Grilled Cheese

No, I'm not going to just tell you how to turn loaf bread and American cheese into grilled cheese. I hope you know how to do that. This is a grown-up grilled cheese, and it's delicious.

Grilled Cheese (Grown-Up)

Ingredients

half a loaf of French bread (ours is "everything" pre-sliced from Walmart)

brick of Monterey jack cheese

butter

half an onion

Equipment

skillet, stove

Instructions

Slice the onion into half-rings and saute in butter. I added a little garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Remove from pan and allow to cool. Melt butter in skillet and place four pieces of bread on skillet. Cover each piece in slices of cheese, then layer onions on top, covered with more slices of cheese, then topped with bread. Wait until bottom piece browns and cheese is starting to get melty, and flip sandwiches over. (I used this time to work on making guacamole so the sandwiches wouldn't get underdone thanks to my impatience. Also Birk took over the sandwiches at this point.) Once the cheese is all melted and the bread is toasted on each side, boom, done.

Yields

four little sandwiches (2 servings)

Total time

about 15 minutes

Cleanup rating 2/5

You have a greasy buttery pan and an oniony cutting board to deal with, but that's pretty great. And your plates don't get messy either. They're sandwiches.

Flavor rating 9/10

Mmmmm yummy. Caramelized onions are totally the way to go with grilled cheese.

Difficulty rating 2/10

Children could make this. This used to be a thing I asked Birk to make for me. Now I can do it myself. So easy.

Adjustability: high

I couldn't decide what to put on these... onion? peppers? bacon? green apple? Expect to see more grilled cheeses for grown-ups here in the future. There will definitely be experiments.

Make it with...

As you can see in the second picture above, I made guacamole (smoosh up an avocado, squeeze a lime into it, sprinkle it with kosher salt) and threw on some tortilla chips. But it's a sandwich... have whatever side you like with sandwiches. Chips, pretzels, veggies, whatever.

Cost

The recipe (sandwiches only):

Bread for $1 at Walmart and still have half a loaf.

Cheese for $2.50 at Walmart and we used the whole brick.

Onion for $0.61 at Walmart and still have half left.

Butter is part of the kitchenventory.

Total cost to buy ingredients: $4.11. Total cost used: $3.31.

The meal:

Avocados: 2 for $2.78 at Farm Fresh.

Limes: free because my friend Missi brought a bag to the New Year's party.

Salt: part of the kitchenventory.

Total cost to buy ingredients for guacamole: $2.78. Total cost used: $2.78.

Total cost to buy ingredients for whole meal minus drinks: $6.89.

Total cost used for whole meal minus drinks: $6.09.

Game of Thrones Dinner: Honeyed Chicken and Spiced Squash

I know, I disappeared from this blog for a while... Sorry! But I haven't been cooking as much because I've been doing... everything else.

Last Saturday, Beth and Chris and I entered a cosplay contest at Tidewater Comicon... and we won best group! In celebration of our cosplay (Melisandre, Margaery, and Oberyn) I wanted to make an easy dinner for everyone from the Inn at the Crossroads. I wanted to make olive bread but the timing didn't work out very well, so this is what we wound up with:

I made a pressed-for-time (some might call it "lazy") version of Honeyed Chicken. I cheated and used pre-made rotisserie chickens, but I made the sauce. I also made Spiced Squash with it (I used the modern recipe, but used butternut squash that was growing in the yard so I wouldn't have to buy acorn squash). And to pull it all together, I threw together a green salad out of what the in-laws had growing outside: a couple different types of lettuce, spinach, tomato, and some red onion Birk chopped up while I was out picking everything else.

Sauce for Honeyed Chicken

from Inn at the Crossroads

Ingredients

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup honey

dash of mint (I had to use dried)

handful of raisins

1 Tbsp butter

Equipment

saucepan, spoon, measuring cup, stove

Instructions

Combine everything in a pan and cook until the raisins start to plump. Pour it over the chicken when it's done. (Yes, it's that simple!)

Yields

I actually doubled the recipe since, as you can see in the photo, I had two chickens. (I was channeling the Hound, I guess.) But the recipe makes plenty for one full chicken.

Total time

For the sauce, maybe 10 minutes total. I was reheating the chickens so that took about 30 minutes.

Cleanup rating 2/5

I expected something with this much honey to be a huge mess, but it wasn't bad. I recommend cleaning out your pan pretty quickly though, because it does that thing where the fat floats on the top if you don't use all the sauce, and I think that's kinda gross. And rinse out your measuring cup with really hot water right after you measure the honey, and that'll be less of an issue later.

Difficulty rating 2/10

It's a really simple recipe. Even if you had to roast a chicken from scratch, I wouldn't put this over a 5/10. The timing is easy, the cooking is easy... you do need to be able to keep an eye on it, but I had Birk around for that.

Flavor rating 6/10

I thought it was a little heavy on the apple cider vinegar, but everyone else said it was good. I think it went really well with the already-seasoned rotisserie chicken, so the flavor plays well with others. And I'm pretty sure some of the vinegariness went away as the sauce cooled.

Adjustability: low

Other than adding herbs, I don't know how I could change this, but I also don't know why I would. It's basic and yummy.

Make it with...

Obviously, chicken. I don't see any reason you couldn't make it with turkey instead. I wouldn't use it with other meats, or with anything other than poultry.

