50

For the past ten years I've had a really cool habit of ripping these little booklets out of Food Network Magazine, throwing them into a drawer, and then never looking at them again.

So, on the weekend I decided to pull them out and actually try a handful of the recipes.

The best thing about these recipes is how quick and easy they are; they are all really short on ingredients and steps.  We made two breakfast sandwiches that were decent, but not worth making again.  The first was an herb egg sandwich:

The other was an Elvis sandwich:

I think we're just not really breakfast sandwich people.

Two appetizers/sides that we enjoyed were the Greek halloumi:

And mushrooms with rosemary:

Greek Halloumi

Source: Food Network booklet: 50 Cheese Appetizers

Combine 3 tablespoons each olive oil, chopped kalamata olives, and roasted red pepper, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and 1 minced garlic clove; stir in 1 tablespoon each chopped mint, oregano, and scallion, and a pinch of red pepper flakes.  Halve one block of halloumi cheese into two thin rectangles; dredge in flour.  Cook in olive oil until golden, 3 minutes per side.  Top with the olive salad, and serve with bread.

Mushrooms with Rosemary

Source: Food Network booklet: 50 Vegetable Sides

Toss 3 lbs mixed mushrooms with 3/4 cup olive oil on 2 rimmed baking sheets; season with salt.  Add 4 crushed garlic cloves, and 3 sprigs of rosemary to each pan.  Roast at 450 F for 25 minutes.  Add a splash of water to each sheet, and scrape up the browned bits.

* we halved this recipe *

I made a really simple no-bake treat, which we enjoyed.  It was hard to press into the pan without getting all sticky, so I sprayed a piece of parchment paper with cooking spray, and used that to press the mixture into the pan.

Salty-Sweet Crispy Treats

Source: Food Network booklet: 50 No-Bake Treats

Melt 1/2 stick of butter in a pot; add 1 bag (10 oz) of mini marshmallows, and stir until smooth.  Stir in 3 cups each of Rice Krispies, and broken thin pretzel sticks.  Press into a buttered (and lined if desired) 9x13 pan.  Let set, then cut into bars.

The combination of sweet and salty went well together.

For dinner on Sunday evening we made gruyére and sauerkraut grilled cheese sandwiches.  These were a hit!

Gruyére and Sauerkraut Grilled Cheese

Source: Food Network booklet: 50 Grilled Cheeses

Spread dijon mustard one 1 slice of crusty bread.  Top with 2 slices of cheese, 1 tablespoon sauerkraut and another slice of bread.  Cook, flipping once, until golden.

On the side was a bacon corn sauté.

Bacon Corn Sauté

Source: Food Network booklet: 50 Things to Make with Bacon

Cook 1/2 cup chopped bacon in a skillet; pour off half of the fat.  Cook 1/2 each chopped red onion and jalapeno in the skillet until tender.  Add 3 cups corn, cook 4 minutes.  Add chopped cilantro, lime juice, and salt to taste. (*We reduced the recipe, and did not pour off any fat, as our bacon didn't render too much; we used canned corn.)

We'll make this again for sure!

Another that we'll make again (actually, we already have) is spinach with salami.  This recipe is a great way to get in plenty of greens, while loading them with flavour.  The two of us ate all these greens in one sitting!

Often we'll have a giant bag of spinach to use up in the fridge, so this will likely be a go-to recipe for us.  A little bit of salami goes a really long way, so go easy.

Spinach with Salami

Source: Food Network booklet: 50 Vegetable Sides

Sauté 3 sliced garlic cloves and 3 chopped slices salami in 3 tablespoons olive oil until crisp.  Stir in two 10 ounce bags baby spinach; cook until wilted.  Season with pepper.

Do you have a drawer full of random recipes that are just begging to be made?  How was your weekend?  How's your week going so far?