Baked Reuben Sandwich

 

This month’s Alphbakes letter is the letter R! Alphabakes is a monthly round up hosted by Caroline Makes . . . and The more than occasional cook. Each month a letter is picked and what are bloggers supposed to do ? Bake the letter of course!

When I first saw R I thought I should do raspberry something (which I still might do actually.) But I’m not one who likes predictability. Instead I decided to go as far from raspberries as I could get: a reuben sandwich.

When I was little my mom made reubens all the time. Of course, she did it the right way. She used corned beef. She used rye bread. But… I can’t find sliced corned beef at my grocery store nor did I really feel like making corned beef. So I opted for another cured meat: pastrami. It’s not quite the same, but it’s salt like corned beef.

Now obviously, this isn’t the standard reuben at all. A reuben is a sandwich on rye with corned beef, sauerkraut, swiss cheese, and thousand island dressing. So, my reuben maybe shouldn’t even be called a reuben, but it had the same taste I vividly remember from the sandwiches my mom used to make.

Baked Reuben Sandwich
(source)

Ingredients
2 cups bisquick
1 cup milk
1 egg
2 tsp caraway seeds
1/2 lb sliced pastrami
1/4 cup deli style mustard
6 slices swiss cheese
1 14-oz can sauerkraut
1/2 cup thousand island dressing

Directions

1. In a large bowl mix together the bisquick, milk, eggs, and 1 tsp of the caraway seeds. Spread the 1/2 of the bisquick mixture onto the bottom of a 5-inch baking dish.

2. Spread the mustard all over the pastrami. Layer the pastrami on top of the bisquick. Cover with cheese. Spread the sauerkraut on top. Sread the remaining bisquick over the sauerkraut and sprinkle the top with the remaining 1 tsp of caraway seeds.

3. Bake for 30 minutes. Serve with the thousand island dressing on the side.

* serves 6
* besides Alphabakes, this recipe is shared with Pantry Party’s Cheese Theme, & Mix It Up Monday

Tempura Sushi Salad

 

This month the movie at Food ‘n Flix was very different than the one I hosted last month. Instead of a French dystopian movie, this month’s movie is a documentary about a Japanese sushi chef. Camilla is our host this month, having picked this documentary with its beautiful shots of sushi.

If anyone knows sushi, it’s Jiro. But frankly, this movie didn’t inspire me to make sushi – it terrified me. I’ve never done it before, so I knew any attempt from me would be laughable. I can just see it. It’s embarrassing even in my head. Maybe one day I’ll try sushi, but then not document my failure, because who wants everyone to see that? Being that Jiro is a huge perfectionist, I think he would have appreciated my refrain from trying to participate in his art.

In the film, Yamamoto tells us that there are five attributes of a great chef:

1. Take your work seriously
2. Aspire to improve
3. Maintain cleanliness
4. Be a better leader than a collaborator
5. Be passionate about your work

I am not a cook. I am an amateur that cooks for myself and my boyfriend. I enjoy food, but I am no cook. But I find these attributes so important to employ in all fields of work, to be a good lawyer I’ll need many of those traits as well. The only that might not quite apply is 4, because I think leaders also need to collaborate, but those five attributes can be applied to more than just cooks.

Be passionate.

–

Anyway, because I did not feel inspired to make sushi, I took it and ran with it a bit. I decided I’d use all the things I love in sushi and make a salad. Though I actually really love raw tuna in my sushi (along with other raw fish,) I’m not sure of where I could get fish fresh enough to eat raw and I didn’t want to chance severe sickness. I instead made tempura with shrimp and green beans. Considering my favorite sushi roll is the spider roll (with fried soft shell crab, yumm!) making tempura for my sushi salad seemed appropriate.

Join us at Food ‘n Flix, get inspired, be passionate.

Tempura Sushi Salad

Ingredients
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 tsp salt, divided
8 shrimp, peeled and deveined
a handful of green beans with the ends snapped off
1/4 cup flour
1/3 cup ice water
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 egg yolk
1/4 tsp sugar
1/2 cup shortening, divided
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup cooked rice
2 carrots, diced
1/2 cucumber, diced
1 sheet nori, cut into strips
1 avocado, diced

Directions

1. Marinate the shrimp in the white wine and 1/4 tsp of salt for 20 minutes.

2. Mix together flour, ice water, cornstarch, egg yolk, sugar, 1 tsp of the shortening, baking powder, and 1/4 tsp of salt. Once well mixed, coat the shrimp and the green beans with the batter.

3. Heat the shortening in a cast iron skillet or a wok. Once hot add the shrimp and the green beans, in batches, a few at a time. Cook the shrimp about 3 minutes per side, until golden brown. Flip and cook for about 3 more minutes on the other side. Continue until all the shrimp and green beans are fried. Let drain on a paper towel.

