Monte Cristo Roll Ups

Remember when I used to post a recipe every Thursday? Good times.

Memories. All alone in the moonlight...

I will stop now. These Monte Cristo Roll Ups are a glorious way to welcome back Recipe Thursdays. Let me share with you how these little balls of divine yumminess came about.

A few weeks ago our family took  a cross-country trip to the great state of Ohio. We visited friends and family. We also hit A LOT of our favorite places to eat. If you are ever in the Cleveland area, there are a couple of places we recommend you make time for.

First, make time for the West Side Market in Cleveland. 

The West Side Market is similar to an indoor Farmers Market, with vendors there almost all the time during business hours. The atmosphere is delightful and we love walking around. We take a few laps, first hitting our must-stops favorites. Then after a few laps we pick a new vendor and try something from them.

A must, MUST stop is Steve's Gyros. Drool. So good. We dream of them. DREAM. They are closed Tuesdays and Thursdays, they only take Cash, and they only sell gyros. They also always have a line of happily waiting people with cash in hand for their gyros. They are THAT good.

We normally also buy fresh made pasta and vanilla bean lemonade from vendors just around the corner from Steve's.

This year I tried these beautiful macaroons. I had never tried them before and they definitely lived up to all the hype.

So what about the whole Monte Cristo thing? First, do you know what a Monte Cristo is? It is a sandwich that is typically turkey, ham, Swiss cheese, and then battered and fried. Yes battered and fried. The first time that The Hubs called me from a business trip, raving about this heart attack on a plate, I questioned his mental status.

Don't get me wrong, it sounded good, but I was a little shocked by the gluttony the sandwich represented. I died a little inside.

Then I had one. You still might die a little inside (literally), but you will die happy. If you follow me on Instagram (@larissa_anotherday), then you know we had this monte cristo sandwich from the Melt Bar and Grilled. When we lived in Ohio they only had two restaurants in the Cleveland area. Now they have 3 up there and 2 in Columbus.

Isn't it lovely? This is a half sandwich plate. Yes the full is ridiculous.

So thanks to this Monte Cristo Sandwich, our family has been obsessed with them for years. We have tried a couple of versions of them over the years. The hardest was trying to make an actual knock off of the above sandwich. Epic fail. I don't recommend it. 

However, a waffle version and these roll ups are a yummy much easier version. They are simplified, but still sporting the quintessential monte cristo ingredients. 

Give these roll ups a try. They are sure to be a family hit.

printable version HERE

Double Chocolate Oreo Skillet Brownies

We are almost done with the first month of the year, which means that you have in all likelihood earned yourself a cheat day. A whole month of sticking to your New Year's Resolution calls for a celebration of sorts.

A brownie celebration to be exact. When I want to celebrate, I always do so with brownies. So basically I am saying that you should probably too.

Since I am recommending a cheat day, I would suggest you do it with these Double Chocolate Oreo Skillet Brownies.

This is the kind of dessert that is SO easy to make you can basically just throw it together. Bake it. Slap some ice cream on top, and eat. Heck you can even forgo the plates and just dig in family style to the skillet's itself.

Plate. Skillet. Either way, it is delicious. In fact, Oldest informed me, "If Heaven had a taste, it would taste like these."

Can't argue with that son. Can't argue with that.

The Best Cornbread

I am not feeling very chatty today. I am running low on sleep and patience. We have a sick kiddo in the house and while he might be responsible for the lack of sleep, it is the other Little Men who are responsible for the lack of patience.

Man, it isn't even Halloween yet either. They really haven't had any sweets yet, so I am trying to figure out why they are being so very special right now. There is lots of crying, whining, and complaining.

You know that moment when you are being bellowed at from multiple children all yelling "MOM!" and everyone thinks there catastrophe it by far the most important? That is what it is like around here today.

I kind of want to yell "MOM" back and see what happens. I am pretty sure it will just add one more voice to the chorus. It might make me feel better though.

