BLTs with a Blue Cheese Spread

I seriously thought a BLT couldn't be improved upon.  It's pretty much perfection in a sandwich.  Or so I thought.  As I was flipping through the pages of my newest Food Network Magazine, I saw this and thought, well, I MUST try that.  

Bacon and blue cheese are like Fred and Ginger or salt and pepper or Diet Coke and M&Ms.  Wait, you don't do that?   Oh that's right, that last one is my dirty little secret.  Well, it's certainly no secret that bacon and blue cheese are a match made in heaven and this sandwich....it just might be the yummiest sandwich this side of heaven. 

BLT Sandwich with a Blue Cheese Spread ~ adapted from The Food Network Magazine

Blue Cheese Spread

1/4 cup mayonaisse
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup + blue cheese crumbles
2 Tbsp hot sauce (like Frank's)
1 small clove garlic, minced
Freshly ground black pepper (I used lots!)

Mix ingredients together until well mixed.  Add additional blue cheese crumbles or hot sauce if desired.   

Sandwiches

Bread (I totally cheated and used store bought bread--Dave's Killer Bread--have you tried this?  It's so killer, but (unfortunately!) SO pricey)
Bacon strips, cooked until crispy, but not burnt
Tomatoes, sliced (garden fresh put this over the top!)
Romaine lettuce

Toast bread slices and let cool just a bit.  Slather blue cheese spread on a toasted bread slice and layer bacon, lettuce, and tomato.  Top with remaining bread slice.  Slice in half and serve. 

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This recipe is linked to:

Beauty and Bedlam's Tasty Tuesday
Blessed With Grace Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
Designs By Gollum Foodie Friday
Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap
Friday Potluck at EKat's Kitchen
Hearth 'n Soul Recipe Swap at Premeditated Leftovers
Miz Helen's Country Cottage Full Plate Thursday  

Cranberry Chicken Salad Sandwiches or Salads

This is another great way (especially in the summer) to use up some leftover cooked chicken.  I had the last bit of roasted chicken that needed using up and I made chicken salad salads with them.  Still having some leftover the following day, we had chicken salad sandwiches for lunch.  This recipe comes from my Mom....so of course, it totally reminds me of my Mom.  Are there any foods that every time you have them, you get warm fuzzys because of a special person it reminds you of?

Yes, chicken salad reminds me of my Mom, among many other more wonderful things.

The day we brought Peanut home from the hospital, my Mom came to the hospital and helped us get all checked out and then rushed to Costco, got a truckload of groceries (you think I'm kidding) and then came over to our house and proceeded to cook the afternoon away.  It makes me tear up just thinking about it.  It was just so comforting to know she was there--and knowing I wouldn't have to cook didn't hurt either.  I don't about Hubs (he puts on a brave face), but I was feeling pretty overwhelmed the day we brought Peanut home.  Of course, I was just two days postpartum, so that might have had something to do with it, but still.

My Mom made three full meals (main dishes, sides, and dessert) that were enough to feed a family of six each (mind you we were a family of 2.1--in terms of mouths to feed), so we had plenty of leftovers.  She also brought tons of snacks and goodies, so we seriously didn't have to cook for the rest of the week.   She also made us these sandwiches for lunch that afternoon.  She probably used the canned chicken from Costco (which I use to buy all the time, but alas, no more) so I hadn't made them in awhile, but having the leftover cooked chicken last week, I thought, why can't I make my own?  So I did....

Cranberry Chicken Salad Sandwiches or Salads ~ from my Mom

2 cups cooked chicken, shredded or small dice
3/4 cup sliced celery
2 green onions (whites and greens), sliced
1/2 cup dried cranberries
Mayonnaise
Salt and pepper

Mix all ingredients together, adding mayo, salt, and pepper to taste.  Serve over a bed of lettuce for a yummy, main dish salad, or on toasted sandwich bread with leaves of lettuce for extra crunch.  Enjoy!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

This recipe is linked to:

Beauty and Bedlam's Tasty Tuesday
Blessed With Grace Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
Designs By Gollum Foodie Friday
Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap
Friday Potluck at EKat's Kitchen  (Friday Potluck will be hosted at girlichef for the month of July)
Hearth 'n Soul Recipe Swap at A Moderate Life
La Bella Vita's Fresh Clean and Pure Friday 
Life As Mom Ultimate Recipe Swap
Miz Helen's Country Cottage Full Plate Thursday 
This Chick Cooks Recipe Swap

Chipotle Lime Corn on the Cob

I know some people that just absolutely LOVE corn on the cob.  I like it just fine, but you'll never see me lining up for it.  Normally it's served at a cookout or backyard barbeque and there are usually tons more exciting things to eat--exciting things that are a lot less effort to eat too.  Yes, I have mentioned this many times, but I am that lazy.  Plus, I need to be at my own home (or my Mom and Dad's) where I feel comfortable enough to hog the bathroom while I floss immediately after eating.  I can't stand having food stuck in my teeth.

But I digress, as my dental hygiene was not the purpose of this post.

Now if corn on the cob was always served with this yummy, fabulous, change your life forever and ever topping--I just might have to rethink everything I just claimed to be true about myself and corn on the cob.  Because this stuff is just that amazing if you ask me.  Hubs loved it too--I think I might have seen him shed a tear over the beauty of this recipe....oh, how I kid.  But we both really, really enjoyed it.   

(But our daughter who will happily eat broccoli, green beans, celery, and cucumbers?  I cannot for the life of me get her to eat corn.  Such a strange child, I mean, isn't corn every child's favorite "vegetable"?  Well, it's not our Peanut's that's for sure.)

