Simple Sandwich Spreads: Pimento Cheese and Olive Cream Cheese
A few times a year I get an intense craving for pimento cheese. Not lame pimento cheese: it has to be fresh, spicy, homemade pimento cheese. And not served in just any way: it has to be piled onto a slice of plain white bread, folded over and served with a Coke.
Sometimes you wake up feeling depressed and heat up some frozen macaroni and cheese for breakfast, schlep to the couch to watch America’s Test Kitchen reruns, and don’t move for hours except to refill your Coke Zero. Around 2 pm, you start to feel lazy and that compounds your bad mood, but you’re also paradoxically too tired to do anything. So you take a nap. Then you wake up too late, having wasted the whole day, eat more food, and watch more cooking shows.
(Right? This happens to you, right?! Or at least something similar?)
And then you look at a friend’s Facebook profile or Instagram feed and notice they woke up at the crack of dawn; canned 18 tons of blueberry jam; renovated their bathroom; fed their beloved backyard chickens, who all have carefully chosen names like “Huckleberry;” took their kids to the botanical gardens; went for a 14-mile run; enjoyed a green smoothie for lunch; and are now heading off to the farmers’ market to buy some squash blossoms for the dinner party they’re hosting tonight next to their gorgeous outdoor fire pit.
Open Faced Chili Grilled Cheese with a Runny Egg (The Perfect Grilled Cheese)
I AM SO EXCITED.
GUESS WHAT I GOT. JUST GUESS.
Here’s a hint: What do snapshots of my raisin toast, the book I’m currently reading, selfies, and my dog have in common?
Not much. Except that these snapshots were all taken with MY NEW iPHONE 5C:
Welcome to this millenium, Julie.
It’s pink and it’s beautiful and it’s got apps and now I know what apps are and I named it Elsie and I now have an INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT and…brb, have to jump up and down some more.
This phone was darn expensive, but I should’ve made the investment long ago. It really does change your life in an instant. I wish everyone could own one.
For instance, speaking of life-changing, I’ve been walking around playing Plants vs. Zombies nonstop for three days. Ahem. Okay, nevermind that part.
To add icing onto the iPhone cake, I made the best lunch ever! This has to be the world’s best grilled cheese sandwich. Buttery, toasted sourdough bread is topped with my absolute favorite chili, razor sharp cheddar cheese, a runny fried egg, cilantro, and green onions. When that runny yolk sauced the sandwich, oh goodness, it became pure luxury. You have to make this. HAVE TO.
And then snap a photo of it to share with me on INSTAGRAM, OBVIOUSLY.
What apps do you love for the iPhone? What should I download?
One year ago: Flan Tres Leches Cake
Two years ago: Malted Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bars
Three years ago: Maple Bacon Doughnuts
Four years ago: Assorted Truffles in a Chocolate Bowl
Open Faced Chili Grilled Cheese with a Runny Egg (The Perfect Grilled Cheese)
Recipe by: Willow Bird Baking, with chili recipe adapted from Cooks’ Illustrated, as found on Brown Eyed Baker. Sandwich inspired by BS’ in the Kitchen.
Yield: 4 servings
This meal was insaaane. Turns out, the perfect grilled cheese requires the perfect homemade chili. You can use any leftover chili for this sandwich, but it’s so worth it to make the chili linked below; it’s the best I’ve ever had, hands down. It looks complicated, but it’s actually a cinch to prepare and can be made a few days ahead and refrigerated until you’re ready to assemble your sandwiches. The recipe below makes about three times the amount of chili you need, but I make the whole batch because I know I’ll want to freeze some for other uses.
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
lots of butter (around 1/2 cup), softened to room temperature, plus more butter for cooking
2 slices of a sourdough bread boule (about 1 inch thick and 8 inches long)
about 3 cups homemade chili from this recipe
sharp cheddar cheese, sliced thin
2 eggs
salt and pepper
2 green onions, chopped
cilantro, chopped
optional serving suggestions: guacamole, sour cream, avocados, salsa
Directions:
Preheat broiler. Mix softened butter and mayonnaise in a small bowl and spread a good layer on both sides of each slice of bread.
Heat a heavy, oven-safe skillet over medium heat. Toast one side of the bread in the hot skillet until golden. Flip the bread and pile on the chili. Top with cheese strips and place the skillet immediately under the broiler to melt for 2-3 minutes, watching closely. Pull the skillet out of the oven when the cheese is melty and remove the sandwiches to a plate.
Melt another tablespoon of butter in the skillet over medium heat and break two eggs into it. Cook the eggs just until you can flip them, cooking them only slightly on the other side. Remove the over-easy eggs to the tops of the waiting sandwiches and top with salt, pepper, cilantro, and green onions. Serve with sour cream, guacamole, and salsa if desired.