A couple of wees ago, I made this, what I am deeming The BEST Cornbread, to go with our Potato Cheddar Sausage Soup. I am really wishing it was yesterday so that I could have a big old slice slathered with butter.

I feel like cornbread right now. Well I feel like any good and therapeutic chunk of warm carbohydrate. Bread fixes everything. Well, I guess unless you are gluten intolerant and then it is the problem.

But for me bread fixes everything.

And I could sure use some today.

I highly recommend trying this cornbread out. The reason I dubbed it "THE BEST" is because I have tried tons of cornbread recipes out over our 14 years of marriage. I always come away with an "eh". I never hate them, but I never love them enough to use the same recipe again.

The search has ended. This is the bread. I will use this cornbread forevermore. It is that good. Hence the me wanting it to fix my bad day.

So if you love bread or are having a rough day or are having a good day or are having soup or chili or tacos, you should probably make this cornbread too. (PS I know that sentence was grammatically the worst)

Here is to better days full of less whining, from both the kids and me!

Vanilla Cake Apple Crisp

Before I introduce this very lovely Vanilla Cake Apple Crisp, let's just chat about Fall.

I love Fall. I love pretty much everything about it. Seriously. I am really trying to think about what I don't like about the Fall.  I am drawing a blank.

One of the activities I enjoy the most in the Fall is apple picking. When we lived in Ohio, every September we would drive out to our favorite fruit farm to pick our favorite apples. Which, of course, were Honeycrisp apples.

We went out with friends. We took pictures. We loaded up the trunk of our car. We blissfully ate apples while we picked. I miss our Ohio apple picking days. I find it funny that it was only after we left those glorious orchards that I found the delights of making applesauce.

We may not have our Ohio fruit farm, but we still have access to some yummy apples. Oh, and we are four years into our very own apple trees so there is that. We even had about 7 apples this year. One of them was ginormous.

I just can't wait for the next 5-10 years when we have ourselves our own little orchard. We even threw in a pear tree just for kicks and giggles. Until our orchard is all mature, we have been very lucky to have people offer to let us pick the apples from their trees.

We pick like maniacs. No on is exempt from tree climbing and picking.

Once we have canned all the applesauce I can handle, we always have some apples left over. Most the time we just eat them. Sometimes I just full on embrace Fall and bake something with them.

This year I made this little lovely. This Vanilla Apple Crisp was SO, SO very yummy.

There is an added little flavor bonus found in the crumb topping. P.S. Isn't the crumb topping just the very best. It is definitely my favorite. My secret yum factor weapon was a box of vanilla cake mix. The flavor it added was insane. It was the perfect compliment to the apple mixture. The most perfect apple crisp was born.

If you love Fall, then you should probably do yourself a favor and make this little bit of Fall in a bowl. AKA apple crisp.

Print Recipe HERE

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Southwestern Hamburgers

Burgers are delightful. When we made these a few weeks ago, we ate outside sitting on a sprawled out blanket. One of the things we love about living here is that you can eat outside  practically all Summer.

The heat dies down in the evening. The breeze is cool and refreshing. No humidity. Hardly any bugs. Yep. We are kind of unbelievably lucky. We will not mention that it can snow here quite a lot in the winter. We are not talking about winter. Plus who wants to eat soup outside? Not me. So let's just hurdle over that whole winter topic thing.

Focus on Summer. Glorious eat-out-of-doors Summer.

This burger has been shared on the blog, before the blog was really a blog. I took the picture indoors, at night. There was a flash on the bright blue plate. The hamburger did not look appealing. Which is a shame because this burger is DELIGHTFUL. Delightful I tell you.

While I have shared this burger before way back in the day, we made a few changes per The Husbands suggestion. Good suggestions too. They made this burger SO good. Guess I will keep that guy around.

If you are looking for a new hamburger to try, well this is the burger. We served our burgers with fresh strawberries and Slow Cooker Mexican Corn on the Cob

Print HERE

Happy grilling, happy eating, and happy Summer-ing (totally a word).

