Ham and Artichoke Sandwich

So I was just looking up my dinner recipe for tonight on my blog (Crockpot Beer Chicken Fajitas, if you're curious) and saw I've only done nine blog posts for the whole year.  Nine!  And it's June!  Yowza.  I need to get back to blogging.  I promptly opened my "cooking blog" photos folder and scoured for something to post.  I'll be honest, when I saw these pictures I couldn't remember exactly what it was, until I saw the artichoke hearts and then remembered.

Every January (well, this year and last year anyway) we go up north to Flagstaff, AZ with my mama the last weekend of winter break.  I love Flagstaff.  It reminds me a lot of where I went to college, and in the summer it's a great escape from the Phoenix heat, and in the winter it's a great place to go get a bit of winter. When the husband and I were there one time years and years ago we stumbled upon a brewery that we fell in love with, now we always make it a point to go there when we're visiting.  Beaver Street Brewery.  Awesome beer (they have a scotch ale which also reminds me of my favorite brewery where I went to college), great food, good place to take kids.  We actually went twice this past trip...once on a date night dinner while my mom kept the boys and then with my mom for lunch one day.  The husband and I always get pizza when we go for dinner (actually he might have gotten pizza again for lunch this trip), but for lunch I wanted to try something new.  This sandwich sounded fantastic (and it was), so I tried to recreate it once we were home.

Ham and Artichoke Sandwich
Source: adapted from Beaver Street Brewery's Wood Fired Ham and Artichoke Sandwich

1 French roll
Few slices of ham
2 slices provolone cheese
Marinated artichoke hearts

Split roll in half lengthwise and toast.  Place ham slices on bottom half of roll.  Top with marinated artichoke hearts and place cheese on top of artichoke hearts.  Place sandwiches (but not the top half of roll) on a cookie sheet and heat under the broiler until cheese melts.  Top sandwich with top half of roll and serve.

*****

Obviously the ingredients above are for one sandwich, so adapt as necessary to fit your needs.  This was a tasty sandwich but not nearly as good as the one at Beaver Street.  I used real ham for mine, not just deli ham, because it's what I had but either would work.  Next time I would brush some of the marinade from the artichoke hearts onto the rolls to give it a little extra boost of flavor.  For those of you that have an aversion to ham, I bet it would be tasty with chicken as well.

Crockpot Cheesy Spinach Artichoke Dip

Merry Christmas, everyone!! Did you have a nice time celebrating? Ours was pretty fantastic, although the days leading up to Christmas were pretty stressful, to the point where I didn't even care about Christmas and wasn't excited at all. But I had a nice, long, nine mile run on Christmas Eve that cleared my head a little and lots of family here with us for church and dinner on Christmas Eve. And with two little boys, it's hard to not catch their excitement. We were all very spoiled by my family, and now today the boys and I are hanging out at home playing with all our new toys while the husband has to go to work.

We went to my mom's house for Christmas "dinner" last night. We had our usual Christmas "dinner" spread of tons of appetizers. I had four I planned on making, but I ended up whittling it back to two. One of them I made to take to a party last Friday, and while they were tasty, they were time consuming, and I didn't want to deal with them. Then another I decided to skip after seeing how much food there was already, plus I was tired of being in the kitchen and wanted to hang out and drink my wine. It sounds like a super tasty dip, so I will make it at some point.

When I was deciding what I'd make this year I perused my Snacks board on Pinterest and got really, really overwhelmed. So many good appetizers! But I knew I wouldn't want to be in the kitchen slaving away either here or at my mom's, so the fact that this was a slow cooker recipe appealed to my lazy nature. I ended up changing it a bit because of time constraints and lack of ingredients, so there will be a link to the original recipe, but the one below is how I ended up making it.

Crockpot Cheesy Spinach Artichoke Dip
Source: Adapted from Cooking Light

1 (14-ounce) can quartered artichoke hearts, drained and coarsely chopped
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed dry
1 (8-ounce) block light cream cheese, softened
1 (8-ounce) carton low-fat sour cream
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup (2 ounces) crumbled reduced-fat feta cheese
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 garlic cloves, crushed

Place all ingredients in a 3 1/2-quart electric slow cooker; stir well. Cover with lid; cook on low-heat setting 2 hours or until cheese is melted and dip is heated through. Serve warm with toasted pita wedges or tortilla chips.

*****

The original recipe called for 3/4 cup milk. I debated calling my mom to see if she had milk because sometimes she doesn't. But I figured she would. Then she didn't. My uncle and husband both offered to run to the gas station to get some for me, but I opted to not. I figured I'd see how it turned out and if it needed some liquid, I'd come up with a solution of some sort. After it cooked for awhile, I checked on it and found the consistency of it was perfect! I was so glad I had skipped the milk; it would have been way too runny with that added to it. I had bought tortilla chips to serve with this because I have the hardest time finding pita chips at my Safeway store, and I just didn't want to go to other stores in the days leading up to Christmas. This was a super tasty dip, and it's one I will definitely make again. Tasty and easy are two of my favorite combinations!!

Do you like my festive nail polish? It was one of my gifts from Boy #1. I heart that kid!

