I made a really delicious sandwich Monday night.  And it only had vegetables on it!  I grilled up some portobello mushroom caps and zucchini slices on my grill pan.  I flavored them with a little bit of olive oil, garlic, and pepper.  I put some Basil Pesto on one piece of bread and some cream cheese on the other.  Then I put the mushrooms and zucchini on the bread.  Grilled it on my grill pan and voila!  I had a panini.  The hubby even liked it!  Will definitely have to make it again.   The pesto really made it sing!

I wish I had taken a picture.

Yum, yum, yum, yum, YUM!  I looooooove this dish.  I know it calls for regular cream cheese, but I tried this with the Neufchatel cheese and actually liked it better!  And I recently tried it with some zucchini, which was also very good.  But I like it with mushrooms the BEST!  Definitely favorite recipe here!

• 1 pckg (12 oz) frozen or fresh tortellini
• 1 TB butter or margarine
• 1 lb mushroom, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 TB minced fresh basil OR 1/2 tsp dry basil
• 6 oz cream cheese
• 3/4 cup milk
• parsley sprigs for presentation

1. Cook tortellini per package instructions in water salted like the sea
2. Meanwhile, melt butter in wide frying pan over med-high heat
3. Add mushrooms, garlic & basil
4. Cook, stirring often, until all liquid has evaporated and mushrooms are beginning to brown (about 10 minutes)
5. Add cream cheese & milk to mushroom mixture
6. Stir until cheese is completely melted & incorporated smoothly, then bring sauce to a gentle boil
7. Remove from heat, and add tortellini.
8. Mix together gently
9. Serve, garnished with parsley sprigs if desired
10. Serves 4 main-dish or 6 1st course

Tortellini With Mushroom-Cheese Sauce @ Group Recipes

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 medium red potatoes, cut into 1/4 inch slices
• 2 fully cooked bratwurst, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1/3 cup chopped green pepper
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon orange juice
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Dash pepper

1. In a heavy skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add the potatoes; cover and cook for 6 minutes or until browned and crisp-tender, stirring occasionally.
2. Add bratwurst, onion and green pepper. Cook and stir for 5 minutes or until meat is heated through and vegetables are crisp-tender.
3. Combine the soy sauce, orange juice, basil, salt and pepper; add to the skillet. Cook and stir 1-2 minutes longer or until meat and vegetables are evenly coated.

Bratwurst Potato Skillet @ Group Recipes

Warming Ginger Soup

Here is the original recipe.  I modified mine to feed less people.   Next time, I think I will use 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar.  And more ginger!

1 cloves garlic, minced
1.5 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
4 cups good vegetable stock
1/2 c rice wine vinegar
1/4 c soy sauce (or tamari)
1/4 tbsp freshly cracked black pepper
A few ounces of your favorite noodles
A few mushrooms

In sauce pan, add garlic and 1/2 cup of the vegetable stock. Simmer for 3 minutes. Add remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, and simmer for a minute or two. Add noodles, vegetables, or tofu as desired.

Stir-fried Shrimp with Broccoli and Ginger

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 cups cold water
• 1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1/3 cup chicken broth
• 2 teaspoons rice wine
• 1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger root
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 8 oz broccoli florets
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl, stir salt into water until dissolved. Add shrimp, and set aside 5 minutes. Rinse shrimps, and dry on paper towels.
2. In a small bowl, mix together broth, rice wine, soy sauce, cornstarch, sugar, and pepper. Set aside.
3. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet or wok over high heat. Cook shrimp, turning constantly, until pink on all sides, about 1 minute. Stir in garlic, ginger, and 2 teaspoons oil. Stir in snow peas, chives, and 1/4 teaspoon salt; stir-fry 1 minute more.
4. Stir broth mixture into skillet, and continue cooking until sauce thickens. Serve immediately.

• 1 (16 ounce) package linguine pasta
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 tablespoons sugar
• 6 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 6 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon sesame seeds, toasted

DIRECTIONS

1. Bring a pot of lightly salted water to boil. Add pasta, and cook until al dente, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain, and transfer to a serving bowl.
2. Meanwhile, place a saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in garlic, sugar, oil, vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, and chili sauce. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, until sugar dissolves. Pour sauce over linguine, and toss to coat. Garnish with green onions and sesame seeds.

He liked this one.  Just not as much as his hot sauce drenched mess.  Sigh.  I liked it pretty good, but felt it missed something.  I eyeballed the ingredients for the sauce and I suspect I didn’t put in enough dijon mustard.

Balsamic Chicken and Mushrooms
From Kalyn’s Kitchen
(Makes 2 servings, could be doubled easily. Adapted from a recipe idea on Dine and Dish, who got it from RecipeZaar.)

1 cup sliced mushrooms (about 4 oz., I used baby bella brown mushrooms)
1-2 T olive oil (depends on your pan)
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 T 100% whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning
1/3 cup chicken broth
2 T good quality Balsamic vinegar
1 tsp. Dijon Mustard
1/2 tsp. garlic puree

Clean mushrooms and slice in thick slices. Heat a little of the olive oil in heavy frying pan and saute mushrooms 4-5 minutes, until starting to slightly brown.

