Blue Cheese, Caramelized Onion, and Apricot Jam Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Go ahead… read the title again.
Yes. The answer to your question is yes, I am crazy.
This may sound like there’s a pregnancy joke in the mix or next I’ll claim it’s a cure for hangovers, but I assure you it’s just downright tastiness that inspired this creation.
One evening as I was cooking caramelized onions for blue cheese & onion burgers and I thought that would make a great grilled cheese sandwich. Skip the meat, double the cheese, lots of onions… Yum!
Then I also thought about the times when I had eaten something sweet with cheese, examples include cheddar slices on apple pie, honey drizzled on manchego, or dried apricots with blue cheese. So I found some apricot jam at the Haskell farmers’ market and away I went.
I must tell you this is an amazing combination. You get the strong, salty cheese with sweet onions and fruit to balance it out.
Other combinations that would be good would be:
Sweet peppered bacon with swiss,
PB & J with bananas (a classic),
Spinach, mozzeralla, and pesto
If you love that diner kind of cheese sandwich, replace the butter with mayo. It helps you cook a crisp crust and adds so much flavor.

All these are great options for a grown-up grilled cheese sandwich because you’re never too old for a grilled cheese sandwich.

Blue Cheese, Caramelized Onion, and Apricot Jam Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Ingredients
Butter
2 slices of bread
2 oz. of blue cheese crumbles
1 tbsp. apricot jam
Caramelized onions

Directions
Butter both sides of both pieces of toast. Heat your skillet to medium heat.
Spread one slice of buttered bread with the apricot jam. Crumble the blue cheese and press it into the jam. Add the caramelized onions and top off with the other slice of buttered bread.
Cook over medium heat until the outside is golden and crisp (or blackened and tough) and the cheese is melted.
Cut in half and enjoy the sweet and salty grilled cheese sandwich.

Caramelized Onions

Ingredients
1 medium onion, sliced
2 tbsp. butter

Directions
Heat a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add butter and melt. Add onions and cook for 20 to 25 minutes. If the onions start cooking too quickly, turn the heat down to low and continue cooking. Cook until soft and browned all over.

Whole Wheat Vanilla Layer Cake

This nutty, slightly savory cake was my idea of taking a traditional white cake recipe and making (marginally) healthier.

Sort of.

I cringed when people started to yell at the family reunion

"Her cake is healthy! We can have two slices!"

It is still cake. It does still contain sugar. And fat.

Nevertheless I was on a mission to make and light and fluffy whole wheat layered cake, full of frosting and strawberry jam. I started with a basic white cake recipe, which really I didn't need to do as the whole wheat made the cake brown.

Eh... you live and you learn.

"Healthy" Snacks

Healthy snacks! One of my downfalls is snacking between meals, and not snacking on anything healthy. Now, I’m not a nutritionist but I did take a health class (Isn’t that how those commercials go? “I’m not a doctor, but...”) I’m guessing that these are healthy because they involve fruits and vegetables and not Oreos, Cheetos, and Pop-tarts.
Some of these snacks are sweet, others are savory. Choose what you like and toss what you don’t. Yes, I’m giving you permission to not like anything I put in this column.
I’d love to hear from you! Share your favorite snacks, healthy or otherwise, on the Haskell News Facebook Page or go to www.eatingtraditions.blogspot.com

Roasted Olives (adapted from Racheal Ray magazine)
I have really come to love olives in the last few years. Everyone touts olive oil for being good for you, my money is on olives too!

2 c. mixed olives with pits
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper, or omit if you don’t like spicy food
1/4 c. olive oil
1 tsp. your favorite herb, such as thyme, rosemary, or parsley
1/2 lemon, zested and juiced

Combine all ingredients in 2 qt. baking dish and bake at 400 for 20 minutes. Serve the olives warm or at room temperature.

Honey-Curry Dip (from a health magazine)
The fact that this one is from a health magazine means it’s health, right?