Focaccia with Creamy Vegetable Spread

My brother's birthday was a couple weeks ago. He's kind of hard to shop for, so I usually struggle to come up with a cool gift for him. He's a vegetarian and loves sandwiches, so I headed to Amazon.com for some ideas. I found one, Vegetarian Sandwiches: Fresh Fillings for Slices, Pockets, Wraps, and Rolls and then I found another that sounded equally awesome, Great Grilled Cheese: 50 Innovative Recipes for Stove Top, Grill, and Sandwich Maker. A whole book devoted to grilled cheese?! Awesome. I was tempted to order both for myself as well, but instead I looked them up on our library's website, and they had both, so I put them on hold. Let me tell you, though, after checking them out, I'm pretty tempted to buy both of them. At the very least I'm going to renew both books so I can keep them for awhile because there are a lot of yummy things I want to make from them. (Ryan, I hope you liked them as much as I do!)

Tonight is the husband's last Bible Study, so I needed one more dinner that was going to be easy to prepare since he has to be at church at 6:30. This sandwich stuck out because I had most everything for it already, aside from the foccacia bread. I checked the grocery store for it yesterday, but my store didn't have any. Everything they had looked like it would be too much bread for this sandwich, so I went to my trusty recipe souce, RecipeZaar.com, to find a recipe for it that I could make. This will be my first time making foccacia bread, so I hope it turns out. If not, I'll run to Fresh & Easy because I know they have foccacia dough to buy that you just have to roll out and bake. If it didn't require dragging two kids to the store for just one thing, I'd probably do that, but I think it will be easier to just make it myself. The foccacia bread recipe will be first, followed by the sandwich filling.

The Easiest, Bestest Focaccia Bread Ever!!
Recipe #27968

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 (1/4 ounce) packet active dry yeast
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1 dash ground black pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup warm water (105-115 degrees)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons parmesan cheese (grated)
1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese (shredded)

Mix the yeast and water in a small bowl. Let proof for 10 minutes (until bubbles begin to form). In large bowl, stir together flour, salt, sugar, garlic powder, oregano, thyme, basil, and black pepper. Add the yeast mix and vegetable oil to the dry ingredients and combine. When dough has pulled together, turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic. Lightly oil a large bowl, place dough in bowl, and turn to coat with oil. Cover with damp cloth and let rise in warm place 25 minutes. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Punch dough down, place on greased baking sheet. Pat dough into 1/2-inch thick rectangle (doesn't have to be perfect). Using your knuckle, make indentations in the dough about 1/2-inch apart, then prick dough with fork. Brush top with olive oil, then sprinkle with Parmesan and mozzarella cheese. Bake for 13-15 minutes until golden brown.

© 2009 Recipezaar. All Rights Reserved. http://www.recipezaar.com

Focaccia with Creamy Vegetable Spread
Creamy Vegetable Spread
1/2 cup fresh white goat cheese at room temperature
1/2 cup cream cheese at room temperature
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 roasted red bell pepper or jarred roasted red peppers, well drained, coarsely chopped
1 Roma tomato, diced (about 1/2 cup)
One 6-1/2 ounce jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained and coarsely chopped
1/4 cup minced red onion
2 Tbsp minced fresh basil
Dash of salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

One 10-inch round or square plain foccacia, halved horizontally
Freshly ground pepper to taste

To make the spread: Process the three cheeses and the garlic in a food processor until nearly smooth. Toss all the remaining spread ingredients in a small bowl. Stir in the cheese mixture. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

Place the bottom of the focaccia on a cutting board; spread the cut side of the bottom with the cheese mixture. Sprinkle with pepper. Top with the second focaccia half and press gnetly.

Wrap the sandwich in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Use a serrated knife to slice it into 8 wedges or squares just before serving.

Variation: Add or substitute other vegetables (up to 1-1/2 cups total) to the spread, such as drained and chopped oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes or shredded carrots.

*****

I'm pretty excited for a yummy vegetarian dinner. I realized as I was typing this out that I forgot to get tomatoes at the store yesterday. Oops. I think I have some sun-dried tomatoes in the fridge, so I'll substitute those. I like the idea of adding shredded carrots, so I'll probably do that as well, and I bought some zucchini yesterday that I might shred and add too.

I still have some minestrone soup in the freezer that I had planned on serving with these sandwiches, but it's supposed to be 99 here today, and I'm thinking soup doesn't sound very good when it's that hot. I think I'll see if I have ingredients on hand to make a pasta salad or some kind of cool, refreshing side dish like that.

*****

This was a good sandwich. It was nice to be able to get it ready early in the day and just pull them out of the fridge when it was time for dinner. I forgot to take a picture of the actual sandwiches, but I did take a picture of some of the leftover spread.

Oh, my foccacia bread. Yeah...didn't really work out for me. All the reviews I read on RecipeZaar.com were good, so I have to think it was something I did. For one thing, my dough didn't rise AT ALL. I questioned it then but went ahead and baked it. And then when it came out of the oven, I packed up the kids and ran to the store. They ended up having packages of foccacia rolls for the same price as the foccacia dough, so I went the easy route.



