cook it: happy national grilled cheese day!

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Kelly

Apparently today is National Grilled Cheese Day! I don’t know about you, but I have always and will always love a good grilled cheese sandwich. Other than the original classic, I am particularly partial to ones that include bacon after a late-night diner stop during a trip to D.C. in the summer of 2010. However, there are countless other and much more creative ways to dress up a grilled cheese, and in case you aren’t fortunate enough to live nearby a restaurant such as Cleveland’s Melt Bar and Grilled, I’ve rounded up a bunch of grilled cheese recipes from ten awesome food blogs. Check them out!

Source: closetcooking.com via Kelly on Pinterest

Closet Cooking: top ten grilled cheese sandwiches, bacon guacamole grilled cheese, corned beef grilled cheese sandwich with Guinness caramelized onions, gyro grilled cheese sandwich, cinnamon apple swirl grilled cheese, breakfast grilled cheese sandwich with maple syrup, sundried tomato pesto grilled cheese, roast beef grilled cheese

Dinner: A Love Story: waffle-iron grilled cheese

Source: joanne-eatswellwithothers.com via Kelly on Pinterest

Eats Well With Others: honey curry bread with warm and spicy cashew tomato soup, grilled eggplant subs with fontina and tomato jam, grilled fig and brie sandwich,

Ezra Pound Cake: ultimate grilled cheese sandwich, grilled vegetables and goat cheese sandwich

Source: framedcooks.com via Kelly on Pinterest

Framed Cooks: asparagus grilled cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches on the actual grill, rosemary apple butter grilled cheese

How Sweet It Is: pure comfort food

Source: joythebaker.com via Kelly on Pinterest

Joy the Baker: coffee bacon sandwiches, fancy grilled cheese sandwiches

The Little Things: after-Christmas grilled cheese sandwich

Source: skinnytaste.com via Kelly on Pinterest

Skinnytaste: steak and cheese sandwiches with onions and mushrooms

Taste and Tell: grilled eggplant, prosciutto, and cheese panini, muffuletta-style grilled ham and cheese sandwiches, ham, egg, and cheese sandwiches with carrot-parsley salad, three cheese and tomato melt, toasted cheese sandwich

things i’ve been meaning to blog about, cook it edition: baked salmon

Posted on November 10, 2011 by Kelly

After I started a job in Columbus, life got very hectic and I took an unplanned break from this blog. Since leaving that job and moving again, I’ve returned and recommitted regularly blogging at Beagle & Bear. Part of that returns includes a blog series called “Things I’ve Been Meaning to Blog About,” which is made up of posts I intended to publish in summer or early fall but haven’t yet. This post is part of that series.

One of my presents upon graduation this past May was a Barnes & Noble gift card. I used it to buy the cookbook I am reading in the photo above: 100 Recipes Every Woman Should Know: Engagement Chicken and 99 Other Dishes to Get You Everything You Want in Life by Cindi Leive and the editors of Glamour.

I adore this cookbook. It has the readability and fun of an issue of Glamour, and the recipes are relatively uncomplicated and delicious. The star recipe in the cookbook is a meal called Engagement Chicken, which is accompanied by an explanation, stories, and a Hall of Fame list. In addition to an introduction and the Engagement Chicken story, the recipes are categorized into the following chapters: Breakfast and Brunch, Nibbles, Drinks, Soups and Salads, Meat and Poultry, Seafood, Pizza and Pasta, Meat-Free Mains, Sides, Cheap and Easy Meals, Sweets, and Menus. All the recipes have cute and cheeky names, such as He Stayed Over Omelets, Forget the Mistake You Made At Work Margarita, Get Him to Clean the Apartment Burgers, Instant Happiness Mac and Cheese, BFF Birthday Cake, etc. Each recipe is rated on a scale of one to three high heels, printed in pink and black, and is preceded by a short story explaining the background of and/or use for the recipe.

I made my first recipe from the book late this summer. Together Dan and I made Bikini Season Baked Salmon, although we slightly altered the ingredient list for our purposes. It was easy to make, tasted wonderful, and left us feeling satisfied and healthy.

Bikini Season Baked Salmon, adapted from Glamour magazine’s 100 Recipes Every Woman Should Know

Ingredients

Four-ounce skin-on salmon fillets

Sea salt and fresh ground pepper

Lemon salt

3 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup lemon juice

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Put the salmon skin-side down in a ceramic or glass baking pan. Rub the salmon fillets with 1 tablespoon olive oil and season generously with sea salt, lemon salt, and pepper. Let the salmon sit in the pan for 10 minutes.

2. Drizzle the white wine over the salmon. Put the pan in the oven and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the salmon fillets are opaque.

3. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix the lemon juice and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Top each salmon fillet with the lemon juice mixture and serve immediately.

weekly gems

Posted on November 4, 2011 by Kelly

Source: etsy.com via Kelly on Pinterest

Best. App. Ever.
An excellent idea for displaying and organizing a collection of sunglasses!
Secrets of people who rarely get sick.
Loved this Refinery 29 tour of Coach’s NYC offices!
Ten celebrity marriages that were even shorter than Kim and Kris’s crazy 72 days.
Will you join the thankful challenge?
I’m looking forward to all of the movies and shows featured in Buzz Sugar’s November Entertainment Must Haves!
Definitely want to try out these recipes: healthy and quick fish meals, cranberry pear sauce, sweet potato risotto, and whole wheat autumn apple pizza.
150 AWESOME gift ideas!
Ten things to do when insomnia strikes.
I adore these shoes!
Five tips for making your house appear cleaner than it is.
Inspiring wallpaper download for November from MML.
Love these weddings: one, two, and three.

cook it: new recipe

Posted on February 24, 2011 by Kelly

Okay, so I will admit this post is a bit belated – it’s about my Super Bowl Sunday! I spent the evening with one of my best friends, Claire. I don’t have cable or a digital TV, so instead of watching the Super Bowl, we made dinner and watched Away We Go. Not too shabby of an alternative, if I do say so myself ; )

Pasta & Broccoli

Ingredients:

- penne noodles (I recommend whole wheat)

- broccoli (frozen is fine)

- olive oil

- shredded mozzarella cheese

- pepper

Directions:

- Cook pasta as directed on box.

- Once the pasta has been in the water for a few minutes, you need to work on the broccoli. You should begin the broccoli before the water for the pasta begins to boil.

- If broccoli is frozen, warm it up in the microwave (my favorite frozen vegetable brand is Steamfresh).

- Once the broccoli is warmed up, pour some olive oil into a pan and saute the broccoli.

- Around this time, the pasta should be finishing up with its boiling. Drain pasta and return to pot. Pour in a bit of olive oil and add as much pepper as you desire.

- Add broccoli to pot with pasta.

- Add mozzarella cheese.

- Mix together broccoli, cheese, and pasta.

- EAT! Serve with a white wine and enjoy with good company.

*This dish is good both warm right after being made and cold as lunch the next day.

If you make this dish, please let me know what you think! : )

cook it: winter salad

Posted on January 31, 2011 by Kelly

Last week, the boyfriend and I decided to get creative while making dinner. We made a delicious winter salad. We used the following ingredients:

organic baby spinach and red cabbage
chicken
turkey bacon
smokehouse maple seasoning (for the meat)
corn
chickpeas
extra virgin olive oil (to cook the meat in & for a light dressing)

Simply cook the chicken and turkey bacon as normal, seasoned with McCormick’s smokehouse maple, and mix it along with the other ingredients. Use whatever dressing you’d like. We just used a little bit of olive oil.