Grilled Chicken Parmesan Sandwiches *

This recipe was DELICIOUS.  The flavor comes from the cheese and oiled & toasted bread, but mainly from the roasted tomatoes with garlic slivers. It’s divine.  I will definitely make this every few weeks!  Superb!  It cooks up quickly too.
Serves 4.

Please note: *This used to be I.C. safe for me because it used a small amount of raw tomatoes, not canned.  It may not be I.C. safe for you.  Tomatoes are a known irritant.  Adjust if desired.  As of 3/2018, I can no longer have any tomato, but I want to leave this awesome recipe on my blog, because maybe someone can still tolerate tomato.

 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 6 plum tomatoes (make sure they are more on the ripe side)**
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon oregano
  • Coarse salt
  • 4 split hero rolls (large enough for a filleted chicken breast)
  • 4 chicken cutlets (or filleted boneless skinless chicken breasts like I used)
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 4 oz. thinly sliced mozzarella

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Core and halve the plum tomatoes. Slip some thinly sliced garlic into each half.
  2. Gently toss tomatoes with olive oil, oregano, and salt until well coated.
  3. Brush the split hero rolls with olive oil.  Separately grill rolls until toasted, and tomatoes until tender.
  4. Season 4 chicken cutlets as desired and grill one side, flip, then top with grated Parmesan and mozzarella.
  5. Grill until chicken is cooked through and cheese is melted.
  6. Make sandwiches with rolls, chicken, and tomatoes as pictured.

Homemade Natural Spray Cleaner

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First off, excuse the horribly unclear photo, my camera decided to be annoying and I didn’t want to retake the photo, (laziness).

If you are looking for a natural homemade all purpose spray cleaner, look no further.  This is a great one. I use it on granite countertops, toilet lids, glass, windows, and more.

I haven’t been able to tolerate scents for many years now.  In addition, heavy cleaners like Fabuloso, Fantastic, or anything heavy or with scent murder my lungs and give me big fragrance reactions.  Instead of not cleaning, I used to use 7th generation unscented dish soap in toilets, on coutners, etc.  I still do, but I supplement with this wonderful spray cleaner.

borax

Most people have all the ingredients on hand, probably excluding the Borax powder, but it is cheap and easy to use.  You will find a big box of it in the laundry department for maybe $4.  Borax also descents your clothes.  We are very allergic to fragrances.  If we’ve been to a location where heavy perfumes were present and that scent seeped into your clothes, we use Borax powder in our washing machine.    I put maybe a 1/4 cup into my washer, put it on the soak mode, before it starts washing.  It removes most if not all of the scent.

Safe essential oil scents that do not bother me are orange, lemon, and wintergreen scent.  Those are my favorites.

 

YOU WILL NEED:

  • A trigger spray bottle (label it with what’s inside for safety)
  • Essential oils in your choice of scent (optional)
  • Funnel for ease!
  • 2 Tbsp. distilled white vinegar
  • 1 tsp. Borax
  • 1/8 cup dish soap (I use unscented 7th Generation dish soap)
  • 1 cup hot water

 

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Put a funnel into your labeled and empty trigger bottle.
  2. Pour vinegar, borax, and hot water into bottle.
  3. Continue filling spray bottle with cool water, leaving enough head-space room for dish soap and essential oils.  
  4. Add dish soap last.  You do not need to shake this.
  5. Optional: add a few drops of your favorite essential oil, or mix a few scents for a new creation.  I add about 10 drops.

 

Out-Of-This-World Cheese Bread

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This is simply put, an amazing cheese bread.  I highly recommend it in every way!  **During the rising process, I tried something new that worked.  I set the oven to 200 and let it preheat.  When the bread was ready to rise, I turned off the oven and put the bread in.  It worked very well, sped up the time, and didn’t harm the bread!

 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 pkg. active dry yeast
  • 1 cup lukewarm milk
  • 2 T. butter (I used unsalted)
  • 3 cups flour
  • 2 tsp. salt
  • 1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Combine the yeast and milk, stir, and leave for 15 mins. to dissolve.
  2. Melt the butter, let cool, and add to the yeast mixture.
  3. Mix the flour and salt together in a large bowl.  Make a well in the center and pour in the yeast mixture.
  4. With a wooden spoon, stir from the center, incorporating flour with each turn, to obtain a rough dough.  (I DID THIS STEP IN MY STAND MIXER.)  If the dough seems too dry, add 2-3 T. water.
  5. Transfer to a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic.
  6. Return to the bowl, cover, and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, 2-3 hours.  **I think it took me 1-1.5 hours with my oven trick.
  7. Grease a 9×5″ loaf pan.  Punch down dough to release trapped air with your fist.  Knead in the cheese, distributing it as evenly as possible.
  8. Twist the dough, form into a loaf shape, and place in pan, tucking the ends under. Leave in a warm place until the dough rises above the rim of the pan.
  9. Preheat the oven to 400° F.  Bake for 15 mins, then lower the heat to 375° and bake until the bottom sounds hollow when tapped, about 30 mins. more.
  10. Cool on rack.

 

Welcome!

Welcome to my first cooking blog post! 

Cooking is my favorite hobby and I love to cook for my family of three daily – often three times a day!   I’m in the kitchen hours per day and I love it!  Thankfully, I’m doing more cooking versus cleaning than I used to.  I hope to share my great recipes with everyone who loves cooking!  I cook almost everything – the only items I don’t cook with are fish (excluding tuna), mushrooms, and olives, because well – I can’t stand them.   I believe that the art of cooking is sadly disappearing and I think that’s a bad direction to go in.  Less people are cooking at home and opting for take out, drive-thrus, restaurants, frozen meals, and boxed kits.  We do that too, but in extreme moderation.  I like to cook as naturally as possible while saving time with some pre-made ingredients that aren’t too bad for you.  I avoid a lot of preservatives, fake ingredients, chemicals, and high fructose corn syrup when I can.  This blog will be a mix of healthy cooking, decadent cooking, healthy baking, and decadent baking.  If it’s decadent, I just eat a much smaller portion than usual.  Everything in moderation!  I get my recipes from many places including Allrecipes.com, the internet, my personal cookbooks, and the cookbooks at the library.  I hope my recipes and photos  urge you to get back into your kitchen and cook fresh for your family!  🙂