Broiled Parmesan & Mozzarella Tomatoes

So simple, so yummy and totally veggie!  Tomatoes, cheese, butter, salt and pepper, that's it!  Anyone who has a love for tomatoes will definitely enjoy these.  Earlier in the day while trying to figure out what to add to my vegetarian meal I started thinking about my grandmother and how she would sit out in her yard and eat whole ripe tomatoes like apples!  As a child I always thought it was the weirdest thing, watching her add a little bit of salt to every bite has been a memory that's stuck with me since my childhood.  Now I am huge fan of tomatoes, I can eat a wedge or two here and there, but I can't devour a whole tomato, even if I tried! After running through these memories, I was left with a serious tomato craving, thus this dish was born!

You Will Need

2 cans whole peeled tomatoes; drained

1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese - lightly packed

1/2 cup Mozzarella cheese - lightly packed

1 teaspoon salt & pepper

1/2 stick salted butter; softened



- Add tomatoes to baking dish

- Sprinkle with salt and pepper

- Drizzle butter over the tops of the tomatoes

- Sprinkle generously with Parmesan cheese

- Broil on high on the center rack of your oven for about 8 minutes; just before the cheese starts to brown

- Remove from the oven and add Mozzarella cheese

- Place back into the oven for another 3 - 5 minutes

- Serve immediately! Serves 5 - 6

- Enjoy!

Family Style Open Faced Grilled Cheese w/ Sweet & Spicy Onions

These were sooooooooooo good!  I really surprised myself and my guests! I was doing some research on vegetarian dishes to broaden my knowledge base and came across a "grown up grilled cheese" recipe.  Being a cheese lover my mind quickly filled with different ideas of how to make this my own creation and add more depth to my meal.  This was a part of another Vegetarian meal with broiled Parmesan tomatoes and stuffed vegetable pitas with a light lemon yogurt sauce.  Those recipes I'll post up later on, but for now here's what I did!  I hope you enjoy these as much as we all did!

You Will Need

1 - 1 1/2 cups smoked Gouda; shredded

1 - 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese; shredded

6 slices thick bread; I used Texas toast from Fresh & Easy Market

1/4 cup softened, salted butter

1/4 of a brown onion; diced

2 green onion; minced

1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoons of the following:

Hot sauce - I used Chalula

Sweet paprika

Salt

Pepper

Red Pepper Flakes

Sea Salt; freshly ground

1/8 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

- Add brown onions and green onions to 2 separate bowls

- To the brown onion add 1 teaspoon sugar; mix and set aside

- To the green onions add 1/4 teaspoon of sweet paprika, hot sauce, red pepper flake, salt, pepper and 1/8 teaspoon of Cayenne

- Mix onions and spices well; set aside

- Spread softened butter evenly to each piece of bread, only on one side for now

- Toast or grill the buttered side of each of the pieces of toast; I stuck them on a wire rack under the broiler until they browned 

- Add a generous amount of smoked Gouda and Mozzarella cheese to the untoasted side of each piece of bread

- Place back into the broiler until the cheese is bubbly and browning

- Serve immediately from the oven and garish with the sweet & spicy onion mixtures

- Serves 6

Facebook Photo Gallery

Hello!  After the rapid fire posting session I went on yesterday I thought it would be a good idea to get a link up here to my facebook album.  This is where I started gradually getting my foodie pictures out there to my friends and family.  Since a lot of my food is me experimenting with different spices, ingredients and styles of cooking, this album is all over the place!  I hope you enjoy the pictures!  If there are any recipes you'd like me to post, drop me a comment or an email and I will try to get them up as soon as I can!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=173590&id=816701596&saved

Quick & Easy Herb Butter

This herb butter is so easy to make and takes no time at all!  I got the idea of making herb buttered chicken breasts while I was getting ready for work one morning and managed to put this together before I left my house!  It's so fragrant and delicious and can be used on so many different things!  It can also be stored in your refrigerator for a long period of time. 

You Will Need

1 stick salted butter; softened

2 teaspoons each of the dried herbs listed below

Parsley

Sage (ground)

Oregano

Basil

Thyme

Rosemary

Sea Salt

Fresh Ground Black Pepper

- Add all the herbs, salt and pepper to a medium sized bowl

- Add softened butter; mix well

- Place in your refrigerator for at least 8 hours; this allows the flavors to marry.

