Becky Anderson Photography – Kalamazoo on-location photographer specializing in newborn, maternity, children and family photography

If you don’t want to be addicted, do not try this one.  I discovered this recipe before Christmas…we have made it many times since.  It always goes fast!

1.  Line cookie sheet with aluminum foil and make a single layer of saltine crackers (one sleeve of crackers works well on my cookie sheet).

2.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

3.  Melt 2 sticks of butter and add 1 cup brown sugar.  Stir until boiling.  Continue to boil for 3 minutes.

4.  Pour hot sugar butter mixture over saltines and bake for 6-7 minutes.

5.  Melt 4 squares of semi-sweet baking chocolate.

6.  Remove cookie sheet carefully (liquidly and HOT!).  Pour chocolate on top and spread with spatula.

7.  Cool and then place in the freezer.

8.  Once frozen, break into pieces.

We enjoy it right out of the freezer – less chocolate mess that way too.  Unless you are 3 years old.

With my obsession of roasted tomato soup, we decided to branch out with our grilled cheese sandwiches.  This is our first attempt.

2 slices bakery stoneground whole wheat bread
horseradish mustard
1 granny smith apple, sliced thinly
1 slice orange cheddar
1 handful of shredded extra sharp white cheddar

butter for the outside

This sandwich was FABULOUS!  I love it.  Definitely worth a try.  Branch out your grilled cheese!

We cooked it on a cast iron grill pan from IKEA (love IKEA!) and since we don’t have the panini press to go on top, we improvised.  If you have heavy pots and pans (more cast iron), you can just set those on top of the sandwich.  Unfortunately our pots are lightweight so I added weight with a full water bottle.  I have also used a can of tomatoes in the pot to press it down.  Where there is a will, there is a way.

By the way, I prewrote this and scheduled it to post.  I am currently lying by the pool in Florida.  Cheers!

If you have been a blog reader of mine for awhile, you might remember my weekend dish posts.  The very first one is here.   If you want to see them all, go here.   Weekend Dish went by the wayside when we were selling our house and moving to the city.  But now we are back!!!!

In this recipe, we cooked two things we have never used before: kale (one of the newest superfoods) and garganelli pasta (square pasta rolled into a tube).  When we decided to use kale and make some kind of pasta, I did a little research.  Most greens (broccoli rabe, escarole and kale) were paired with sausage in most of the recipes that I had found.  I was inspired by this post on Bitchin’ Camaro blog.

1 lb turkey italian sausage
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1 can of tomatoes
olive oil
kale, one big bunch, destemmed and chopped
1 can garbanzo beans (drained and rinsed)
parmesean-reggiano, grated
garganelli cooked al dente

1.  Remove sausage from casing and crumble into hot pan with olive oil.  Brown sausage.

2.  Add chickpeas and onions and continue to saute.

3.   Add kale and cook about 5 -6 minutes until it wilts.

4.  Add can of tomatoes, including juices.

5.  Simmer 10 minutes.

Serve over pasta and top with parmesean reggiano.

Notes on this recipe:

1.  I was going to put tomatoes and kale in at the same time but there was no room…the pan was completely full of kale.  Once the kale cooked down, I added the tomatoes.

2.  I forgot to add the garlic early on so I added it when I added the tomatoes.

3.  We thought we had bought hot italian sausage but must have gotten the sweet.  So we added crushed red pepper flakes before serving.

4.  It was really good the first night but we ate it again today for lunch…and it was 10 times better!!!! We will definitely make it again.

5.  Hannah loved the sausage and chickpeas but isn’t a big tomato fan.