It's Picnic Season!!! - Part 3

Okay, so in many parts of the country "picnic season" might be starting to wind down but if you live in a warm weather state like I do it is basically picnic season year round! This is the third in a series of posts that were originally posted in 2011. You can find the previous posts here and here.

I am excitingly planning a picnic item or two for this coming weekend and wanted to share some great picnic sandwiches I have created since my last picnic post. I hope you enjoy them be it on a picnic, at the beach or in your lunch box! Also, I apologize for the quality of the photos. These are rather old and I have upgraded my camera since then. Future photos will be of much higher quality and even if the food does not look appetizing I promise it is delish! Let me know if you make any of these sammies and what you think!

Cucumber Tea Sandwiches
My favorite tea sandwich is always the cucumber one so why not pack it for a picnic?! Makes for a refreshing bite among heavier picnic fare.

1 loaf of dark rye or pumpernickel bread
1 container of boursin cheese
2 large cucumbers, peeled and sliced thin to medium
dried dill

1. Cut the crusts off of your bread for that tea sandwich feel. (You can give your neighborhood birds a treat or turn them into homemade croutons!)

2. Spread boursin cheese on two slices of bread. Top the cheese layer on one piece of bread with a layer of sliced cucumbers and a healthy shake of dried dill. Place second slice on top cheese side down and slice sandwich in half.

3. Repeat until you have made the appropriate amount of sandwiches or are out of ingredients. Please note that when I make these sandwiches I am usually making in "bulk" so I continue until I run out of cheese (usually first) or bread.

Turkey, Apple & Wasabi Sandwiches
Trader Joe's used to carry a wasabi arugula that was used in this sandwich. I found that it didn't give it enough wasabi flavor so you will not miss it. I am recommending a wasabi mayo or aioli as an alternative which you can either purchase or make to taste. This recipe calls for 4 oz of turkey per sandwich - feel free to adjust as needed depending on your preferences.

8 slices of dark rye or whole wheat bread
16 oz deli turkey breast, roasted
2 large avocados
1 large green apple, thinly sliced
2 cups of arugula
2 tablespoons wasabi mayo or aioli

1. Cut the crusts off your bread if you desire.

2. Mash 1/4 an avocado on one slice of bread and top with the following (in this order): 4 oz turkey breast, slices of apple, and 1/2 cup of arugula.

3. Spread wasabi mayo/aioli on a second slice of bread and place on top of the sandwich. Slice sandwich in half. Repeat for remaining ingredients. Makes 4 full or 8 half sandwiches.

Healthy Turkey Club Sandwich
Toasting the bread before assembling the sandwiches helps keep them from getting soggy.

8 slices of whole wheat bread, toasted
16 oz deli turkey breast, low salt
2 large avocados
2 Roma tomatoes, sliced
6 slices turkey bacon, cooked
2 cups butter lettuce
2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
garlic olive oil
salt

1. Mash 1/4 an avocado on one slice of toasted bread and top with the following (in this order): 4 oz turkey, tomato, turkey bacon, and 1/2 cup butter lettuce.

2. Combine Greek yogurt, garlic olive oil, and salt to taste to create an aioli. Spread aioli on a second slice of bread and place on top of sandwich. Slice sandwich in half. Repeat for remaining ingredients. Makes 4 full or 8 half sandwiches.

Mediterranean Style Chicken Lavosh Wrap

1 large whole wheat lavosh (I purchased mine from Trader Joe's)
8 oz grilled lemon chicken, cut into strips (Again, purchased prepared at Trader Joe's)
1 red pepper, roasted (The kind that come in a jar are fine.)
2 cups butter lettuce
4 tablespoons Trader Joe's Reduced Guilt Spinach and Kale Greek Yogurt Dip

1. Divide lavosh in half. Cover 2/3 of each half in the Spinach & Kale Dip.

2. Top dip with remaining ingredients in this order: lemon chicken, roasted red peppers, and butter lettuce.

3. Roll lavosh starting with side covered with dip. Slice and serve. Makes 2 full or 4 half sandwiches.

Sorry no photo of this sandwich.