By the way, that's one of my Williams Sonoma spoonulas. They are by far one of my most favorite kitchen tools. I have two of them and may get more because I use them constantly, so it happens a lot that they're both dirty in the dishwasher at the same time.

Artichoke and Red Pepper Pizza

When I was coming up with dinners for this week I busted out some cookbooks I hadn't used in awhile. Seriously, I have a ridiculous amount of cookbooks...it's getting to be completely out of hand. Anyway, I'm trying to use some that I don't look at as often, so I got out a Southern Living cookbook. Everything I've tried from it has been good, I just don't think to use it that often. Which is somewhat ironic because it's a cookbook that's displayed on my kitchen wall.

I bought a refrigerated pizza crust awhile back and need to use it. This sounded really yummy, and I didn't need that much for it except the peppers and artichokes (okay, so I was missing the two main ingredients but still). I hope it's good.

Artichoke and Red Pepper Pizza
1 can refrigerated pizza crust dough
Cooking spray
i Tbsp olive oil
1 7-ounce bottle roasted red peppers, drained and julienne-cut
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 14-ounce can artichoke hearts, drained and coarsely chopped
1 2.5-ounce jar sliced mushrooms, drained
1-1/2 cups (6 ounces) mozzarella cheese
Cracked pepper (optional)

Preheat oven to 425. Unroll pizza crust dough onto a baking sheet coated with cooking spray and pat dough into a 14x10-inch rectangle. Bake at 425 for 5 minutes and set aside.

Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add bell peppers and next three ingredients, saute 3 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in artichokes and mushrooms.

Sprinkle half of cheese over pizza crust, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Spread vegetable mixture evenly over cheese; top with remaining cheese. SPrinkle with cracked pepper, if desired. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes or until crust is lighly browned.

*****

I'm opposed to canned or jarred mushrooms. They're a weird color, the texture is weird to me. I don't dig them. So I bought fresh. And chances are I'll use more cheese than what's called for because that's just how we roll. I'm excited to try it.

Spinach Artichoke Chicken

I forgot to post yesterday what we were having for dinner. I didn't so much forget, actually, as I was just lazy and never did it. It was super easy and really good. I had Bunco last Friday night, so I bought Costco's spinach artichoke parmesan dip to take. That stuff has got to be laced with crack! We still had some left, and I wanted to get rid of it, so I came up with a genius idea. I cooked chicken breasts on my grill pan (seasoned with just salt and pepper), then once they were cooked I moved them to a cookie sheet and spooned some of the remaining dip on top and stuck the pan under the broiler for a few minutes. Oh man, was it ever good! Will loved it, too.

Grilled Pizzas

It seems like it's been a long time since we've done the grilled pizza thing. I was getting pretty burned out on them, so it's been a nice break. Monday is my grandma's 90th birthday, so my brother is coming in to town for it and gets in late tonight. I asked if he would want a pizza when he gets in, and he requested a margherita, but other than that one we're doing all different toppings. One is a recipe I foung on the Cooking Light website, one is based on a suggestion from my friend Joanne a couple months ago, and one is going to be just random veggies. Here's the one from Cooking Light (I'll post the whole recipe, but we're grilling ours, not baking it):

Shiitake Mushroom and Gorgonzola Pizza
Pizza Dough
Cooking spray
1 tablespoon cornmeal
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced button mushrooms
1 1/3 cups thinly sliced shiitake mushrooms
1 cup vertically sliced red onion
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons low-fat sour cream
1/2 cup (3 ounces) crumbled Gorgonzola or other blue cheese

Preheat oven to 450°.
Roll the dough into a 12-inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Place the dough on a 12-inch pizza pan or a baking sheet coated with cooking spray and sprinkled with cornmeal. Crimp the edges of the dough with your fingers to form a rim.

Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add mushrooms and onion; sauté for 5 minutes. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook for 3 minutes or until the onion is very tender. Stir in the salt and pepper.

Spread the sour cream over pizza crust, leaving a 1-inch border. Top with mushroom mixture; sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 450° for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Cut into 8 wedges.

*****

Awhile back I asked for topping suggestions and Joanne said "artichoke hearts, onions, roasted garlic & feta cheese on an olive oil base." I'm changing up her suggestion a bit and doing artichoke hearts, carmalized onions (which I've never done before so I need to look up how to do), red peppers, and feta. I hope it's not too many flavor combinations together. I think it sounds awesome.

*****

So there you have it. I'm really excited for the two new fancy ones. I hope they're good. The husband LOVES pizza, but I could take it or leave it unless I'm really in the mood for it. I get bored with the same old toppings, so I'm actually excited for pizza tonight to try some diffeent stuff!

I'm off to clean house in anticipation of my bro's visit, plus Friday is always house cleaning day so it's clean for the start of the weekend. By Sunday night (especially with someone else staying here), it's somehow always a disaster.

Oh yeah, I'm not cooking the rest of the weekend because we'll be going to my mom's for dinner. I am making a macaroni salad to take for my grandma's birthday party, so I'll post the recipe for that either tonight or tomorrow. I'm hoping to at least get started on it today...lots of vegetable chopping involved. NOW it's time to bust my butt and get this place looking respectable!