July 4th dinner

Just whipped up a few of our favorites for a nice holiday meal

pesto paninis

I actually planned on making these about a month ago, but I did another one of those unintentional “Pasadena grocery store tours” where I end up going to the six closest grocery stores because I can’t find what I am looking for.  (Two Trader Joe’s, Ralph’s, Vons, Whole Foods, and Gelsons.)  What was I looking for?  Focaccia bread.  One of the Trader Joe’s did have a spot for it on the shelf, but they were out.  And so I got pissy about wasting hours of my day and still not being able to make what I wanted to for dinner… so I texted my boyfriend and told him he was in charge of dinner that night.

Fast forward and I found myself at Whole Foods for lunch one day.  As I was waiting for assistance I happened to be reading the possible ingredients on the design it yourself sandwich menu and that is when I saw it, focaccia bread!  So I asked the sandwich maker if I could just buy two sandwiches worth of focaccia bread and she said yes.

I was so excited about it that I had to make them that night, despite the fact that I was already planning to make granola bars and sugar coated pecans for our hiking/camping trip that weekend.  And yes, I did follow through and was in the kitchen making all three.  For that reason I didn’t do a lot of measuring when it came to the ingredients for the paninis.  I just kinda did what looked about right.  We do not have a panini press but other reviewers said they had used their George Foreman Grill and it worked fine, and we do happen to have one of those so I used it and it did in fact work.

My boyfriend was making “mmmm” sounds with every bite so I think he liked it and it will be requested again soon.  I had struggled for awhile with what to have on the side and eventually opted for nothing which turned out to be the right choice because the paninis themselves were really filling.  Of course, each one barely fit in the GF Grill and like I said, I didn’t do a whole lot of measuring.

Oh!  And I should have mentioned before that I substituted plain old lunch meat turkey for the chicken.  As you know from this blog, we eat plenty of chicken already!

Click the link below for recipe:

CHICKEN TURKEY PESTO PANINIS

i take it back

Back in May I wrote a little blurb about the SUGAR COATED PECANS I made and what I said definitely needs to be revised.  What it should have read is “These things are awesome!”  Even I am addicted to them now.  Seriously, I’ve made at least half a dozen batches since then.  One of which was for a Memorial Day BBQ where they got devoured and the hostess requested the recipe.  They have been handed out at the offices of both me and my boyfriend where again people were asking for the recipe.  I made a batch to bring camping and it is so funny to see people take a few because they feel obligated and then they get less than five feet away before coming back for more.  I’ve made them so often now that I actually have the recipe memorized!  So if any of you are hosting or attending a 4th of July event this weekend, consider making these and be the hit of the party!

full meal deal

Don’t know about you, but I love me some sweet potato fries.  The good news is, sweet potatoes are really good for you… the bad news is frying them kinda counters the health benefits.  So I decided to try them in another way and found a recipe for BAKED SWEET POTATOES.

It was time consuming to peel and cut all the potatoes, but the end product was definitely worth it!  And there is the added benefit that they smell terrific, both the first time around and when I reheated them for lunch the next day.  I don’t remember why anymore (this was almost a month ago) but for the main course I went with PLEASANT PORK CHOPS.

The sauce was good but I think the porkchops I chose were too thin.  But we are not finished yet, there was yet a THIRD item on the plate.  Ok, it was just broccoli that I put in a steamfresh bag and threw in the microwave… but still, it isn’t often you find three things on a dinner plate that came from my kitchen.

The next morning I put some chicken tenders in the remaining sauce to marinate for the day and then made a HORSERADISH DIPPING SAUCE to accompany it that night.  I’m not exactly sure why I chose to make that since neither my boyfriend or I care much for sour cream, but oh well.  It satisfied us for dinner that night considering we  were not very hungry and just needed a little something in our stomachs.

Click the links below for recipes:

BAKED SWEET POTATOES

PLEASANT PORK CHOPS

HORSERADISH DIPPING SAUCE