Open-Faced Portobello Melt

This is a recreation of my favorite sandwich from Baltimore's own Soup's On. The toppings are amazing, but the secret ingredient to this sandwich nirvana is garlic bread. This recipe makes two open-faced sandwiches.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients
French bread
Five (5) cloves of garlic
Two (2) tablespoons of butter
1/2 bundle of arugula
One (1) large portobello cap, sliced
One (1) roasted red pepper -- This is usually sold in slices, but I am estimating that it is about one pepper.
Four (4) slices of smoked mozzarella -- It doesn't have to be smoked, but if I have a choice, I always choose smoked cheese.

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
Spread butter and garlic on bread and bake for 15 minutes, or until slightly crispy.
While the bread is baking, toss portobello caps in a pan with some olive oil and garlic. Heat until soft.
Top bread with mozzarella slices, portobello caps, and roasted red pepper slices.
Bake for ten minutes, or until melted.
Top with arugula. Enjoy!


Tip
For future reference, I will melt the cheese on top of the mushroom and peppers. Underneath took too long and made the bread a little crispier than I would have liked.

Potato Skin Pizzas

I am always up for trying new ways to make pizza. Cauliflower dough, zucchini boats (recipe coming soon!), and now pizza inside of potato skins. My love for potatoes is endless, and the pairing of the two was just divine.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 55-65 minutes

Ingredients
Four (4) large red potatoes
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 cup pizza sauce
Two (2) cloves of garlic, minced
Salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper to taste 
1/4 cup of baby portobellas
Cooking spray

Directions
Preheat oven to 400F degrees.
Poke holes in potatoes and bake for 40-50 minutes, or until baked through.
Remove from oven, let cool.
Slice in half and hollow out (you want to leave about 1/4"), so you're left with just the skins. -- It should look like two potato boats.
Spray with cooking spray and sprinkle with salt.
Bake skins for 10 minutes so they crisp just a bit.
Spoon in sauce, sprinkle with cheese and top with any additional toppings (I used mushrooms).
Bake for another 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted.
Let cool and enjoy!

Tips
Keep the inside of each potato for mashed potatoes! I used garlic, cream cheese, butter and a bit of almond milk to make creamy, delicious mashed potatoes.
You can use any toppings on the pizza that you want; mushrooms, spinach, roasted red peppers, or artichoke are all good choices.

Avocado Egg Salad

I saw a recipe for this somewhere on the Internet, but the original directions were needlessly complex. I simplified it and it was incredibly delicious. Even better: no mayonnaise involved.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes (for eggs to boil)

Ingredients
Three (3) eggs
One (1) medium avocado
One (1) tablespoon of cream cheese -- Some recipes told me yogurt, but I love cream cheese much more.
One (1) clove of garlic, minced
Salt, pepper, crushed red pepper to taste


Directions
Boil eggs for thirty minutes or until hard-boiled.
Remove eggs and cool.
Slice avocado and lightly mash. -- Think: very chunky guacamole.
Gently stir in cream cheese.
Add in garlic and seasonings of your choice.Set aside
Peel and chop eggs.
Add eggs to mixture.
Eat in a roll, bread, on crackers, in a wrap, on lettuce. The possibilities are nearly endless!

Tips
Want to learn how to perfectly boil an egg? Check it out here.

Almond Chocolate Chip Brownies

BROWNIES, GUYS. BROWNIES. Follow my simple recipe here for delicious, fudgy brownies. I am also a huge fan of almonds and chocolate chips in my brownies, but if you are not, feel free to leave them out.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients
1/2 cup of unsalted butter, melted
One (1) cup of sugar
One (1) teaspoon of vanilla extract
Two (2) eggs
1/2 cup of flour
1/3 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 cup of crushed almonds 
1/4 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
Mix all dry ingredients together.
Slowly mix in eggs, vanilla extract, and butter.
Evenly pour batter into a greased 9x9" pan.
Bake for 25 minutes.
Let cool & enjoy!

Tip
I crumbled the almonds and put them directly in the batter. This created a nutty flavor throughout the brownies that I absolutely loved. If you choose, you can leave them out of the batter and only layer on top, which I hear is a good choice as well.

Cheese & Pistachio-Stuffed Mushrooms

Looking for a good side dish to my kale & pistachio pizza, I was immediately drawn to cheese-stuffed portobello, plus I had extra crushed pistachio on hand from the pizza. I mixed it in and immediately knew I had made a good life decision.

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10-15 minutes

Ingredients
1/4 cup of pistachios, crushed
1/4 cup of cheddar cheese, shredded
1/8 cup of mozzarella cheese, shredded
Six (6) smaller portobello mushroom caps -- Try to find the mushroom caps that are smaller than the "regular"-sized portobello, but larger than the baby bellas.
Olive oil for brushing

Directions

Preheat oven to 375F degrees.
Mix cheese and pistachio together in a bowl.
Wash and hollow all mushroom caps.
Brush olive oil on top of mushrooms and flip upside down on a pan.
Stuff mushrooms with cheese mixture.
Bake about 10-15 minutes, or until cheese is melted.
Let cool and enjoy by themselves or as a side dish.

Kale & Pistachio Pizza on Cauliflower Dough

Disclaimer: I love pizza. Any and all endorsements in this post will be biased based on this love.

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Finished product (on the right).
Check out the next blog post for the stuffed mushroom recipe.

Technically, I am the surrogate mother of the pizza that Juliet (of The Broken Plate) and Hersh's Pizza unknowingly created. Juliet posted this delicious recipe for cauliflower pizza crust awhile ago, and I tried and loved it. It brings a slight flavor of cauliflower, but not an overpowering amount. Additionally, it is much healthier than eating bread dough. As far as Hersh's, I tried them for the first time last week (and seriously, if you are in Baltimore, it's a must!) and my partner ordered their kale & pistachio pizza. It was amazing.

Note: this recipe makes a pizza the size of a 9" x 13" pan. If you half the recipe, you can make a pizza the size of a pie pan.

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients
Crust
Two (2) cups of grated cauliflower
Two (2) eggs, beaten
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated
Toppings
One (1) cup of whole pistachio nuts, shelled and crushed -- the measurement of one cup was taken while they were still shelled
One (1) cup of cooked kale -- about one bushel at the grocery store
One (1) cup of mozzarella cheese
Two (2) cloves of garlic, minced
Two (2) tablespoons of butter

Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Grate cauliflower into a large bowl.
Mix beaten eggs and cheese into the cauliflower.
Lay out flat in a greased pan.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Flip and bake for an additional 10 minutes. -- Just make sure it gets nice and brown, possibly crispy at the edges.
Set crust aside once it is done.
Melt the butter and garlic. Spread lightly on top of crust.
Top with mozzarella, pistachio crumbles, and cooked kale.
Put back into the oven for five to ten minutes, depending on how crispy you'd like the toppings.

Let cool & chow down!