Italian-Style Quesadillas

The idea for this recipe was inspired by tortillas left over from these quesadillas and the fresh mozzarella remaining after I made these paninis. I thought making an Italian version of quesadillas, complete with tomato sauce for dipping, sounded like a delicious idea -- and it was. My brainstorm gave us a quick and easy dinner that took only 10 minutes from start to finish. And these were so, so good -- just look at all that cheese oozing out the sides!

This is a really versatile dish; as Rachael Ray would say, it's more about learning a method rather than a recipe. I chose to use pepperoni, salami, and fresh mozzarella for my filling, but any shredded Italian cheese would do, and any combination of meats and veggies would be delicious. And as for the sauce -- I suppose you could make your own quite easily, but I was perfectly content with a jarred tomato basil sauce that I jazzed up myself with my favorite blend of Italian spices. These would be a perfect appetizer to serve for a Super Bowl party, and they're a simple and delicious dinner choice any night of the week. I think kids would really love them, too. I'll have to test them out on Andrew in a few years!

Italian-Style Quesadillas
Source: Cassie

4 eight-inch flour tortillas
1/2 pound deli-sliced pepperoni
1/2 pound deli-sliced Genoa salami
12 slices fresh mozzarella cheese
1 cup jarred tomato sauce

1. To prepare the sauce, in a small pot cook sauce on medium heat or until heated through, seasoning as desired.

2. To prepare the quesadillas, top half of each tortilla with pepperoni, salami, and 3 slices of fresh mozzarella. Fold in half. Cook tortillas in a non-stick skillet until browned on both sides. Cut into wedges and serve immediately, with the sauce for dipping.

Caprese Paninis

My husband got me a panini press for Christmas, and I decided to christen it with my very favorite panini: a caprese panini.

I don't know if there's anything better than a caprese salad. Buttery fresh mozzarella, crisp, sweet tomatoes, cloying, licorice-y basil, topped with balsamic vinegar and olive oil? It just doesn't get any better than that. Well, I guess the one thing better would be if you put all of that between two slices of bread, which is what I did last night.

I wish I'd had thicker bread, but I had to use plain ol' white bread because it was all I had on hand. Nevertheless, these sandwiches were heavenly, and they paired perfectly with the soup I made. And pardon the crappy picture; I still can't figure out the best way to photograph a sandwich. Oy.

Caprese Paninis

Source: Cassie

Olive oil

4 slices thick-cut bread

6 slices fresh mozzarella cheese

2 slices tomato

4 leaves basil

Balsamic vinegar

Salt and pepper

1. Brush both sides of a panini press with olive oil. Top bread with mozzarella cheese, tomato, and basil; sprinkle with salt and pepper, and drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

2. Cook until bread is crisp and cheese is melted, 3 to 5 minutes.

Basil Tortellini Soup

Since the other recipe I made out of this special edition magazine didn't work out so well, I decided I'd make another one just for good measure. I don't want this "cookbook" to get a bad rap, because there really are lots of delicious recipes in it. And this soup is one of them.

Screw traditional chicken noodle soup; whenever I'm sick from now on, this is the soup I'm making for myself. It's so simple and so tasty. And let me tell you, it was so nice to work with fresh basil; the scent of it brought a little bit of summer into my kitchen, as the snow continued to fall outside. I was worried this soup would be underseasoned, but it wasn't. The balsamic vinegar adds a nice depth of flavor, and I love that the recipe calls for fresh tomatoes. It looked so pretty, bubbling away on the stove:

This soup was quick, simple, and delicious...my kind of food!

Basil Tortellini Soup

Source: Taste of Homes Recipe Card Collection (special edition magazine); also found here

4 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 package (9 ounces) refrigerated cheese tortellini

1 can (15 ounces) white kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 cup chopped fresh tomato

1/3 to 1/2 cup shredded fresh basil

1 to 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese

1. In a large saucepan, bring broth to a boil. Add tortellini; cook until tender, about 6 minutes.

2. Stir in the beans, tomato and basil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Add the vinegar, salt and pepper. Serve with cheese.

