Grilled Cheese, Two Ways

Today, my friends, I bring you two ooey-gooey variations on grilled cheese. Behind Door #1 we have a Peach Grilled Cheese with Mozzarella and Brie. Initially I was planning to do a caprese grilled cheese, but the peach festival had me still in the mood for peaches, and peaches and basil go well together, so I swapped out the tomatoes for peaches. And then I threw some brie into the mix, because when is brie not a good idea? And the second time I made it, I added a drizzle of lavender balsamic vinegar.

But after making the Peach Grilled Cheese twice, I was out of peaches, so I went searching the internets for ideas to use up the rest of the brie, mozzarella, and sourdough bread. Which brings us to the sandwich behind Door #2—Avocado and Tomato Grilled Cheese with Mozzarella and Brie. I actually liked this one better! The original recipe called for sundried tomatoes, which would have been lovely on this sandwich . . . but the sundried tomatoes in my fridge tasted a little past their prime, and I had a perfectly good fresh tomato on my counter, so that’s what I went with.

Both of these grilled cheese combinations were cheese-drippin’-down-your-chin good! The avocado one especially was very rich, and the peach one offered a lovely sweet vs. creamy contrast, though I wish I’d used more peaches because their flavor almost got lost. Red onion would probably be a great addition to either or both of these sandwiches. And if prosciutto was more my thing, I think it’d be a perfect addition as well. 

Grilled Cheese, Two Ways

Yield: However many sandwiches you make

Avocado variation adapted from Serious Eats

Ingredients

Sourdough bread (or other bread of choice)

Olive oil spray

Fresh mozzarella

Brie

Fresh basil

Peach Variation

Fresh peach

Balsamic vinegar or lavender balsamic vinegar (optional)

Avocado Variation

Avocado 

Fresh tomato or sundried tomatoes

Salt and pepper

Directions

Lightly spray one side of each slice of bread (what will be the outside of the sandwich) with olive oil. On the inside of the sandwich, arrange slices of brie on one slice of bread and slices of mozzarella on the other side.

Slice your peaches or your avocado and tomato, and layer them on top of the mozzarella. If desired, grill the peaches to get a bit of caramelization (I did this but don’t think it was necessary). If using fresh tomatoes, seed them so your sandwich doesn’t get too watery. Add a drizzle of balsamic or a sprinkling of salt and pepper. 

Sprinkle thinly sliced basil over the top. Now, if you press the brie into the bread a bit, it’ll stay put while you flip that slice of bread over to place on top of the sandwich. 

Preheat a skillet over medium-low heat. Carefully slide the sandwich into the skillet, and cook for a few minutes on each side, until the bread is nicely toasted and the cheeses are gooey. I usually cover it for half the cooking time to help the sandwich get warm throughout. Move the sandwich to a cutting board and carefully slice in half before serving.

Notes

• It would have felt weird to put measurements in a grilled cheese recipe, but just to give you an idea of some of the quantities: For each sandwich, I used less than half of a medium peach, just under half a regular (not hass) avocado, and about a third of a roma tomato. My bread slices were bigger than a slice of standard sandwich bread. 
• For the cheeses, I bought a pretty small wedge of brie and a fist-sized ball of mozzarella (sorry I threw away the wrappers and transferred them to zip bags before thinking to write down how many ounces I bought of each cheese!). I've made three sandwiches and have enough brie for one more, and would have enough mozzarella for probably two more sandwiches if I hadn't nibbled so much of it. 

Peach Salsa with Spiced Black Beans and Corn

The summer I lived in Georgia, the couple I stayed with kept the kitchen fully stocked with fresh, juicy peaches all summer long. These were not your run-of-the-mill grocery store peaches. Rather, I'm pretty sure she bought most of them from local growers and fruit stands. Jann even knew the names of the different varieties, when each variety would come into season, and the unique flavors of each variety. Many evenings that summer, Jann and I would stand side by side at the kitchen sink, peeling and slicing peaches, our hands dripping with juice while we told each other about our day.

Though I liked peaches before then, it was that summer that really solidified my love for peaches--especially juice-running-down-your-chin, just-picked-that day peaches. So when Google showed me recently that there's an annual peach festival in Weatherford, Texas (of all places), I convinced a couple of my peach-loving and/or festival-loving friends to take a trip to Weatherford for some peach love. Food highlights for me included the Caribbean jerk chicken sandwich for lunch, the homemade peach ice cream for dessert, and the bottle of lavender balsamic vinegar I brought home with me.