Blue Cheese Chicken Salad Wraps
What kind of sleeper are you? I’m just returning from an overnight field trip with my students and I think I’ve now experienced the full range of sleep possibilities. I had no idea sleeping styles were so diverse.
We had the quiet, still sleepers. I’m one of these. I used to lay sea star (if you don’t know what I mean by that, check out this sleeping positions chart) like a rock all night without moving and certainly without much noise (besides the occasional snoring if I was sick or overly tired.) I’ve started to move a little more, lying on my side now and again, but I’m still pretty calm. Thankfully, Mike is a pretty quiet sleeper, too. He turns over now and again, but nothing too wild.
Some of my students, however, were flailers. These were the kids who accidentally socked the kid in the sleeping bag beside them in the face periodically.
Some were rolling stones. These were the ones who started on one end of the room and ended up stuck under a bed on the opposite side.
Some of them were thrashers. These were the ones who had noisy, crunchy fits in their sleeping bags trying to get comfortable — usually in the middle of the night when everyone else was asleep.
And then we had the night screamer, the kid who sat bolt upright in the middle of the night yelling nonsense and then, when told she was just dreaming, fell over asleep again. The students were all wonderful during the day, but with all of this going on for four nights straight, let’s just say I need a nap.
What kind of sleeper are you? And join our conversation over on Facebook: what’s your sleep position?
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These Blue Cheese Chicken Salad Wraps might not help with sleep deprivation, but they’ll definitely help you create a quick weeknight dinner so you can get to sleep earlier! I started with a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store for convenience and whipped these up in no time. Don’t skip any of the components — the heat of the radish, peppery crunch of cold arugula, and rich blue cheese struck a surprisingly nice balance. We served our wraps with fresh berries and a salad of arugula lightly dressed with olive oil and lemon juice.
One year ago: Brown Butter Pumpkin Cake Cheesecake with Salted Caramel
Two years ago: The “Just Trust Me” Fried Bologna Breakfast Doughnutwich
Three years ago: Homemade Croissant Phototutorial
Four years ago: Jack-o’-Lantern Whoopie Pies
Blue Cheese Chicken Salad Wraps
Recipe by: Adapted from Food & Wine via Delish
Yield: 4 wraps
Use leftover rotisserie chicken to make this dish super quick and easy to prepare! Despite being quick, these wraps pack a lot of flavor. I loved the bite of the radishes with the musky, bold blue cheese flavor.
Ingredients:
2 ounces crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons light mayonnaise
1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1/2 tablespoon minced shallot
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
salt and pepper
2 cups diced rotisserie chicken
4 Flat-Out wraps
1/2 cup thinly sliced sugar snap peas
1/2 cup thinly sliced radishes
1/2 cup arugula
Directions:
In a medium bowl, mix together the Gorgonzola, Greek yogurt, mayonnaise, olive oil, white wine vinegar, shallot, and lemon juice. Fold in the chicken and season it to taste with salt and pepper. Place a bed of arugula in the center of each of 4 wraps. Pile 1/4 of the chicken mixture, a layer of radishes, and some sugar snap peas on each one. Fold up the wraps and cut them diagonally. Serve with an arugula salad lightly dressed with olive oil and lemon juice (I do a 1 tablespoon olive oil to 1 teaspoon lemon juice ratio) and berries if desired.
Smoked Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Sweet Coleslaw
Do you know one of those backyard-food-people? One of those people who have attempted to fry a whole turkey in their backyards at great personal peril? Or one of those who owns and employs a device that smokes meat in their backyard all day? Who makes their own beef jerky? What?!
You know one of those people, I’m sure. I know a few. I can’t poke too much fun at them because I do so love the fried turkey my sis- and bro-in-law made, and I’m crazy about the smoked pork butt my dad makes for special occasions. I appreciate those backyard food pioneers.
I also can’t poke too much fun at them because this past weekend, I became one of those people. Masterbuilt sent me their Electric Digital Smokehouse and asked me to try it out. Mike and I wanted to fire it up over Labor Day weekend; alas, it rained. So this weekend it was!
Disclosure: Masterbuilt sent me this electric smokehouse for free so I could try it out. Opinions I share with you are always honest and authentically my own.
I think Mike and I were both skeptical when the smokehouse arrived and we saw how complicated it seemed. It felt a little fussy to put together and it’s certainly not the tool you’d use to churn out a quick weeknight dinner. Now that we’ve actually used it, though, we’re both kind of hooked. And I think we’ve gotten the right perspective: using the smoker is more of an experience, a crafting process, a hobby. You experiment with different wood chips, rubs, meats, cooking times. It feels like developing a special recipe. It’s not just about cooking meat — there are faster ways to do that. It’s about perfecting meat. I can get into this!
