this really, really good roast beef sandwich

we had these at our friends' house yesterday after sledding. MAKE THEM. NOW. i hope the instructions are clear. i wish i had a picture of them to show you. i thought they would be a kind of soggy sandwich, but once they are out of the oven, they are crunchy-ish on the outside and melty-cheesy on the inside. and that sauce you put on them -- crazy good.

You will need good, fresh hoagie rolls (or any roll), thinly sliced roast beef (i think my friend had meat from Costco .. that you get by all the other sliced meats and cheeses. I suppose you could use left over meat too), and swiss cheese.

Sauce:
1cup melted butter
4T Worcestershire Sauce
1t garlic pepper (yes, PEPPER. no, no garlic salt. PEPPER.)
1T poppy seeds
1T sesame seeds

Assemble the sandwiches on a baking sheet like so: bottom half of roll, some roast beef, slice of swiss cheese, top half of roll. My friend cut the rolls in half ... easier to eat and get more of the sauce on them. If they are smaller rolls, don't cut in half.

Pour sauce over the sandwiches: do a few spoonfuls over each sandwich. It will run over the sides and pool on the baking sheet, but that's ok. This amount of sauce was good for about 8 whole hoagies (so, 16 halves). Cover with tinfoil (wrap it around the edges of pan) and cook at 350 for 1/2 hour. You may need to double the sauce depending on the number of sandwiches you make.

Calling All Breakfasts

What do you gals eat for breakfast?

Lately I've been eating:

1/2 cup raw old fashioned oatmeal (I like it chewy and raw...not cooked and slimy)
1/2 cup fresh blueberries (or strawberries or raspberries, but blubes are my favorite and most low maintenance)
1/2 cup milk
sprinkle of sugar
(measurements are approximate)

It's like a healthy blueberry shortcake.

Some yummy recipes I've tried lately...

(sorry, I'm not giving each its own post)

Roasted Chickpeas  (here from Our Best Bites)
These remind me of corn nuts ... except way healthier and cheaper. Sammy and I gobbled them all down. Yummy snack.

Ingredients:
1 15-ounce can chickpeas
1 1/2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Drain and rinse chickpeas and pat dry with paper towels. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine the spices and the olive oil. Toss the chickpeas in the spice mixture and spread the seasoned chickpeas over a lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes and then remove the pan from the oven. Use a spatula to toss the chickpeas, then replace the pan and cook for another 15-20 minutes or until browned (but not burned) and crispy. Allow to cool. Snack away.

Bruschetta  (here from Pioneer Woman)
Entirely, completely delicious. Made it for Valentine's day as an appetizer (I know, so fancy) while I cooked the rest of the meal. The tomato mixture is good by itself, but once it's on the buttery baguette, HOLY MOLY! I loved it. I cooked the bread on a my grill pan. I so felt like Giada ... and was saying bruschetta with her Italian accent. I don't totally love fresh basil, so I went a little easy on it.

Ingredients

• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 5 cloves Garlic, Finely Minced
• 1 pint Red Grape Tomatoes, Halved Lengthwise
• 1 pint Yellow Grape Tomatoes, Halved Lengthwise
• 1 Tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar
• 16 whole Basil Leaves (chiffonade)
• Salt And Pepper To Taste (don't Oversalt!)
• 1 whole Baguette
• 8 Tablespoons Butter

Preparation Instructions

In a small skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic and stir, lightly frying for about a minute, removing before the garlic gets too brown (it can be golden.) Pour into a mixing bowl and allow to cool slightly.
Add tomatoes, balsamic, basil, and salt and pepper to the bowl. Toss to combine, then taste and add more basil if needed, and more salt if needed (don't oversalt, though!) Cover and refrigerate for an hour or two if you have the time.
Cut the baguette into diagonal slices to allow for the most surface area possible. Melt half the butter in a large skillet and grill half the bread on both sides, making sure they're nice and buttery. Cook till golden brown on both sides. Repeat with the other half of the butter and the other half of the bread.
To serve, give the tomato mixture a final stir, the spoon generously over the slices of bread. Serve on a big platter as a first course or appetizer.

Chicken Salad (here on Cheeky Kitchen)
I gotta say, this is hands down my new favorite chicken salad. I saw a few people had this posted on Pinterest (no I don't have an account, but I like to snoop around once a month) and it looked so pretty, so I had to try it. I was skeptical since there isn't much to the salad, but no, no. It's delicious. I love that it's not super mayo-y/creamy. And eating it in an avocado --- little difficult and awkward, but the av is soooo good with it. Yum. I made this in like 2 seconds. Really easy. Oh my gosh, I'm still drooling over this. AND I added some sliced almonds instead of corn chips.

