Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich

I don’t know about you guys, but quarantine is making me crazy! I am used to working every day. EVERY DAY! I rarely have a day off, so being at home every day was nice for the first week, but there is only so much cleaning and organizing a person can do, or at least me.

As I have said before on this blog, I need variety, in all things.  I thought I would cook, clean, knit, sew and watch all the movies. Turns out those activities are almost all the same type of activity. Cleaning is not like the crafting, so then that would only be two different type of activities and the only other thing I am able to do now is walk our dogs. So needless to say I am at my wits end in finding ways of not becoming bored.

I am a people person and usually see my friends and family quite often, and attend church twice a week if I’m not working. I love going to movies, eating out and shopping, don’t forget shopping.  I even like grocery shopping, which I am not allowed to do right now.  I have asthma and other health complications so my husband is taking care of me by doing all of the errands. I like going to the grocery store and just getting inspiration from the fresh produce or things on sale or seeing a different piece of meat that I haven’t used in a while etc., but since I’m not shopping inspiration is not welling up inside of me.

My husband is quite happy with the same food everyday.  He usually eats cottage cheese and toast for breakfast.  Occasionally I will make an omelet or pancakes, because I want them and he’s happy to eat that, but if I’m not cooking…cottage cheese and toast.  For lunch he usually has a turkey sandwich and chips, and dinner he has whatever food I  make or he scrounges for leftovers if I’m not cooking.

Lately, I have been enjoying peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch.  On my last grocery shopping trip I thought it wise to get some things that would last and were shelf stable if some crazy stuff happened during the Pandemic. One of the choices was peanut butter, I bought 2 extra jars, hence my choice of subject for today. Caveat here, I can’t do them everyday. All my meals need to be different. I mean I might have bacon for breakfast and a BLT for lunch, but I had better have a different meat for dinner or I’m not happy.  I am very spoiled, I know, especially with all the stuff that is happening in our world right now.  I will eat leftovers and if I make too big a batch of Steele cut oats I’ll eat them for breakfast the next day.  I’m just saying, I’m blessed, but very picky if that option is there.

Back to the peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  I have fruit trees:  peach, apricot, cherry, pear,  plum, fig, lime and mandarin orange trees. I occasionally have friends that let me pick apples from their trees (my apple trees died and I have not replaced them yet).  I also have grapevines, a raspberry and blackberry patch, red current bushes and some rhubarb. I make jelly, jams, preserves and conserves. Usually a lot of them. So I have a huge variety of jelly: sweet, spicy, nutty, smooth, chunky and some have alcohol in them, (banana foster jam). So I have endless variety of jelly to pick from for the jelly part of the sandwich.  The only limiting factor is the space in my refrigerator. I usually have about 8 different kinds of jelly open at one time.

I’m not so picky with the peanut butter.  I prefer smooth, but I will eat chunky and lets not forget the other nut options out there: almond, cashew, and hazelnut with chocolate (Nutella), and many more like seed butters (tahini) and sunflower seed spread.

Bread is the next ingredient to hold this meal together.  A classic choice of white bread, crusty sourdough, French baguette, sliced brioche or a whole wheat is a great choice.  But my favorite is the marbled rye from Rotella’s bakery.

And last but not least is the optional ingredient.  I usually put a slice of sharp cheddar on my sandwich. It gives it a little bit more texture and protein bang for the buck.  But, you could just as easily add a banana, strawberry slices, brie cheese slices.  You get the idea, and I’m sure no one has every added their potato chips on their PBJ. I’m wondering if bacon would taste good?

So the peanut butter and jelly sandwich I chose today: Rotella marbled rye bread, not toasted, apple butter and sharp cheddar.  The spread must go to the very edge. I like each bite to be the same.  This is the way with all the sandwiches in my world.  Mayo, mustard, pickles, cheese, bacon, lettuce, whatever is on the sandwich must be in every bite. It isn’t balanced otherwise.

My lunch choice was divine today.  Maybe tomorrow I’ll grill my homemade sourdough bread with Nutella, banana slices and banana foster jam, or maybe sliced baguette with brie slices, almond butter, toasted almonds and raspberry jelly?

Thanks for stopping by and listening to my rambling today. Leave us a comment on what favorite peanut butter and jelly combo is your favorite, or the most outlandish combination you’ve ever eaten.

