Grilled Ham and Cheese with Mustard

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Grilled sandwiches are always great this time of year, and grilled ham and cheese is a classic. But that isn’t the reason I made this recipe. This recipe is different because it uses a new way to grill your sandwich. Instead of smearing mayo or butter onto your bread, this sandwich was made by adding oil and butter into the pan to accomplish the same thing. This is a special technique because normal butter would begin to burn very quickly, so butter and oil is used to give you more time before the butter is so hot it begins to burn. Otherwise, mustard, ham and cheese is a great sandwich to try this technique with and you won’t be disappointed! The recipe below is enough to make 2 sandwiches, enough for 2 adults.

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What You Will Need

  • 1 Tbsp Butter
  • 2 Tbsp Oil
  • 4 Slices of Bread
  • 1 Cup Shredded Mozzarella
  • 1 Cup Shredded Sharp Cheddar
  • 4 Slices of Ham
  • 2 Tbsp Yellow Mustard
  • Frying Pan
  • Spatula

Directions

1. Assemble your sandwich, by layering with bread, cheddar, ham, mozzarella, mustard, then top bread. Heat pan over medium heat. Add oil and butter and heat until butter is melted.

2. Add sandwich and cook on the first side for 3-4 minutes until browned, flip your sandwich and cook for another 3-4 minutes until browned, and press on the sandwich. Remove from pan and plate.

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New Fire Pit and Tilapia Foil Packet Dinner

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We had an old fire pit in our backyard that was here when we bought the house this summer. It had minor rust, but it was still good enough to use. We left it out this winter, and to no surprise, most of the bowl had rusted out. We did one fire earlier this summer, but we lost not only ash out the bottom of the fire pit, but flaming coals as well! It was decided we needed to do something to update it. My In-law’s family has unlimited supply of oil barrels, and that was our source. First, we cut off the bottom 2 feet of the barrel using an angle grinder. We smoothed out the edge to make it less hazardous. Second, we disassembled the old fire pit. I really liked the mosaic ring, so my husband used the ring to hold the legs together as a rim, and welded it to the barrel to prevent our cover from falling in. He drilled several drainage holes in the bottom and air holes down the sides, we washed it out, put it in place, then added the stone ring. For our first fire it did very well. A barrel is pretty big for a fire pit, so if you plan to do the same, be sure to keep the fire small and contained. This fire pit also got extremely hot. The metal barrel was over 700 F, and the ground around it reached over 350 F with just 2 hours of use.

We cooked our packets over this fire pit. The grate we have is an old shelf from an oven, and was unphased after being licked by the flames. 15 minutes was long enough over our fire, but with even a smaller fire, 20 minutes should be more than enough. Everything was delicious, and there were no complaints. This recipe makes 2 packets, enough for 2 adult sized servings.

What You Will Need

  • 2 Potatoes, cleaned and diced
  • 1 Medium Onion, halved and sliced
  • 1/2 Green Pepper, sliced
  • 2 Garlic cloves, peeled and minced
  • 4 Tbsp Oil
  • 2 Tilapia fillets
  • 2 Tbsp Italian Seasoning
  • 2 Aluminum foil segments

Directions

  1. Place pieces of foil on the counter. Add Potatoes. onion, pepper, garlic, and oil evenly between foil pieces. Add tilapia on top. Add Italian seasoning, then seal up foil packet. (Optional) Add extra foil for extra strength.
  2. Build a nice large fire. Place grate over fire. Adjust fire so flames don’t touch the grate. Carefully, add packets over fire. Cook for 15 minutes. Move grate if fire jumps up to touch foil consistently, or if fire goes out under a packet.
  3. Transfer to a thick plate. Carefully open packets, and let cool for 5 minutes before eating.
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Ground Beef and Tomato Curry

Curry is an easy dish to make, but all you really need is the spices. I’ve made curry before, but this time I tried a couple different things. This time I used tomato products, and I added enough spices to get some actual spiciness off of the curry. Curry makes a lot of food, and after eating it for several days, we froze the remainder to enjoy again later. The hot spice on this curry mellowed out over time, but I inevitably froze it due to eating up all the white rice I had cooked with it. And, as long as you don’t mix in the rice, the curry will reheat with the same texture and flavor after it’s been frozen. This curry recipe makes approximately 11 adult sized servings. Finally, for this recipe I used leftover sauce from a stromboli we had gotten about a week prior, and I diced up the leftover grilled zucchini, so I didn’t have to heat it as long as you will if you are starting from raw.

  1. In a medium saucepan, add 1 1/2 cup of rice. Rinse the rice under running water until the runoff is almost completely opaque (4-5 rinses). Add 2 cups of water to the rinsed rice, then add to stove over medium heat. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover and reduce heat to low, then cook for 18-20 minutes. Then, remove from heat.
  2. In a large dutch oven, add 1 qt of diced tomatoes and juice, and 1/2 a jar of tomato sauce. Turn heat to medium low and cover.
  3. In a frying pan, brown and breakup 1 pound of ground beef. Dice an onion and add 1/2 to the beef, cook till translucent. Add the beef and onion to your dutch oven. Add 1 Tbsp oil to your pan. Dice and add 2-3 small zucchini to the pan and cook until very tender. Add zucchini to your dutch oven.
  4. Turn your dutch oven heat to medium-high. Bring mixture to a simmer. Once simmering, add 1 Tbsp curry powder, 1/2 Tbsp cumin, 1 Tbsp chili powder, 1/2 Tbsp ground ginger, 2 tsp Cayenne pepper powder, 1 tsp cinnamon, and 2 tsp paprika. Stir. Cook until rice is done, but for at least 4-5 minutes to let the flavor permeate.
  5. Serve curry over rice.

Grilled Butter Tilapia

Tilapia is a great fish for those that don’t like the fishy flavor. Tilapia is also very healthy and adds very little fat to your diet. This recipe makes a delicious flavorful fish that has the added flavor of the herbs and fats of butter. You could substitute butter for coconut oil or avocado oil, you’d just need to add a small pinch of salt to help with flavor. Italian seasoning also consists of marjoram, oregano, thyme, basil, sage, rosemary, and parsley.

  1. Begin heating your grill to 350 F – 400 F.
  2. Place 2 fillets of Tilapia on a large piece of aluminum foil. Heavily sprinkle with Italian seasoning and add 3 Tbsp of butter. Seal your packet tightly.
  3. Place the packet onto the grill over a medium heat area. Close the grill and cook for 8 minutes. Using a spatula and thongs, remove the packet from the heat and transfer to serving plate. Carefully cut open packet and serve tilapia right away.

Grilled Zucchini

Zucchini is a plant where you only have to plant a couple, and soon you’ll be up to your nose in fruits! I didn’t grow up with zucchini, and I’m not a big fan of their texture. Because of this, when I get them, I have to come up with creative ways to try and enjoy them. This was of preparing zucchini was pretty good. I enjoyed it and made me think zucchinis aren’t that bad. It you aren’t a big fan of zucchinis, this is a good opportunity to try them with a different flavor and texture!

  1. Wash your zucchini. Place on a cutting board and cut them into quarters as long sticks.
  2. Heat your grill to a temperature of 300 F with the lid closed. Place the zucchini on the grates with an inside face down. Brush with oil, and sprinkle with Italian seasoning.
  3. Grill for 2-3 minutes, then flip to another inside face. Grill for another 2-3 minutes, then flip it to the back, and close lid for 10 minutes.
  4. Remove from grill and place on a serving plate. Serve right away.

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