And after the setup, it turned out using the smokehouse was a cinch: you preheat it, load your wood chips through an easy loader built into the smokehouse, stick your meat in, set the timer, and wait, adding more chips as needed. As our pork was smoking, Mike started brainstorming what else we could smoke and I started wondering how hickory wood chips might change the flavor of the meat. We were all set to give the smokehouse away after trying it, but neither of us is mentioning it going anywhere anymore!
Since we’re in an apartment complex, we used our new smoker down in our paved courtyard. We were worried that it might produce enough smoke to prompt neighbors to call the fire department, but we needn’t have worried. The smoke really wasn’t so bad. The aroma of smoking pork actually prompted a decidedly positive response from neighbors, instead!
You know what I loved about the smokehouse? It seemed clean and simple. There’s a digital display where you easily set the temperature and timer. There’s a remote control. There’s no gas or anything — it just plugs in an outlet. There’s a window to see inside without having to open the door and smoke yourself. There’s the wood chip loader in the side for the same reason. I just like that it didn’t have to feel like I was stuck in a charcoal pit to join the ranks of the smokeheads (is that what you call people who do this? I hope I didn’t just accidentally make some sort of drug reference. YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN.)
Masterbuilt Electric Digital Smokehouse after smoking
I also love that after letting it smoke away outside all day with minimal effort on our part, we have enough food to last all week. Pork sandwiches, pork wraps, and pork enchiladas all around! And we could’ve fit plenty more veggies and roasts in the smoker if we’d wanted.
The best part about the smoker, though, wasn’t the quantity but the quality of the resulting meat. This pork was juicy, falling off the bone, and flavorful. No barbecue sauce needed here: the best-ever barbecue rub did all the spice work! We stuffed onion rolls full of juicy, tender meat topped with sweet coleslaw. I put some pimiento cheese on mine for good measure (Mike said I was gross.)
Ultimately, I never would’ve forked out the money to buy this smokehouse on my own — but all the more reason I’m glad Masterbuilt sent one over and made me a believer. It’s a considerable investment with models running from $229 to $389, but if you have the money, this appliance certainly pulls its weight. I can’t wait to try it again! What meat should I smoke next, you guys?!
One year ago: German Chocolate Cheesecake
Two years ago: Gooey Cookies & Cream Bars
Three years ago: Bittersweet Marbled Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies
Four years ago: Peach Crisp Pie
Smoked Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Sweet Coleslaw
Recipe by: Willow Bird Baking using a rub by Chris Schlesinger
Yield: a billion servings or pork. Or at least, like, 15.
How I love great pulled pork! This recipe uses a smoker, but you could also smoke your pork roast any way you’re used to smoking (my dad does his with his grill). The key is not to jump the gun in pulling it out — really let it smoke until it’s falling apart. Oh, and don’t forget to use the great spice rub!
Ingredients:
1 (6.5-pound) Boston Butt pork roast
Best Barbecue Rub
a few cups of hickory or mesquite wood chips
1 head cabbage
1 carrot
1 onion
6 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons white vinegar
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
dash cayenne pepper
1-2 tablespoons mayonnaise to taste
buns of your choice
Directions:
The night before you plan to cook your pork, make your slaw: shred the cabbage, onion, and carrot in the food processor. In a medium bowl, whisk together sugar, vinegar, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper. Pour in shredded veggies and mix well. Cover this and let it sit out while you prepare your pork. Then put it in the fridge (or let it sit out; nothing in it is perishable yet) overnight.
Also the night before, prepare your pork. Trim off some of the fat cap if there is one (I left about half of the thickness on). Generously rub your roast all over with the best barbecue rub. You won’t use the whole batch of rub that you made; you’ll probably use about half of it. Since you’ll want to save the rest, don’t put your raw-porky-hands into the rub’s container, but instead use a spoon to dispense the rub onto the pork before rubbing it in. Place the rubbed pork into a metal pan that you know will fit into your smoker, cover it, and let it sit overnight in the fridge.
Early in the morning before your pork dinner, put wood chips in your smoker and preheat it to 225 degrees for around 30 minutes (or according to manufacturer’s instructions.) Uncover your pork and place it into the preheated smoker, smoking it for around 8 hours (that’s how long it took for our 6.5-pound roast). Replace wood chips in your smoker as needed throughout the day, and also mix your cole slaw every now and again. After 8 hours of smoking, cover the pork roast with foil and cook for another hour.
When pork is almost ready, add 1-2 tablespoons of mayonnaise to your cole slaw and mix well. Chill until ready to serve. Heat or toast your buns. When pork is ready, shred it with two forks and mix it in its juices. Pile it high on a bun, top with sweet slaw, and enjoy!
