Lemon Rice Pilaf

This is a tasty and simple rice dish.  I used olive oil to make it healthier, and I just used about 1/4 cup of diced yellow onion in place of the green onions.

Lemon Rice Pilaf

1/4 c. butter or olive oil
4 celery ribs, sliced
6 green onions, sliced
2 C. uncooked long-grain white rice
2 cans chicken broth (14 oz. each)
2 Tbsp grated lemon rind
salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter (or heat the olive oil) in a large skillet over medium-high heat; saute celery and onions until tender.  Stir in rice; saute 2 minutes or until golden.  Add broth; bring to a boil.  Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until rice is tender.  Stir in rind, salt, and pepper.
Yield 6 side-dish servings.

Recipe adapted slightly from the all-new ultimate Southern Living Cookbook

Avocado and Egg Flat Breads

These are so yummy!  The dough is really chewy and soft (which is always a winner in my book).  You can just make guacamole the way you normally do or you can follow this recipe - either way would work.  I didn't add any hot sauce, but I'm sure it would be good.
This came from http://www.thekitchn.com/ as a breakfast recipe, but I served it for dinner and I think I'd prefer that to breakfast.

Avocado and Egg Flat Breads

For the dough:
3/4 cups (6 ounces) warm water
1 teaspoon active-dry or instant yeast
2 cups (10 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour  (plus or minus)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Toppings:

1 large Hass avocado
1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro
1 teaspoons lime juice
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Hot sauce, for serving (optional)

In mixing bowl combine water and yeast and let bubble.  Add salt and slowly add flour until you have a good dough consistency (we all know what that is right?).  Knead in mixer for about 5 minutes.  Let rest.

In a medium bowl add pitted and peeled avocado, cilantro, lime juice and salt. Mash with a fork until smooth with a few chunks of avocado. Taste and adjust seasoning. (Depending on the size of your avocado, you may need more salt or lime juice.) Set aside.

Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces. On a well-floured cutting board, roll each piece into a thin, 6-inch circle. (If the dough keeps springing back as you roll it, let it rest for a few minutes to relax the gluten and try again.)

Heat a well-seasoned cast iron skillet (see note) over medium-high heat until very hot. Pour in a small amount of oil and place one of the dough circles in the center of the skillet. Cook for 1-2 minutes, until the underside is browned and the top surface is bubbly. Flip and cook other side until browned, pressing down with a spatula if the dough puffs up off the bottom of the pan. It may be charred in spots, which is fine. Remove to a plate and repeat with remaining dough circles. 

Spread 1/4 of the avocado mixture onto each cooked piece of dough.

Fry eggs to desired doneness and place each one on top of each flat bread piece. Serve immediately, with or without a drizzle of hot sauce.

Additional Notes

• The dough can be cooked up to 1 day ahead and stored in an airtight container. (It will be softer than when freshly made.) Warm in the oven or on a skillet before adding the toppings.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

Chad declared this was 5 stars! 5 thumbs up! 5 children...  Heh heh, we can't do much around here without someone quoting Studio C.

Anyway, I actually used cauliflower and broccoli because I didn't have enough of just broccoli. And I learned that you can use broccoli stems, especially for things like this soup. You just peel the tough outer part with a vegetable peeler and the inside is nicely flavored and tender! It always kind of bugged me to throw away half of what you purchased with broccoli. The original recipe called for bacon too, but I didn't put any in and it was still yummy!

Broccoli Cheese Soup
3 T. olive oil
1/4 c. chopped onion
3 T. flour
1 1/4 lbs broccoli and/or cauliflower, cut into pieces
4 c. chicken broth
1 c. milk
1/2 tsp. salt
pepper, to taste
1/2 c. heavy cream
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

In a large pot over medium heat, saute the onion in the olive oil until softened. Whisk in the flour and cook 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly.
Add the broccoli and/or cauliflower, broth, milk, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes or until the vegetables can be pierced easily with a fork.
Blend until smooth with an immersion blender or in batches with a counter top blender.
Stir in the cream and cheddar and heat through.

Adapted from 100 Days of Real Food.com

Zesty Grilled Sandwiches

These are super delish, but be prepared to be thirsty afterwards... they're salty!

Zesty Grilled Sandwiches

Ingredients

• 8 slices sourdough bread
• 16 slices deli ham
• 4 slices provolone cheese
• 1 cup deli coleslaw
• 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

• On four slices of bread, layer the ham, provolone cheese, coleslaw
• and cheddar cheese. Top with remaining bread slices. Spread oil on
• outsides of sandwiches.
•  
• On a griddle, toast sandwiches until bread is lightly browned on both
• sides. Yield: 4 servings.