Bacon and Avocado Grilled Cheese Sandwich

I love Pinterest.com! I get the best ideas and inspiration from all of my followers and all those I follow.

This sandwich is something I found on Pinterest.

Bacon and Avocado Grilled Cheese Sandwich

- 2 strips cooked bacon

- cheese (i used mild cheddar, but next time I will try a spicy havarti)

- avocado slices

- 2 pieces of bread fried in butter (or toasted and buttered)

*Apple slices would also be a yummy addition.

I Love Greek Food!!!

I've always enjoyed Greek food. My #1 favourite restaurant is Opa! in Halifax. Since I can't get to Opa! I've recently started to cook some Greek food at home and am excited about how great it turns out!

A few nights ago we had Moussaka which is like a Greek lasagna.

Moussaka

serves 4

1 pounds eggplant, peeled (if desired) and cut into 3/4-inch cubes

1/2 pounds beef, lean ground

8 ounce(s) tomato sauce with basil, garlic, and oregano

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon, ground

2 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoon flour, all-purpose

1/4 teaspoon salt

dash(es) pepper, black ground

1/2 cup milk, fat-free

1/2 cup yogurt, low-fat plain

1/2 cup cheese, ricotta, low-fat

1/3 cup refrigerated or frozen egg product, thawed

cheese, Parmesan, thinly sliced

- Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly coat a very large nonstick skillet with cooking spray; heat over medium-high heat. Add eggplant; cook about 6 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently. Set aside.

- Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook ground meat until browned. Drain off fat. Stir in tomato sauce and 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, about 8 minutes or until sauce thickens, stirring occasionally. Divide meat mixture among 4 individual 12- to 14-ounce au gratin or baking dishes. Top with eggplant.

- In a small saucepan melt butter. Stir in the flour, salt, and pepper. Add milk and yogurt all at once. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly; remove from heat. Stir in ricotta cheese. Stir in egg product. Spoon atop eggplant. Sprinkle lightly with additional ground cinnamon.

- Bake, uncovered, about 25 minutes or until heated through. Top with Parmesan, if desired. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Tonight, we had Ancient Shrimp in a Honey Glaze and Spinach Balls. DELICIOUS! We will definitely be having this again sometime soon. The glaze on the shrimp is an excellent "syrup" for the spinach balls which are similar to pancakes.

Ancient Greek Shrimp in Honey Glaze

serves 2

50 - 60 shrimp (if frozen, defrost and strain them, remove tails)

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp soya sauce

2 tbsp honey

fresh basil (2 leaves, cut up)

1 tsp flour

- Place the oil, soya sauce and honey in a frying pan and add the shrimp.

- Saute for 2-3 minutes until they soften.

- Remove the shrimp

- Transfer the honey mixture to a small pot and add the flour.

- Boil until it thickens (about 2 minutes)

- Pour the sauce over the shrimp

Spinach Balls

serves 3

2 cups fresh spinach (or 1 cup cooked)

1/4 cup diced onion

2 eggs

8 tbsp flour

4 tbsp parmesan cheese

1/4 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Pepper

- Lightly boil spinach (put spinach in microwavable bowl with 1/2 cup water, cover with plastic wrap and cook in microwave for 1 minute)

- Strain the spinach well

- Chop the spinach finely

- Dice the onions

- Beat the eggs, flour and the cheese in a bowl.

- Add spinach and onions

- Season with salt and pepper.

- Mix well. (it should make a thick dough like cookie dough. If it needs to be thicker, add more flour)

- Use a spoon or scoop to place medium sized balls of mixture in a frying pan with 1/3 cup olive oil

- Fry on both sides until golden brown. (about 3 minutes per side)

The BEST Seafood Chowder!

I love both seafood and chowders. So, the combination is one of my favourites.
This seafood chowder was SO creamy and delicious but I also have a still yummy but much healthier version.


Slow Cooker Seafood Chowder
serves 6

1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced carrots
1/3 cup diced onion
1/4 cup bacon bits
1 cup scallops
1 cup shrimp
3 cups salmon
2 cups lobster (or crab)
seasoning (basil, garlic chives, sea salt, etc)
2 cups whipping cream
1/2 cup cream cheese
2 cups milk
4 tbsp corn starch mixed with 4 tbsp broth

Add all ingrediants (except corn starch mix) to slow cooker and cook, uncovered, on low for 6 hours.

Add corn starch mixture and cook, uncovered, on low for 1 hour.