Anyhow, please make this....and then drop me a line to tell me how your life has changed for the better.  Because it will.  I promise.

Chipotle Lime Corn on the Cob ~ adapted from Taste of Home

4 large ears sweet corn, husked and rinsed
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp. pureed chipotle pepper in adobo sauce (here's what you do with the rest of the can)
2 Tbsp. fresh cilantro, minced
1/2 tsp. lime zest
2 Tbsp lime juice
1 garlic clove, minced
Grated Parmesan cheese, for serving

Fill a large stock pot with water and bring to a rolling boil.  Place ears of corn in boiling water and simmer until corn is cooked through, about five minutes.  Remove from water and place on a serving plate and cover with foil to keep warm.

Mix together mayonnaise, chipotle pepper, cilantro, lime zest, lime juice, and garlic in a small bowl.  Serve over *slightly* cooled corn on the cob and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. 

This topping also makes a fabulous salad dressing if you have any leftover! 

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

This recipe is linked to:

Beauty and Bedlam's Tasty Tuesday
Blessed With Grace Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
Designs By Gollum Foodie Friday
Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap
Friday Potluck at EKat's Kitchen  (Friday Potluck will be hosted at girlichef for the month of July)
Hearth 'n Soul Recipe Swap at A Moderate Life
La Bella Vita's Fresh Clean and Pure Friday 
Life As Mom Ultimate Recipe Swap
Miz Helen's Country Cottage Full Plate Thursday 
This Chick Cooks Recipe Swap

Ham & Spinach Stuffed Sandwiches

I meant to get this posted last week in time for New Year's Eve, but it completely slipped my mind.  These have a wonderful mix of flavors and are great make ahead little sandwiches.  My family has been making these for Christmas Eve for close to ten years now--they are a major family favorite.  This is another one of those "Why don't I make these more often?" recipes.  They are pretty easy to make, so I really don't know why I don't make them more often.  And I discovered that the Peanut was absolutely in love with this sammich {sandwich}, so I definitely need to make these more than once a year.

These traditionally call for sourdough baguettes, which I normally get in a five pack from Costco (cheater, I know).  But my Costco doesn't carry those (grrr).  Instead, I made do with my own homemade loaves of bread (I used all purpose flour this time--cheater again, I know.), but on the second rise, my towel stuck adhered to the rising bread, so when I pulled back the towel to put the loaves in the oven, the loaves deflated like pathetic old balloons (double grrr).  All that to say, these loaves were not nice and fluffy like they should have been.  But in the end they worked out good, so I was happy.

Ham & Spinach Stuffed Sandwiches

1 (24 inch) baguette or 1 larger loaf of homemade bread, baked like a loaf of french bread

8 oz. cream cheese, slightly softened
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. dill weed
2 green onions, chopped
1 (10 oz.) package frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed of all excess water

4 cups minced ham (this time I used leftover ham, but I've purchased deli ham in the past and it works just fine)
1/3 c. chopped pecans
1/2 c. mayonaisse
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

If using a baguette, cut it in half lengthwise and scoop out centers, leaving about a 1/2 inch shell.  Remember you can dry the centers out and save them for pre-made bread crumbs!  Set baguettes aside.  As mentioned, my loaf wasn't all fluffy and thick, so I skipped this step--but if you have a bready normal loaf, you'll want to do this too.  

Combine the cream cheese, lemon juice, dill, green onions, and spinach. Coat the inside of the bread shells (and all cut edges) with spinach mixture.

Mix ham, pecans, mayo, and mustard.  Fill coated bread shells with ham mixture and place each half together.  Wrap tightly and refrigerate several hours.  Slice to serve.


This recipe is linked to:

Beauty and Bedlam's Tasty Tuesday
Blessed With Grace Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
Designs By Gollum Foodie Friday
Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap
Hearth 'n Soul Recipe Swap  
Life As Mom Ultimate Recipe Swap

Asian Chicken Salad with Homemade Asian Dressing

I made this for dinner several weeks ago and it was just plain yum!  The salad dressing recipe is yet another from the cooking classes that my mom used to attend and it is simply, aaaa-mazing. 

Asian Dressing

3/4 c granulated sugar
2/3 c rice vinegar
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt (I used sea salt, it was fine)
2 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp hoisin sauce (can find in the Asian food section of your supermarket, it also referred to as plum sauce)
1 1/2 tsp course ground pepper
1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 Tbsp sesame oil
1 1/2 c peanut or vegetable oil

In food processor using metal blade, drop whole garlic through feed tube with machine running.  Add all ingredients except oil, pulse to blend.  With machine running, slowly pour oil through feed tube until emulsified into dressing.  Store in refrigerator up to one month.   Remove from refrigerator prior to use; whisk or stir before serving.   Makes about 2 cups.

Salad

Romaine lettuce
Green onions
Cubed, cooked chicken
Mandarin oranges
Chinese noodles
Toasted, slivered almonds

Toss and serve with dressing on the side.  Enjoy!

This recipe is linked to:

Beauty and Bedlam's Tasty Tuesday
Blessed With Grace Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap  
Life As Mom Ultimate Recipe Swap
 

The BLTA

No, it is not a "blotta." That would be a B-L-T-A. As in Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato, and Avocado. My husband used to work as a server and then in management at a restaurant and he always had to swallow a laugh when the guest ordered the "blotta." Yes, some actually did that. They weren't even trying to be funny. Oops.



The sandwiches were quite yummy and the homemade baked beans from scratch (no canned beans here) were very tasty as well.

I love making easy meals. Especially ones that don't involve heating up my house in the summertime.