Great Minds...

Apparently the UDG isn't the only salad connoisseur this week. The local newspaper does a food section every Wednesday, which my saintly coworker (the one who gave me the quesadilla maker) brings to me since I'm not cool enough to have a subscription (yes having a newspaper delivered to you, even if it's just your local two page rag, makes you cool). Today, the food section featured this:

Now to find out who Jacques Pepin is...

In the meantime, I think I'll focus on today's salad. Ever since I was a little girl, traipsing behind my mom while she gardened, I've had an affinity for cucumbers. I don't even peel them half the time because I just want to eat them so badly. So once again turning to Allrecipes.com, I made a lovely cucumber salad. Two things: could've used more vinegar and I added Feta. I know, big surprise, I threw cheese on it but strangely enough, it could've used MORE Feta. Pretty unbelievable, huh?? I let it marinate in the fridge for about an hour (sans Feta) and it was delish. I'm left with quite a bit of leftover dressing, though, and what goes best with Feta and dill? That's right, baby carrots. One for Mandie, one for Melodie, one for Bubbles, half for Juice and the rest of the bag for this girl. 

I know this is completely colorless but if you're looking for food art check out  For the Love of Cooking. Girl knows how to take a quality photo.

Food Friday...Kind of

**So obviously it's not Friday but after I underwent internal combustion on Friday, I had to put off this post. I needed to lay in my recliner with my remote in one hand and my pants unbuttoned. In other words, I needed to be a man. A woman would have come home, poured herself a cocktail and finished Panini Week off strong. I chose another path. Don't judge me. Instead, please proceed to our normally scheduled post.**

 Since I used some of our Christmas money to buy the George Foreman, I've been meaning to try paninis on it. I should say try again, as the first time I tried, I used normal slices of wheat bread which were crushed under the weight of the lid. Note to self: use more substantial bread. Hence, the induction of Panini Week.

Monday: Grilled Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese!!!!!!!!!!

  So to kick off Panini Week, I relied on an old standby-the grilled cheese. Now if it wasn't for my toaster oven, I would've given up on standard grilled cheese a long time ago. I don't think I was meant to cook in a pan; it just ends with pizza being ordered and endless scrubbing of aforementioned pan. To make a grilled cheese sandwich now, I put American cheese between two slices of bread and stick it in the toaster oven until the cheese is melted. What would the UDG be without her appliances?? (most likely just UD)
   For my grilled cheese, I used Pepperjack and Cheddar Cheese Sourdough purchased at the From The Hearth Bakery Cafe stall at our Farmer's Market (which is wonderful slathered with cream cheese! not just for bagels people!). The all important cheese portion was a mixture of shredded mozzarella and thinly sliced sharp cheddar (once you go sharp...never mind). I buttered the outside of the bread with, uh, butter and the inside I layered on Best Foods mayo (that's Hellman's to those of you East of the Rockies). The real stuff. No imitators allowed in the UDG casa. Topped it off with a salad drizzled with GODDESS DRESSING!! and popcorn. Yes popcorn.

Next time I'll leave off the butter as the sandwich as a whole got mushy in the center instead of nice and crisp. 

Tuesday: Turkey Panini w/ Mozzarella Cheese

  For my turkey panini, I used sourdough bread from Trader Joe's. Not a super impressive bread but it did have HUGE slices, which is great for sandwich making. No butter on the outside but did lay on the mayo. Paired it with some pineapple slices and my staple salad and this was a delicious dinner.

Fresh off the press w/ ice cold pineapple

Take a look at all the goo....food porn at it's best...

Wednesday: Mexican Panini

  So putting this post up late was actually my second epic pail. My first epic fail was when I ran out of momentum on Wednesday and made a Mexican Panini aka Quesadilla. And this wasn't even like, a fun quesadilla. I grated some cheese, put it between two tortillas and threw it on the press. Melted cheese everywhere. Still haven't cleaned up from it. Should probably be more ashamed, but I'm not. Topped it off with some sour cream and called it good.

Epic Fail #1 (but it was so tasty!)

After Wednesday, it was just all downhill. Thursday I ate with the Binky's (kickin' chicken taco salad) and Friday sucked so bad I treated myself to baby Panda's...no I didn't, I got take out from Panda Express (that's how rumors get started. 

Ultimately, I learned that when making a commitment to eating something for an entire week, it's best to have a menu laid out. These were probably the most boring paninis ever made and it was all due to poor planning on my part. Here's hoping Salad Week goes better.

I heart toys

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a thing for electronics. I'm a total nerd when it comes to them. But overshadowing my love for electronics is my devotion to appliances. I have a breadmaker that my bro gave me for Christmas, an electric tea kettle that was a life saver in the dorm, a dehydrator that has made dog treats super affordable, the list goes on and on. I recently added this to my collection:

AND it was free. 

See, I love quesadillas because they're so freaking easy and we always have stuff on hand to make them. My problem in that from pancakes to grilled cheese sandwiches, I'm the worst flipper ever. When I do quesadillas, the filling goes everywhere, one side gets burnt, the cheese doesn't melt and then the second one comes out perfect. I mentioned this to my coworker one day at break and she mentioned she had a maker she wasn't using because of course, she was not void of the ability to flip two freaking tortillas that were melted together. The next day I came to work and she presented me with my new love, the quesadilla maker. This thing is genius. The cheese melts perfectly, the tortillas get crisp with out being over done, it's a little slice of heaven when I look at the finished product (please excuse the missing piece, I can assure you it was delicious).

The UDG family thanks the coworker from heaven from the bottom of our hearts for saving us from years of bad quesadillas.