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Marshmallow Fruit Salad

I don't always make fruit salad, but when I do I make it with marshmallows.

Okay. Kidding. I always make fruit salad, and up until last week I hadn't put even one itty bitty marshmallow into my fruit salad. I seem to remember as a kid having something similar to this Marshmallow Fruit Salad. However, it was a distant, fuzzy memory. A memory that I didn't even realize I was missing.

When The Hubs came to me and wanted to put a new fruit salad on the Easter menu and that marshmallows were involved, I was hesitant. I mean let's be honest people, putting little fluffy bits of sugar into a fruit salad kind of defeats the whole fruit and salad thing.

He convinced me quite charmingly, so the Marshmallow Fruit Salad made it onto the menu. With a little army of reservation setting up camp in my noggin, the salad was made. I tweaked the recipe just a bit, but no worries I kept in the mallows.

You put the mallow on the graham....

Sorry I digress. Name the movie. We haven't played this game for a bit.

Okay back to the fruit salad.

The salad was a hit. We owe it all to that handsome husband of mine.

My fear of the salad being too sugary was completely ill founded, due in part to the "cream" used. It not being of the whipped or aerosol variety. Intrigued? You should be. This salad was practically perfect and was a great addition to a yummy Easter meal.

Point to you Husband. Point goes to you. I will even give him a bonus point because I ate the leftovers the next day. For those of you who might be new around here, that is a big deal because I tend to hate leftovers.

So go ahead and put this on your weekly menu. It is a crowd pleaser.

 

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Carrot Cake Cookies

Whenever a cookie and a cake marry and make a cake cookie, well I am all on board with that. Yes I a sure am. When it involves carrot cake, then I am HECK YEAH on board. I have always loved carrot cake. When I was younger, I used to take seconds and thirds. And fourths. Okay so not really, but I may or may not have had a really decent sized first piece and then a regular sized second. Especially if it was my best friend's mom's cake. Goosh that was good cake AND really good cream cheese frosting.

Enough already with my love of carrot cake.

So how did these cookies come about? Well aside from the a fore mentioned love of carrot cake, it all comes down to the fact that I found these insanely adorable gummy carrots. I knew I had to get them and I knew they needed to top some kind of carroty cake goodness. I got these gummy carrots at Winco Foods. If you don't live by a Winco, then you can find some similiar HERE

Welcome in these Carrot Cake Cookies.

I made them to give to some new neighbors that just moved in. I also made sure I made some for us to eat, because if I didn't I am not sure I would have had any to give to the neighbors. These cookies are so dang good.

I think you should make yourself some. You and the arrival of Spring deserve it.

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Black Bean Salsa

If I had to pick one food that I had to eat for the rest of my life, it would probably be chips and salsa. I love most kinds of salsa as well as most kind of tortilla chips. Well except baked. Sorry, but if you are gonna eat them you might as well just put in the caloric effort.

This black bean salsa is insanely easy to make and will rock your salsa eating world. My sister was over when I was making it and to be honest she was more than a little skeptical as I was making it. You think by now she would just trust my salsa wisdom. But sadly, she still lacks a little faith. Since she too is a lover of all things salsa and chips, she took a leap and took a giant scoop and popped it in her cute little doubting me mouth.

Well of course she loved it. DUH. She should have just known. After all there is bacon in this salsa. Yup I said it BACON. What isn't made better with some bacon? Ever had bacon in your salsa? No. Well here is your chance.

This black bean salsa only has four ingredients. FOUR. I feel like I have exuberantly "yelled" (aka the ALL CAPS) a lot in this post. I am pretty much still really excited about this salsa.

This salsa is pretty healthy with the black beans and all the veggies from the salsa and the jalapeno. There is a little bit of bacon in it, but let's face it bacon gets a health pass because it's deliciousness trumps all that healthy mumbo jumbo.

We paired our black bean salsa with toasted black bean tortilla chips, but I would wager that any kind of tortilla chip would be good with this salsa. So whip yourself up some. Open a bag of chips. Dig on in. And smile.