Spiced Squash

from Inn at the Crossroads

Ingredients
a squash (I used butternut)
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice (I skipped this because we didn't have any)

Equipment
sauce pan, stove, baking sheet, oven

Instructions
Cut up the squash into approximately 1" pieces. Preheat the oven to 375F. Heat the maple syrup in a pan with the spices for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly (do not let it boil). Remove it from the heat. Arrange your squash pieces on a baking sheet (I highly recommend lining it with foil first). Pour the sauce over the squash, coating the pieces as evenly as possible. Bake until tender, about 20 minutes. If you managed to reserve any sauce, heat it in the last few minutes and pour it over the squash when you take it out of the oven.

Yields
Two fairly big butternut squashes fed me and five friends, and the sauce was just the right amount.

Total time
This only took about half an hour, with Birk cutting up the squash while I worked on the sauce for the chicken.

Cleanup rating 2/5
Not bad, but you are heating maple syrup in a pan. I'd recommend using all the sauce on the squash to begin with, and cleaning the pan immediately, while the squash is in the oven. And if you follow my advice about lining the baking sheet with foil, it'll make it 10x better.

Difficulty rating 3/10
I learned that butternut squash is pretty tough to cut; it's kind of like a sweet potato. Beyond that, this is a very simple recipe... it's like a sweet version of my potatoes!

Flavor rating 7/10
I don't eat a lot of squash, but maybe I should start. This was really good. It's excellent for fall weather! I think I might mount an effort to get squash everywhere instead of pumpkin. (Nothing against pumpkin, I'm just not a big fan of it in everything... just pie, really.)

Adjustability: low
There are only so many spices that would go well on a squash, and there are only so many types of squash, and that's all you could really change, because that's all you're using.

Make it with...
Of course, I made it with the honeyed chicken, which was an amazing combination. But I think you could make it with anything that you consider a fall or winter meal. It's a side dish that plays well with others. And it's an excellent and easy vegan dish if you have guests with dietary considerations at the holidays. (It's also gluten-free unless you have a really weird maple syrup.)

Steamed Chicken Dumplings

No, not chicken and dumplings... chicken dumplings. Like, Chinese food. I got a bamboo steamer! And I was very, very excited to use it. I got it so I could make steamed buns, but I thought I should start with something a little easier to get the hang of how the steamer works, since I've never used one before.

Steamed Chicken Dumplings

Ingredients
1 lb ground chicken
4 green onions, minced
4 Tbsp minced garlic
about 1" of fresh ginger, peeled & minced
4 Tbsp soy sauce
1 package wonton wrappers
optional: cabbage or lettuce leaves instead of parchment paper

Equipment
mixing bowl, wok, bamboo steamer, stove, parchment paper

Instructions
In a large bowl, mix the ground chicken, green onions, garlic, ginger, and soy sauce by hand until thoroughly combined. Line your bamboo steamer with cabbage or lettuce leaves or with parchment paper. Spoon a little bit of chicken mixture into the middle of each wonton wrapper, wet the edges and fold together into a triangle, pressing out the air and sealing it. Set the dumplings into the paper-lined steamer trays in a single layer. Steam according to your steamer's directions for about 10-12 minutes. (Mine calls for putting about 2" of water in the wok, setting the steamer in, waiting until it boils, and then starting the timer for how long to cook.)

Yields
We made about three dozen dumplings and had a little chicken mixture left over.

Total time
Since we made ours in three batches, it took about 45 minutes, what with the 10 minutes per batch, and figuring out how to work the steamer and putting together the first batch of dumplings (I made the others while the previous batch was cooking).

Cleanup rating 2/5
For so much work, it's surprising how easy it is to clean up. We used parchment paper, so I don't know if lining with leaves makes a difference, but the steamer just needed a quick clean, and other than that, there's just a mixing bowl and spoon to deal with.

Difficulty rating 7/10
In future dumplings recipes, I'm sure I'll rate this a lot lower, but with it being our first time using the steamer (and not realizing that you can leave at least the bottom tray in the wok while you remove cooked dumplings) and getting the hang of making dumplings that don't make big air pockets... it was a little more difficult than it probably will be in the future.

Flavor rating 7/10
YUM. We made dumplings, you guys. Real, honest-to-goodness, dumplings. Like the ones in restaurants. It's kind of amazing. We used a little bit too much ginger (my fault) but they were delicious. Birk threatened to eat all of them so I had to pack up leftovers for lunch before he could do that.

Adjustability: high
You can put pretty much whatever you want in your dumplings. The original recipe actually called for ground pork, but I couldn't find any at the store, so I used chicken instead. You can add minced veggies or other spices or whatever! You could also pan-fry them after they're steamed, which I plan to do next, as far as dumplings are concerned.

Make it with...
Well, there's a dipping sauce recipe here that I loved with these. You could make some rice, steam some vegetables in another tray of the steamer, make tempura... whatever!

Bonus photos:

Pre-steaming

Chicken mixture

Bamboo steamer in the wok, starting to heat up

We cut open the first one to make sure it got cooked thoroughly

BIG pile of dumplings!

Look, Birk Made Dinner! Sate and Curry Edition

So this is a couple days behind, but on Monday night, I worked til 9pm, so Birk made dinner. I ate at least half of it before I thought to take a photo and tell you guys about it... Thus the major closeup in the photo.

I can't share recipes or anything, since I didn't make it so I don't really know what he did, but the basics are...

He pan-cooked the chicken with sate seasoning (and it was soooo good), the rice had curry in it, and so did the veggies (carrots and cauliflower). YUM!