BLT Paninis

This isn't anything special -- just something we've come to love!  I created it after eating a BLT Wedge from a local eatery.  At six-something a piece, I had to recreate it since I couldn't afford to keep buying it.  Tried making the wedge first.  Don't know that I'll ever master pizza dough without a pizza oven (or at least that's my excuse), so I thought of making it into a panini.  All the ingredients, bread exluded, are from Aldi -- another reason I love this recipe!

Typically, I pull out my George Forman grill to make these, but I didn't feel like adding one more thing to my kitchen to clean!  So we used a flat griddle on the stove that can be cleaned in the dishwasher.  I'm willing to sacrifice those special panini marks on my sandwich to have one less thing to clean.

BLT Paninis

You will need:

Bread (we like fresh Italian sliced bread from the deli)

Butter/margarine

Bacon bits

Cheese (we like munster)

Tomatoes (we use cherry tomatoes since they taste a little better this time of year), sliced

Lettuce (picutured is Romaine, but Iceburg is better -- I think), broken up into bite-sized pieces

Ranch dressing

1.  Heat griddle and butter outsides of bread.

2.  Lay half of your bread, butter side down on heated griddle.

3.  Sprinkle about 1 - 2 Tbs of bacon bits on top of each sandwich.  (You may not think the order of bacon & cheese is important, but it is VERY important unless you want bacon bits all over the griddle when you flip the sandwich which I have proven by trial and error.)

4.  Layer sliced cheese next. Place remaining bread, butter-side up on top.

5.  Allow bread on the bottom to brown to desired level.  Flip sandwich and brown on the other side.

6. (This step is time sensitive as cheese will cease up if it cools down.) Remove sandwich from griddle.  Open sandwich.  Add lettuce, tomato and ranch dressing while cheese is still warm.  Close sandwich and serve warm.

ENJOY!

New Potatoes with {AwEsOmE} Sauce

Found this in my draft folder -- oops!  Guess I never posted it.  Enjoy!

This recipe is going to come with a disclaimer!  You will have to excuse my ignorance because I don't know exactly what kind of potatoes to tell you I used when making this dish. 

We have a local farmer that brings his leftover produce to church on Sunday for everyone to take what they'd like.  A couple weeks ago, I picked up this small container of tiny potatoes -- all smaller than golf balls.  They looked like these:

To say my hubby loves potatoes is a understatement.  I thought it would be nice to try something new.  So I searched on Allrecipes.com for a new recipe.  Here's what I found.  I didn't have or use capers, hence the new name.

New Potatoes with {AwEsOmE} Sauce
(to search for it on Allrecipes, look for New Potatoes with Caper Sauce)
12 small new potatoes, scrubbed
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 tablespoons capers, chopped
1 tablespoon minced green onion
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1.Combine the softened butter, capers, green onion, Parmesan cheese, parsley and vinegar in a bowl. Set aside.

2.Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. If potatoes are large, cut into halves or quarters. Add potatoes and cook until tender but still firm, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain.

3.Add the caper sauce to the pot of drained potatoes and toss gently to coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Yield: 4 servings

Trying to remember back, but I think someone mentioned in a review that they used red potatoes and just quartered them.  I'm going to make this again soon.  My family asked a couple times if there were leftovers.

Black Bean Salsa

We always seem to be making food to eat while watching the Steelers games.  I get tired of the same ole, so I'm going to start making new recipes.  This week I made Black Bean Salsa.  As usual, I'm going to make some changes.  I will drain at least one of the cans of tomatoes if not both to make the salsa less runny.  (I also chopped them up a little as we don't like big chunks of tomato.)  I did not add jalapenos, but probably would add a little (we're "mild" people around here but a little kick would be good).  This time I used a can of diced tomato with green peppers.  Think 8 oz of Italian dressing is a bit much also.  Love the sweetness that the shoepeg corn gives!

Black Bean Salsa

1 can Bush's Seasoned Recipe Black Beans, drained but not rinsed
1 can white shoepeg corn, drained
1 can diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, oregano flavoring
1 can diced tomatoes
8 oz Italian dressing
Chopped onion to taste
Chopped jalapeno to taste
Tortilla chips

Mix all ingredients together and marinate in refrigerator for at least 1 1/2 hours.  Serve with tortilla chips.

Would guess this recipe makes about 5 cups.