Chai-Spiced Bread

Let me just put this out there: Yeast scares me. Okay, it doesn't make me want to run away in fear, but it does intimidate me. I'm sure I'm missing a world of lovely homemade breads due to my yeast phobia, but I really feel okay about that as long as there are delicious quick breads like this one out there for me to bake.

This bread is so yummy; it is the true definition of "spicy." I don't mean it's hot, but rather that it's full of delicious spices that dance on the tongue. The bread itself is not incredibly sweet, which makes it a perfect balance to the powdered sugar glaze. This was a great use for the ground cardamom that's been sitting in my spice cabinet since I last used it in October, just waiting to come out and play. This bread isn't as moist as some of the other quick breads I've made, but it was still incredibly good. It was the perfect thing to warm me up on a chilly, snowy day!

Chai-Spiced Bread
Source: Betty Crocker Annual Recipes 2009

For the bread:
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup prepared tea or water
1/3 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

For the glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
3 to 5 teaspoons milk (I ended up using about 6)
Additional ground cinnamon

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease bottom only of 8 x 4- or 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with shortening or cooking spray.

2. In large bowl, beat granulated sugar and butter with electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy. On low speed, beat in tea or water, 1/3 cup milk, 2 teaspoons vanilla and the eggs until ingredients are well-combined (will appear curdled). Stir in remaining bread ingredients just until moistened. Pour into pan.

3. Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on cooking rack 10 minutes. Loosen sides of loaf from pan; remove from pan to cooling rack. Cool 30 minutes.

4. In small bowl, stir powdered sugar, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla and 3 teaspoons of the milk, adding more milk by teaspoonfuls, until spreadable. Spread glaze over bread. Sprinkle with additional cinnamon. Cool completely, about 2 hours, before slicing.

Beef and Baked Potato...Casserole?

I debated whether or not to even post this recipe, since it sort of turned out to be a disaster. Well, okay, it wasn't a disaster, but I had a few...issues while I was putting it together. And since this blog is supposed to be about my messes as well as my successes in the kitchen, here it is: a mess.

The beef mixture was supposed to be stuffed inside hollowed-out baked potatoes, but as you can see from the above picture, that didn't happen for me. When I tried to scoop out the meat of the potato, I kept tearing the skin (even though I was being "careful," just as the recipe instructed). About halfway through, I was getting frustrated and thought, "Screw it. I'll just turn it into a casserole." And that's what I did. I'm not a big baked-potato-skin person, anyway. (Also, I somehow spilled the can of green chiles all over myself, because I'm just graceful like that. Thankfully, most of them were salvageable.)

This is just an okay recipe. And I think I can judge it fairly, since really the only thing my version was missing was the potato skins. Even with the green chiles and chili powder, it was a little bit bland. I can't pinpoint what exactly it needed, but it definitely needed something.

I've posted a link to the original recipe, since maybe some of you out there know how to stuff a potato better than I do. That's what I get for trying to do something fussy!

Beef-Stuffed Potatoes (or, Beef and Baked Potato Casserole)
Source: adapted from Taste of Home's Recipe Card Collection (special edition magazine); original recipe can be found here

6 medium baking potatoes
1 pound ground beef
2 tablespoons chopped onion
1/3 cup sour cream
1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chiles
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1. Bake potatoes at 375 degrees for 1 hour or until tender. Cool. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook the beef and onion over medium heat until the meat is no longer pink; drain.

2. Cut a thin slice off the top of each potato and scoop out pulp, discarding most of the skins. Place pulp in bowl and add sour cream, chilies, butter, Worcestershire sauce, salt, garlic powder and chili powder; mash or beat. Stir in meat mixture until combined.

3. Pour into a 2-quart casserole dish and sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until heated through.