1 c. plain yogurt
1 1/2 tbsp. honey
1 1/2 tsp. curry powder

Mix yogurt with honey and curry powder. Serve with carrots and celery.

Fruit With Balsamic Syrup Drizzle
I’m not sure where I found this recipe but I have noticed versions of it everywhere. This balsamic reduction can be used with fruit as I suggest here, but it is also delicious with chicken of pork, or on top of vegetables.
Can you call this a recipe if it only has one ingredient?

2/3 c. balsamic vinegar

Pour vinegar into a small sauce pot and cook over medium heat. Continue cooking until the vinegar has reduced by half and is thick and syrupy. Serve on top of strawberries.

Bananas With Chocolate-Honey Sauce
Who doesn’t like bananas an chocolate!? Or bananas and peanut butter? Or you could go completely unhealthy or the Fat Elvis route with a banana-peanut-butter-honey-bacon sandwich. I’m pretty sure it’s what killed him.

1/2 c. semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
1 1/2 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. unsalted butter
Salt
Walnuts, pecans, or almonds, chopped
3 small bananas, cut into bite sized pieces

In a bowl, heat the chocolate chips, honey, butter, and salt for 20 seconds in a microwave. Continue to heat the chocolate in 20 second intervals until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
Serve banana pieces topped with chocolate sauce and nuts.

Bon Appetit Lemony Sandwich Cookies

An afternoon tea was just what I needed this last week. With the beautiful weather we have been enjoying this winter, I was eager to enjoy an afternoon tea on the porch.

You can’t serve tea by itself so I decided to make lemon cream filled sandwich cookies to enjoy on the porch in the sunshine. However, I chose the day that it decided to rainy and drop 20 degrees to set up my tea. At first I had high hopes that it would just gently rain and we would still be able to eat outside; eventually the wind picked up and the rain started to come under the porch and I decided to move my tea inside. I did manage to take a few pictures!

These little cookies are perfect with tea or coffee. They consist of a lightly lemon flavored sugar cookie and a lemon butter cream filling.

I found this recipe in a Bon Appetite magazine from a year or two ago. It was intended to replicate a recipe from a restaurant that served a similar cookie and a reader had requested the recipe.

A few changes that I made to the original recipe include the addition of vanilla extract to the butter cream filling and the cookie dough. I also reduced the amount of sugar in the cookie dough and frosting in order to make the cookies be a little "tangy", like anything lemon flavored should be. I also made extra lemon juice reduction and added it to the butter cream filling for more lemony flavor. Add more flavor and reduce sugar... my two goals when baking.

Lemony Sandwich Cookies

(adapted from Bon Appetite magazine recipe)

Lemon Sugar Cookie

2/3 c. fresh lemon juice

1 tbsp. finely grated lemon peel

3 3/4 c. all purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 c. unsalted butter, room temperature

1 c. sugar

2 eggs

2 egg whites (Can substitute 1 whole egg for the egg whites without affecting texture)

Boil lemon juice and lemon peel in a small saucepan until mixture is reduced to 3 tablespoons. Pour into small bowl and cool.

Sift flour, salt, and baking soda into medium bowl.

Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Add sugar; beat until blended. Beat in eggs one at a time, then beat in yolks. Beat in 2 tablespoons lemon juice reduction. Add dry ingredients and stir to combine. Cover dough and chill until firm, at least 4 hours and up to 1 day.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to 3/8" thickness. Using a 2" cutter, cut out 48 cookies.

Bake cookies until golden at edges, about 12 minutes. Let cookies fully cool before spreading filling.

Lemon Butter Cream

1 1/2 tbsp. finely grated lemon peel

1/8 tsp. salt

1/2 c. unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2 c. powdered sugar

Using back of spoon, mash lemon peel and salt to paste in medium bowl. Add butter and reserved 1 tablespoon of lemon reduction. Using electric mixer, beat until fluffy. Add sugar in 3 batches, beating after each addition until blended.

Spread 2 teaspoons filling on flat side of 1 cookie. Top with another cookie, flat side down.

