I call this, pelmeni face. Simply place some pelmeni on a plate, cut a tomato in half and place on each side of the pelmeni, creating ears. Place two blueberries on top of the pelmeni, to create two blue eyes. Add a piece of butter for a cute nose, and a slice of peach for a smiling mouth. The ground black pepper makes for cute freckles, don’t you think?
M, big props on this very creative idea!
Moms and Dads, do you have any other fun tricks up your sleeves for fun kids’ meals?
I can’t say that I blame those that became so addicted to the grilled cheese sandwich. The thought of the warm crispy bread with the gooey cheese on the inside, makes me feel all warm inside. All this talk about grilled cheese sandwiches inspired me to make my own. I whipped up a melt-in-your-mouth grilled cheese sandwich with pepper roasted turkey and tomatoes. Some would call it a regular sandwich, but it’s a grilled cheese to me. It’s grilled, and it has two slices of cheese, as opposed to one, that would go in my regular sandwich.
Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Roasted Turkey and Tomato
Ingredients
2 slices Oroweat Healthfull bread
2 slices Havarti cheese
2 slices Peppered Roasted Turkey
2 slices Tomato
Butter (softened)
Directions
Butter one side of a bread slice, and turn it over. Layer the non-buttered side with a slice of cheese, two slices of turkey, two slices of tomato, and the second slice of cheese. Butter the second slice of bread, and top the sandwich, buttered side up. Cook sandwich on frying pan until golden, on one side. Flip and cook until golden on the other side, and cheese melts.
I am sure this is no grand discovery for many of you but the biggest bang for the time involved is….drum roll please…. lasagna. It takes a little bit of effort, but once it’s all done, you’ve got at least 4 days of dinners. This just means that you’ve carved out 4 evenings of free time to be taken up by some other errands.
Now for the recipe of this time-saver dish. The Three Cheese Lasagna recipe came to me courtesy of Epicurious.com. Knowing me, you’re probably wondering, “how did she alter this recipe?”. I do confess, for some odd reason I couldn’t find the right kind of carrots when I was shopping for the required ingredients. What does one do in this situation? Well, I don’t know what one does, but I just left them out. The taste is still amazing, and every time I serve it, the hubby gives praises.
I serve it with a leafy greens salad, either on the bed of or on the side. In case you are curious, I mix the leafy greens with tomatoes, cucumbers, a bit of red onions and walnuts, tossed with either fat free balsamic vinaigrette or salt, black pepper and a little bit of vegetable oil. Now I present you, with a square of Three Cheese Lasagna on the bed of leafy greens salad (tossed with vegetable oil).
Hopefully you remember my coworker U, who so graciously brought me home grown tomatoes. Well, a few days ago she brought me an eggplant from her garden.
I’ve never actually made anything with eggplant, so I decided to make my Mom’s recipe, which I love. The recipe calls for the following ingredients:
1. Eggplant
2. Vegetable oil (for frying)
3. Mayonnaise
4. Garlic (mashed)
5. Tomato slices
6. 1 hard boiled egg
7. Shredded cheese (I used low moisture mozzarella)
Slice the eggplant, fry in vegetable oil until the slices soften. Remove onto a paper towel lined plate. Cover the fried eggplant slices with another paper towel to soak up the excess oil. In the meantime mash two cloves of garlic with a garlic masher and mix with a table spoon of mayonnaise. Brush each eggplant slice with the mayonnaise mixture, cover with a tomato slice. Brush each slice of tomato with the remaining mayonnaise mixture. Top with grated egg and shredded cheese. Chill slightly and serve. Yum!
Enjoy!
First Vika started with salmon minis.
Key ingredients:
1. European whole grain bread (can be found at Trader Joe’s)
2. Salmon
3. Creme fraiche
4. Chives
Top the bread with slices of salmon, creme fraiche and diced chives. Once plated, just serve.
Now for the Bruschetta minis
To create these tasty minis you will need the following ingredients and will need to take the following steps:
1. Tomatoes (Vika used cherry and pear tomatoes)
2. Fresh Basil
3. Olive Oil
4. Sun-dried tomatoes
5. Baguette
Cut up the baguette and toast slices of baguette in the oven. In the mean time, dice the fresh tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes and basil. Mix together with olive oil. Top the toasted baguette slices with the tomato mixture and serve.
Try these minis and they’ll fly off the plate in the blink of an eye.
My favorite coworker U. generously shared with me some of the fruits of her labor. She is an avid gardner and grows all kinds of fruits and vegetables in her garden. Earlier this week she surprised me with a few tomatoes from her garden. Fresh tomatoes off the vine are absolutely amazing.
What better way to enjoy freshly grown tomatoes? Caprese salad of course.
After work and a visit to the gym, my husband and I picked up some mozzarella cheese and I threw together a fresh caprese salad with some black pepper and virgin olive oil. For a hint of color…a mint leaf. I know, it’s not basil but it’s a twist on the traditional (and all I had at home).
Hubby helped with capturing this great dish, which by the way, was cleaned off the plate in it’s entirety within 10 minutes after this photo was taken.
Thanks U. for the tasty tomatoes!