It is that good.

Black Bean Salsa

Ingredients:
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup salsa
1 jalapeno, seeded and finely diced
5-6 pieces of bacon, cooked and chopped

Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl.

Eat right away or refrigerate until ready to serve (up to a few hours).

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Oatmeal White Chocolate Craisin Cookies

I first tried these Oatmeal White Chocolate Craisin Cookies years ago. In fact, every time I had them they were made by the same person. One of my favorite people to be exact. So because of that, these cookies quickly became one of my favorites.

These cookies are so soft and chewy. Since the base of the cookie is brown sugar, the cookies are richer. The craisins add the perfect sweet tart combination. Man I really love craisins. They make just about everything better.

We just baked up a batch of these to give out to the boys' church teachers as part of our Christmas of Kindness 2014 (follow along with our Christmas of Kindness on Instagram- @larissa_anotherday). They are great Christmas cookies because they are different than the typical Christmas cookie.

Oh, and not that it should matter, but these cookies are also pretty.

Seriously you should go and make yourself some.  While you are at it make some for your neighbors. They will probably take out your trash and clean off your windshield forever.

Printable Recipe HERE

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Cranberry Cream Cheese Dip

Tis the season for holiday parties, which means it is also the time for yummy appetizers. I don't know about you, but appetizers are always the hardest for me. I never know what to make. I am never sure if I should try and bring something warm and in return have to keep it warm. Do I just grab a bag of chips? Oh what to do.

Well, this is the appetizer that fixed all my woes. This Cranberry Cream Cheese Dip is by far our favorite holiday appetizer.

The prep is fairly easy. Chop, mix, and let it set overnight. Then put it all on top of a layer of cream cheese. Then you just dig in and eat it with some crackers.

This dip has been a hit every time we have made it. The next time you have an appetizer assignment for a party, bring this and all the guests will love it and will henceforth declare that you be the bringer of the appetizers from that point on.

Click HERE for printable recipe

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Harvest Fruit Salad: Thanksgiving Side Dish

This is one of my favorite Fall fruit salads. In fact, I just made it for Middle's Woodland Theme Baptism Luncheon. This also makes a great side dish on Thanksgiving, because let's face it one of the hardest things about Thanksgiving dinner is deciding what sides to make. I mean we all know the main players. That is a no brainer.

Turkey-Check.
Potatoes-Check.
Gravy-Check.
Rolls-Check.
Pie-Check.

But alas, what to do with the other sides. There are so many to choose from. How does one narrow down what to make?

Well I am gonna help you at least narrow down one. This salad is nice to have on the Thanksgiving table. It pairs up great with my favorite Spinach Apple Salad.

This Harvest Fruit Salad is a great addition to Thanksgiving dinner.

Harvest Fruit Salad

6 cups diced apples
2 cups halved red or black grapes
1 pomegranate, seeds only
1 cup walnut pieces
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 water
1 Tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla

First prepare all the fruit.

Aren't pomegranate seeds gloriously lovely??

Place all of the fruit into a large bowl.

Now make the sauce.

Combine the sugar, flour, and water in a saucepan. Heat over medium high heat until it boil lightly and starts to thicken. When it thickens, remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla.

Let it cool for about 5 minutes. Then pour it over the fruit and evenly coat.

Then stir in the walnuts.

With everything all mixed and pretty all you need to do is serve it up.

Now that will make your mouth happy and your Thanksgiving dinner complete.

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German Chocolate Brownies

Took the train to Brownietown and I enjoyed some German Chocolate Brownies. When I say I enjoyed them, I mean I licked the batter off the spoon before they were baked, I licked the knife after testing if the brownies were done, and then I had quite a few brownies once they were baked.

I came across this recipe in an old magazine. Upon reading "brownie" I started drooling and craving them immediately. I knew I needed to come up with a reason to make them, and consequently eat them. Good news, it took me .5 seconds to remember that I just happened to have company coming into town. I also realized that one of them just happened to love German chocolate anything and he just happened to have had a birthday recently.

