cheese – Page 2 – Loving Food, Fashion, & Life

Eggbert's Sunriser—A Hash Brown Goulash

Posted on March 1, 2014 by LFFL

Made with frozen diced hash browns, frozen steak fries, canola oil, salt & pepper, butter, onion, green bell pepper, red bell pepper, diced ham, sharp cheddar cheese, eggs, and salsa.

This was a big pile of goulash with a little bit of everything thrown into it—or so it seemed. I don’t think it really mattered what you put into this.

Once again, I must say—this would have probably tasted SO much better had I made my own hash browns from scratch instead of using the frozen store-bought kind that the recipe called for. I mean, I just followed recipe directions and, soon after, regretted getting the frozen variety.

I thought this was a pretty good dish for goulash, but “real” potatoes would have made a BIG difference—I know for a fact.

Melt the cheese in the oven.

Cook the steak fries.

Cook the hash browns.

Sautee the veggies & ham.

Top with shredded cheese.

Cheese melted.

And although a jalapeño is optional for this recipe, I did buy one just in case I wanted to use it. I’m not a spicy foods girl so I was reluctant to even bother with it. As I sliced the jalepeño, I made the mistake of chopping a teeny tiny part and tasting it. That was a HUGE MISTAKE!!! And I mean HUGE!

I didn’t realize my tongue and lips were going to burn for an eternity while I sucked ice cubes, drank milk, soaked cotton balls in milk and put them on my tongue, and everything else I could think of to put out the fire—OH THE MISERY!! Why would I think a piece of jalapeño THAT tiny would burn the dickens out of my mouth?!

Needless to say, that darn jalapeño went straight to the garbage and never made an appearance into the recipe or my LIFE ever again!

Once you’re done with the goulash, make some eggs to your liking and top the goulash with the eggs and some salsa.

Recipe for—Eggbert’s Sunriser

So, if you have nothing else to do today, try your hand at some hash brown goulash with some fresh potatoes.

Take-Away Life Lesson: NEVER pop a raw jalapeño piece into your mouth to taste it no matter how tiny of a piece it is unless you have about 30-45 minutes to set yourself on fire.

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A Patty Melt Day

Posted on February 17, 2014 by LFFL

Made with butter, onions, ground beef, Worcestershire sauce, salt & pepper, Swiss cheese, and sourdough bread.

A lot of the recipes I make I either see on the Food Network or in one of the food magazines I get each month. I usually decide what to make based on:

What I feel like eating that day
How delectable the dish looks on television or in the magazines
Observing the whole process involved in making a dish because I don’t like overly complicated recipes that would wear me out

Today was a simple patty melt day.

Carmelizing the onions.

Cooking the beef patties.

Grilling the sandwich golden brown.

Ready to eat.

This turned out to be a pretty good burger, but I must say I think I prefer a different type of cheese other than Swiss for my burgers—like maybe cheddar. I also missed my ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise toppings.

I didn’t want to turn the burger into something else entirely, so I opted to eat it as is. And though it was good, all I thought about was cheddar cheese and ketchup during the eating process.

Recipe for—Patty Melts

So, if you have nothing else to do today, try a patty melt the recipe way or spruce it up and make it your way.

Take-Away Life Lesson: When you’re missing and wanting ketchup and cheddar cheese, just go get the ketchup and cheddar cheese. Life’s too short not to have the condiments and side items you really want.

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Drunken Goat Grilled Cheese

Posted on February 16, 2014 by LFFL

Made with sourdough bread, drunken goat cheese, baby arugula, butter, and roasted shallot mayo.
Roasted Shallot Mayo made with shallot, garlic clove, olive oil, salt & pepper, and mayonnaise.

Well, this was my first time having drunken goat cheese. Even though I had never heard of drunken goat cheese before, I already knew where I’d easily be able to locate some—at the health food store.

Whole Foods has hundreds of every type of cheese imaginable. When I went to the cheese department to ask for it, they gave me a sample of it. I could really taste the wine inside the cheese. It was marvelous—then again, I’m a cheese lover through and through after all.

Roasting the shallot and garlic in the oven for an hour caused the kitchen to have that strong garlicky smell just permeating throughout the house.

I ended up with WAY more arugula than what was required for two sandwiches. There was only one size arugula container for purchasing. I had no other use for the rest of it and I certainly didn’t want to make 30 grilled cheese sandwiches!

The recipe didn’t specifically say to spread both sides of both slices of bread with the mayonnaise mixture, but you’d probably want to in order to get that crisp golden brown color on each slice as it’s frying side down in the skillet.

Recipe for—Drunken Goat Grilled Cheese

So, if you have nothing else to do today, try a sample of drunken goat cheese at your local store and then wander home and make a grilled cheese sandwich out of it.

Take-Away Life Lesson: Make sure you can put the rest of the huge batch of arugula to use for some other reason if the only possible size that you can buy it in is a large batch to begin with.

Divine Hot Potatoes

Posted on February 9, 2014 by LFFL

Made with small yellow potatoes, olive oil, salt & pepper, butter, and Parmesan cheese.

