Grilled Goat Cheese and Veggie Sandwich

I read somewhere once that sandwiches were the most under-appreciated food of all the blogged recipes out there. Sandwiches are simple. Does someone really need to tell you how to spread the mayo on your bread, and put your favorite toppings on? Well, despite the fact that building a sandwich is about as easy as it is to talk me out of the gym in the morning, I am going to blog about a sandwich anyways!

I try not to eat a lot of bread. I would rather spend my calories for the day eating spoonfuls of Nutella straight from the jar. So if I eat a sandwich, it better be damn good. As a vegetarian, I find it especially hard to find a sandwich worthy of replacing chocolate. But this one just might have a chance, and with tangy goat cheese and sweet red peppers, even a meat-lover might be swayed.....

Grilled Goat Cheese and Veggie Sandwich

2 slices of your favorite bread - it better be %100 whole wheat :)

Herbed goat cheese - brought to room temperature

6 stalks asparagus 

1/2 red pepper cut into strips

Thinly sliced onion

Baby spinach

Butter

Fill a pot half full with water and bring to a boil. Boil asparagus and red pepper strips 3-4 minutes, until just tender. Remove and run under cold water. Spread goat cheese on both pieces of bread. Top one slice with handful of baby spinach, asparagus, red pepper, onion, and second piece of bread. Butter both sides and toss on a medium-high pan for 3-4 minutes per side, or until goat cheese and melted and bread in golden brown. Enjoy your meatless-monday lunch and skip the Nutella for dessert. Or don't....and worry about it tomorrow :)

Blueberry Banana Crumb Muffins

Yesterday I was sharing a handful of blueberries with Oscar in the kitchen and I noticed there were some old bananas in our fruit bowl. Then lightning struck and I though of this recipe. Okay, that's not exactly how it happened, but it doesn't make this recipe any less tasty. I have a recipe for banana bread written in a notebook, and I have no idea where it came from, which is too bad because I absolutely love it!  I started with that as the base, and just kept adding....

Because my muffin pan was only half full towards the last batch, I filled the empty tins with water and discovered that it kept the crumb topping moist and sooooo good. I love a good crispy crumb topping, but sometimes when you bite into a muffin and crumb topping goes everywhere, you long for something more. This is your "more". Delicious crumb topping that stays in place through every bite!

Blueberry Banana Crumb Muffins

2 cups whole wheat flour

3/4 cups + 2 Tbsp white sugar

3/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

10 tbsp salted butter

1 cup very ripe mashed bananas

1/2 cup sour cream

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup blueberries, halved

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all wet ingredients together with room temperature butter. In a separate bowl mix together remaining dry ingredients. Slowly add dry mixture until combined.

Cutting blueberries in half is a pain, but I hate bursting berries in your mouth!

 Fold in halved blueberries until just mixed through. Grease muffin tin. Fill each tin 3/4 full with muffin batter, leaving two tins empty. Top muffins with 1 tbsp of crumb mixture.  Fill the two empty tins 1/2 way with water. Bake for 25-27 minutes, or until inserted knife come out clean. 

Crumb Topping

8 tablespoons salted butter , chilled and cut into cubes

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Put all ingredients into a food processor and pulse until mixture resembles wet sand.

Blog, Blog, Blog

Before I decided to start a blog, I almost wondered what the point was. Do I even have something interesting enough to share? I think it's interesting but would others be inclined to follow? Alas.... when you have a lot of time on your hands and you spend most of your time with your dog, you begin to notice things that you would love to share. The awesome chocolate chip cookies you baked, the photo you took of an amazing sunset, the crazy lady yelling at her dogs to look both ways before they cross the street :)

I hope that eventually my post inspire you, interest you, make you smile, or at least keep you coming back for more!