 

Pablano Ranch

You might know that I have worked in the restaurant community in the not so distant past.  Unfortunately one of the fine dinning restaurants that I worked at was bought out by a corporation and wasn’t keeping a pastry chef…me, and  buying the desserts from food vendors instead.  I could have stayed with the company working on the savory side, but frankly anyone that was not going to take advantage of my full abilities was not going to get any of them.

When I left I walked out with some really great recipes and that’s okay because they were not going to be using them anyway. They turned this restaurant into a wood fire pizza place.  Its a great idea, but not after being a fine dinning restaurant. Just saying.

The recipe I’m sharing today is very easy to make at home and to customize. This recipe makes a little over a quart if I remember correctly. So you should start out by cutting it down, but once you taste it you might make the full recipe.

Pablano Ranch

6 roasted, peeled, cored and processed till smooth poblano peppers (this is where you might want to substitute your favorite pepper. Jalapeño, scotch bonnet, just red pepper)

2 cups full fat sour cream

6 cups mayonnaise

1 1/2 tsp celery salt

1 cup buttermilk

1 T black pepper

1.  Roast the peppers.  You can oven roast them at 450F or you can grill them.  Blacken all the skin, turning them occasionally, then throw them in a plastic zipper bag or a covered bowl for about 15 minutes.  Scrape all of the black skin off, use the dull side of a knife, slice them open and take out the seeds.  Blend in a food processor or blender till smooth.

2. Add the rest of the ingredients except the buttermilk, then add the buttermilk as the machine is going.

 

It’s as simple as that! It’s a great dressing to go with wings, on a salad, to dip veggies into, top your pizza with, whatever you do with your regular ranch dressing, substitute this dressing and you can thank me later.

Let us know if you try our recipes.  If you followed the directions or made a modification, like they say in knitting (my other passion). Just let us know how we’re doing.

Travel blog – Czechia

When we first started this blog, I also wanted to create a type of travel blog that would allow us to look at food and see how we liked it, recreate it, and find out if it was just a tourist trap or if it was actually the type of food that was eaten there in everyday life. 

I really enjoyed traveling to Prague. It was an amazing experience that opened my eyes. It was my first time in Europe, and most people wouldn’t think about going to Prague for that, but it was probably the best time traveling anywhere. Would I go back? Definitely. 

There was a lot of food that I tried and I honestly was more excited about that than anything else. Prague is sort of a more tourist-heavy city but there are a lot of different places in the city where you can go to experience the real deal (food, architecture, culture, and people). If you honestly wanted to, you can go near the old town square and eat at Hooters, but I would advise against that.

*A quick mention: If I look cold in the majority of this photos, that is because I was, it was March when we took this trip (Over spring break). My mother advised me to bring a coat, otherwise, my stupid self would not have.

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I went on this trip to Prague for my Geography degree. In order to get your degree, you’ll have to take this travel class. One of my professors works in the Geography University there so we were lucky to go to this certain city. We did several things throughout the day, one thing including was climbing to the top of the “Church of Our Lady before Týn.” This was an amazing experience not a lot of people get to experience. We climbed to the very top, higher than the bell. 

Our professor of the trip made sure we were eating some of the more traditional food in Czechia. The first night there we had Guláš (goulash) with bread dumplings. Which was very good and not far off of something we would eat in Iowa. We also ate other dishes like Řízek (schnitzel) and beef tartare. If you visit, make sure you try some of the street food vendors. They typically only take coin/cash, but its definitely worth it. The featured image of the fried doughnut with the whipped cream and cinnamon on top was stuffed with a mixture of something you would put into an apple pie. It was DELICIOUS. You were also able to get them stuffed with Nutella and ice cream, but we just ate at a different place so I did not want to get too full. (Pictured above guy eating one of those doughnuts.)

Even though I was okay with eating some of the traditional dishes around Prague, I still craved something “American-ish.” I eat fish and chips all the time, and they did a very good job. It was so fresh, salty and crunchy from being fried, with a fresh lemon over top… Oh man, I am hungry for it again. This was around more of a tourist area. 

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We also went to a brewery. We took a tour to see behind the scenes of how they start from the beginning to how it comes out. We even got to taste a lot of the beer levels too. 

