Till Then Smile Often

Bean Sprout Grilled Cheese

I posted the picture of this panini a little bit ago but I didn’t really post the whole recipe. After the crazy weekend I had I made this again so I figured it was worth sharing, because seriously it’s mouth watering. If you want to spice it up and you are not a vegetarian slap some bacon or ham or that for added flavor!

Disclaimer: I received the Sargento’s Ultra Thin free as an Influenster VoxBox however the recipe and my opinion are totally my own.

 

Bean Sprout Grilled Cheese with Spinach and Artichoke Hummus on Texas toast
 

Ingredients: 2 slices of Sargento’s Ultra Thin Provolone cheese ~ 2 TBSP Spinach and Artichoke Hummus ~ 1/2 cup Bean Sprouts ~ 2 slices of Texas Toast ~ butter NOTE: If you can’t find Texas Toast then Sourdough would be a great alternative.

 

 Directions: Butter one side of the Texas toast. Place the bread buttered side down on the panini press or griddle. Spread half the Spinach artichoke hummus on the non-buttered side.

Bean Sprout Grilled Cheese with Spinach and Artichoke Hummus on Texas toast

Top with the bean sprouts, and two slices of Sargento’s Ultra Thin Provolone cheese.

Bean Sprout Grilled Cheese with Spinach and Artichoke Hummus on Texas toast
 

Bean Sprout Grilled Cheese with Spinach and Artichoke Hummus on Texas toast
Spread the remaining hummus onto the second piece of toast and then place on top of the cheese. Butter the top piece of bread and then close the panini press.

Bean Sprout Grilled Cheese with Spinach and Artichoke Hummus on Texas toast
Heat for 3-5 minutes or until golden brown. NOTE: If using a griddle or grill pan just flip after 2-3 minutes and cook for another 2-3 minutes until both sides are golden brown.

Remove from heat and devour in the least amount of bites as possible! Done and done! Only one half of the sandwich is pictured because I devour the other half for testing purposes. 😉

 

Martinis & Bikinis

 

 

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Bean Sprout Grilled Cheese
 
Ingredients
  • 2 slices of Sargento’s Ultra Thin Provolone cheese ~ 2 TBSP Spinach and Artichoke Hummus ~ ½ cup Bean Sprouts ~ 2 slices of Texas Toast ~ butter
Instructions
  1. Butter one side of the Texas toast. Place the bread buttered side down on the panini press or griddle. Spread half the Spinach artichoke hummus on the non-buttered side. Top with the bean sprouts, and two slices of Sargento's Ultra Thin Provolone cheese. Spread the remaining hummus onto the second piece of toast and then place on top of the cheese. Butter the top piece of bread and then close the panini press. Heat for 3-5 minutes or until golden brown.
  2. NOTE:
  3. If using a griddle or grill pan just flip after 2-3 minutes and cook for another 2-3 minutes until both sides are golden brown.
  4. Remove from heat and devour in the least amount of bites as possible! Done and done!

The Weekend That Wasn’t

Is it really Monday? This weekend flew by, but it was emotional for sure. I am starting the ToneItUp nutrition plan this week so that should be interesting. I have been so focused on Seamus that I have been slacking on my workouts a bit but I am excited to get back at it full force. So this weekend didn’t feel like a weekend but it did go by.

 

Saturday: I planned to get a lot done on my to-do list so I started early getting some chores done. Cleaning the upstairs, doing laundry and dishes. I put in a hair mask and biore nose strip while cleaning up my office and made a nice breakfast but then I noticed Seamus was not feeling good.

He was whining and lying by the door. He moved to the area by the kitchen and dining room where he never lays and wasn’t really moving much. I tried to check on him and see if something was in his fur but couldn’t find anything. He did cry out when I was touching him a little so I freaked out calmly decided to call the vet and see if we could get an appointment. I bawled told the vet all the symptoms and they asked me to bring him in. Since it is only 15-20 minutes it was a stressful ride over. After looking him over they said that he appeared to have some back pain. They gave him a shot and some pain meds to help.

They told me to carry him if he has to go up stairs and to not do any walking other than to use the bathroom. Poor thing was out of it for the rest of the night, but finally started to move, drink and eat some food.  I wanted to keep an eye on him so it was basically a movie day the rest of the night. I did speak to my Mom since she lives in Minnesota to make sure she got the flowers I sent because I wasn’t going to be able to see her on Sunday.

saturday

 

Sunday: I got up early in order to get ready for my niece’s recital. I headed out by 7:30am and brought Seamus to my Dad’s so I could keep an eye on him. My niece was so cute and one dance was a puppy poodle part that was just too cute. I was an idiot and left my camera in my car so I didn’t get many pics. Bummer. We went out to lunch after at this really cute Irish pub and the food was amazing.

