3 Fancy Tea Sandwiches

All of a sudden I had the weirdest desire to make tea sandwiches. I can't say I have ever experienced that before. I think that means I'm getting old.

Or maybe it just means I'm getting fancier! Yeah, that's it.

I gotta be honest. I did not make tea. I was having coffee while I devoured these little sandwiches. Let's face it. I'm not English.

Let's talk about the sandwiches!

First up - Cucumber w/ Herbed Butter Tea Sandwich!

Little cucumber sandwiches are too cute. I can't even handle it. I don't know what it is about them, but after stumbling across some images this morning I had to make one.

Traditionally, it's butter that you spread on the sandwich. I stayed traditional, but with a little twist. I

added some lemon juice, fresh dill, and fresh parsley to the butter. This really gave it some fresh flavor. I also used sourdough bread, which made every bite deliciously tangy!

It's topped with a few dots of sriracha, for a little kick!

Next time, I'll marinate the cucumbers in vinegar or just lemon to give them some more flavor. I also want to use plain ol' white bread, and try out a thin layer of cream cheese instead of butter. And definitely try cutting them into cute shapes!


Next - Healthy Mediterranean Pinwheels!

LOVE the hint of purple from the mixed greens. Will have to add yellow bell pepper or red tomatoes next time
for an extra punch of color!

I had some chicken breast in my fridge. Some hummus. Yogurt. And fresh dill. It seemed obvious what I must do!

First, I whipped together a fast version of tzatziki sauce. No straining or processing involved! I took some Greek yogurt, mixed in lemon juice, lots of fresh dill, pepper, and minced garlic. Traditional tzatziki involves cucumber, but since I was going to put cucumber in the wrap itself I omitted it.

Where to even start?!?!

I love getting the hummus quad from Trader Joe's. 4 different types of hummus, so you never get bored while snacking! I laid down a thin layer of the spicy hummus mixed with the garlic hummus on the spinach tortilla, followed by the tzatziki.

 Then, thinly sliced cucumber, small pieces of chicken, mixed greens, a few more drops of lemon juice, and one last crank of pepper went on before I rolled everything up tightly.

I let it sit in plastic wrap in the fridge for a little bit to let it firm up and the flavors meld. Firming it up made it easier to cut into tiny pinwheels, perfect for a party!



Finally - Creamy Peanut Butter Sandwiches!

It's all the goodness of a classic peanut butter sandwich . . . and then some.

Brown sugar and cinnamon are added to softened cream cheese and spread on one side of the sandwich. On the other side, peanut butter. So easy. So good. I suppose you could just mix the cream cheese and peanut butter together, as well! Another delicious addition would be some chocolate shavings.

Now all we I need to do is throw a tea party! . . . Or, just eat everything myself. Hmm. Yeah. That's the better option! ;-)

Rustic Late Summer Galette

I TOLD you in my first post regarding my Groundbreaking Galette Experience (which we will now refer to as the GGE) that I would be experimenting with Galettes again.

I was wrong about making the same one several times before I branched out, however . . . I just couldn't resist the idea of a beautiful, savory, rustic tomato pie.

The sun was setting when this came out of the oven, so I walked with the pan over to the window to utilize
the light for photographs. I'm literally balancing this thing between the door and my chest while I try to snap photos.
DEDICATION.

Also, let's be real. I had tomatoes that were going bad. Like, it was getting dire.

And would you believe that the crust turned out well again?! I hope I'm not using up all the good karma I have in the bank on galette crusts. I need it for other things, too (or do I...???).

Sorry for the ghastly photos. My camera phone ain't none good.

All I did for this one was double the recipe for the crust (something like, 6 large spoonfuls of flour with 1 stick frozen butter?), and follow the same protocol when I make a "proper" tomato pie.

Although I'll probably never attempt the "proper" pie again, because the free-form crust is just so easy. And the uglier it is, the more "rustic". So, that's good, right?

Here's what went in the galette:

A little parcel of love! . . . and cheese.

~Sliced Roma tomatoes
~Sliced zucchini
~Fresh basil, rosemary, & parsley (don't be shy here...the more the better)
~Diced white onion (already sautéed)
~Dollops of Greek yogurt
~Shredded mozzarella
~Shredded parmesan
~S&P




I just kept layering, and layering, and layering . . . these things actually turned out to be pretty sizable. I used a pizza cutter to cut them into quads.

I love the satisfaction of haphazardly throwing something together that turns out to be delicious. Even more so, however, is the satisfaction of your boyfriend going back for seconds! 

Gallo Pinto (Costa Rican Breakfast)

I've been to Costa Rica two times, both as a biology student in high school. To attempt to describe the magic of the place would be blasphemy; I'm no writer.

But let me just say that some of my fondest memories take place in the Costa Rican rainforest.

Every morning, some Ticos (native Costa Ricans) would prepare us breakfast. It would vary slightly from day to day, but there was always a huge bowl Gallo Pinto on the table.

Gallo Pinto is such a simple dish! At it's most basic, it's black beans and rice. The reason this breakfast dish came to mind was that I was out of all the usual breakfast items. I had no eggs, no bread, no milk. I won't wait until next time I am running low on pantry items to make this again. And next time, you better believe I'm putting a fried egg on top.

Directions:

1.) Cook 1 cup of white rice to directions.

You should know I dropped the food from my fork at
least several times before I was able to snap
this photo.

2.) Meanwhile, heat oil in pan. Once oil is hot and rice has about 5-7 minutes left on the stove, add diced onion, green pepper, and minced garlic (be sure to use a large clove!).
3.) Once onions are cooked, add 1 can of black beans, liquid and all. Add a splash of Worscestershire sauce (traditionally the recipe calls for Salsa Lizano, but I had none).
4.) Cook gently for a further 10 minutes while rice rests.
5.) Chop up a GENEROUS helping of fresh cilantro, and mix everything together!



 How can something so basic be so tasty?! I guess it's because it reminds me of the rainforest. That was 10 years ago now, and I'm itching to go back. Until then, preparing a traditional breakfast will have to do!

INSPIRATION - Bento Boxes

I don't do a lot of inspiration posts . . . but I really should, because it means I don't actually have to cook anything or (attempt to) take pretty pictures.

Today's obsession: BENTO BOXES!!!

I've always been fascinated with Japanese culture. It's almost like some weird parallel universe, where at first glance it's kind of like America...but definitely not. At all.

Anyway, I'm sure a lot of American kids got their veggies arranged in a half-assed smiley face. But I certainly didn't (which is fine --- cheddar cheese tastes just the same either way). The closest I came to something like that was when my dad would make Mickey Mouse shaped pancakes on the weekend. That was exciting. But imagine opening your lunchbox to find THIS:

OR THIS:

Or even something a little more adult, yet still pleasing to look at:

Bottom line is, aside from the fact that it's art, and that I totally want to eat a Pikachu (did that come out wrong? I think maybe it did) . . . I love the idea of small portions of a lot of things. I'm a sucker for variety in my meals. I'm not one of those "eat all of your potatoes then move on to the meat" type of eaters. And this is a perfect way to get tons of variety in a healthy, smaller portioned way.

Now I only need a job so I can pack myself bento boxes for work lunch! ^_^*