One of my goals for our trip to the festival was to get some peach salsa. I'd made it once before and really liked it, so I was interested in trying someone else's version. Unfortunately, though, by the time we got there and ate lunch (and ice cream) and got serious about browsing the manymany vendor booths, the jarred peach salsa was sold out everywhere we looked and asked. But no worries! Because I was already planning to buy a bunch of fresh peaches from the fresh produce stand (which we all did), and I still had that trusted peach salsa recipe from before, so I just made my own again tonight.

Rather than do something the same way twice, though, I took the peach salsa from before, and served it over the corn and black beans from these lettuce wraps. The lettuce wraps recipe also included a guacamole which sounded lovely, but I didn't feel like making three different components, so I just cubed an avocado, and that was simple and perfect. The black bean/corn part of the dish has so many warm flavors going on, the peach salsa pretty much tastes like summer, and the avocado added this creaminess that brought all the flavors into harmony.

If you wanted to bulk this up or make it stretch to more servings, you could easily add some cooked quinoa or millet. Originally I had planned to do that, but I decided to keep it simple tonight, and I didn't miss the grain at all.

Peach Salsa with Spiced Black Beans and Corn

Peach salsa adapted from A Couple Cooks and posted previously on my blog here; black beans and corn adapted from A Couple Cooks.

Yield: About 3 servings. I know that's weird, and I'm sorry. I was planning to do 2 servings but got too excited about peaches once I started cutting into them, so I ended up with 2-3 generous servings of peach salsa and 3-4 servings of the black beans and corn.

Peach Salsa Ingredients
3 ripe peaches, peeled, pitted, and chopped
1/2 medium red onion (or 1/4 large red onion), finely chopped
Just under 1/2 jalapeno, seeded and minced (more or less to taste)
Juice of 1/2 lime
Small handful fresh cilantro, chopped
Kosher salt, to taste

Everything Else
1/4 to 1/2 large red onion
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1 ear of corn, kernels removed
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. smoked paprika
1 tsp. kosher salt
Dried chipotle powder, to taste (or chopped, canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, to taste)
Black pepper, to taste
3/4 cup water
1 avocado, cut into cubes

Directions
For the salsa, combine all the salsa ingredients in a bowl. Toss to combine. Set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the red onion, green pepper, and corn; saute until veggies are slightly browned, about 5 minutes, stirring only very occasionally. Add the black beans, oregano, cumin, smoked paprika, salt, pepper, chipotle, and water. Give it a good stir, and continue cooking for another 5 minutes or so, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has cooked down.

To serve, spoon some of the black bean and corn mixture into a bowl. Top with avocado and peach salsa, and give it a good stir. Then add some more peach salsa on top because it's hard to resist adding just a bit more.

Blueberry-Peach Overnight French Toast

I made this overnight French toast months ago, drafted the blog post, and forgot all about it. Which is a shame, because it's a nice, tasty breakfast dish--and blueberries and peaches are so very photogenic. So without further ado, I bring you Blueberry-Peach Overnight French Toast!

While touching up this blog post for publishing, a random guy in Starbucks came up and asked me for my opinion on a really deep, emotionally-weighted ideas that "came to him intellectually." The conversation ranged from racism, theology, psycho-sexual development, abuse, politics, and murder. Interesting coffee shop conversation.

Back to lighter, tastier topics . . . I really enjoyed this breakfast--both straight out of the oven, and reheated the next few days. It needs a few tweaks for next time, but I've covered those in the comments below the recipe.

This dish is definitely wet and custardy, so if you have a strong aversion to soggy bread texture, this recipe may not be for you.

Blueberry Peach Overnight French Toast

Adapted from Prevention RD
Yield: 4 servings

~4 oz wheat bread, cut into 1/2-inch slices
3/4 cup skim milk
1/2 cup coconut milk, divided
2 Tbsp. white sugar
4 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 15-oz. can peaches (in juice or light syrup), drained and chopped
1 cup blueberries
1 Tbsp. honey

The night before: Spray a 7 x 9 pan with cooking spray. Arrange bread in a single, flat layer on bottom of pan, packing it in as tightly as possible. Whisk together milk, 1/4 cup coconut milk, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Pour over the bread. Top with chopped peaches and rinsed blueberries. Drizzle with honey. Cover and refrigerate overnight, or 8+ hours.