Beet & Goat Cheese Sandwich

1 olive roll from Trader Joe's (or your favorite hearty roll)
4 oz chevre with herbs
2-3 baby beets, steamed & peeled (Trader Joe's has these in the refrigerated vegetable case)
2 cups arugula
lemon olive oil
good quality salt, if desired

1. Slice olive roll in half lengthwise. Spread chevre on bottom half of roll.

2. Thinly slice baby beets and place them on top of the chevre. Top with arugula.

3. Drizzle with lemon olive oil and salt if desired. Top with the upper half of the roll, slice and serve. Makes 2 sandwiches.

Sorry no photo of this sandwich.

The Bachelorette Dinner, Part 1

As you may recall, Amie and I love our Bachelor Monday dinners! Past dinners can be found here: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, & Week 8. With the new season of The Bachelorette in full and very annoying swing, we are back to our whipping up our weekly dinner delights! Due to schedule conflicts, we did not cook for a few of the first episodes and I am a week behind in posting as well. So without further ado, enjoy our most recent "recipes"!

A couple of notes about this week's dinner:

1. It it by far one of the easiest dinners we have made and it was so delicious!

2. It includes another great use for Greek yogurt as previously discussed.

Roasted Chicken Greek Pitas

1 package/2 patties Trader Joe's Roasted Chicken Patties (8oz of cooked chicken or other chicken patties can be substituted)

1 dozen cherry tomatoes

3 tablespoons fresh mint, chopped

1 whole wheat pita

Homemade Tzatziki (recipe below)

1. Heat chicken patties per their instructions (I use the microwave) or prepare chicken as desired. Dice into cubes.

2. Slice whole wheat pita in half in order to make two "pockets".

3. Fill pita pockets with chicken, tomato and mint.

4. Serve with homemade tzatziki.

Homemade Tzatziki

1 cup non-fat Greek yogurt

juice from 1/2 a lemon

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small cucumber, diced

1 clove of garlic, minced

chopped mint, salt & pepper to taste

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl.

2. Enjoy!

Sweet & Spicy Salad

2-3 handfuls Trader Joe's Wasabi Arugula

1/3 cup fat free feta

Trader Joe's Orange Muscat Champagne Vinegar (regular champagne vinegar with a little orange juice would probably be a fine substitution)

Olive Oil

Salt

1. Combine wasabi arugula and feta in a bowl.

2. Whisk together vinegar, olive oil and a dash of salt.

3. Toss and serve.

We enjoyed our meal with an appetizer platter of meats, cheese, etc from Trader Joe's and The Cheese Store of Silverlake.

Even though these blog entries are not specifically about The Bachelorette, is it just us or do you all want to throttle Ashley too?

The Bachelor Dinner, Part 8

I know it has been well over a month since The Bachelor wrapped and I still have yet to share all of our dinner recipes. I figured I had better get with it since The Bachelorette starts on Monday! Also, since these meals took place in January, my memory is starting to slip. For the sake of time and interest level, I will include all of the missing items (that I can remember) in one post. Please note that while we are giant pigs, we did not eat everything in one sitting. These are probably some of the easiest items we made all season and guess where I did nearly all of the shopping - that's right - Trader Joe's.

Roasted Chicken Patties with Onions & Feta

1 Package/2 Trader Joe's Roasted Chicken Patties

1/2 Cup Trader Joe's Balsamic Glazed Grilled Sweet Onions (approximate amount) - alternate recipe available here.

1/4 Cup Trader Joe's Fat Free Feta

Chives - optional garnish

1. Heat chicken patties per instructions. If using fresh ground chicken, prepare as desired.

2. Heat balsamic onions in microwave per instructions. If making from scratch, prepare according to directions available here.

3. Top chicken patties with onions. Sprinkle feta on top.

4. Garnish with chopped chives if desired.

We enjoyed our chicken patties on a plate but I think this would be equally good on a roll. Our sides this evening included a salad and Trader Joe's Sun-dried Tomato and Goat Cheese Ravioli with Basil Olive Oil.

Turkey Bolognese with Meatballs

1 Package Trader Joe's Turkey Bolognese "Just Sauce"

4-6 Trader Joe's Turkey Meatballs

Whole Wheat Pasta (You choose the shape and amount. I tend to use fettuccine or fusilli and no more than 3/4 cup cooked per person.)

