Ceaser Salad

This is my recipe. It's been perfected through the years and I am proud to say it is MINE. It's not everyday that you can call a recipe your own right? Usually you got it from someone or some book and you made some variation to it or another. Not this one. Sure, it was once based on a collection of recipes. But I've made so many changes over the years (yes YEARS) that I think it's safe to say that it is mine.

And now I will share it with you!

Ingredients:

1 head of Romain Lettuce cut up to squares (you could also just buy the bagged lettuce).
1/2 cup of shredded Swiss cheese
Croutons to taste

Dressing:

3 tbs Mayo
2-4 tbs milk
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
 1/4 c. Parmesan cheese
salt to taste

For the dressing, just throw it all in a bowl/bottle and mix is well. If you like it thicker, then go easy on the mil, if you like a thinner dressing, add more milk. Be sure to make this decision after you're added the Parmesan cheese though because it will thicken up the dressing quite a bit.

In a large bowl toss the lettuce and the Swiss cheese until they are well mixed. Right before serving (or else the lettuce will wilt and get gross) mix in the dressing and top it off with the croutons.


Pair it with some sort of meat, grilled is usually my favorite, and you're got perfection!

Ultimate Grilled Cheese

What? A recipe for grilled cheese?!?!

Yes! Because why would you ever eat this:Plain old wheat bread with a slice of yucky Kraft singles on a sandwich maker... ew.

When you can eat THIS:

Delicious and fresh sourdough bread, real butter, real mozzarella cheese grilled to perfection. YUM!

Am I right, or am I right?
So go ahead, try it out, pair it with your favorite soup and have yourself the perfect low key week night (or weekend) dinner!

Ultimate Grilled Cheese Sandwich
(makes 2)

4 thick slices of Sourdough bread.
Mozzarella cheese
butter.

Butter both sides of each slice of bread, place cheese and close.
Heat up a non stick skillet/pan. Place sandwich on pan and let it cook for about 2 min, or until it's golden brown and the cheese has started to melt. Flip if over with a spatuala, press it down to make it thiner and yummier, and let the second side cook for about a minute.

And it's done!
Enjoy it!!!

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Ingredients:

6 slices bacon
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4-5 cups milk
4 large baked potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 green onions, chopped
1 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Fry the bacon until browned. Drain, crumble, and set aside. You can also cook bacon in the microwave, which is how I usually do it. Get a microwave safe plate and place 3-4 sheets of paper towel, place the bacon over the paper towels and then cover it with a few more paper towels. Cook it in the microwave for 8-10 min.

Step two is making a roux. In a stock pot , melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in flour until smooth (that's a roux! It's a wonderful thickening agent!). Make sure that you wisk the roux constantly so it doesn't burn, you want it to cook long enough so that it turns a light caramel-ish color and that smells slightly nutty. Gradually stir in milk, whisking constantly until thickened. Be sure to add the milk slowly so you can see how thick you want the soup. Stir in potatoes, onions, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently.

Reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes. Mix in bacon, cheese and sour cream. Continue cooking, stirring frequently, until cheese is melted.

Serve it up and enjoy!

This is a deliciously rich and creamy soup. I couldn't believe how easy it is. I had baked the potatoes earlier in the day so it really only took me about 15 minutes to throw all of this together!

Same last words of advice for this recipe:
- DO NOT use margarine. When making a roux it'll all about the butter!!!
Don't skip out on the bacon, use less if you want to make it light, but it really makes the soup. In fact, if you love bacon like I do, I would not tie myself to the 6 slices... ;o)
- Really pay attention to the milk and roux, the more they cook, the more it thickens, so keep that in mind.

Bruschetta

After watching Julie and Julia I had a mad craving for Bruschetta.

So here is what I came up with, very easy and extremely tasty!

For the tomatoes:

4 ripe roma tomatoes
1/2 c. basil leaves
1 tbs balsamic vinager
2 tbs olive oil
salt to taste

Chop the tomatoes and the basil leaves, mix all the ingredients and let it stand.

For the bread:

2 small baguettes, or 1 regular size one
2 cups (+/-) olive oil
8-10 garlic cloves

Cut the baguette into 1 inch slices.
In a large pan heat up the olive oil. Chop up the garlic and add it to the hot oil. Let the garlic cook until it's golden brown.
Remove the garlic and add the bread slices. the bread really brown before you turn it over.

Right before serving top each slice with a heaping serving of the tomatoes and sprinkle from freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Be sure always repeat the frying garlic in the oil process with each batch of bread that you make in the pan. I ended up making two batches, one with each small baguette. With each batch I use about a cup of olive oil and 4 garlic cloves.

This is simply delicious! I hope you all enjoy it!

To accompany this delicious appetizer I also made some fettuccine alfredo (recipe to come later). Perfect combination!