Comfort Food: Three Ways

because sometimes one is just not going to cut it.

Who has these days? The days when everything is slightly off and nothing is easy? When you have a doctor's appointment and your car breaks down before you get the chance to buy groceries? And the baby's fussy and those pants are getting tight? And that student keeps emailing about that one thing and Netflix keeps pausing to "retrieve" something or other?

No one?

Just me?

Well, now I know you're lying. Because those things happened to me, my boyfriend, me, my BFF, me, me, and everyone who uses Netflix. This week. In that order.

So let's take comfort in food, shall we?

It's the right thing to do.

Let's start with the good ol' American brown bag staple.


The PB & J. Peanut butter and strawberry jam, in this case.

Our first way is simple.


PB & J, sliced on the diagonal (requirement), in a ziploc bag (requirement).

The unrequired elements of overenthusiastic, early morning posing will no doubt provide some level of comfort. But warm up to this advanced placement, day improving activity, please. I don't want you to pull something.

Our second PB & J manipulation came to me direct from the boyfriend.


Well. The idea did. I wish she made it for me, but I had to handle this one myself.

Anyway... enough of that. Grilled PB & J!


It's as easy as it is delicious. Take any ol' PB & J sandwich, butter the outside pieces of bread, and toss that thing into a frying pan or onto your panini grill (my choice).

The bread gets buttery toasty like a grilled cheese and the peanut butter and jam get warm and omgamazing.

Try it tonight with a glass of milk as a late night snack and you will not be disappointed. The comfort will be overwhelming.

Finally, our third PB & J is...

can you guess?


PB & J French toast. : )

Shock and awe, right? Okay... the shock I'll let go. But the awe you should keep. Because it's really, really tasty.

And just like our other manips, super easy to do: Take a PB & J sandwich, soak it (one side at a time) in an egg, milk, vanilla mixture, brown it on both sides in a frying pan, and bake it until it puffs up and is firm to the touch.

Pair it as you would any other sweet, filled french toast. I chose scrambled eggs with some serious hot sauce. And syrup. Because I like it. And butter. Because how would one compose a picture of french toast without a pat of butter?

Mmmm... Are you feeling comforted yet?

In all honesty, I am. These PB & Js might have been made over a week ago, at different occasions, but... just writing about them has calmed down a bit.

So... let me take my small bit of comfort and go back to my busy day. And just maybe, when it's all over, I'll comfort myself with something other than food. Or... maybe not. : )

I'm curious. What's your comfort food of choice?

Don't Tease Me with a Naan Time

Today as I was wrapping up my trip to Walmart for essentials like drain clog remover and mascara, my eye caught sight of the... bread section.

And when I got closer, I saw it... Garlic Naan. From the Walmart bakery.

I flipped the package over and read a list of things I could do with my (oh yes, I had already committed) garlic naan. And on the list of things I could make... tuna melt naan, pizza naan, naan wraps, naan dippers, naanwiches, naantons, naan toast and... wait for it... PANINI NAAN.

Well. Didn't have to tell me twice.



My panini naan was simple enough. I used a collection of stuffs from the fridge. Ham, sour cream, and feta, actually.

Random, yes. Delicious? You betcha.

So... I share this naan goodness with you not so you'll buy my random ingredients and duplicate it. What you should do is... strike out and trust Walmart with something fancy. Apparently they can handle naan. (And drain cleaner. And mascara. And torture devices.)

Happy Monday, lovelies.

Panini is the New Cupcake

My name is Amanda and I'm a panini-holic.

Sigh. It feels better just to say it, actually.

But I'm serious. Take good ingredients and smash them between two pieces of bread for 3-4 minutes and they become something entirely different. A vacation. An escape. A drug.

And I'm hooked.

So here's the latest in my panini adventures...

The Boston Mass

You'll need:


An apple
Cheddar cheese
Honey mustard
Bread

Here's another thing I love about paninis...the ease of assembly. For this one, you'll need to slice the cheese and apple, but that's it.


Spread honey mustard on both pieces of bread. Layer apples, cheese, and more apples on one slice and then cap it with the other.