4. Put your salad together in a bowl. Add 1/2 cup of rice in each bowl. Surround with the cucumber and carrot pieces. Top with half of the tempura per bowl. Top with avocado and nori.

(serve with soy sauce if you want some!)

* serves 2
* besides Food ‘n Flix, this dish is shared with #FoodieFriday & Foodie Friday

Mint Chocolate Chip Pancakes

For the last few We Should Cocoa‘s I’ve made muffins. This month’s theme, mint, however got me into another breakfast kick. And you know, I might stick with pancakes at We Should Cocoa until I get some other ingredient that just kicks me into another direction with my chocolate. But we’ll see what next month brings before I make any pancake promises. I mean, you never quite know where the chocolate will lead you until you get there, you know?

We Should Cocoa is a monthly chocolate themed round-up hosted by Choclette and Chele. This month Victoria is hosting the mint theme!

Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve loved pancakes. But I really loved pancakes that had chocolate chips in them. My mom also used to make me M&M pancakes when we were out of chocolate chips. Besides the fact that I have a crazy obsession with chocolate, I love chocolate chips in my pancake because they’re rather self-syruping. I’m not a huge maple syrup fan, but dry pancakes are bleh. If you add chocolate chips to the pancakes and they’re kind of melty, you really don’t need anything else. The pancake does it all on its own.

While my mom never made me mint chocolate chip pancakes when I was little, I would have went crazy for these. The mint was so nice with the chocolate (well, duh) and the pancake. It very easily could be a dessert. But dessert for breakfast works for me!

Mint Chocolate Chip Pancakes
(source)

Ingredients
1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
2 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp mint extract
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.

2. In a smaller bowl whisk together the buttermilk, egg, butter, vanilla, and mint. Once well mixed, pour into the dry mix. Stir together until all dry spots are gone. Stir in the chocolate chips.

3. In a cast iron skillet sprayed with cooking spray, heat over medium-high heat. Scoop 1/4 cup of batter per pancake. Cook for 1-2 minutes, until the bottom is golden brown and the edges begin to bubble. Flip and cook on the other side for about 1-2 minutes.

* makes 8 pancakes
* besides We Should Cocoa, this post is shared with Wednesday Whatsits and Cast Party Wednesday

Sriacha Mac and Cheese

 

If you may or may not know, this month’s Pantry Party theme is cheese. The goal for this month is to open that pantry of yours, see what needs to be used in there, and make something cheesy! And I realize cheese doesn’t fit a vegan diet, so I’m also including dishes using vegan cheese.

When I started thinking cheese this month my brain automatically went to mac and cheese. Rather than trying to be horribly creative, I went the mac and cheese route. I decided to use something more than just pasta from my pantry and found a bottle of sriacha. After googling around I found the perfect recipe: Sriacha Mac and Cheese.

This is probably the easiest mac and cheese I’ve ever made. It doesn’t use a roux, like many do. Rather, you kind of just mix everything in there and let it bake. The flavor of the sriacha and the cheese was a great combination. Loved it.

This pantry party really used my pantry. I used:

Noodles
Sriacha
Breadcrumbs
Red chili flakes

I may make another recipe this month for the party . . . We’ll see! I do love my cheese.

Sriacha Mac and Cheese

Ingredients
1/2 lb dry pasta
2 cup breadcrumbs
3 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded and divided
2 tbsp sriacha, divided
4 tbsp butter, divided
1/2 tsp red chili flakes
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions

1. Boil a large pot of water. Cook the pasta to package directions until al dente. Set aside and let drain.

2. Preheat oven to 350. Melt 3 tbsp of the butter.

3. In a bowl, combine the breadcrumbs, 1/2 the cheese, 1/2 the sriacha, and the melted butter. Add half of this mixture to the bottom of a baking dish.

4. With your cooked pasta, stir in the remaining cheese, sriacha, butter, and red chili flakes. The cheese will strt to melt around the pasta, stir until everything is well coated. Next pour in the beaten egg and the cream. Stir to combine. Pour into the baking dish over the breadcrumbs. Top the pasta with the remaining breadcrumbs. Spray the top with a cooking spray.

5. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

* serves 4
* Besides Pantry Party, this dish is shared with See Ya In The Gumbo

Banana Blueberry Muffins

 

I’m getting into this big breakfast thing. I have a routine on bar prep class days. I wake up at 5:30. I exercise. I shower. I make a  nice breakfast. I go to class and have a snack. I have a healthy lunch. And then I study study study until it’s time for a yummy dinner.

I’ve been having all types of breakfasts: waffles, omelets, pancakes, breakfast sandwiches, and now muffins.

My friend Andy was staying with me for a night and she told me that she had told one of her other friends that I was a “boss.” She went on to say, who studies for the bar and has time to make muffins in the morning before class? Well, one answer. I do. I do best with my schedules that keep me going going going. With all this study study study I have to go go go pretty much constantly.