Shaved Parmesan Cheese - optional garnish

1. Cook pasta to desired level of doneness. Drain and set aside.

2. When pasta is nearly done cooking, begin heating bolognese sauce. I use the microwave instructions and find that it takes a bit longer than stated on the box. Be prepared to adjust to work with your microwave.

3. Once the bolognese sauce is heated, heat the desired number of turkey meatballs. Again, I use the microwave for both items but the stove top is also an option.

4. Place pasta on plate, top with meatballs and finish with bolognese sauce.

5. Garnish with Parmesan cheese if desired.

This very filling (and quite possibly the easiest) meal with accompanied by an arugula salad and homemade garlic bread made with roasted garlic and Parmesan cheese.

So there probably will not be a menu for the premiere of The Bachelorette next week due to some scheduling challenges but new Monday dinner recipes will be back soon! If you have ideas or suggestions of things you would like us to try and make simple & healthy, let me know!

The Bachelor Dinner, Part 7

The Bachelor may be over for the season but that doesn't mean that the fabulous and easy meals need to stop! I have a few menus from earlier in the season to share until The Bachelorette starts in May.

Open Face Chicken BLT

Ciabatta Rolls

Chicken Breast

Bacon

Arugula

Tomato

Olive Oil

Garlic Spread (This was from the farmers market so if not available use a garlic aioli instead.)

1. Cook chicken and bacon in your preferred style. We cooked the chicken in a grill pan and the bacon on a baking sheet in the oven.

2. As the meats finish cooking, place ciabatta rolls in the oven to warm and lightly toast. Note: You are only using half a roll per person as this is an open face sandwich.

3. Spread rolls with garlic spread and begin assembling the sandwich. Chicken, bacon, tomato, and arugula.

4. Top with a drizzle of olive oil.

Bruschetta Quinoa Salad

1 cup Quinoa

2 cups Chicken Broth (Vegetable Broth or Water can be substituted)

1/2 Container Bruschetta Sauce from Trader Joe's (Diced tomatoes, garlic, basil & olive oil can be substituted)

Mini Sweet Bell Peppers

Cucumber

1. Prepare quinoa with chicken broth in either a rice cooker or on the stove according to package directions. Allow to cool to room temperature.

2. Dice mini sweet bell peppers and cucumber. Quantities will vary based on size and desired taste. It is better to start out with less and add more to taste. We used approximately 3 peppers and 2/3 a cucumber. Add to cooled quinoa.

3. Using a slotted spoon, add bruschetta sauce to cooled quinoa. Stir.

4. Taste and adjust quantities of add-ins as needed.

Makes approximately 8 side servings.

Unfortunately I don't have any photos of these dishes but they are pretty simple. The great thing about the quinoa salad is that it keeps for days. You can make it at the beginning of the week and enjoy it as a side with a variety of other meals.

The Bachelor Dinner, Part 5

So as you can see, I'm not really one for recipes. I like to think of them as jumping off points. Well this week I made on of the dishes from an actual recipe! Ok, I made a few small adjustments but more or less followed the recipe. This week we enjoyed Lemon Ricotta Pasta with Arugula, Lemon Chicken, and Green Beans with Red Onion and Creamy Feta Dressing.

Lemon Ricotta Pasta

I didn't follow a recipe when I made this particular dish. I looked at a number of similar recipes online and they all included extra oil, butter or cream. I wanted to keep it light and healthy. This is the closest recipe I could find online after the fact - Lemon Ricotta Pasta for those of you that would prefer a standard recipe. Here is the Gretchen version:

1/2 lb Whole Wheat Rotelle Pasta (Penne, Fusilli, or other similar pasta would be a good substitute)

15 oz Fat Free Ricotta Cheese (I used slightly less because I already ate part of it. :) )

1 Lemon - Zest & Juice (I only used juice from 1/2 the lemon but it could have used a bit more. Adjust to your taste.)

1 Bag of Arugula - rinsed and chopped

Garlic

Salt

Pepper

1. Cook the pasta until it is al dente.

2. While the pasta is cooking, combine the ricotta cheese, lemon zest (do yourself a favor and buy a microplane instead of a standard zester. So much easier!), lemon juice (squeeze through your fingers to catch seeds), garlic (to taste), salt (to taste) and pepper (to taste).

