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Our Grilled Cheese Open 2014

Every year my family throws a Grilled Cheese Open in our backyard.  It's our one big get together of the year.   I shut down soapmaking in lieu of party planning and cookie making!  I spend all week making cookie dough for a cookie bar and spend the day before at the oven baking around 1000 cookies!   In addition to the cookies, I have a bloody mary bar, tomato soup, chips, fruit salad and a salad bar.  For entertainment, the Adam Holt Duo played and we had the ubiquitous bouncy house.

This year I made 7 types of cookies:  Tollhouse Chocolate (no recipe necessary), Mexican Wedding Cookies (aka, vanilla crescent cookies), Pumpkin Sugar Cookies, Glazed Lemon Cookies, Oatmeal Craisin Cookies (from Lisa G.'s Autobiography), and hands down the favorite of the day, Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Cookies.

The bloody mary bar:  you could make your own bloody marys from scratch (V8, horseradish, celery salt, clamato, hot sauce etc...)  or use one of the popular mixes:  Zing Zang, Whiskey Willy's, etc.  We had Tony Chachere's to rim the glass and to put inside, lemon/lime, carrot, celery, GIGANTIC olives, dill gherkins, cocktail onions (which no one ever used), pickled asparagus, pickled green beans, pickled okra and my special touch, SLIM JIMS! I add colorful swizzle sticks and straws to the mix and no two bloody marys made were alike.    Of course, there was beer, wine, soft drinks, water and juice boxes but everyone seemed to be carrying around a bloody mary all afternoon.

We had 10 contestants cooking this year.  I separate the voting between child and adult because children don't have the same palate as adults do and are more likely to vote for a grilled cheese that looks like a pumpkin than a grilled cheese with brie and tomato chutney.  So kids had white vote tickets and adult red vote tickets.  Also, parents tend to have the kids stuff the ballots so I wanted it to be a fair contest.  Popular vote counts for 30% of the winning total, the remaining 70% is by chef judge.  This year Chef Doug Kerr from Dragonfly Foodbar helped us out and professionally blind tasted and scored the grilled cheese contestants.  We had grilled cheeses with lobster, crab, steak, pepper jelly.... an amazing array of creative grilled cheese!

Winners had had custom cutting board trophy and gift cards to Dragonfly Restaurant.  The first place winner also had a tiara and sash saying "THE BIG CHEESE 2014."  The winning grilled cheese?  The one with the lobster! :)

Some pictures from around the soap shop!

CONTEST!

It's contest time! Like and comment on THIS post and one (or two) randoms will receive a bunch of "Oopsies!" (good enough to use but squished, soft, marred or discontinued items). Contest ends Sunday night at August 30th at 9pm (central). Contest running concurrently with my Facebook account so HEART the image there for two entries to win!

Brined Radishes

 

Nothing reminds me more of summer than brined radishes.  Usually harsh and almost peppery to eat whole, when soaked in a salt solution it cuts the bite of this crisp vegetable.  My mother would always have a bowl of these sitting in the fridge for us to munch on.  My husband now buys them often so that I can prepare them and set them in the fridge for him to snack on.  So easy to make and so good for you.   Radishes are a natural diuretic and help your kidney function.  They are also anti inflammatory and regular consumption can help regulate blood pressure.  Additionally, they are full of antioxidants.  Of course, all vegetables are good for you but variety is the key to getting great nutrition in your body and radishes are a great way to change things up a bit in your diet!

BRINED RADISHES

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch radishes 
• 2 cups water (or enough to cover radishes)
• 1 Tbs salt
• (and that's it!  So simple!)

Instructions:

1.  The real method is in the preparation of the radishes.  Cut all green parts off the vegetable and the ends off.
2. With a sharp knife make a criss-cross cut into one end of the radish.  This is so the salt solution penetrates its interior.  If the radish is GIGANTIC, cut in half and make the cross in each piece.
3. Dissolve the salt in the water.
4. Add the radishes to the salt water.
5. Let it sit in the fridge for about an hour before munching.

Vegetarian Matzo Ball Soup

Now that school is starting up quick evening meals are essential to save time and sanity.  I have two daughters, one a vegetarian, so at home we eat mostly vegetarian meals. Making meals that appeal omnivores and vegetarians can be challenging but this is a sure hit every time.

I make this once every other week or so. Matzo ball mix usually come in 2 packs per box in the "ethnic" aisle.  I buy when it's on sale (check post-passover and stock up!).  This dish is quick, easy, easy to modify and the kids love it.  Total comfort food.  I don't serve this with crusty bread or grilled cheese since there's already starch in the pot.  Add some fresh fruit on the side and it's a meal!

 VEGETARIAN MATZO BALL SOUP

(serves ~ 4 people with seconds or thirds or leftovers, 6 people with no leftovers)

Ingredients:

• 1 packet (not the whole box) matzo ball mix plus whatever ingredients that particular brand requires to make it (1-2 eggs, vegetable oil, etc)
• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped/minced 
• 3-4 stalks celery, chopped
• 3-4 carrots, chopped
• 1.5-2 quarts water with bouillon or vegetable stock/broth
• 1/2 bag of baby spinach
• pepper, to taste
• 1 tsp dried parsley (optional, I just think it looks pretty)
• red pepper flakes (optional and individually on serving)

Directions:

1. Make matzo ball packet mix according to brand instructions and let it sit while you get the soup ready.
2. Warm olive oil in pot then add onions, carrots and celery and saute for 5 minutes.  Add garlic and saute 1 minute more.
3. Pour water or broth onto softened veggies (note:  I use Better than Bouillon Brand NO Chicken Vegetarian Soup Base for all "chicken" like soups.  I actually prefer it over REAL chicken bouillon).
4. Add optional dried parsley and pepper to taste.
5. Once soup is at a soft boil add matzo ball dough and cook according to package instructions (usually at a lower heat, covered for 20-30min)
6. After matzo balls are cooked add a half a bag of spinach and just let it wilt in the soup. You can also not add the spinach if you have kids that don't like it but life is like a pizza, just pick out what you don't want.
7. I top my individual bowls with red pepper flakes because I like it spicy.

Valentine's Day Snack

I'm providing a "salty" snack for my kids' school classes.

I found this great free printable and screen capped a section to print on glassine bags.

So cute!





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