Banana Blueberry Muffins
(source)

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1 1/4 cups blueberries
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1 egg
3/4 cup skim milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 and grease 2 muffin trays. On the 2nd tray you only need to prepare 3 of the cups.

2. Place the flour, baking soda, salt, and blueberries together in a bowl. Mix together. In another bowl combine the honey, sugar, banana, yogurt, egg, and milk. Whisk together. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix together, making sure to get rid of any dry spots.

3. Spoon the batter between the 15 cups, diving equally. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean.

* serves 15
* Shared with Weekend Potluck, #FoodieFriday, & Foodie Friday

 

Bacon Crusted Chicken

The idea of meat crusted is not something I ever could have fathomed. It’s also probably something that has vegetarians shivering at the sight of this dish – my apologies! But I saw this recipe posted on PaleoDish and I just had to make it. My confession of the evening is that I don’t even know what the Paleo diet is, I just know I’m probably not paleo, but if bacon covering chicken is some type of delicacy for those that eat paleo, well.. I need to start following some paleo blogs for food ideas or something.

OK – I just skimmed about paleo. I don’t get it. But whatever. Bacon is good in my book.

Word to the wise: I am not paleo, like I just said above. Please be advised, I’m sure my use of all-purpose flour does not fit the diet guidelines and is my own . . . addition. For the real recipe that uses almond flour, go here. I can’t justify buying almond flour. I don’t particularly like it.

In other news, I was just thinking, maybe I shouldn’t have named my blog the Law Student’s Cookbook. Now I’m like, the Law Graduate. Then what? Do I stay at the Law Student’s Cookbook forever? Right now I should be the Bar Slave’s Cookbook or something, because besides cooking, eating, and blogging, the rest of my life has been dedicated to trying to learn things

I may have known at one point, but definitely don’t anymore.

Bacon Crusted Chicken

Ingredients
1 lb bacon
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut in half and pounded out
several tbsp of flour
2 eggs, whisked
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp olive oil

Directions

1. Line a baking dish with aluminium foil. Cover with bacon. Place in a cold oven and turn the heat on to 400. Cook bacon for approximately 20 minutes, or until desired doneness.

2. Drain the bacon and let cool. Once cool place in a food processor and process until well chopped.

3. In a shallow bowl, combine the bacon, flour, and spices. In another shallow bowl, combine the eggs.

4. Dip each piece of chicken in the eggs. Then cover with the bacon.

5. In a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat, heat the olive oil. Once hot add the chicken and cook for 3 minutes per side.

* serves 2
* shared with Full Plate Thursday & Showcase Your Talent Thursday

 

Better For Your Breakfast Sandwich

This month at Random Recipe’s, Dom challenged us to randomly choose a healthy recipe from our recipe collection. I only have one book dedicated to healthy food and I don’t currently have time to go through every book and every recipe to see if it qualifies for what I consider to be healthy. With ease in mind, I pulled the book off the shelf: Cook Yourself Thin a book based on a Lifetime TV show. Or was it the other way around?

Cook Yourself Thin is my favorite cookbook of all time. Dom challenged us to make recipes that are both healthy and happy – healthy recipes that make us smile. The best thing about Cook Yourself Thin is that everything I’ve made in the book so far has made me smile quite big. I opened the cookbook randomly to page 78, The Better For You Breakfast Sandwich. The book explains that this sandwich is meant to replace the traditional bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches with something healthier. This sandwich is approximately 300 calories – 300 calories of yum.

So.. I kind of predicted the one problem I’d have with the dish, but I decided to follow it to the tee anyway. The idea of a poached egg on a sandwich seemed sort of messy, but if the cookbook called for it.. Let’s do it! I made the sandwich and had some trouble getting the top piece of bread to stay on, but all was okay until I bit into the sandwich, only to look down to see egg yolk all over my shirt. The sandwich was delicious – I really liked the tomatoes. But oh man… That egg yolk was everywhere.

The Better For You Breakfast Sandwich

Ingredients
1 tbsp vinegar
2 English muffins
2 slices of colby jack cheese
2 thin slices of ham
2 eggs
2 slices tomato
1/2 tbsp dried oregano
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Fill a large, deep skillet of water to a depth of 4 inches. Add vinegar and bring to a steady simmer.

2. Arrange the muffin halves on a baking sheet and using a round biscuit cutter, cut each side of the bread into a round. Cut the cheese slices using the round biscuit cutter. Place a slice of cheese on the bottom half of each English muffin. Cut the slice of ham into shreds and place on top of the cheese. Transfer to the oven and bake until cheese melts and top halves are toasted, about 4 minutes.

