Grilled Chicken Sandwiches
Hi again! It’s been awhile! The ‘famine’ on here doesn’t mean we haven’t been eating! It means that the last 2 weeks have been abnormal weeks as far as cooking goes, with company and then being busy with a booth at a Home and Garden show. Not a cooking show booth, by the way. 
We were selling these:
Anybody need a beautiful cedar gazebo in your yard?
I do love those little cooking show booths at shows though, even though the chefs always use the same lines and the same jokes. It just amazes me how they can talk AND cook at the same time! I think I’m a bit too absent-minded for that. And the cookware that cooks stuff without water… Wow! And the food doesn’t burn… Wow! I have a hard enough time WITH water! Tonight while we were making supper, I even burned a piece of toast (not in water though… see, that’s what happens when I cook without water)! Yeah, WE were making supper, not ME… because it involved grilling and that is my husband’s territory.
Here, I’ll show you what we ate tonight:
We’re always trying to think of new things to do with grilled chicken breast besides chicken breast salad, shishkabobs, or just eating it plain w\ bbq sauce. This sandwich is actually along the lines of the Open-faced Pork Chop Sandwich that is a specialty around here.
Grilled Chicken Sandwich
Bread
Chicken breast
Provolone cheese (or cheese of choice)
Barbeque sauce OR dijon mustard
Toast the bread. Season and grill the chicken, then chunk it up.
Assemble in this order: Toast, chicken, bbq sauce or dijon mustard, cheese, toast.
OR
Microwave for about 1 minute, 2 min if you’re doing 2 sandwiches.
And… enjoy!
Mmmm, so good and so easy and so quick and not much cleanup!
Wouldn’t you just like to snitch a piece? It’s flavored SO good and is nice and juicy! Not sure what seasonings he used. Edit: He just said he used Cajun Black’n seasoning from the Bayfield Spice Company in Rhinelander, WI.
Our Christmas in pictures (and words)
So, what happened then is that Kitchen Scrapbook ended up totally missing Christmas! I was living the moment, er, moments, surrounded by family and making food and snacks without blogging about it.
You know how when you get a whole bunch of Christmas cards in a row, 4 one day and 5 the next, and then it tapers off towards the end of December and then no more cards and then the 2nd week of January, you get another Christmas card? Well, that’s how this post is… the other blogs you read have posted Christmas now and are switching from red & green colors to January blue and New Year’s resolutions, but here, we’re pulling you back to Christmas…
First, we have Pretzel Turtles
I got this idea from Judy on a message board that I frequent. Take small pretzels and put a Rolo candy on top of each one. Then, put them in the oven for a couple minutes at 350. When you get them out, immediately press a pecan half on top of each Rolo. Yum! They went over very well here!
We also had monster cookies, party mix, and gingerbreadmen:
Lexi said, “Mom, look! I made twins!”…
Hmmm, someone samples cookies as she decorates…
And then onto our Christmas meal…
Here was our menu:
–Mashed potatoes and gravy
–Ham, rotisserie on the grill
–Noodles
–Baked corn
–Candied sweet potatoes
–Corn chip salad
–Rolls
–Jellied cranberry sauce
–Pies (pumpkin, lemon meringue, and peanut butter)
This is my husband, making some awesome ham…
Missed the pies before they were eaten…
Pictured in the picture right under the ham collage is the candied sweet potatoes. I was trying to make a knock-off of Texas Roadhouse’s loaded sweet potato. I baked 3 sweet potatoes, peeled them and put them in an 8×8 pan and mashed them with a fork. Then, melted a stick of butter and stirred in some cinnamon and about 1/2 cup of brown sugar, poured it over the potatoes, put a layer of marshmallows on top, then baked it at 350 until the marshmallows were browned. It was GOOD!!!
In addition to food, our Christmas consisted of gift opening, football throwing, baby holding, and much more…
It’s Independence Day!
How are you spending the holiday? …Going out on the lake? …Firing up the grill? …Getting together with family and friends? …Going out to watch fireworks? I don’t specifically remember not watching fireworks any year, but I’m sure there was a year or two missed in there somewhere. When we lived in town, we could see them from our house. Fireworks is what I think of first when I think ‘4th of July’, then I think of my oldest brother (Happy Birthday, Tom!), then I think of grilling and burgers and brats. I know, with having a cooking blog, you’d think grilling and all would be first on my list.
Speaking of grilling, I’m sure we’ll be doing some. Here are some of our favorites:
Hot dogs, our favorites are Ball Park beef franks…
Brats, it’s gotta be Johnsonville…
Cheeseburger, this has got to go on the menu this weekend! I’ll have to talk to the guy in charge of grilling around here…
New York Strip Steak, and please don’t forget the sauteed mushrooms! Mmmmm…
Rib-Eye Steak done medium, this was melt-in-your-mouth tender, didn’t even need A1 sauce…
Shrimp and mushrooms grilled on skewers, a great appetizer…
Pork chop sandwich, last but definitely not least! This is the thing out of this whole list that we grill the most. Yup, even more than throwing hot dogs and brats on the grill. Maybe next time we make them, I can remember to get a better picture! They’re easy, at least for me, because all I do is set the table…
And then I couldn’t let the holiday go by without playing around with my beloved for-any-occassion layered finger jello! It’s a nice side benefit that it tastes good, too.
Instead of using a 9×13 pan for a batch, I used a large cookie sheet with sides so it wouldn’t get so thick. The red and blue layers each have 2 batches of jello in them and the white layer is all of the white mixture (as opposed to dividing it in thirds). When I cut it into little shapes, it looks better if it’s not so thick.