After a quick 4 minutes in the press on medium heat...


a new panini is born.

And it's a good one. The apple & cheese pairing is not new (hence the Boston Mass monacre), so if you like that flavor combo you'll love it toasted up in sandwich form. The honey mustard may seem like an odd choice of spread but it really isn't. It's just tangy enough to counter the sweetness of the apple and richness of the cheddar. Mmm... I wish I had slowly eaten it as wrote this post like I planned instead of scarfing in the first couple of sentences.

Ah, well. There are worse things.

And, yes, I have started naming my paninis. I figure it's easier to do as I go along than to try to come up with all of them at once when I open my paninis-by-day, drinks-by-night, cupcakes-all-hours bakery... bar... thing.

In the meantime, I'm going to try to bring you a new panini each weekend. Sound good?

Salmon Panini of Dreams

We haven't been together long, by my panini press and I have had some great times together. The press' coming out party involved pound cake, Nutella, and a banana, but most days she and I stick to more basic faire. Grilled cheese with pepper jack, toast for egg sandwiches, that sort of thing.

Since I bought the press though, I've been dying to find a recipe for a jaw-droppingly good, hot, flavorful panini. You know... like the ones you get at bakeries and coffee shops.

Well... dear readers... I found it.

The Jaw-Dropper

My source, BigOven.com, called this the Grilled Smoked Salmon Panini with Red Onion Ribbons, but that is just boring. And not quite what I made anyway.

Okay, there are two things you need to make in advance when you plan to make a Jaw-Dropper. Marinated onions and a killer cheese spread.

To marinate the onions...


Whisk up 1T vinegar (I used Apple Cider), 2T lemon juice, 2t mustard, and 1t minced garlic. Add 3T olive oil while whisking continually. Add salt and pepper to taste. Toss one thinly sliced red onion (or whatever onion you have) and let sit for at least 30 minutes.

For the spread...


Mix up 4 oz. cream cheese, 2 oz. goat cheese, 1/4t pepper, 1T lemon juice, and 1t mustard.

To build the sandwich...


Spread the... um... spread... on both sides of the bread.


Add a layer of canned boneless skinless salmon and press it into the cheese.


Top the salmon with marinated onion.

Close the sandwich up, grill it for 3 minutes on the medium setting and voila.


This sandwich made all my panini dreams come true. Salmon is a much milder canned fish than it's cousin, the tuna. Combined with my jams, cheese of goat and cream, this sandwich is a total winner. The spread is creamy and the onions are snappy, tangy bits of goodness.

I will say that the recipe called for things that I didn't have and therefore didn't use. Things like lemon jest, capers, spinach, green onion, and ciabatta. So... head over to BigOven's recipe (linked above) to read what this sandwich was really meant to be. However, if, like me, your cabinets are somewhat bare and you don't mind your panini being a bit pale, then take my version of the recipe and run with it!

And... the best thing about having made this panini tonight is...


I'm set and ready to do it all again tomorrow.

Leftovers FTW!

World Nutella Day!

Decadence, thy name is Nutella.



Per the World Nutella Day website:

Sara from Ms. Adventures in Italy and Michelle from Bleeding Espresso (and Shelley from At Home in Rome, in spirit) solemnly declare Friday, February 5th “World Nutella Day 2010″ – a day to celebrate, to get creative with, and most importantly, to EAT Nutella.

Because I like to do what I'm told...


Disclaimer: (Is it still a disclaimer if it comes after the thing it's disclaiming? Or does it technically have to come before and warn you of the badness ahead? Anyways...) Video is 7 and a half minutes of Amanda time, largely uncut, until the ending at which point there is a large, abrupt, dramatic cut that is jarring at best. I understand but I'm too tired to do any better. Remember that the time between when I learned of Nutella Day and the time of posting was about three hours.

For the readers among you, here's the recipe:

gather...
Two slices of pound cake
Smathering of Nutella (As much as you can handle... It's a holiday after all.)
Banana slices (six fit on my slices)

do...
Make the sandwich, kids. I really should have to explain it, right?
Panini that thing on the middle setting for 2 minutes.
Eat and enjoy.