Make this: Tomato Pesto Grilled Cheese

Sweet Jesus. This sandwich will change the way you look at a grilled cheese. My grandma used to make grilled cheese sandwiches in the waffle iron for my sister and me and I had this brilliant idea to make one like she did when I went home for lunch today.

Except I didn't have a waffle iron. Well I did, but whoever used it last didn't clean it and there was cheese glued to every nook and cranny on the waffle iron. You probably guessed by now that we don't use the waffle iron for waffles in our house.

After spending 30 seconds or so trying to scrape cheese out of the waffle iron, I gave up and resorted to the griddle. It's only a lunch hour...I was running out of time.



I started with my most favorite bread in the whole wide world. This family from Mimbres makes it and brings it to our local farmer's market on Saturdays. It's sprouted grain and, in one word, DELICIOUS.



Slice a tomato. This one is also from the farmer's market...a rare vine-ripened tomato that I didn't think you could find anymore in the dead of November.



Smear two slices of bread with butter. I used Brummel & Brown spread, which is made with yogurt and has half the fat and calories. Bonus!



Next, you need basil pesto. I had some in the fridge from my last trip to Trader Joe's. If you're like me and you live in a land far, far away from the nearest TJ's, I'm pretty sure you can find pesto in any grocery store by the pasta. Presto! Pesto!



Spread the pesto on the side of the bread slices that do not have butter on them.



Don't forget the cheese! What's a grilled cheese without cheese? A crappy sandwich, that's what it is. This is a pile of mozzarella and Swiss that I had in the fridge from a rigatoni dish I made last weekend. You can use whatever you have, but make sure it's mozzarella. Translation: only use mozzarella.



Next, heat a griddle over medium high heat and place the bread, butter side down, on the griddle after it's had a chance to get hot. Arrange the tomato slices on the bread so that you're sure to get a piece of tomato in each bite.



Then pile on the cheese. Again, you can use whatever kind of cheese you have, but if it's not mozzarella, life as you know it will cease to exist. At least life in the sandwich world.



Now you're ready for the other slice of bread. Make sure you place it on top of the cheese with the pesto side down.



And flip!



Hello...I love you, won't you tell me your name? (Quick! Who sang that song?)

Happy Monday, everyone. You too, Jim Morrison...wherever you are.

Make this: Chicken Tortilla Soup

Yes, I know. Here we are, mid-November, and the last time I posted was in January! I promise...life has been happening all around me, and once again I can't take two seconds to document it. I'll let you in on a little secret: if I get hit by a bus tomorrow, go to my Flickr account and you'll be instantly caught up on everything in my world! Except for that bus. Chances are, if it hit me - I wasn't paying attention or taking a photo.

I made this soup over the weekend because 1) it's football season in my house, and 2) my husband makes requests for whatever he wants to eat on Sunday because 3) see #1. I debated between Chicken Tortilla or Albondigas. In the end, Chicken Tortilla won because 1) it's football season in my house, and 2) I make the decisions in the kitchen because 3) see #1.

This is a simple recipe if you have about 20 minutes to spare for prep time and then another hour or so to let it simmer and do it's "thing" on the stove. Soups all need time to do their thing...if you've made them before, you knew this already.

Confession: I wasn't planning on posting this, so I didn't take photos through the process. (Lucky you!) I'll just cut to the chase and give you the recipe. Like most things I make, it's all in my head so feel free to make it your own and adjust.

CHICKEN TORTILLA SOUP
4 chicken breasts (preferably on the bone)
1 cube chicken bouillon
2 tbsp. butter
1 onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 jalapeños (more if you like it hot!)
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 cup cilantro, roughly chopped (Not a fan? you can substitute kale or fresh parsley.)
2 Roma tomatoes, diced
Avocado, diced
corn tortillas, cut into strips and fried golden
Monterey Jack cheese

1. Boil chicken breasts with bouillon until they are fully cooked. Remove chicken and cut into cubes once it's cooled; reserve broth. You'll need it!
2. Melt butter in a large stock pot over medium high heat. Add onion, garlic, jalapeño, salt and pepper. Saute for a couple of minutes until the garlic is fragrant and onion is translucent.
3. Add in chicken stock from the meat you boiled (about half of it) and then add about 4 cups of water. Bring to a rapid boil.
4. Add chicken, tomatoes and cilantro (or whatever green stuff you decided to substitute). You can add a dash of turmeric at this phase if you want a slightly yellow soup. If not, it will be clear as the sky. Reduce heat to low and simmer for at least 45 minutes.
5. Ladel soup into a bowl and top with diced avocado, cheese and corn tortilla strips.