The morning of: Remove from fridge 30 minutes before baking. Preheat oven to 350. Pour reserved 1/4 cup coconut milk evenly over the top. Cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 30-45 minutes, until cooked through and lightly browned. After removing from oven, let the dish sit for about 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Nutritional Information per Serving (compliments of My Fitness Pal):
323 calories; 11.7 g. fat; 340.2 mg. sodium; 43.9 total carbs (2.9 g. dietary fiber; 26.6 g. sugars); 12.1 g. protein.
Note: It didn't give me an option to plug in (to My Fitness Pal) 1 can of peaches, drained. So I plugged in 3/4 of a full can, figuring that 3/4 can peaches plus juice would be close to the nutritional value of 1 can peaches minus juice.

Result and Comments:
This was very good, but I'll make some changes next time. I really wish I'd had a lemon or orange to zest, as that would have brightened the flavor. I'd recommend mixing the zest in with either the egg/milk mixture or the coconut milk that gets poured on the top right before baking.

It was ever-so-slightly under-sweetened, so I'll add a little extra sugar and/or honey next time.

I've made this once before with just peaches, and with cinnamon and brown sugar on top (closer to the original recipe from Prevention RD), and probably liked that version better than this trial run of the blueberry version. Perhaps I like cinnamon more than I like blueberries. Though with the addition of lemon/orange zest and a bit more sweetness, it might put them on an equal level for me.

Peach Pizza with Caramelized Onions and Lavender Balsamic Reduction

Confession: I get really frustrated with recipes that have summery ingredients and advertise themselves as summery, but require the oven. When it's over 100 degrees outside, I refuse to turn on the oven. Yet here I am sharing a oven-requiring recipe with summery ingredients. To my credit, it was only in the 90s the day I made it . . . and one of the two inspiration recipes was actually grilled rather than baked. I unfortunately don't have a grill, so I was stuck with waiting for a cooler day that could handle the oven being on for a bit. But if you're interested in grilling this baby, be sure to check out The Healthy Foodie recipe linked below.

Peach Pizza with Caramelized Onions and Lavender Balsamic Reduction

Adapted from The Healthy Foodie and Cooking Light

Yield: 3 servings (2 slices each)

1 medium to large yellow onion, sliced

1/2 Tbsp. butter

Salt, pepper, and sugar to taste

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1 scant tsp. dried lavender flowers

1 whole wheat pizza crust (cooked, not dough; I used Boboli)

2 tsp. olive oil

1/2 cup reduced fat grated mozzarella cheese, divided

1/3 cup reduced fat bleu cheese crumbles

1 medium peach, thinly sliced (peeling is optional)

To caramelize the onions, heat a large skillet over high heat. Add the onions and butter and reduce heat to somewhere between medium and medium-high. Season with a bit of salt, pepper, and sugar. Cook for 20-30 minutes, until onions are very tender and golden brown. As needed, add a Tbsp. or two of water to deglaze the pan every so often. Note: for better caramelized onions, cook them on medium-low for close to an hour; I just didn't want to wait that long this time.

For the balsamic reduction, use the smallest saucepan you have. Bring balsamic vinegar and lavender to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently with a whisk. Reduce heat to medium-low-ish and simmer for around 15 minutes, stirring often, until vinegar is thick and syrupy, and has reduced to 1-2 Tbsp. in volume. Keep warm until ready to serve.

Preheat oven (and pizza stone if you have it) to 400 degrees.

Drizzle olive oil over the pizza crust and, using a pastry brush or your fingers, spread it around evenly. Layer 1/4 cup mozzarella, caramelized onions, bleu cheese, peach slices, and remaining mozzarella.

Bake for 5-12 minutes, until crust is browned and cheese is melted. Mine took about 7 minutes on the pizza stone in the oven. Remove from oven, drizzle with balsamic reduction, and cut into 6 wedges to serve.

Nutritional Information Per Serving (compliments of My Fitness Pal)
415 calories; 15.5 g. fat; 58.8 g total carbs (10 g. dietary fiber, 13.3 g. sugars); 18.3 g. protein 

Comments:

• This was excellent. The mozzarella toned down the bleu cheese and kept it from overpowering the other flavors, as bleu cheese is very capable of doing. The cheeses and onion complemented the peaches beautifully, and the lavender balsamic reduction was the perfect final touch.
• If you don't have lavender, you could definitely leave it out and the reduction would still be great on this pizza. I was just excited about finding another way to use dried lavender.
• I didn't time my balsamic reduction well, so it cooled completely by the time the pizza went into the oven . . . and it got really thick--turned into more of a solid than a liquid. I was able to kind of re-liquify it by putting it back on low heat while the pizza baked, but it was still hard to drizzle. Next time I'll start the reduction later.
• I imagine gorgonzola would be good on this, as in the Cooking Light recipe. I was even planning to get gorgonzola, but the bleu cheese was about 1/3 the cost and came in a reduced fat option. Sold.
• There are a lot of "z"s in this post. With the mozzarella, the pizza, and the drizzle, we've got a lot of "z"s going on. Just thought I'd point that out.