3. As the muffins are cooking, spritz the tomato with some cooking spray. In a nonstick pan over medium-high heat, saute the tomato slices for 1 minute on each side. Then season with salt, pepper, and dried oregano. Set aside.

4. Break one egg into a small bowl. Hold the edge of the bowl close to the simmering water and gently tilt the bowl to our out the egg into the water. Repeat with the remaining egg. Cook until the whites are solid and the yolk is runny, about 3 minutes. Carefully remove the eggs one at a time with a slotted spoon. Transfer to a  plate with paper towels to let drain.

5. Remove the muffin halves from the oven and transfer to a plate. Place a slice of tomato on top of the ham and top with a poached egg. Season with salt and pepper and top with the other half of each muffin. Serve immediately.

* serves 2
* Besides Random Recipes, I’ve shared this recipe with Wednesday Whatsits & Cast Party Wednesdays

Cheesy Chicken Parmesan (take two)

 

I rarely remake dishes and then reblog about them. I mean, I often make recipes that I’ve made and posted about. But I just don’t usually post about them again, because what’s done is done. Right?

But this month, Cooking Around The World traveled to Italy. Whenever I think about Italian food, I think of chicken parmesan, because that’s what I order when I go to any Italian restaurant. Almost a year ago I posted a blog about my Cheesy Chicken Parmesan dish and have yet to find a chicken parmesan dish I prefer more.

GET THE RECIPE HERE

Chicken Kiev

 

Web surfing drifted up to Frugal in Florida‘s blog, where I found her recipe for Chicken Kiev. For those who don’t know, chicken kiev is a boneless piece of chicken, wrapped around herbed butter, breaded, and then either baked or fried. Seriously, this dish would have been great for either the stuffed or breaded versions of Pantry Party. But alas, I didn’t make it then I made it now.

My only failure with the dish was I think I should have added a hell of a lot more butter to the middle of the piece of chicken. The amount I added was good and super tasty, but it would have been even better with more of my spiced up butter.

This is NOT a recipe to try when you’re rushed for time. It’s not hard, but things need to sit awhile.

Chicken Kiev
(source)

Ingredients
1 stick of butter, room temperature
1 tsp parsley
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 eggs
1 tbsp water
2 cups breadcrumbs
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Directions

1. With a mixer beat together the butter, parsley, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Mold the butter into a stick and wrap in plastic wrap. Place in the freezer for several hours.

2. Pound each chicken breast to where it will be thin enough to roll.

3. Take the butter out of the freezer and slice into 6 slices. Setting 2 of the slices to the side, place a slice of butter in the center of each chicken breast. On top of the butter add 1 tbsp of breadcrumbs. Fold in the sides of the chicken breast and roll into a log. Place in a dish, seam side down. If the roll will not stay together, use toothpicks to hold together. Cover and place in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

4. In a shall dish beat together the eggs and water. Melt the remaining herb butter and place the butter, breadcrumbs, and parmesan in another shall dish.

5. Heat oven to 350. Dip the chicken in the egg mixture and then into the breadcrumbs, making sure to coat well. Bake for 30 minutes.

* serves 4
* shared with Weekend Cooking

Pantry Party June 2013 Announcement

Welcome to a round up featuring recipes you cook with ingredients found in your pantry. On the 1st of each month (well, this post is going up early because I got excited) I’ll announce the pantry party challenge of the month.  All you need to do is cook something based on the theme with at least one ingredient found in your pantry. Have some pasta? Some jelly? Some sauce? Flour? Sugar? Canned foods? We all have stuff pushed in our pantries that get forgotten about, so now is the time to make use of these otherwise forgotten foods.

On the 29th of each month I will post the round-up, with all the recipes and links to your blogs showcasing your contribution to the party.

I hope you’ll join me and explore your pantries!

How to Participate:

1. Visit The Law Student’s Cookbook on the 1st of each month to find out the Pantry Challenge Theme of the month.

2. Cook up something delicious based on the theme for the month with at least one ingredient found in your pantry.

3. Post the recipe on your blog. You can submit more than one recipe in a month if you wish, but all recipes must be current. If you don’t have a blog, you can still participate! Just send me an email with a write-up of your recipe, a picture, and any other information. I’ll make a post with recipes from readers who participated.

4. You must link to the announcement post for the given month in your blog post. If you wish, you can also use the graphic above in your post or sidebar (which you can find here.)

5. Email your recipes to elizabeth@crabtech.net no later than the 28th of each month. In the email include:

* Your name
* Your blog name
* Permalink to the blog post
* A photo of your recipe or permission to pull one from the post

6. On the 29th of each month visit The Law Student’s Cookbook for the recipe round up!

The theme for June is CHEESE.
Make a dish featuring items from your pantry that includes cheese! If you’re a vegan, by all means, use some vegan cheese and join us! Let your imagination run wild and create a cheesy dish with items from your pantry!