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There was a lot of good food. It was fun to see how people ate in other countries. There was a pizza place right by our hotel and it something you would have paid at least $20 American money. It was cheaper, hot, fresh and the best pizza ever. There was literally pizza everywhere in the city. Certainly didn’t help me with my pizza addiction.

Confession: I drank so much coffee here. A cappuccino was more delicious than the sugared iced drinks here that you can grab at Starbucks. Pictured below: This was at a restaurant near Čertovka, in the Malá Strana district. I chose the gnocchi dish. It was extremely thick along with being rich in flavor. Good thing I had some beer to cut through the heaviness of this otherwise I don’t think I would’ve been able to walk from being so full. While I was there I drank the lighter levels of beer, along with cider, and lots of wine. The wine that I had at our hotel was only $3 a glass. It was several very refreshing wines; this trip was the thing that started me drinking prosecco. 

One last thing I have to admit before I finished this post is during this trip we went to McDonald’s. It seems weird to me that the McDonald’s that we at was good. I didn’t realize what it was like to try something in another country that we have the same exact thing of. I know that in each country it is different ( they fit to the needs of the places they are at). Eating at the McCafe was pretty tasty too. They have amazing coffee. Not as amazing as the local shop down the street but it was good.

Overall the shopping and trying new experiences and going places without knowing where you really were was kind of fun. If you guys like seeing stuff like this, let me know. I want to try making goulash, with the bread dumplings. That post would be a good one.

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Here are some good pictures of our trip:

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Pita Bread (Gyros)

In order to have a proper gyro you need pita bread. They are fairly easy to make and they are really cool to watch bake. They puff up like huge oyster crackers in the oven.

This bread is a great alternative to sandwich bread, due to that pocket that happens naturally in the baking process. You can also bake some of the leftovers into pita chips for snacking on humus.  Yummy!

Anyway, I am a big fan of variety in food.  I just get tired of chicken, pork and beef. So, while shopping, I picked up a leg of lamb and decided to make a lamb stew or something. I roasted it with rosemary and garlic until it was falling apart and then defatted and  crumbled it for gyros. Below are the recipes for pitas and tzatziki sauce essential for gyros. I used the recipe for the pitas from the CIA baking and pastry cookbook and  the joy of cooking for the tzatziki sauce.

Pita Ingredients (makes 10 and a little one)

1 lb bread flour
1 lb wheat flour ( I used all white)
.25 oz instant dry yeast
20 fl oz water
1 oz olive oil
.75 oz salt
3/4 tsp sugar

Method

1. Add all ingredients in a mixing bowl, mix on low-speed for 4 minutes, then medium for 3 minutes. The dough will be slightly moist but have good gluten developement.
2. Let dough double in size, about 30 minutes. Fold gently to develop gluten.
3. Divide dough into 4.5 oz pieces. Preshape the dough into round pieces. Let rest, covered with sprayed plastic wrap for 15 minutes.
4. Using a rolling-pin roll into a 7-inch round circle and place on a parchment paper. You should fit 3 to 4 on a sheet. Make sure to work sequentially as you cut them.
5. Let rise or rest for 10 minutes while preheating oven to 500F.  They say to use a deck oven, but alas how many of us have one of those. Not I. So, I placed a half-sheet pan upside down in the center of the oven and let it heat with the oven.
6. Bake the pitas 3 -4 minutes. They will puff up but not brown. Stack them about 5 high and wrap in a cloth, cool before using.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tzatziki sauce ingredients (makes 2 cups)

1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and finely diced
1 T olive oil
1 T chopped dill
1 T chopped mint
1 T red wine vinegaror fresh lemon juice
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp salt

Method

Stir all of the ingredients together.  It is better to let it sit for an hour, but can be eaten right away.

 

 

Stew Pasties

What to do with leftover stew? I know it is better the second day, but no one at my house is good at eating leftovers. So I have to find ways of completely re-inventing the original dish, especially soups.

