Herbed Goat Cheese and Veggie Paninis

Oh boy these sandwiches were good! A friend shared the original recipe with me (thank you again Danielle). I tweaked it a little only because I couldn't find herbed goat cheese, only plain. So I made my own. 

Herbed Goat Cheese

3 oz fresh goat cheese
1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt

2 green onions, chopped
1 TB chopped fresh parsley
1 TB fresh chopped basil
1 large clove of garlic, crushed

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Whisk together goat cheese and yogurt until combined.  Stir in remaining ingredients. Salt and pepper to taste. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use. 

Sandwiches

1/4 cup mayonnaise

2 cups baby spinach

1 clove of garlic

Salt and pepper

8 1/2-inch thick slices artisan bread

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 small zucchini or yellow squash, thinly sliced

1 large tomato, sliced

1. In a food processor, combine mayo, 1 cup of spinach, garlic, salt and pepper. Mix until combined.

2. Brush outside of bread with olive oil. Top with goat cheese spread, followed by spinach, tomato and squash. Spread spinach/mayo mixture on top slice of bread. Place on top of sandwich, spread side down. Brush outside of bread with olive oil. Repeat with remaining ingredients. 

3. Cook sandwiches over medium-high heat in a large skillet or griddle. Turning (carefully) once. You could also use a countertop grill (George Foreman).

Review - YUM! I loved these sandwiches. Jay did too. We each ate one and a half. I ate the leftover sandwich for breakfast the next morning. Nothing like a little garlic to start your day. I didn't even attempt to feed these to the kids. They have a hard time with the toasted/chewy bread. They had mac and cheese.

Greek Salad Pitas

Have I mentioned that it's hot here in Texas? Ugh. It's been over 100 degrees for the last week or so and it's not supposed to drop until October. I don't even bother looking at the weather forecast anymore. It's hot. It's humid. Everyday. The point of this whinefest is to point out that this recipe is excellent for the hot weather. You don't have to turn on the oven. Score! 

Thank you Danielle for sharing. 

1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1/4 cup plain greek yogurt

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp lemon juice

2-3 cloves of garlic

1/2 tsp Kosher salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp cumin

3 cups lettuce or spinach, torn into small pieces

2 medium tomatoes, chopped or cherry tomatoes, halved

1 small cucumber, peeled and chopped

2 ounces feta, crumbled

1/4 cup Kalamata olives, chopped

Whole wheat pita pockets

1. In a food processor, blend chickpeas, yogurt, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and spices until smooth. 

2. In a large bowl combine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, feta, and olives. I added a splash of the juice from the olives. Toss to combine. 

3. Spread chickpea mixture inside of pita. Fill with salad. Enjoy!

Even though my stomach hurts from eating too much at dinner, looking at this picture makes me want to go into the fridge, drag out the leftovers and eat another one.

Review - I ate too much and am uncomfortably full after this dinner. They were really good and so, so easy! Jay and I each ate two pitas. I gave the kids pitas cut into wedges and then let them dip the wedges into the chickpea spread, with salad on the side. They mostly just ate the pitas and spread. I actually doubled the spread but had a ton left over, which is fine because it would make a great sandwich spread or dip for carrots. It's only a couple ingredients different than hummus, but the texture was really creamy from the yogurt. If you wanted to spice it up even more you could add some diced red onion to the salad. We'll definitely be making these again!

Tomato Basil Panini

Keeping up with a blog is a lot of work I'm finding. I don't know how these people find the time to blog multiple times every day or even once a day or even once a week. My biggest problem is that I haven't had any WOW recipes lately, everything has just been 'eh.' I don't want to share 'eh' recipes with ya'll. I want WOW!

These sandwiches are pretty WOW.  I only made one change from the original recipe and that was to add a layer of pesto. Everything's better with pesto. 

1 loaf crusty bread, not the $.99 squishy French bread

3 Roma tomatoes

1 package fresh mozzarella

1/4 cup basil leaves

pesto (optional)

olive oil

balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper

1. Pre-heat your countertop grill or panini press. Slice bread, tomatoes and mozzarella. Brush outside of bread with olive oil. Spread a thin layer of pesto on inside of one slice of bread. Layer mozzarella and tomatoes and top with basil leaves. Add salt and pepper. Drizzle balsamic over the inside of the other slice of bread. Place on top of sandwich. Grill for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted. Repeat with remaining ingredients. I ended up with 5 sandwiches. 

Review - Jay and I really liked these. I made a modified version for the kids with only tomatoes and mozzarella. The both picked apart the sandwich and ate the insides.  I think they have a hard time with the texture of the crunchy/chewy bread. I will definitely make these again.  I can't wait to try them with my own tomatoes from my garden. You could tweak the ingredients to your liking. Splurge on the fresh mozzarella though. It's worth it.