A Sandwich that Dreams are made of....

I mean that literally.
During Holy Week I dreamed about a big platter of sandwiches, on a table, in the front of our Church near the icon of John the Baptist

horrible photo quality from my cell- but to the right of the arch is the icon of Christ, and next to him is john the baptist. That is where the sandwiches were. in case you wanted a visual

The sandwiches consisted of Swiss Chard and goat cheese on rosemary focaccia bread.
I REALLY wanted one when I woke up, but being Holy Week I was still fasting from dairy. So, all week thoughts of these sandwiches impeded my thoughts.

It is now Bright Week and there is no more fasting, and I have been eating lots of goat cheese. Today I had time to bake focaccia bread. I noticed that I was running out of white flour, so I had to make it half white and half whole wheat. I used the Rosemary Focaccia  recipe from Real Mom Kitchen.
It turned out pretty well. I was liberal with pepper, and will use more rosemary next time...

The cat really wanted to eat it, and was not pleased with me when I told her to go away.

While the bread cooled off, I sauteed rainbow (because it is pretty!) swiss chard in olive oil and minced garlic..and added a bit of pepper (because I really like pepper!). I cut off a wedge of the focaccia and spread both sides with goat cheese, and added the hot swiss chard on top. (mmmm...melty)

I am happy to say that it lived up to the precedent my dream had set for how delicious it should be.
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Easy Vegetable Soup

With Lent here I am looking for easy, simple, vegetarian recipes. I decided to make a huge pot of vegetable soup for my lunches throughout the week.  It turned out wonderfully and is very healthy. I did not measure anything, so forgive me for that...
Chop up two medium onions and toss in 2-3 minced garlic cloves (or more!)
saute until translucent and fragrant
Dump in a large can of organic diced fire roasted tomatoes (for extra flavor) with juice as well as a large can of organic chunky tomato sauce (I used Muir Glen)
Fill up can with water and add to pot...twice or three or four times if you don't like super tomato-y broth
Drain a can of kidney beans, rinse, add to pot
Add frozen vegetables...I used a soup blend of potatoes, carrots, green beans, okra and other things.
Add pepper, oregano and basil to taste, or whatever spices you like.
Let cook until done.
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Baking Bread

On Mondays I typically bake a few loaves of bread, and in a prior post I mentioned I would write up the recipe I use.

In a  large bowl mix together 2 cups of all purpose flour with a package of yeast- set aside
then
Put 1 and 3/4 cups of water into a pan and add 3 tbsps of butter and 1/3 cup of packed brown sugar and 1 tsp salt....and heat this on the stove till butter melts and water is 130 degrees.

Add the  liquid to flour and yeast and beat with mixer on low for 30 seconds- make sure to scrape sides of bowl. Then beat on high for 3 minutes.
Using a spoon add in 2 cups of whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup of wheat germ and 1/2 cup of all purpose flour, try to mix it together as much as you can.
Dump the dough onto a floured counter and knead for about 6-8 minutes until the dough is elastic and smooth.
Make dough into a ball and put in an oiled bowl-turn to coat. Cover with a towel in a warm spot (For some reason I am always doing dishes when I am baking bread, so I put the bowl on the counter over the dishwasher and the drying cycle makes the counter warm) Let rise for about an hour and a half-until double in size and when you poke it with your finger, the dents stay.
Pull dough into two equal pieces and set them down to rest with a cover over them for about 10 minutes. (they are tired from rising and being yanked apart)
Lightly oil two bread pans and when the dough is done resting, shape into loaves-sealing any seams with your fingers.
Then bake in a preheated oven set at 375 for 35-40 minutes. Bread is done when it sounds hollow when tapped. (helloooo...are you done yet?)
Take out of oven, let cool for a millisecond, get them out of the loaf pans, slice off a super hot slice, put butter and honey on it, and fall in love.  ;-)
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