From Kentucky, With Love

Back in the early 1990s, I was overcome with a giant case of The Dumbass and went to live with some close friends in Kentucky for a whopping six months. To this day, it’s the only real time I’ve ever spent away from sweet little Las Cruces, New Mexico. While I was there, I absorbed some of life’s greatest lessons: 1) you can’t run away from your problems, 2) line dancing is not as hot as you think it is, and 3) those Southerners sure know how to cook.

Right after I arrived, I went to work at a Winn-Dixie in the illustrious town of Radcliff (just outside of Ft. Knox). Winn-Dixie is a Southeastern grocery store chain, for all of you scratching your heads. Because they paid me just enough to buy a sandwich from Subway and fill my car up with gas, I also worked across the street at Baskin Robbins. They didn’t pay much either, but I ate my fair share of Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream to make up for it.

I met my friend, Holly, at the grocery store and she introduced me to gumbo. Her mother made it, and before I knew Holly, I had never heard of it. In my head, I imagined it was a giant bowl of melted bubble gum that you ate with a spoon. Yuck! When I was invited over to her house to try it, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that gumbo is a hearty, Cajun comfort food that has become a Sunday favorite in my house.

Confession: true Southerners (especially those from Louisiana) will tell you that gumbo without okra is anything but gumbo. Confession: I hate okra unless it is deep-fried. Confession: I don’t make my gumbo with okra.

Yesterday was a bitter, bone-chilling kinda cold here in New Mexico, so I thought a giant batch of gumbo would warm everyone up. Over the years, I’ve tweaked Holly’s mom’s recipe to suit my New Mexico taste buds. Translation: bring on the hot chile!

Here’s how you do it: (Forgive my iPhone photos...the battery in my Nikon was dead, dead, dead!)


Dice up a medium-sized onion along with 3 or 4 stalks of celery. I like to throw in the leafy celery tops, too.



Then roughly chop 2 or 3 boiled chicken breasts. When you're boiling the chicken, be sure to save the chicken stock. You'll need it later.



Next, slice 2 or 3 packages of polish sausage. Set the sausage and the chicken aside for now.



Oops! Almost forgot...dice up 2 or 3 jalapeños or 4 long, hot green chiles.

Here's the important part: the roux. Roux is a funny, temperamental, integral part of your gumbo. It's like a gravy base, but you cook it longer and you can't take your eyes off of it! I mean it...not for one second. It burns in a flash and will ruin all of the goodness you're about to create.



Start with 1/3 cup of all-purpose flour and 1/4 cup of vegetable oil. Blend well and cook over medium-high heat in a large stock pot, stirring constantly.



The stirring motion ensures that every granule of the flour is browning evenly.



Ta da! This is what roux should look like. Some gumbo conoisseurs will tell you that roux should be the deep, rusty color of a penny.



Add to the roux all those veggies you chopped. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pretend I showed you the 4 cloves of garlic I chopped and added in there, too. Continue to cook until the onions and celery are crisp-tender, about 5 minutes.



Pour 4 to 6 cups of chicken stock in the pot and add in the sausage and chicken. Blend all the ingredients together and add 2 chicken bouillon cubes and a bay leaf. Bring everything to a boil and then reduce the heat and simmer for at least 45 minutes or longer, adding water as necessary.



When it's done, ladel a heaping spoonful of gumbo over a bowl of steamed white rice. Enjoy! I know we did, just after I said a little prayer of thanks that my path crossed with Holly's. Love ya, Holly! And your mom, too.

Here's a copy-and-paste version if you want to print it:

Chicken and Sausage Gumbo


1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup vegetable oil (or any other cooking oil)
1 chopped onion
3 or 4 stalks of celery, sliced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
3 jalapeños, finely chopped (you can substitute green chile, too)
salt and pepper to taste
2 chicken bouillon cubes
16 oz. polish sausage (2 packages)
1 1/2 cups frozen or fresh okra (if you dare)
2 or 3 boiled chicken breasts
1 bay leaf
hot, cooked rice

1. Chop all vegetables and set aside. Slice chicken and sausage and set aside.
2. Add flour and oil to a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Stirring constantly, cook the mixture until the roux is a dark brown.
3. Add vegetables to the roux and cook approximately 5 minutes.
4. Add chicken stock and bouillon cubes.
5. Add chicken and sausage and bring to a rapid boil.
6. Reduce heat and add bay leaf.
7. Cook for 45 minutes to an hour (or longer), adding water when necessary.
8. Serve over steamed white rice.