panini maker, you can use your George Forman grill, any inside grill or griddle, or simply two pans.

The key to a good panini is to start with great ingredients.  You will need your favorite bread, something crusty works really well.  In addition, you will need your favorite  sandwich fillings.  Maybe chesse, veggies, meat, mustard, mayo, whatever floats your boat!

Casey will be back soon.  Last night we had a simple dinner in her absence.  Here is what we had:

Grilled Turkey, Roasted Peppers & Onions Panini:

Ingredients:

Wheat bread

Turkey

Green pepper

Onion

Muenster cheese

Spicy mustard

Olive oil

Salt & pepper

Preparation:

Clean and dry one bell pepper.  Slice into strips.  Peel and slice into strips one small onion.  Place peppers and onions in a microwave safe bowl.  Drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.  Microwave for 1 1/2 minutes until vegetables soften.

Open your french bread and place cheese, then mustard, then meat, and finally peppers and onions into the sandwich.  It is best not to put your condiments onto the bread, since they would then be absorbed into the bread.  For maximum flavor, place sandwich condiments between the meat and cheese.

Brush sandwich with olive oil and place sandwich on your griddle.  If you do not have a griddle, place sandwich in a fry pan and place a heavy pan on top of your sandwich.  You want to press the sandwich to make it crisp.  Cook to a golden brown.  If you are using the fry pan or griddle method, you will need to flip the sandwich to brown both sides.

There are many variations on the panini.  Any lunch meat and cheese works well.  Any bread works too!  You can spice up the sandwich with hot peppers, giardiniera, or even hot sauce.

Serve hot with some chips and you will have a quick and way summer supper. This sandwich pairs well with soup in the winter.  Enjoy!

Grilled Cheese With a Life Changing Twist

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Grilled cheese is such a classic, right?

I’ve always loved the stuff but I often am set back to actually make it for myself because the effort of using the stove just seems like too much. Well those days are over my friends.

My life will never be the same.

As I was bringing one of the kids I teach swim lessons over to their mom today, I saw another kid snacking on those cheese and peanut butter crackers that I would love as a kid love. So it kinda got me thinking. For some reason peanut butter and cheese just aren’t that common of a combination. I started to try to think of other things that would be good with cheese and peanut butter. BAM!!! GRILLED CHEESE!!! WITH PEANUT BUTTER! 

Mmmm….pretzels was the other big thing I thought of. Gotta do something with that. 

Anyways…this is seriously one of the best things I have ever eaten. And so easy!!! Get your booty in the kitchen and make up some lunch!!!

Grilled Cheese and Peanut Butter

2 slices of bread

butter

2 slices of cheese

about 2 T. Peanut Butter

  1. Turn heat on stove to about medium to get it nice and hot with the pan on.
  2. Butter one side of each piece of bread. Then spread peanut butter on one or both pieces of bread (depending on how peanut buttery you want it) on whichever side doesn’t have butter. Turn the heat down to low on the stove. Place one piece of bread on pan with butter side down closest to the heat. Quickly set both pieces of cheese on top followed by the second piece of bread, making sure the second piece of bread has the butter side facing up.
  3. Let sit for about 2 minutes or until golden brown (I like mine pretty toasty, if you couldn’t tell so I had my heat a bit higher), flip when cheese starts to get soft or melty. When both sides look golden brown, or to your taste, take off the stove and serve!

Ok so I decided to save this until the end and I would just like to say, I’m not much of a person who is a downer on here, but this is kinda a special situation. About a week ago, I stumbled across a blog that has really touched my heart. It scares the heck out of me. Please just read it. This blogger could really use some prayers. The Glass Divide is the name and link. Seriously, just look and pray super hard.

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The Quickest Pizza You’ve Ever Made

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Pizza… Quick? What! Yes, it is true. You can have pizza within 15 minutes. and you don’t even have to roll out dough. No sticky dough sticking to the counter. No pouring flour all over the place. Pure bliss. :)

Just a simple little tortilla

I really, REALLY wanted to make BBQ Chicken Pizza but unfortunately I didn’t have any chicken defrosted and I was not  about to wait hours for the chicken to defrost.

So I just went some good ‘ol classic cheese pizza. But then of course as a last minute decision, I decided it was truly a requirement  to have some bacon on there SOMEWHERE! So I made the decision to go half and half. 

Some people may find it odd that I put cheese under and on top of the sauce, but I really think that it does add some depth and really enhances the flavor.

What a great decision. Sometimes I wonder where these sparks come from, and why I can’t get them during my chemistry tests. 

Quick DELICIOUS Pizza

(for one!)

1 tortilla

3 T. grated Parmesan

about* 1/4 to 1/3 c. pasta sauce (pizza sauce and tomato sauce are basically the same)

about* 1/2 to 3/4 c. mozzarella cheese

1 t. parsley

1 t. oregano

3 T. Bacon, optional

  1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Place tortilla on baking sheet. Sprinkle Parmesan evenly on tortilla. Spread sauce evenly on top of cheese. After that, sprinkle the mozzarella on top of the sauce. (Don’t be shy! When you think it’s a lot, it WON’T look like that after it’s baked) Then, sprinkle your extra toppings-parsley, oregano, bacon, chicken, sausage, etc.
  3. Bake in preheated oven for about 10 minutes or until cheese starts to bubble and crust may become golden on edges.

* NOTICE: the “about”‘s are really just where you should use your own judgement and decide what looks good to you, I’m sure you already know that. I, personally, always am a stickler on following recipes, probably why I do baking rather than cooking so much!

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This is what I have to do when my parents are drinking too much alcohol…

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I’m just kiddding… My parents hardly drink at all. But we did have a couple cans of beer hanging around and since I know canned beer is repulsive to my father I decided to put some of it to good use. Have you ever heard of beerbread? Well, now you have. This bread, it’s definitely unique. Aaaand it requires like 4 or 5 ingredients, 3 is you have self-rising flour.

I’m not sure what this bread is going to be used foryet.Probablyanything. Use your creative juices! A turkey sandwich? A quick snack with some butter? Maybe you can carve it into a cool bread-sculpture. (Send me a picture! hehe) Speaking of carving, has anyone seen that new show on Food Network, “Ice Brigade”? I can’t tell what I think about it yet. It just doesn’t seem like Food Network. You can’t eat it. What’s the point? Then again, they do make some pretty amazing things. Way better than I could do with play-doh, let alone ice.

Our Star!

Anyways, where was I? Oh yeah! Beer bread. Well, let me warn ya, it smells soo good when in the oven. It’s like a little bakery in here. And the taste, well I almost don’t even want to tell you because to be honest I didn’t have very high expectations of this recipe myslef. But dang, this stuff is good. Its got a nice crust with a soft, bread inside. The perfect amount of sweetness greets your taste buds, that makes you want to do a little victory dance. How about you get your little heinie in the kitchen now and bake some. You’ll be surprised :) Plus it may just be the easiest thing I have ever baked.

Beer Bread

1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle of beer

3 c. self-rising flour (or 3 cups of flour sifted with 1 1/2 t. salt and 4 1/2 t. baking powder)

3 T. white sugar

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. In a large bow, mix together the sugar and flour. Add beer and continue to mix, using a wooden spoon. Batter will be sticky. Pour into a 9 x 5 inch greased loaf pan.
  3. Bake at 350 degrees F for 50-60 minutes. The top will be crunchy and the insides will be soft. Serve with butter or cheese spread.

Why are you still here? Shoo! Turn that oven on!