And then you can play around with it a little more and makes squares and cut a star out of the middle, flip it over, and put it back into the hole.
And then you can play around with it a little more and make the United States of America…
And, being in the spirit of things, this is what I was snacking on just now as I wrote this post…
Red strawberries, white sugar, and blue blueberries.
Have a safe and happy holiday!
It’s Summer in the Northwoods
This is what we call Summer. We are now between the holidays of Memorial Day and Labor Day. Living in a vacation town that is beautifully perfect in the summer and an at-your-own-risk deep freeze in the winter, this is prime time here in the northwoods. The population in our town skyrockets with alot of people coming up to their lake cabins for the summer. For anyone who makes a living here, these next few months will be your best shot. I love going to town in the summer, even if I have to wait 2 light changes to get a green because of backed up traffic… people are in a happy vacation mood and there are people everywhere. I love ‘tourist season’.
And another reason to love summer: Here are just a couple things we pulled off the grill this weekend…
Johnsonville brats (pronounced ‘brot’, in case you’re tempted to make jokes about mis-behaved children). You can’t really see the brat itself because the toppings got a bit out of hand, but it is there.
AND
Rib-eye steaks, grilled to perfection. We like them done medium; pink in the middle, but the juices are brown. They were so tender and juicy that I could cut mine with a fork and they had so much flavor that we didn’t even need the A1 sauce. In case you ask, yes, sometime this summer, we (as in mainly Shannon, but I do help, as in hand him a plate or utensil out the window occassionally), plan to do a “How to Grill the Perfect Steak” post. I just made that title up, I don’t know what it’ll be called, but something to that effect, with directions on how to get the different levels of doneness.
Our weekend was pretty relaxed, not alot going on. How was your weekend?
Memorial Day, Charcoal, Cheeseburgers and Gold
Hey! We’ve got a guest writer! Since I am not the griller around here (thankfully!), it seems fitting that I also shouldn’t be the writer of the grilling posts, right? So, here is my husband Shannon:
Did you read in the news this week about the restaurant on Wall Street in New York that serves a $175.00 cheeseburger? Yup, you read right, $175.00! It is Kobe beef topped with foie gras, exotic mushrooms and golden truffle mayonnaise. Golden truffle mayonnaise is made from chopped black truffles, truffle oil, and gold flakes. Gold as in “silver and gold”. So let me get this straight… Some chef in New York decided it would be a good idea to make his gold watch into Miracle Whip? Wow. Remind me not to leave the Midwest.
This is not that burger.
Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial line between spring and summer (or if you are from up here in Wisconsin, the line between winter and summer).
Cheeseburgers sizzling on the grill… What could be a more sure sign of summer than that?
Cheeseburgers are such a basic food that you don’t even need a recipe. But here is my recipe, just the same.
Ingredients:
2 pounds fresh ground beef. Not too lean, 80/20 would be good. I used 85/15 this time. If they don’t have enough fat, they will fall apart on the grill.
1/4th cup chopped onion.
1 chopped jalepeno. Use as much as you like. We like a bit of kick.
BBQ sauce. Your favorite brand.
Lawry’s seasoned salt. Put in as much as you prefer, but don’t be scared to use quite a bit. I use about 2 teaspoons (that is completely a guess, I have never measured). 
1/4th teaspoon coarse ground pepper.
Combine the ground beef, onion, jalapeno, 2 tablespoons BBQ sauce, Lawry’s, and pepper in a mixing bowl.
Shape into patties. This is hand work, no Pampered Chef burger shooter or other cheating! This is a cheeseburger, keep it simple. I made 4 patties this time, but that makes pretty big burgers. Depending on your group, you may want to make them smaller.
Using a brush, brush a light coat of BBQ sauce on the patties. This is not for flavor as much as to carmelize the suger in the BBQ sauce for a nice “crust”. It may actually work better to do this step just a minute before they come off the grill.
Grill on a charcoal grill. I almost don’t want to put times here because each grill will differ in temp. I grilled them for about 6 minutes on each side. DONT LEAVE THEM ON TOO LONG! Seriously, the most common way to ruin a good burger is to overdo it. A little pink in the middle is perfect.
Put cheese on. Leave on grill for an extra minute to melt the cheese. I used provolone cheese. The buns must be grilled.
Dress to taste. I like tomato, lettuce, Bread and Butter pickles, ketchup, and mustard.
Ah, now that’s a “God bless America” cheeseburger! Serve with extra napkins.
While you are enjoying your good honest cheeseburger this weekend, remember to feel sorry for some guy out in New York whose self esteem is so low that he needs to eat a $175.00 cheeseburger with jewelry in it, just to prove he can.
Me again: Well, after a grilling post like this, I’m going to close my kitchen for the weekend and be outside. Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! See ya Tuesday!
About Me
Hi! Welcome to my kitchen! My name is Kay. I'm from central Ohio. I love cooking and baking. Especially baking. It's thereapeudic for me. I'm not a professional or gourmet cook by any means. I'm a Christian homemaker who happens to take pictures of some of the food I make. I have 2 little 'helpers'... Lexi (7) and Tiffany (3), who are young cooks in training. I don't do anything on the grill... that's where my husband Shannon comes in! He grills quite a bit, especially in the summer. So, sit back and enjoy browsing thro' the recipes. If you try some of them, I'd love to hear feedback on how you liked them! If you want to contact me, my email address is kaylouann@gmail.com
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