Pavo Panini

Lagarto’s is one of my favorite restaurants. Their panini’s are THE best. Sadly, I hear they are closing in the near future because the rent is too high. This is surprising to me because every time I’ve been there it’s been busy. Hopefully they won't completely close and will find another location. Anyway, one of my favorite paninis there is called the Pavo. I’ve made it at home and it's pretty close.

If you don’t have a panini grill, you can just to what I do, use two heavy skillets. One skillet not heavy enough? Stack the second one with a couple cans of tuna :)

Pavo Panini

Pesto Sauce (Preferrably home-made – I made a sauce using almonds instead of pine nuts because I had them already on-hand and they’re cheaper)
Cranberry Sauce (I used canned and jellied sauce)
Oven roasted turkey breast
Brie cheese, sliced
Focaccia bread, halved

Heat the grill or skillet medium-low to medium.

Generously spread some pesto sauce on one half of the bread. Generously spread some cranberry sauce on the other half of the bread. Layer a few slices of turkey breast and the cheese between the bread slices.

Place the sandwich on the grill and press. Heat until bread is toasted and cheese is melted.

If using two skillets, place the sandwich on the heated skillet and top the sandwich with the other skillet. If the sandwich doesn’t get pressed down, weigh down the second skillet with a couple of cans (tuna works well – they have a low center of gravity :)). Flip the sandwich over to toast both sides.

Sometimes, if I can't grill my sandwich fresh, I'll just eat it un-heated, which is also yummie.

Enjoy!!!

New Recipes

In the last couple of days I've been showered with tons or recipes. I can't wait to try some of them. Thanks everyone!!!

Grilled Veggie Sandwiches

Ok....these are our new favorite sandwiches...no lie!

Grilled Veggie Sandwiches

And to make Alex a little happier, next time we have these I'm going to add some oven roasted turkey breast with it. I'm sure he's not alone when he's not fully satisfied with just veggies in his sammy.

Enjoy!

One More Quick One

Since coming back from our vaca, it seems we've been too busy to make a yummie, healthy meal. So our menu has been an array of meals from our Cheap and Quick Meals list. And as I was going through the list, I forgot one:

Classic Tuna Melts (canned tuna, mayo, a little bit of cajun seasoning (preferrably Tony's), cheddar cheese on grilled sandwich bread...yum!).

Our Louisiana Must-Eats

• Boiled Crawfish - our new favorite place to get them from is Salvo's in Belle Chasse (too bad it's a little far)
• Tony's Seafood Market
• Cane's - "I'd like a Caniac Combo, no slaw, extra toast, extra sauce, and lemonade."
• Boiled Crawfish
• Middendorf's - the small special, thin-fried catfish
• Sweet Tea, please!
• Larb - from Thai Kitchen
• Boiled Crawfish
• Boiled peanuts!
• Muffaletta - only the original, from Central Grocery store in the French Quarter
• Chicken Caesar Salade and Strawberries Romanoff - La Madeline's
• Cafe du'Monde beignet - not the most appetizing, but you gotta anyways
• Eddie's Frozen Custard - this is a new one for us
• Snowballs - stuffed or love nest style (meaning layer flavored shaved ice with ice cream...heaven!)
• Boiled Crawfish - did I mention this already?

Pecan Pie Coffee Cake

Another cell phone picture....arghhh!

A co-worker of mine brought this to work and shared the recipe. We've made it a ton of times. And this time, I've made it for our neighbors who just has a baby (to go with some lasagna). So we won't enjoy it tonight, but it's sooooo easy I'll probably just make another one later.

Pecan Pie Coffee Cake

3/4 c. sugar

3 T. butter, softened

2 oz. low-fat cream cheese, room temperature (I just use regular cream cheese)

1 egg

1 egg white

1 t. vanilla

1 1/4 c. flour

1/2 t. baking powder

1/4 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

3/4 c. non-fat buttermilk (I just use low-fat b/c that the only kind I can find at the grocery store)

Cooking Spray

Topping:

1/3 c. corn syrup

1/4 c. packed brown sugar

2 T. butter

1/3 c. pecans, finely chopped (I use way more than this, more like 1 1/3 c. because it adds a nice layer on top. 1/3 c. doesn't cover it...literally)

1 egg, beaten

In a large bowl, cream together sugar, 3 T. butter and cream cheese. Add egg and egg white one at a time until well mixed. Stir in vanilla. In medium mixing bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to sugar mixture. Pour batter into a 9 inch spring form pan coated with cooking spray. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare topping by combining syrup, brown sugar and 2 T. butter in a microwaveable bowl. Microwave on high for 1 minute. Whisk in pecans and beaten egg. Poke holes in top of the warm cake and pour topping on top of cake. Bake an additional 10 minutes at 325 degrees. Cool cake on wire rack. Before attempting to remove from the pan, loosen sides with a knife. Enjoy!

By the way, this recipe is from Cooking Light

Cake Pops Never Fail

You gotta love these cake pops from Bakerella. I made these for Annie's first birthday and again for my friend's baby shower. The first time I made them I followed Bakerella's directions down to each detail. This time around I made them about half the size with less frosting for easier handling. Can you say YUM!!