Serve with rolls.

* To make it much healthier, replace the whipping cream and milk with 2 cups skim milk and 2 cups water mixed with 1/2 cup dry seafood or clam chowder mix)

Banana Bread

I was craving Banana Bread the other day so I looked for the easiest recipe I could find. It called for mayonaise, so I was a bit skeptical but I tried it anyway. It was YUMMY!!


I made it in a mini loaf pan, so they turned out super cute!

Banana Bread
makes 8 mini loaves

2/3 cup Mayo
1/3 cup vanilla yogurt
(if you don't have yogurt, you can use a full cup mayo and 1 tsp vanilla flavour)
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 3 bananas)
2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
1/3 cup chocolate chips

Combine yogurt, mayo and bananas in large bowl.
Mix flour, sugar and baking soda.
Add to banana mixture; stir just until moistened. (Batter will be lumpy.)

Scoop into greased mini loaf pan, or a 9x5-inch loaf pan.

Bake on 350F until until wooden toothpick inserted in centre comes clean. (about 1 hour for the loaf pan or 25 minutes for the mini loaves)

Leftovers Lasagna

This is a super easy way to make Lasagna and a very yummy way to get rid of leftovers!



I submitted this recipe in a cooking contest.

Ingredients for 4 servings:
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 jar of your favourite pasta sauce
• 3 cups left over pasta (i used Catelli Healthy Harvest Spaghettini)
• 1 cup left over carrots (diced)
• 1 cup left over zucchini (diced and peeled)
• 1 cup left over onion (diced)
• 1 cup left over celery (diced)
• 2 cups spinach
• 1 cup Light Laughing Cow Cheese (about 6 wedges)
• 1 cup light sour cream
• 1 egg
• 1 cup grated cheese
• Parsley
Instructions:
This recipe can be made with almost any kind of leftovers you have.

Mix:
- left over meat (ie. chicken, ground beef, turkey, sausage etc)
- 1 jar of pasta sauce (any kind)
- all vegetables except spinach (any kind)

Mix:
- sour cream
- egg
- laughing cow cheese

Cover the bottom of a casserole dish with 1/3 of the meat sauce.
Add a layer of pasta (any kind; If you are using spaghetti as your pasta, it should be cut up.)
Cover the pasta with half of the cheese mixture.
Top with a layer of spinach.
Alternate meat sauce, pasta, cheese mixture, and spinach in that order ending with the meat sauce.
Sprinkle the shredded cheese on top of the final layer of meat sauce.

Bake for 30 minutes at 350F

Top with Parsley

Cheesy Bacon Pasta Salad

This is a recipe I made up for a contest.
The contest is for the best pasta salad recipe.

This one is really flavourful!



It makes about 6 servings

2 cups Catelli Healthy Harvest Rotini
1 cup cooked, diced chicken
1/3 cup jullienned or diced carrots
1/3 cup frozen or canned corn
1/4 cup real bacon bits
4 wedges Light Laughing Cow Cheese
1/4 cup light Caesar salad dressing
fresh parsley


1. Cook chicken in frying pan (or use leftover chicken); dice
2. Cook Corn, Carrots and Pasta (according to package directions) until tender
3. Drain pasta and rinse with cold water.
4. Mix together salad dressing and laughing cow cheese until well blended
5. Mix in a medium sized mixing bowl; pasta, chicken, bacon bits, dressing mixture until well coated.
6. Top with parsley and either serve warm, or refrigerate and serve cold.

Orchard Chicken Sandwich

K, I saw the ad for the Orchard Chicken Sub at Subway and thought it looked delicious so I had to buy it (I totally fall for commercials!)

It was delicious! So I looked up the recipe for the filling so we could make it at home.

(I stole this picture from the subway website because I forgot to take my own picture of the sandwiches we made.)



makes 6 large sandwiches

3 cups diced cooked chicken
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup diced celery
2 to 3 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
1/2 cup diced apple
1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans, optional
4 to 6 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

toppings:
lettuce
pickles
honey mustard

Preparation:

- Combine the chicken, cranberries, celery, onion, apple, (and walnuts)
- In a small bowl combine 4 tablespoons of mayonnaise, the lemon juice, and salt and pepper.
- Stir into the chicken, adding more mayonnaise as needed and for taste. - Line bread or rolls with toppings and spread chicken salad on the bread or serve the chicken salad on lettuce-lined plates.