This was one of the most quick and simple things I’ve ever made. I love when I find recipes like this. They didn’t last long at all once they came out of the oven. I just couldn’t get enough of them. They became my snacks throughout the day.

These potatoes were SO good that I had to make a second batch of them the very next day. But I used cheddar cheese instead of Parmesan for the next go round. Those didn’t last but a hot second, too.

Boil potatoes in water.

Line potatoes on a baking sheet.

Mash and top with all the fixins.

I did have to add a little extra salt for a tad more flavor once they hit my plate but, nonetheless, I had a good time!

I try not to over-salt things during the cooking process because I can always add more salt after it’s done to suit my taste level. Once you over-salt in cooking, you’ve pretty much ruined it—helpful tip to keep in mind.

Recipe for—Hot Potatoes

So, if you have nothing else to do today, get to know the small yellow potatoes in your local grocery store because you might really want to try these.

Take-Away Life Lesson: Sometimes it’s the least complicated recipes that really can come out the best.

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A Deluxe Breakfast Bake

Posted on February 2, 2014 by LFFL

Made with garlic & cheese croutons, cheddar cheese, ham, eggs, milk, ground mustard, cream of mushroom soup, frozen hash browns, paprika, and pepper.

So I tried a breakfast bake that actually looked and sounded better in the food magazine than it actually did in real life. Well, I guess it looked just fine but the taste was just so-so. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t as fabulous as I would have liked.

Needless to say, this won’t be staying around for my recipe binder. It was good enough that I was happy I had something to eat all week. It was just fine, but it didn’t have that “wow” factor. You know?

The croutons

Ham & cheese

Add the egg mixture

Spread the cream of mushroom

Top with shredded hashbrowns

And don’t get me started on frozen hash browns vs. freshly shredded potatoes. Talk about a taste difference! There is clearly a difference, people.

Recipe for—Deluxe Breakfast Bake

So, if you have nothing else to do today, try making your own breakfast bake putting your own little spin on it and concocting it your way.

Take-Away Life Lesson: Try using fresh potatoes where a recipe calls for frozen hash browns. I bet it’ll make loads of difference just with the potato taste alone.

The Leftovers Are Just As Amazing

Posted on January 15, 2014 by LFFL

This mac & cheese was SO good even several days later. I decided this would be my lunch for work every day this week. I just love when I can make a big dish of something and have it last all week.

Oh, I wish you could have just smelled the wonderful smells permeating from this bowl when I pulled it from the microwave, walked back to my desk, and slowly lifted that lid for all the steam to swoop out and travel around the office. Who am I to deny my fellow co-workers the lovely smells of life?

Of course, all those around me were wondering where that glorious smell was coming from. That smoked cheddar really does wonders in the smell and the taste department. Someone even thought there was bacon in it even though there’s not. No—it was probably the smoked cheddar they were smelling. Just keep your distance from my desk and stay away from my food!

I oooo’ed and ahhhh’ed my way through lunch and couldn’t wait for a second helping at home for dinner.

So, if you have nothing else to do today, enjoy your leftovers at home, at work, or wherever. Let others get a chance to whiff those glorious smells coming from your lovely leftovers.

Take-Away Life Lesson: Guard your food with your life as others are walking past trying to discover where those delicious food smells are coming from. You never know when you’ll have to fight to the death.

I Can't Get Enough Of Macaroni & Cheese

Posted on January 12, 2014 by LFFL

Made with Cavatappi pasta, sharp cheddar cheese, pepper jack cheese, smoked white cheddar cheese, Gouda cheese, milk, salt & pepper, red pepper flakes, Cheez-Its, and Parmesan cheese.

Well, Miss Nancy of “Feasting With Friends” had to go showing off macaroni and cheese in my face as if I haven’t had enough of it already. And it looked marvelously good. It’s all I could think about since she posted it to her blog.

So I had no other choice but to hop my way to the grocery store to get said ingredients.

Because Nancy suggests NOT using pre-packaged cheeses, my right arm is now 10 times the size of my left arm with all the grating I had to do. Yeah, there were lashings of cheeses all over the place once the shredding was done—but I’m not complaining.

Cheesy sauce

Cheesy sauce over the pasta

Once all the cheeses melted into the milk, it was drenched all over the pasta.

Now it’s ready for baking in the oven. I didn’t make mines quite as soupy as Nancy did and I had much bigger hunks of Cheez-Its for the topping. It turned out OH SO DELICIOUS!

Thank you, Miss Nancy for shoving mac & cheese in my face! It made my day.

Recipe for—Nancy’s Macaroni & Cheese

So, if you have nothing else to do today, try either making or eating some homemade macaroni and cheese—or both. If for no other reason than the love of cheese.

Take-Away Life Lesson: Apparently grating lots of cheese for a long period of time can give your one arm that Incredible Hulk look—which basically puts weights/dumbbells out of business. Don’t forget to switch off arms lest you walk around with one skinny arm and one bulky arm.

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