While mushrooms brown, trim all visible fat and tendons from chicken breasts, then pound chicken until it is about 3/8 inch thick.

Mix flour and poultry seasoning on a plate. Remove mushrooms from frying pan and put in small bowl. Add a bit more olive oil to pan and heat. Coat each chicken breast in a very thin layer of flour/poultry seasoning mixture, then add to pan. Saute over medium heat until quite brown on each side, about 6-7 minutes total. While chicken cooks, combine balsamic vinegar, Dijon, and garlic puree.

When chicken is browned on both sides and done, remove from pan and put on serving plate. Add chicken stock to hot pan and deglaze, scraping browned bits off the bottom. Cook 1-2 minutes, until stock is slightly reduced. Add balsamic vinegar mixture, and mushrooms, cook 1-2 minutes more. Pour over chicken and serve immediately.

———-

Served with Roasted Asparagus and Garlic and a nice rice pilaf. Yum!

He loooooved it.  Me? Meh, not so much.  But that’s just me.  Still searching for a recipe I like.  Sigh.

Roasted Asparagus and Garlic
From Kalyn’s Kitchen
(2-4 servings, depending on how much you like asparagus, recipe created by Kalyn with inspiration from Roasted Broccoli with Garlic from the Food Network.)

1 pound asparagus, cut of woody end of stalks, then cut into 2 inch pieces
3 T extra virgin olive oil
8 large cloves fresh garlic, each sliced into 3-4 pieces
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Break off the woody end of one piece of asparagus; use that as a guide to tell where to trim the other pieces. Cut off woody ends, then cut asparagus into 2 inch pieces. Cut each large garlic clove into 3-4 slices. Put asparagus, garlic, and olive oil into large ziploc bag and let garlic marinate 1-2 hours. (You can skip this step, but the asparagus will be more garlicy tasting if you marinate it.)

Preheat oven to 450 F. Place asparagus on large cookie sheet and season with fresh ground black pepper and salt. Roast until asparagus is slightly softened and edges are starting to brown slightly, about 20 minutes. Serve hot.

First, I brined the turkey for 2 days.

Turkey Brine
From Allrecipes.com
Prep Time: 5 Minutes
Cook Time: 15 Minutes Ready In: 20 Minutes
Yields: 15 servings

“This is a tasty brine for any poultry. It will make your bird very juicy, and gravy to die for!!”
INGREDIENTS:
1 gallon vegetable broth
1 cup sea salt
1 tablespoon crushed dried
rosemary 1 tablespoon dried sage
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon dried savory
1 gallon ice water

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a large stock pot, combine the vegetable broth, sea salt, rosemary, sage, thyme, and savory. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently to be sure salt is dissolved. Remove from heat, and let cool to room temperature.
2. When the broth mixture is cool, pour it into a clean 5 gallon bucket. Stir in the ice water.
3. Wash and Dry your turkey. Make sure you have removed the innards. Place the turkey, breast down, into the brine. Make sure that the cavity gets filled. Place the bucket in the refrigerator. Remove the turkey carefully draining off the excess brine and pat dry. Discard excess brine.
4. Cook the turkey as desired reserving the drippings for gravy. Keep in mind that brined turkeys cook 20 to 30 minutes faster so watch the temperature gauge.

Then I roasted the bird for about 3 hours because I just had a turkey breast, not the whole turkey. I used more rosemary than called for because I LOOOOOVE the taste of rosemary. The turkey was so moist and delicious!

Rosemary Roasted Turkey
Prep Time: 25 Minutes
Cook Time: 4 Hours Ready In: 4 Hours 45 Minutes
Yields: 16 servings

“In this method, which can be used with all types of poultry, olive oil infused with garlic and rosemary is rubbed between the skin and meat of the bird before roasting.”

INGREDIENTS:
3/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons chopped fresh
rosemary
1 tablespoon chopped fresh
basil 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon ground black
pepper
salt to taste
1 (12 pound) whole turkey

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. In a small bowl, mix the olive oil, garlic, rosemary, basil, Italian seasoning, black pepper and salt. Set aside.
3. Wash the turkey inside and out; pat dry. Remove any large fat deposits. Loosen the skin from the breast. This is done by slowly working your fingers between the breast and the skin. Work it loose to the end of the drumstick, being careful not to tear the skin.
4. Using your hand, spread a generous amount of the rosemary mixture under the breast skin and down the thigh and leg. Rub the remainder of the rosemary mixture over the outside of the breast. Use toothpicks to seal skin over any exposed breast meat.
5. Place the turkey on a rack in a roasting pan. Add about 1/4 inch of water to the bottom of the pan. Roast in the preheated oven 3 to 4 hours, or until the internal temperature of the bird reaches 180 degrees F (80 degrees C).

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone!

I can’t remember the names of the yarn I used, I used  two different strands knitted together in — I don’t know the name of the stitch — but it’s K1 P1 all the way across. 

It’s some kind of rib.

I like the way it looks the same on both sides with this stitch.