These cookies can be made 2 days ahead. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator.

My Hawiian German's Chocolate Cake

Do you know that out of the twenty-something cookbooks I own (yes, I’m an addict and I admit it) only one cookbook contained a recipe for German Chocolate cake? I thought it was a classic!
And did you know that it is German’s cake, not German cake, as in not a cultural identity but a singular person?
Bakers’ German’s Chocolate was introduced in the early 1900s and the recipe for German’s Chocolate Cake was a promotion to use their brand of chocolate.

In all honesty, the only reason I called this Hawaiian was because I used macadamia nuts instead of pecans. The only reason I did that was because pecans were more expensive than the Hawaiian grown macadamia nuts. So yeah, there’s not much difference from a traditional recipe. I could have called this recipe German’s Chocolate Cake Inspired By The Outrageous Price Of Pecans... but I thought it overly dramatic.
Another difference from a traditional recipe is the frosting. In addition to the traditional frosting, which consists of a caramel, coconut, pecan mixture, I topped the cake with a chocolate ganache for extra flavor and richness. It also helps keep the cake from drying out.
I have included a basic chocolate cake recipe with macadamia nuts substituted instead of pecans in the frosting and the chocolate ganache recipe I used.

Sabre’s “Hawaiian” German Chocolate Cake
I cheated and used a boxed chocolate cake mix (really). You can use a boxed cake mix or you can make your own. if you feel like making your own, here is a basic recipe.

Cake
Makes one 13” x 9” or two 8” round cakes
2 c. cake flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate
5 tbsp. boiling water
1/2 c. butter
1 1/2 c. sugar
4 eggs. 1/2 milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350F.
Sift together into a medium bowl flour, baking powder, and salt.
Melt the unsweetened chocolate over low heat, in a double boiler, or in a microwave. Add the boiling water to the chocolate.
Cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add the cooled chocolate mixture. add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in 3 parts alternatively with the milk. Flavor with vanilla.
Pour into cake pans. Bake for 22-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.

Filling
2 eggs
10 oz. condense milk
1 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. toasted macadamia nuts, chopped
2 c. toasted coconut

Beat together eggs, condensed milk, and sugar in a small sauce pan. Heat together over low heat. Bring to a slow boil and allow to cook until thickened and caramel-like. Stir in toasted nuts and coconut. Use in between and on top of cake layers.

Chocolate Ganache
12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate
1 c. heavy whipping cream

In a small saucepan, heat cream over medium low heat until hot but not boiling. Pour in chocolate and let sit for a few minutes. Stir gently until well combined. Used while warm to frost cake or dip stuffed cupcakes in for easy frosting. Cover entire cake, filling and all with this ganache while still warm. Allow plenty of time to set up or place in the refrigerator to set.

Spring Garden Pictures

Enjoy some lovely pictures of my garden.

Strawberries!!!

After discussing my “top 10” with my husband, he suggested I add eating crawfish boil in Galveston on our honeymoon. I agreed. It was a memorable experience. My husband sucked the juices and brains out of the  head; I did not.
He also listed several of my favorite restaurants, food carts, dives in Stillwater; I admit that I have been very spoiled in my international college town.
But on to the recipes!
Strawberries! are in season. For a few bucks pick up a few pints this week and eat them with honey sweetened whipped cream.
And if you don’t eat them all and you fear they are going soft, make this sauce combination for a peanut butter and jelly breakfast treat. I made these two sauces the previous weekend and served them on top of French toast.
Sauces can make a meal very special. Think of your Thanksgiving dinner without cranberry sauce or giblet gravy. Or a ice cream sundae with no hot fudge. Sauces can make the meal.

 

Strawberry Sauce
1 pint strawberries, washed, hulled, and roughly chopped
1/2 c. powdered sugar
3/4 c. water

Mix all ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer until the berries are softened. At this point you can puree the mixture and strain out seeds for a beautiful ruby sauce or mash with the back of a wooden spoon and leave chunky for a rustic sauce.