Sunday

I was glad to be able to spend the day with my Dad since he really was my Mom growing up. I always get him a card on Mother’s Day and a gift. I also stopped at my second Mom’s house too to bring her a card. Growing up one house away she always brought me into her family and I am forever grateful.

After getting back to my Dad’s and letting Seamus out I decided to head back home and give Seamus some time to relax.

 

All in all I am exhausted from the weekend but so very grateful that Seamus is okay and I got to spend time with my family.  I also got some home Barre videos that I am excited to try too.

 

How was your weekend? Did you get to spend Mother’s Day with your Mother?

 

Linking up with Leeann from Join the Gossip

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We Be Jammin’

 Happy Friday!! I have been fighting this walking pneumonia and it has been wiping me out. I had a bad reaction to the antibiotics on Tuesday so I was in a lot of pain and went to bed early. I switched meds and am feeling much better! Glad to be on the mend and hopefully 100% better soon. This weekend I am going to hopefully catch up with EVERYTHING! I also have a full day of recitals on Sunday so it should be fun! Getting to see my nieces and celebrate Mother’s Day with my Dad will make for a great day! My mother lives in Minnesota so I will have to celebrate from afar. Here are some of my favorites for this week! 

Favorite Virtual Mug of the Week: This week the virtual mug goes to Jana from The Townhouse Pioneer! She is learning how to be like a pioneer and growing her own vegetables, learning to sew and crochet, and being a little more self-sustaining. She is sharing her journey and she even has a blogger mentoring program. Learning from other bloggers who have been where you have been is a no-brainer.

 

 

 

 

Favorite Song: This song has been on major repeat lately. Great beat and perfect for pushing it for my workouts!!

Favorite Item: I got this Dog travel bottle for my walks with Seamus and he loves it. It is the cheaper version so getting the bowl down is trickier but he loves it halfway through our walks. I try to give him water every mile to keep him hydrated. It is also under $6.00 so total score.

 

Thirsty Dog Water Bottle
Favorite Recipe: These are on my list to make really soon! I love soft pretzels but never really eat them or buy them. I like them fresh and piping hot. Hopefully I can make them this weekend! The Slow Roasted Italian is one of my favorite food blogs because every recipe is something I would actually make though a lot of starchy carbs so not sure how much I could eat of it.

 

www.theslowroasteditalian.com/2014/04/soft-beer-pretzel-bites-recipe.html
 

Favorite Funnies: So on Wednesday I was cooking up some ground chicken and ground beef with taco seasoning. I tend to think in gif’s so what I was thinking regarding using one or two pans – “I don’t want to cross-contaminate the meat” but I saw in my head “Don’t cross the streams” welcome to my brain!!! At least I entertain myself!

via

Last night I was sitting in bed and got up to get Seamus some water and my foot fell asleep so I starting walking list this:


 

Thank you to one of my bloggy besties Amanda for introducing me to Bachelorette Party Radio Station on Pandora it keeps me entertained with lots of old school jams like What a Man by Salt n’ Pepa, Hot in Herre by Nelly, and Pour Some Sugar on me by Def Leppard all within a half hour leaving me saying:

 

 

This one just make me chuckle too much:

 

How I feel most people in customer service think on any given day: 

Don’t forget to enter the amazing giveaway I posted here, there is going to be 7 lucky winners.
What are your plans for the weekend?

Meet At The Barre
 
 
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Spending Freeze Results

April is officially over and with the end of the month comes the results of this past spending freeze. My goals for this were to reduce some of my current spending as well as a freeze on any items not previously budgeted so here are my results.
 

The Good:

I switched my Netflix DVD subscription from 4 to 2 CD’s saving me $11.37 per month.

I cancelled my Beachbody coaching which saves me $15.99 per month.

I also got a deal on my Cable and Internet combining them into a package when before it was two companies saving me $52.48.

Total saved per month: $79.84

The Bad:

I got a virus and went to the doctor on April 2nd so I had to pay a co-pay of $25.00 and the numbing mouth rinse was $33.93.

At the Beer Tasting Party in Boston I got a parking ticket for $40.00 and I even checked the meter and signs and didn’t see anything about it being resident only parking. Dang Boston and their trickery.