Easy Homemade Ricotta

Finally something I actually followed the recipe for...Almost!!  I was trying to pass time at work looking for dinner ideas and found this recipe via the Food Network's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives show.  I am a huge Guy Fieri so I instantly wanted to try this!  Honestly it was pretty easy, just requires attention!  The whole process took about 30 minutes and we enjoyed it that night with herb buttered chicken breasts and baby broccoli, I'll post that recipe a little later! My only suggestion would be to add a couple of teaspoons of salt to the milk and buttermilk mixture before the curds separate!  So here you go!

Easy Homemade Ricotta Recipe via Food Network

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/easy-homemade-ricotta-recipe4/index.html

Tricolor Veggie Pasta

Another Veggie Tale Monday!  Zucchini, yellow squash, onion and green bell peppers - probably my most loved vegetable combination out there!  Paired with roasted tomato sauce and tricolor pasta, you have yourself an extremely filling and satisfying meal!  Since tricolor pastas are pretty popular in cold pasta salads I really wanted to incorporate that element into this meal!  With a quick little mixture of Greek olive oil, apple cider vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper this pasta definitely stood apart from a traditional pasta and sauce meal!

You Will Need

1lb Tricolor Pasta

1 Zucchini; Chopped

1 Yellow Squash; Chopped

1 Green Bell Pepper; Chopped

1 Onion; Diced
3 Roma Tomatoes; Diced

2 - 4 tablespoons of olive oil

2 tablespoon Italian Seasoning Blend

3 teaspoons Apple Cider Vinegar

3 cloves garlic - minced - separated

1 jar tomato sauce

Salt & Pepper to taste

-  Cook pasta according to the instructions on the package
- While pasta's cooking add 2 tablespoons of oil to a large skillet
- When the oil's hot enough to cook, but not scorch, add 2 cloves minced garlic
- Cook garlic for 1 minute and add chopped vegetables, but not the tomatoes; cook until soft, but not mushy
- Season to taste with salt, pepper and 1 tablespoon of Italian seasoning blend
- Warm the jarred pasta sauce
- Drain your cooked pasta and return to pot
- Add 1 - 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 clove minced garlic, 3 teaspoons Apple Cider Vinegar, diced tomatoes and 1 tablespoon Italian Seasoning; mix well, be careful to not damage the pasta!
- Plate pasta, add pasta sauce and top with cooked vegetables and garnish with Parmesan Cheese

Chocolate, Salty, Caramel Cupcakes

    There's a great little cupcake store in Burbank called Yummy Cupcakes, they have some of the most creative cupcake flavor combinations I've ever come across!  Everything from a 7-Up cupcake to a Champagne and Grape cupcake!  They are delicious!! Now I love salt, on just about everything! So imagine my excitement when I saw a chocolate, salty caramel cupcake on the menu!!!  I enjoyed that cupcake more than I've ever enjoyed a cupcake in my life!!  Now Yummy Cupcakes has a fully stacked menu, with daily flavors and monthly flavors, so that doesn't guarantee my wonderful salty cake love is always being made.  My fiance and I were in Burbank and as we passed the shoppe I almost jumped out of my seat!  I started begging him to turn around barely being able to wait to get that yummy saltiness into my mouth again!  We walk into the shoppe only to find out they weren't going to be making it again for a couple of months!!!  A bit disappointed we picked out a couple of new flavors and went on our way.  When we got home, I figured that I should just take it upon my self to fulfill my craving and here we have, my version of a chocolate, salty caramel cupcake!!

You Will Need

1 box cake mix / chocolate / yellow / vanilla 

1 jar of chocolate frosting

Caramel for drizzle

Sea Salt w/ grinder

- Follow the instructions on the cake mix box for 24 cupcakes

- Add some caramel to the blended batter

- Fill each about 2/3 full and drizzle with more caramel

- Bake as per the instructions on the box

- Empty frosting into a bowl and whip with a whisk until the frosting is smooth

- Add some sea salt to the frosting and continue to mix

- Remove cupcakes from the oven after the allotted cooking time and allow to cool for about 20 minutes

- Before frosting each cake I added a little bit of caramel into the center of the cakes by using a condiment bottle filled with caramel

- Ice each cake with the salty chocolate frosting

- Add a caramel drizzle to each cake and a few twists of sea salt to taste

- Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!