Peanut Butter Sauce
1/4 c. peanut butter, smooth or chunky
3/4 c. milk
1/2 c. powdered sugar

Mix peanut butter alternately with sugar and milk. Whisk vigorously to loosen the peanut butter at first.

If you find you have some Strawberry Sauce leftover, make this butter cream to frost cupcakes, as I did, or to spread on warm biscuits.

 

Strawberry Butter Cream
1 stick of butter, room temperature
1/3 c. strawberry sauce, pureed and strained
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla

Beat with an electric mixer butter and strawberry sauce until smooth and creamy. Add powdered sugar and vanilla. If the frosting is too heavy or thick for your liking, thin with milk.

How Family changes Our Eating Habits and Traditions

    Eating Traditions took a little vacation last week. I had a good case of writers block and I couldn’t convince myself to write about anything.
    But on to business...
    When I met my husband at school, I had no idea how much we would influence each others eating habits. We ate a lot of meals together at the student union while at school.
    Jeremy was the first person to introduce me to sushi. I had not eaten fish other than fried catfish, but then he started taking me to sushi and seafood restaurants.
    I introduced him to new vegetables: asparagus, spinach, and brussel sprouts. First starting with cheesy concoctions and then moving on to other options.
    Together we’ve explored new cuisines neither of us were exposed to growing up. Indian curries, Japanese hot pots, artichokes, and sting rays are all part of our culinary journey together.
    We’ve torn apart each others family favorites. Jeremy’s Mexican casserole was influenced by his childhood in Arizona. My skillet breakfast is almost exactly how my mom would use only one skillet to cook breakfast and then toss it all together.
    We also try to push each others taste buds.
    I love spicy foods. I love the kind of spicy foods that make you cry when you eat them. The kind that clear out your sinuses and make you go “I can smell everything”. This is not the case with Jeremy.
    Jeremy loves sweet, savory food and trys to avoid extremely spicy foods. Bread and butter pickles are one of his favorite treats that I don’t like. Give me sour dill pickles any day.
    All in all, I never realized how much my cooking and eating habits had changed since I met my husband and started sharing my meals with him. Some of my most treasured memories of our dates are when we’re trying new foods and bonding with that experience. So I offer this simple list of suggestions for things to try eating or cooking with your friends and family. Whether you end up loving them or hating them, you tried something new and hopefully made good memories.

My Top 10 Most Memorable Meals/Cooking Experiences/Foods
10. Japanese Hot Pot with Sting Ray at Tokyo Pot in Stillwater
9. Smoked Trout Salad at Smoke on Cherry Street
8. Learning how to cook in a wok and eating stir fried meals for 1 week
7. Eating a Chicago hot dog at Portillos
6. Eating smoked pheasant for Thanksgiving
5. Eating my Grandma Purna’s Chocolate Gooey Cake
4. Learning how to perfectly poach eggs with a running center
(goes well with asparagus, bacon, and toast)
3. Having a latte that made me go “Whoa, that’s good coffee”
 at Intelligista in Chicago
2. Learning that to make the perfect pie crust you need vodka
(more about this in the future)
1. Eating cheeses, salami, olives, and pickles on State St. in Chicago

Vegetarian Tendecies - Chickpea Loaf

This week I had the hardest time picking a topic on which to write. I had nothing, diddly squat, beans. Oh, beans! Then I realized, in the last week I had eaten beans 3 times, talked about bean recipes a few times, and read one cooking essay on cooking for one which involved beans. How did beans escape my radar?

Beans are, or should be, a diet staple. Beans are a great source of protein, fiber, and ... . They can be boiled to a stew consistency, mashed and shaped into patties, or added to many dishes for texture and flavor.

One of my favorite snacks, which I don’t always associate with beans, is hummus, which is a dip made of pureed garbanzo beans, garlic, and lemon juice. It is a savory snack, perfect with crisp vegetables and soft pita bread.