So I was browsing on the internet and came across a recipe on one of my favorite cookbook sites, the River Cottage website. I have their Meat cookbook and one of these days I’m going to try their meat pie, the whole reason I got the book. Anyway they made this stew pasties.  It’s very easy to make you just pick out the meat and some veggies, make sure that they are bite-size pieces and enclose it in a flaky pate brisee. Mine came out a little dry because I feared that the crust would get too soft if I added some sauce from the stew.  Next time I will just heat up some of the sauce for dipping or drizzling, or better yet thicken the sauce and put some of it inside.

Ingredients  for crust

(makes 3-10″ tart shells, freeze the other 2 for later.  Defrost in fridge the night before using)

2 lb all-purpose flour
1 T salt 1 lb butter or lard
2 eggs
1/3 c ice water
1 T lemon juice or clear vinegar

leftover stew or pot roast
shredded cheese of choice

egg wash- 1 egg and 1 T water

1. Mix first 5 ingredients together till just blended in mixer with paddle attachment.
2. Wrap in plastic and place in refrigerator for 15 minutes to rest.
3. Roll out to 6-6″ inch circles.
4. Portion out meat and bite-sized veggie pieces between them and sprinkle with cheese of choice.
5. Add a little of the thickened juice from stew or gravy from the roast. Fold over and crimp the edges.
6. Cut a couple of vent holes for the steam to escape. I sometimes do initials, because they want special ingredients like no meat or no mushrooms etc.
7. Brush on eggwash and bake at 375F for about 30 minutes or until golden brown. The internal temperature should reach 165F with an instant-read thermometer.

Pesto Panini

These tasty little sandwiches are a favorite at my house.  That means its a great recipe, because my family is ultra-finnicky. I developed it for my middle daughter when she wasn’t eating meat, and loved pesto.

A few years ago I planted about 6 basil plants, crazy I know but I did. So I had to do something with them.  I made pesto, caprese salads, and I dried a whole quart ziplock bag’s worth.  The whole house smelled like cat pee it was awful. However, from out of that time came this sandwich, goat cheese and pesto Panini.

Another, favorite of mine, I eat for breakfast is the nutella banana Panini.  Both of these are super simple to make and they are fast and delicious, too. The pesto recipe comes from my culinary school textbook “On Cooking” my new “Betty Crocker” go to cookbook.

Ingredients (pesto) This recipe makes 1 1/2 pints, if you are only making this for these sandwiches you will want to at least cut it in half or into quarters.  I keep it around for spreading on bread for an appetizer or using it as a sauce with cheese ravioli or spaghetti. It lasts about a month in the  refrigerator, the top will turn a little brown, but that is just oxidation, scrape it off and use the stuff underneath it is still good.

12 fl oz olive oil
3 oz pine nuts ( you can also substitute walnuts for a less expensive pesto.  It will taste different though)
6 oz fresh basil leaves (If you don’t like basil, you can substitute spinach or arugula)
1 T garlic, chopped
4 oz parmesan, grated
4 oz romano, grated
TT salt and pepper

Method

1. Place 4 oz of the oil in a food processor and add all the remaining ingredients.
2. Process until smooth. Add the remaining oil by stream until incorporated.

You can also add 1 oz of sun-dried tomatoes softened in oil and any additional oil to make a good emulsion.

To make the sandwiches

1 loaf soft french bread
goat cheese
pesto
butter

Method

1. Heat up the Panini press.
2. Slice the french bread into 1 inch slices.
3. Spread pesto on one piece of bread and add a layer of goat cheese on the other.  Put the pieces together and butter the outsides.
4. Grill for about 2 minutes or until cheese is melted.

 

Tuna Nicoise Sandwich

There is a commercial bakery in Omaha that makes a loaf of bread that I love, love, love. Their name is Rotella, and it isn’t their italian bread that’s my favorite, it’s their marble rye. I have seen this same bread used at Arby’s with their reuben sandwich.

The reason I love this bread is that it’s big and soft but still has that chewiness of sourdough and the tang of the rye, heaven. I am, however, the only one in my household that feels this way. So I do not buy it as often as I would like; that and the fact I have to run to the other side of Omaha to their facility to get it.

I did buy a loaf and opened endless possibilities for sandwiches: reubens, chicken salad, and even peanut butter and jelly. My favorite topping for this bread, as a sandwich anyway, is tuna salad. My breakfast option is some butter and a cranberry relish that I make (recipe some other time). Today I wanted a little twist to my tuna topping, something I have been thinking about for a while.  Tuna nicoise sandwich, the salad is very healthy with seared tuna and a ton of veggies, but I didn’t want to go to all that trouble just for a sandwich. So although I will be breaking one of the culinary rules I was taught ( no shortcuts) I am going to take one here without too many repercussions.

