Frito Chili Grilled Cheese

 

If your going to mess with Frito chili, you might as well shove it in a grilled cheese.  Right?  Well, the thought came to me, I went with it and... OH MY. 

What you need:

sliced bread

tomato slices

shredded cheese (any variety you have on hand)

Frito chips

chili 

hot sauce (optional, but quite important if you ask me!)

I made up a batch of chili, to try this out.  I eliminated a lot of the

liquid that is normally found in a bowl of chili.  I browned 1 lb. of 97% lean

ground beef with a large onion, diced.  Once cooked I added chili powder,

sweet paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, salt and pepper to taste. 

 Once I thought it was perfect I added a few T. ketchup.  Then hot sauce!

You could certainly make life even easier by subbing a package of chili

seasoning...then add the ketchup and hot sauce to taste.

On a hot skillet melt a bit of butter and start layering on the base bread.

 

You could also bake these sandwiches, which I would do if I was making 

multiples.  On a parchment lined baking sheet build the sandwiches,

spreading a bit of butter on the top piece of bread and bake at 

375 for 12-17 minutes.  Until the bread is golden and a bit crusty

and cheese is melted and gooey.

I mean...whaaaat!  This is for sure will change up your thoughts

on grilled cheese!  I think I will be baking a bunch of these up for a

football party ASAP!  

And as Cousin Eddie (National Lampoons Vacation) so eloquently put it:

I don't know why they call this stuff hamburger helper. It does just fine by itself, huh?

I like it better than tuna helper myself, don't you, Clark?

Layered Spring Salad

Sorry for this ridiculously generic post, but I put a photo of this salad on Instagram and my friend, who talked me into blogging in the first place asked me to please blog the salad, step by step.  So, I must oblige.

What you need:
zucchini
bag of salad greens
tomato
fresh mozzarella
maple spiced pecans (recipe link below)
baguette
olive oil
balsamic reduction
sea salt
garlic (optional)

Steps:

Cut zucchini on the diagonal and brush with olive oil and cook on the grill (or pan saute, if you do not have a grill or grill pan). Once the zucchini is a bit tender remove from heat and sprinkle with sea salt. Set aside to cool.

Slice tomatoes

Slice fresh mozzarella

Toast baguette (cut chunks of baguette roughly the circumference of the tomato and mozzarella you sliced). To toast the baguette, generously brush the bread with olive oil (or, place a bit of olive oil on a plate and dip one side of the bread) and sprinkle with sea salt and crushed garlic (optional), bake at 350 for 10 minutes (the bread with be crunchy, like a crouton) **you can do this step a several days in advance, just place in an air tight storage container until needed.

Now you are ready to build on the platter.

Start by piling a  heap of your favorite greens (I love the spring mix blend) on the platter

Top the greens with Maple Spiced Pecans (recipe) **this can also be made days in advance.  I always have a jar of them in my pantry.

Around the edges of the platter create stacks, topping the toasted baguette with the mozzarella then the tomato.  Sprinking sea salt and a light drizzle of olive oil atop the tomato stack. 

Tuck a slice of grilled zucchini between each baguette stack, around the edges of the platter.  

Generously drizzle with a balsamic reduction.  I used to make my own, but my daughter told me it makes her eyes burn, so I started buying it at Trader Joe's.  You can find it at any market, in the balsamic section!!!

Again, many apologies for this crapTastic blog post.  But for my sweet Tanya, I hope this helps.