Another great dish is a simple serving of brown beans, corn bread and fried potatoes. I ate many servings of beans and corn bread with my family. My grandpa Bill especially liked the corn bread drizzled with honey or topped with jam for dessert.

But, the kind of meal that came to my mind when I decide to write about beans (such an odd declaration) was using beans as a meat substitute for a vegetarian meal. If I haven’t told you before, I have vegetarian tendencies. That means I’m not a vegetarian, but I sometimes find myself eating meatless meals for periods of time because that is what sounds good. I’m thinking of starting a "Meatless Monday" tradition to encourage my habit (and to eat more vegetables).

This recipe is a great substitute for meatloaf. The original recipe came from "It’s Your world: Vegetarian Cookbook". The only changes I made were to had more spices. I actually added a Thai Spice blend to the mixture. It included crushed red pepper flakes, one teaspoon of soy sauce, and lemon zest in addition to the lemon juice. I think you could also add some more vegetables to this loaf such as bell peppers, mushrooms, or carrots.

Chickpea Loaf

2/3 cup dry garbanzos beans (chickpeas)

1 c. cooked or canned tomatoes

1 small onion, chopped roughly

1 garlic clove, chopped

1 tbsp. olive oil

2 tsp. lemon juice

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 c. chopped parsley

1/2 c. slivered almonds

1 1/2 c. cooked brown rice

Soak the garbanzo bean in 3 cups of water for 30 minutes. Drain the garbanzos and whiz in a blender with the tomatoes, onion, garlic, oil, lemon juice, and seasonings; pour into a bowl.

Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour the mixture into a greased loaf pan. Bake at 375°F for about 1 hour until loaf is firm.

Shabu-Shabu: Japanese Hot Pot

The next time you’re looking for an impressive meal for a date night, or for entertaining people, or just because, try this unusual method of cooking.
My husband and I first encountered shabu-shabu style cooking in Stillwater at a local restaurant called Tokyo Pot. The restaurant serves you your choice of raw meat or fish and a plate of vegetables to be cooked fresh at your table in your own soup pot full of savory broth. Shabu-shabu is a Japanese variant of hot pot and the name shabu-shabu is derived from the “swish swish” motion used when cooking the meat in the pot. The dish consists of thinly sliced meat and vegetables which are usually served with dipping sauces. The meat is sliced so thin that it literally cooks in seconds. Soon we came to realize that we loved this style of cooking so much that the $60+ we spent of eating out could be spent on a lot more food at home.

Raspberry Espresso Swirl Cheesecake

Is this blog just a tease? Maybe.

This week I found out that I can make people drool, especially after they’ve had a very satisfying dinner and in need of dessert. My family and i were eating out and I was telling them about my latest cooking adventure (cheesecake) and the raspberry-coffee combination that resulted in the following recipe. I told everyone that I meant to bring the cheesecake but that it probably wouldn’t have made the car ride (since it has been an unusually warm winter) and my family replied with grumbles and complaints.

"why did you even tell me about it?"

So I promised to bring them some cheesecake the next day. I made plans to bring it by my dad’s work so he could take it to my brother’s house to share (however, while my dad arrived I have heard rumors that the cheesecake never did).

I am normally so excited to share recipes with you. This week I hesitate to share this recipe with you after seeing the anguish it caused my family. I hope you make plans to bake this cheesecake so you won’t have dreams of creamy cheesecakes haunting you at night.

This is a baked cheesecake. In my opinion baked is the way to go. I know it seems more difficult than the fridge/freezer versions, but the flavor doesn’t even come close to a baked version. If you’re not a coffee fan, substitute orange juice, lime juice or milk for the coffee/espresso.

Raspberry Swirl Espresso Cheesecake

1 3/4 c. graham cracker crumbs

1/2 c. butter, melted

1 - 8 oz. package cream cheese

1 - 15 oz riccota cheese

3/4 c. sugar

3 eggs, slightly beaten

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 espresso (2 shots) or very strong coffee

1 c. fresh or frozen raspberries

1 tbsp. honey

Preheat oven to 350F. For crust, in a bowl combine crumbs with butter. Press the crumb mixture onto the bottom and up the sides of a 9" spring form pan; set aside.

for filling, in a large bowl beat room temperature cream cheese and ricotta cheese with sugar, vanilla, eggs (one at a time) and cooled espresso or coffee. Pour filling into crust-lined pan.