Chicken Peach Quesa-pitas

This recipe was my favorite way to use up Honey and Lavender Crock Pot Chicken. I suspected that the flavors in which I cooked the chicken would pair well with the flavors in this quesadilla recipe. And, if I may say so myself, I was right. If using honey lavender chicken, I'd go with Monterey Jack cheese; if using regular chicken, I think the pepper Jack would be better.

You could certainly use tortillas, as the original recipe calls for. I simply had pitas on hand, so that's what I used.

I almost skipped the honey-lime sour cream element, and I'm really glad I didn't. The sour cream added a additional layer of flavor which was quite good. You could probably substitute plain Greek yogurt for the sour cream.

Chicken Peach Quesa-pitas

Adapted slightly from Cooking Light

Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients

1/2 tsp. honey

1/4 tsp. lime juice

1/4 cup reduced fat sour cream

2 whole wheat pitas, cut in half

Approx. 1/2 cup shredded reduced fat Monterey Jack or pepper Jack cheese

1/2 cup cooked, cubed chicken         

1 peach, thinly sliced

2-4 tsp. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

Combine honey, lime juice, and sour cream, stirring well with a whisk or fork. Cover and chill until ready to serve.

Preheat a George Foreman grill. Spray the both sides of the pita pockets with olive oil cooking spray.

Fill each pita pocket half with 1/4 of the remaining ingredients—cheese, chicken, peaches, cilantro, and more cheese. Grill each pocket half in the George Foreman for 3-5 minutes, until pita is toasted and cheese is melted. Serve with the honey-lime sour cream.

Results

Fresh and summery. Quick and easy to throw together. Doesn't heat up the house. Delicious!

Black Bean and Quinoa Bowl with Peach Salsa

One of my best friends got married recently, and for her wedding present from me and another friend, she asked that we make her a cookbook of some of our favorite recipes. In the process of compiling recipes for this cookbook, I’ve been reminded of how much I love cooking. And adapting recipes. And writing about food. And sharing food with others.

So I am resolved to post recipes and food pictures more often—I’m going to aim for about once a week. Photographing my food inspires me to make my meal a work of art, an experience. To not just throw something on a plate and scarf it down while catching the latest episode of Community or SVU.

Posting the photos and corresponding recipes provides a way to share the experience with others, even on evenings I eat alone.

So today I present to you this recipe from a food blog I’ve just started following within the last week or two. Surprisingly, I followed it pretty closely. The only significant change I made was to cook only 1 cup of quinoa rather than 2, and I’m very happy with that decision. I think the quinoa to bean to salsa ratio was perfect.

Black Bean and Quinoa Bowl with Peach Salsa
Adapted slightly from acouplecooks.com

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients
1 cup uncooked quinoa
2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
6-8 green onions, sliced
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. chili powder
Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste

Peach Salsa Ingredients
4 ripe peaches, pitted and chopped (peeling is optional)
1/2 medium to large red onion, finely chopped
1/2 jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped (more or less to taste)
Juice of 1 lime
Handful of fresh cilantro, chopped
Kosher salt, to taste

Directions
Rinse the quinoa well and drain. To a small saucepan add the quinoa and 1-1/2 cups water, and a few pinches of salt, if desired. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low; cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until water has been absorbed. Turn off the heat and let sit covered to cool for about 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork and add salt and pepper to taste.

Note: Quinoa package directions often call for a 1 to 2 ratio of quinoa to water. On this site’s recommendation, I tried a 1 to 1-1/2 ratio (1 cup of quinoa to 1-1/2 cups water), and the quinoa turned out fluffier and less watery/mushy. I’ll definitely stick with this method for future quinoa needs.

While the quinoa cooks, chop/prepare the salsa ingredients and combine them all in a bowl. Set aside.

Combine the beans, green onions, cumin, chili powder, 1/4 tsp. salt, and pepper. Mix well. Adjust seasonings, if desired.

To serve, dish the quinoa into bowls, top with black bean mixture and peach salsa.