3. When the pasta is done, first scoop out 1/3 cup of the pasta water.

4. Place desired amount of arugula into pasta strainer. The heat of the pasta will wilt the arugula. You may not choose to use the entire bag but I would recommend at least half a bag because it shrinks up a lot.

5. Dump pasta into strainer.

6. Mix reserved pasta water into ricotta mixture until desired consistency is reached. The recipe I linked to above says to use the entire 1/3 cup but I didn't even use half that much. It is up to you how thin you want your sauce to be.

7. Throw pasta and arugula back into pot and top with ricotta mixture.

8. Stir all items together and serve!

Servings - 4 to 6 healthy sides

Lemon Chicken

This was not made from scratch but purchased from Trader Joe's. If you choose to make your own lemon chicken, I recommend using real lemons and not lemon juice from a bottle no matter what the recipe says. I have horrible memories of that flavor from when I was a kid. (Sorry Mom. I know you were just trying to expand our menu options. I will share your amazing Blueberry Muffins in a future entry!) When enjoying pasta leftovers, I made some turkey meatballs and they were also pretty good with the pasta. I nice chicken sausage would probably also be quite good.

Green Beans with Red Onion and Creamy Feta Dressing

As I mentioned, I basically followed the recipe on this on. This recipe is from the I Heart Trader Joe's Cookbook but it is easy to make even if you don't have a Trader Joe's nearby. I'll note my substitutions in parenthesis. Also, I only made about 1/2 the dressing as I wasn't sure how long it would keep and there were only two of us for dinner. It still turned out great!

1 16 oz Package Fresh Green Beans, trimmed & steamed (12 oz Haricot Vert Steam in Bag)

1/2 Red Onion, thinly sliced

Dressing

1/2 cup Plain Yogurt (Fat Free Plain Greek Yogurt)

3/4 cup Feta Cheese, crumbled (Fat Free Feta Cheese)

1 tablespoon Lemon Juice or Red Wine Vinegar (I used the vinegar)

Freshly Ground Black Pepper

2 tablespoons Chopped Basil, for garnish

1. Arrange green beans on a serving plate and scatter most of the red onion slices over the surface, reserving a few.

2. Whisk together the dressing ingredients. Note: The dressing will be thick with pieces of feta throughout.

3. Dollop the dressing over the salad and garnish with reserved red onion slices and basil.

I mixed the onion into the dressing as I was plating up individual portions and it worked just fine.

Servings - 4 to 6

We enjoyed a rose wine with our meal though I think I crisp white would also be good.

This meal was SO easy and pretty healthy. I hope you'll try it out soon. Please let me know what you think!

The Bachelor Dinner, Part 2

A little late but here is last week's dinner from "Bachelor Monday" using some new and classic Trader Joe's items.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Butter & Sage

This is a new frozen item from Trader Joe's. The package offers two cooking suggestions - microwave or stove top. We went with stove top to get a bit of browning on the gnocchi. Unfortunately these gnocchi are extremely fragile and the stirring it took to break them up resulted in more of a mashed potato consistency than we were going for. My recommendation would be to prepare in the microwave or to at least start them in the microwave and finish them on the stove top. Regardless of their appearance when we were done, they were delicious.

Smoked Apple Chardonnay Chicken Sausage

These were prepared according the the package on the stove top however we butterflied them towards the end of cooking to make sure they were cooked throughly and because we were hungry. If you wanted to decrease your cooking time, you could always do this from the start or even cut into smaller pieces.

Arugula Salad

Arugula

Yellow Pepper

Red Onion

Cucumber

Herbs de Provence (We used Herbs de Provence that were purchased in France but the Spice Station is a great place for items like this.)

Balsamic Vinaigrette

Arugula and vegetables were combined with herbs de provence (portion should be based on number of people and quantity desired). Vegetables were chopped finely and not used in overwhelming amounts. Top with Balsamic Vinaigrette and serve.

Dinner served with a smile!

We enjoyed this meal with a red blend from Mission Point Winery purchased at Whole Foods.