Ingredients

1-12 oz can tuna
2 T red onion, small diced
2 T capers, minced
2 T celery, small diced
2 T olive tepenade
zest and juice of 1 lemon
2-3 T olive oil ( enough to moisten, more if needed)
salt and pepper to taste (this depends on how salty the capers and tepenade are)

optional items
3 french beans, blanched and small diced
1  hard-boiled egg, small diced

sandwich garnishes
thinly sliced cucumbers
thinly sliced tomatoes
Romaine lettuce ( I used spinach )
I was lucky enough to have some radish sprouts from my garden that I put on my sandwich and it gave it a spicy kick.

Method

1. Mix all ingredients together and put on bread.  How hard is that?
2. Place garnishes on and enjoy.

Sloppy Joes

I like to buy things in bulk. When I buy hamburger I buy a 10 pound tube. Regardless of what my husband may think, I do not like to go to the market every day.  I think it’s the parking lot and the lines that drive me crazy and not looking over the food, I could do that all day.

Anyway, instead of just chopping it up into 1 pound packages and freezing it, I usually cook about half the package into ground pieces to use for tacos, sloppy joes, etc. The rest I make into meat loaf and hamburger patties, then freeze, pre-made meals ready when I’m feeling lazy.

I like this recipe because its tangy and chunky with lots of tomato sauce, but not runny. Top it of with some sharp cheddar all melting down the bun and a few crispy potato chips and you have a fast dinner that’s filling if not healthy.  If you like you could serve a salad alongside the sandwich and make it a bit healthier.

Ingredients

1 lb hamburger
1 med onion, small dice
1 green pepper, small dice ( I like to use the mini tri-color peppers, they make it look great)
1/2 cup ketchup
2 T Dijon mustard
2 T cider vinegar
1 T sugar
1 T garlic, minced
1 sm can tomato paste
8 sandwich buns
8 slices of sharp cheddar cheese

Method

1. Fry the hamburger in a medium skillet, breaking into small pieces.
2. Add onion and peppers. Cook until hamburger is browned, stirring occasionally.
3. Drain fat, then add all other ingredients, except buns and cheese. Simmer for 30 minutes.
4. Serve hot on buns with cheese melting down the bun. YUM!

Egg Salad

Egg salad is not really a glamorous sandwich like the turkey club, but its tasty and packed full of protein. Since I’m a texture girl, I like my egg salad chunky with pieces of onion and sometimes celery. I don’t like it bland either, I made homemade mayonnaise or rather an aoli (mayo with garlic) so it had quite a bit of flavor.  My favorite bread to put this on is the marble rye from Rotella’s bakery, but alas I had none and you know I say to use what you have. This is even better the next day after the egg has had time to absorb the flavors.

Salad type sandwiches also seem so personal to me; the additions or the lack there of can bring on Hatfield and McCoy type feuds within the family if you get my drift.  So this is my personal version of egg salad.  Feel free to make additions or deletions to make this recipe yours as well.

Ingredients

6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and cut into 1/4″ pieces
1/4 c mayonnaise
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp dill weed
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
thin slices of onion-optional

Method

1. Mix together the dry spices in a bowl.
2. Add mayonnaise and mix thoroughly.
3. Add blended mayo to the egg, being gentle not to break them too much.
4. Place on bread and add sliced onions.

Phast Philly Cheesesteak

sweetnsavoryfood

I have been craving a Philly cheese steak sandwich for a couple of weeks now and have not had the opportunity to go out to a restaurant to pick one up.  So when I had some extra hamburger that was needing to be used I thought I might kill two birds with one stone. As I have mentioned I am with my girls and am in a limited kitchen, but also on a limited budget, so was not going to buy steak, or a roast to take care of my craving. I did pick up some buns and mushrooms (another thing my girls will not eat).

I was amazed that my girls could exist with only a couple of spices: Lawry’s season salt, onion powder, salt and pepper is the extent of their culinary seasonings. They were not very interested in learning any tips from me during their teenage years…

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