For swirl, in a small saucepan over low heat cook raspberries and honey until softened. Mash with the back of your spoon. If desired, puree and sieve for a smooth texture and to remove the raspberry seeds.

Dot the cheese filling with the raspberry sauce and swirl with a toothpick.

Bake the cheesecake for 40 to 50 minutes until a 2 inch area around the outside edge appears set when gently shaken.

Cool in pan for 15 minutes. using a small sharp knife, loosen the crust from sides of pan; cool for 30 additional minutes. Remove sides of pan; cool cheesecake completely on rack. Cover and chill at least 4 hours before serving.

White "Brownies"

White "Brownies"

Brownie Layer:

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix

Cream Cheese Layer:

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

2 eggs

1 (16 ounce) package confectioners’ sugar

Directions

Preheat an oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.

Use an electric mixer to beat the 1 egg and the butter in a large bowl. Beat in the cake mix until all crumbs are moistened. Pat mixture into the prepared baking dish.

Beat the cream cheese, 2 eggs, and confectioners’ sugar together in a large bowl. Pour over cake mixture in pan.

Bake in preheated oven until light golden brown, about 1 hour. Brownies will fully set as they cool. When cooled completely, cut into 1 1/2 inch squares.

Cereal Spiked Butter Frosting

I’ve been wanting to make cupcakes for a few weeks but I promised myself I’d space out my baking recipes a little more than I have been. I don’t need to go into diabetic shock or anything.
So, I came across my current idea on a baking blog called “Cups and Cookies” when the baker-blogger had made Pink Velvet Fruity Pebble Whoopie Pies. She made a pretty pink whoopie pie and filled it with a Fruity Pebble spiked buttercream frosting. What a great idea!

Easy Breakfast Casserole

 The recipe this week is not a new idea by any means, but the idea of it was new to me when I found it. I think I’ve struck gold this time.
Maybe it’s my lack of ability to think outside the cereal box, but eating cold cereal hot never occurred to me. I originally came across this idea in my 1940’s edition of “The Joy Of Cooking” in the cereal chapter. I didn’t even know cookbooks included a cereal chapter before I found this book.

New Year's Resolutions

If healthy eating is one of your New Year’s resolutions, you’re not alone. Many people, including me, start the new year with high hopes of being the person who says, “I would love some more brussels sprouts” and “No, no, just a small piece of strawberry butter cream cake” or ‘No, I’m too stuffed with brussels sprouts to eat that chocolate fudge sundae”.
Now there are some iron willed people out there who have great self control; I’m not one of those people. I love to bake and cook, healthy and not so healthy recipes, but mostly I love to eat the things I cook. Why else would we take the time to prepare something delicious and (hopefully) nutritious if we planned on denying ourselves the pleasure of eating it? Why indeed.

Welcome!!!

Thank you for visiting our new blog!

 I'm so excited to start this blog for my weekly column in The Haskell News and make it available for our readers and anyone else who cares to read it.
A little bit of information about the Haskell News and how Eating Traditions started all starts in the sleepy little town of Haskell. We are a small rural community in the heartland of the U.S. The Haskell News started in 1908 (I believe) and is one of few newspapers to be published continuously since it was founded.
I started Eating Traditions as a tribute to my family having owned the newspaper for 50 years starting in April 2012. Growing up, I didn't know how well I ate as a child until I ran off to college and lived off fast food for a few years. Now back in Haskell, I'm trying to recreate the meals I ate as a child and widen my taste buds, too.
What to expect here:
As I said, this is a weekly column in a newspaper, so expect regular posts. I love to bake so you'll most likely see posts about baking, but also cooking in general.