But hold on before you go make it --- it makes hardly any, so either make it for 2 people or double the recipe (or triple). 

Ingredients:

1 cup chicken breast, cooked and shredded
¼ cup corn
¼ cup black beans, rinsed and drained
¼ cup green onions, chopped
¼ cup tomatoes, diced
¼ cup cilantro, chopped
¼ cup corn chips, crushed
2 tablespoons white vinegar
4 tablespoons mayonnaise
Salt to taste
2-4 avocados, sliced in half with pits discarded

Directions:

In a medium bowl, toss the chicken breast, corn, black beans, green onions, tomatoes, cilantro, and corn chips together. Add the vinegar and mayonnaise to mixture and toss to coat. Salt to taste. Spoon salad into halved avocados. Serve immediately with a spoon and fork. Enjoy!

 

Cheesy Vegetable Chowder

2 Tablespoons butter

1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup finely chopped carrot
1 stalk celery, finely chopped (feel free to add more celery if you like celery; I don't, so I don't add much)
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
4 cups chicken broth (I usually use a mixture of low-sodium chicken broth and broth made with chicken soup base because it gives it such nice flavor) well, i used chicken bullion. that's what sharley did, and i like the flavors it brought
2 large baking potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 Tablespoon flour
1/2 cup water
2/3 cup milk
2 cups chopped broccoli
2 heaping cups shredded cheddar cheese (use velveeta for smoother cheesiness)
and i also added some shredded chicken.

Melt the butter in a large soup pot. Add onions, carrots, and celery and saute over medium heat until tender. Add garlic and cook 1 or 2 additional minutes. Add chicken broth and potatoes, bring to a boil, and cook until potatoes are tender. Mix flour with water, add, and simmer until soup is slightly thickened. Add milk and broccoli and cook until broccoli is just tender and soup is heated through. Stir in cheese, allow to melt, and serve.

Sharley also made this and it was good. It's like broccoli and cheese soup except lots more veggies and less cheese.

Recipe found here.

Roasted Broccoli

2 bunches broccoli
olive oil
salt n pepper
4 garlic cloves minced
1 lemon
parmesan cheese

Take 4 to 5 pounds of broccoli (I just got two large bunches), cut into florets (but relatively big ones.)

Here’s the key that she doesn’t mention in the recipe: dry them THOROUGHLY. That is, if you wash them. I saw an episode of Julia Child cooking with Jacques Pepin once when Pepin revealed he doesn’t wash a chicken before putting it in a hot oven: “The heat kills all the germs,” he said in his French accent. “If bacteria could survive that oven, it deserves to kill me.” By that logic, then, I didn’t wash my broccoli; I wanted it to get crispy and brown. If you’re nervous, though, just wash and dry it obsessively.

Now, it’s easy. Put the broccoli on a cookie sheet. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. (She says 5 Tbs olive oil, 1 1/2 tsps kosher salt, 1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper, but I just eyeballed it.) Now add 4 garlic cloves that are peeled and sliced and toss them in too.

Roast in the oven 425* for 20 to 25 minutes, until “crisp-tender and the tips of some of the florets are browned.”
I shook the pan around a bit as it went, but not sure that’s necessary.

When it’s done, take it out of the oven–and here’s where it gets really good–zest a lemon over the broccoli, squeeze the lemon juice over the broccoli, add 1.5 Tbs more olive oil, 3 Tbs toasted pine nuts (I left those out), and 1/3 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. She also has you add 2 Tbs julienned fresh basil, but I left that out too.

recipe found here.

Sharley made this as a side for dinner, and I can't really remember what the main dish was...

Yummy Meat Soup

This is Kim's recipe (where did you get it Kim?). Its real name is "Hungarian Sausage Soup" but either way, it is delish. I made it tonight for dinner, as per Rob's request. You can't skip out on the caraway. It's what makes the flavor. We added a bit of red pepper flakes to our bowls to kick it up a notch. Oh, and I added extra yummy meat.


Ingredients:

• 3 Chicken bullion cubes
• 8 oz. Kielbasa (sausage)
• 5 C. Water
• 1 pt. Canned tomatoes
• 1 C. Onion
• 1 C. Carrot
• 2 C. Potatoes (or substitute one can of rinsed Cannellini beans)
• 4 C. Shredded Cabbage
• 1 tsp. Caraway seeds
• ¼ tsp. Pepper
• 1 TBS Paprika
• 1 tsp. Salt
• Sour Cream

Directions:

Bring water bullion, onion, paprika, and caraway to a boil. Add carrots and potatoes. Simmer till veggies are tender. Stir in cabbage, Kielbasa and tomatoes. Cook for 10 minutes. Ladle in bowl and stir in a dollop of sour cream.