Result
So good! Fresh, summery, and hearty, with a very healthy taste that the quinoa brings to the party. I enjoyed eating this for dinner last night and am excited about eating the leftovers throughout the rest of this week. Sadly, I forgot to buy a jalapeno while at the grocery store. I did miss it, but the dish didn’t suffer from it. Also, while in the checkout line, I thought, “I should have picked up an avocado or two to dice onto the top of this bowl!” I really wish I’d had that thought earlier, because after tasting the dish, I definitely think avocado would have taken this dish up a notch. Next time!

Nutritional Information Per Serving (compliments of My Fitness Pal)
423 calories; 4.9 g. fat; 78.6 g total carbs (18.4 g. dietary fiber, 13.2 g. sugars); 19.6 g. protein.

Celebration of peaches

Last weekend I co-hostessed a peach party—basically, a dinner gathering to which everyone brought a dish that showcased peaches. Fortunately, many of my friends are adventurous in the kitchen and always up to try new things! We ate everything from peach quesadillas to grilled peaches with berries. My contributions: peach curry soup and gingery peach punch.

I later took a bunch of pictures of a serving size of
this soup. But I neglected to retrieve them from my
camera before leaving the house in search of internet.

Peach Curry Soup

Adapted from Mad’s Peach-Curry Soup

Ingredients:

Olive oil

1/4 cup curry powder

1 Tbsp. chili powder

2- 1/2 large onions, minced

7 cloves garlic, minced

2-1/2 (15 oz.) cans chopped peaches in lite syrup (not drained)

2-1/2 tsp. ground ginger

2-1/2 cups coconut milk

2-1/2 cups chicken broth

Salt and pepper to taste

Cinnamon and nutmeg to taste

Cayenne to taste (optional)

Directions:

Pour oil into a large pot over medium heat. I didn’t measure the oil, but I probably used somewhere between 2 and 4 Tbsp. Add the curry powder and chili powder and heat for about a minute. Add the onion and garlic and cook until the onions become transparent, about 8-10 minutes. This is when it will start to smell amazing!

Add peaches, peach syrup, ginger, coconut milk, and broth. Simmer on low for 45 minutes, adding salt, pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cayenne as needed. I left out the cayenne entirely and thought it had plenty of kick. If you have more than my miniscule heat tolerance, though, you’ll probably want to add some cayenne.

Yield: 10 servings

Verdict: Good! I wasn’t sure what to expect, having never made peach curry—or any sort of peach soup—before. But I thought it turned out well. My only real dissapointment was in the lack of creaminess. The coconut milk I bought initially was much more watery than I expect from canned coconut milk. It actually reminded me of the coconut juice (for lack of a better term) that characterizes soups in Papua New Guinea. They grate fresh coconut flesh into a bowl, add water, spend some time squeezing out the milk into the water, discard the coconut flesh, and use the milky water as a base for soup and/or to cook rice. It’s delicious—and the next time I want to make coconut rice, I’ll buy Goya brand again. But it was not ideal for adding lots of richness to an Indian-inspired curry. But I digress. I used about a cup of Goya coconut milk, then ran to the store in search of a thicker brand. Unfortunately they only had the reduced fat kind. Which was creamier than the Goya coconut milk but still not what I wanted.

Changes to make next time: I might puree a portion of the soup to make it thicker. And if I can find some cardamom here without paying an arm and a leg, I would love to add that next time. This soup would be good over rice, and you could easily add chopped chicken at the beginning or cooked shrimp at the end.

I forgot to take a picture of the punch until after most people had
gotten a glass. So it actually made a lot more than this!

Gingery Peach Punch 

Ingredients:

1 carton Tropicana Peach Orchard Punch (I think it was a half gallon), chilled

2 liters ginger ale, chilled

12 oz. orange juice, chilled

Fresh ginger, peeled

1 orange, sliced

Directions:

Dump the liquids into a large bowl and stir to combine. Either slice or grate the ginger and add. Grating will add more intense ginger flavor; slicing will make it easier for guests to not get ginger floaties in their cups. Top with orange slices for garnish. Depending on how big a bowl or pitcher you own, you may need to start with half of the liquids and replenish as needed.

Yield: A lot. There were 9 of us at the peach party, and there was punch left over at the end.

Verdict: Tasty, cool, and refreshing! The combination of peaches and ginger is a classic winning combination. The orange juice added a lovely complementary flavor without competing. And the ginger ale created a slightly subtle sparkling effect. Going into the party, I was more excited about the soup, while the punch was an afterthought—and an experiment! But I got more compliments on the punch than the soup. I’ll definitely make it again.

Changes to make next time: The only thing I think I will change is to grate the ginger instead of slice it. The slices were fine, but grating the ginger would have infused the punch more with ginger.