German Chocolate Brownies = Happy Birthday. German Chocolate Brownies = happy me.

These brownies are my favorite kind of brownie. They are rich, dense, and fudgy. Just how I like them. Another delightful component of these brownies is the toasted pecans and the toasted coconut.

Do you see that goodness?!?

So yeah, these brownies are GREAT. Not only did the birthday boy enjoy them, but so did every single person in the housed. Every. Single. One. 

Brownies are so delightful. These German Chocolate Brownies are heaven I tell you. HEAVEN. Give them a try. You won't be disappointed.

German Chocolate Brownies

3/4 cups unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks)
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/3 cup flour
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans, toasted
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup sweetened coconut, toasted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 8x8 baking dish with parchment paper.

In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Take off heat and whisk in sugar, vanilla, and salt. Whisk for about 1 minute until smooth. Add in the eggs one at a time, whisking each time. Add the cocoa powder and flour. Stir until blended together. Fold in the toasted pecans.

Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish. Bake the brownies for 40-45 minutes, until tester comes out clean. Cool brownies in the pan.

While the brownies cool, make the chocolate sauce. In a saucepan, melt the chocolate in the cream over medium heat. Whisk constantly until the chocolate melts into the cream and the sauce is smooth. Pour the chocolate sauce over the cooled brownies.

Top with toasted coconut. Lightly press the coconut into the chocolate frosting.

Once the chocolate has cooled and set, lift the brownies from the pan by lifting out the parchment paper. Cut the brownies into squares.

adapted from: Rachael Ray

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Cauliflower Corn Chowder

Every so often we order a basket of fresh fruit and veggies from Bountiful Baskets. If you haven't ordered from Bountiful Baskets before, it is a like a jackpot of fruits and vegetables. In your order there is half fruit and half veggies, but you never know what exactly you are going to get.

We never ever have a problem eating the fruit. We know how to throw back our fruit. However, we don't always know what to do with the vegetables. I wish I could tell you that we eat all our vegetables happily. Um...we don't. Oh we still eat them, just not always happily. Hang head in shame now.

This last bunch of healthy goodness had a bunch cauliflower. Add that cauliflower to a fridge already full of veggies and you have this chowder just calling your name.

Well not really, that would be weird. No one wants to eat food that call's their name. Who am I kidding, I would eat this chowder even if it called my name over a bull horn.

It is that good. Good and packed full with vegetables.

This chowder might also be topped with bacon. BACON people. That is a vegetable right? Shh, let's just pretend. Bacon is a vegetable. Bacon is a vegetable. Bacon is healthy. Eat five servings of bacon a day. Okay maybe that is too far.

This chowder is amazing. My boys all ate it. All of them had seconds and one of them had three bowls. THREE. That right there is a momma miracle. I do feel the need to mention that the subsequent bowls didn't have bacon on top. That right there is saying something.

It is saying this Cauliflower Corn Chowder is amazing. That is what it is saying.

Cauliflower Corn Chowder

4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 medium onion, diced
2-3 carrots, peeled and diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 head of cauliflower, roughly chopped
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup flour
4 cups chicken sodium
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups frozen corn
salt and pepper

Cook bacon first. Set aside.

Heat a stock pot over medium high heat and melt the butter. Once the butter is melted add in the garlic, onion, carrots, and celery. Stir frequently until the vegetables are tender. Which should take 4-5 minutes. Stir in cauliflower and bay leaf. Stir occasionally, making sure to not break up the bay leaf. Cook until the cauliflower is tender, about 5-6 minutes.

Stir in the flour and stir while cooking for 1 minute. Then slowly add in the chicken broth and milk. Stir constantly for 3-4 minutes while it thickens slightly. Stir in the corn.

Bring the chowder to a boil. Then reduce it to a simmer. Allow to simmer for 12-15 minutes. Remove the bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper.

Top with bacon.

Adapted from: Damn Delicious

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