I also got a Groupdealz for a dual car charger USB port that was $5.98 since I spend a ridiculous amount of time in my car and I have seen them for $15.00 it was a steal. So I don’t feel guilty.

Total Not Budgeted: $104.91

The Not So Ugly:

I was able to put $300.00 into savings. This isn’t huge since my normal month is $200 to cover winter oil heat and Christmas but putting extra in is helping me to build a cushion after depleting it for a lot of home repairs. Also helps for when I have to fix the plumbing along with the renovations due to the flooding. I got word I should get a payment in the next few weeks. Finally I see the light for the rebuild.

 

My Thoughts:

Since the total money I save every month is going to keep paying me back I don’t feel so bad about the amount not budgeted. Although it was money I couldn’t save I still had the cash for it and I did put extra money towards savings. I love participating in these freezes because I realize I am not as bad with my money as I would have thought. I do spend on stupid things here or there I am more on the frugal side. Being a homeowner cured me of a lot of stupid spending. If I do overspend it is usually on recipe testing or on other people.

 

Have you ever done a spending freeze?

Is there anything you tend to overspend on?

 

Linking up with Steph from Life According to Steph and Marla from ‎Luck Fupus for the April Wallet Watch results:

 
Life According to Steph

 

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Greek Spanakopita

Thank you to everyone for the well wishes yesterday. The doctor gave my a diagnosis of pneumonia, I got some antibiotics and a cough suppressant so I should finally be on the road to getting better. Luckily I got to work on this recipe this weekend before the body aches began. This came out exactly like I hoped it would. The reason it wasn’t working out? It needed more cheese!!! Being able to make this at home now is going to be dangerous.
 
Greek Spanakopita

 

 
 
Ingredients: 2 TBSP EVOO ~ 1 10oz bag of frozen chopped spinach ~ 1 medium yellow onion, diced ~ 2 cups of crumbled feta ~ 1/2 TSP Garlic powder ~ 1/2 TSP Salt ~ 1/2 TSP Pepper ~ 1 package of Phyllo sheets ~ Cooking Spray or 1-2 TSP of melted butter
 
 
Directions: Heat the EVOO in a skillet adding in the onion and cook on medium-high heat until tender. Approximately 7-10 minutes. Mix in the spinach, stirring frequently and cook until wilted about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool while preparing the phyllo sheets. Keep any remaining sheets from drying out by placing saran wrap and a wet towel over the unused phyllo sheets.
 
Preheat oven to 375°F.
 
Spray one phyllo sheet on both sides with the cooking spray or butter and place on a cutting board. Place another phyllo sheet on top and spray or coat with butter. You can add a third sheet if you want an even flakier crust repeating the spray coat.
 
spanakopita

 

 
Cut into 2 or 3 long strips. I used 2 to allow for larger triangles.
 
 
Prepare the filling: Squeeze handfuls of spinach mix to remove as much liquid as possible, and transfer to a bowl. Stir in feta, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
 
Place a small spoonful in the bottom corner of one strip and the fold into a triangle and cut. Repeating until all strips are used.
 
Greek Spanakopita

 

 
Greek Spanakopita

 

 
Place the triangles on a greased cookie sheet, spraying the top of each triangle and bake until golden brown, 20-25 minutes in the center rack. Cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.

 

This could also be done as a pie in an 8×8 pan. I used did some in squares placing opposite corners into the center.

Martinis & Bikinis
 
 
 
 
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Greek Spanakopita and Spending Freeze Results
 
Ingredients
  • 2 TBSP EVOO ~ 1 10oz bag of frozen chopped spinach ~ 1 medium yellow onion, diced ~ 2 cups of crumbled feta ~ ½ TSP Garlic powder ~ ½ TSP Salt ~ ½ TSP Pepper ~ 1 package of Phyllo sheets ~ Cooking Spray or 1-2 TSP of melted butter
Instructions
  1. Heat the EVOO in a skillet adding in the onion and cook on medium-high heat until tender. Approximately 7-10 minutes. Mix in the spinach, stirring frequently and cook until wilted about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool while preparing the phyllo sheets. Keep any remaining sheets from drying out by placing saran wrap and a wet towel over the unused phyllo sheets.
  2. Preheat oven to 375°F.
  3. Spray one phyllo sheet on both sides with the cooking spray or butter and place on a cutting board. Place another phyllo sheet on top and spray or coat with butter. You can add a third sheet if you want an even flakier crust repeating the spray coat. Cut into 2 or 3 long strips. I used 2 to allow for larger triangles.
  4. Prepare the filling: Squeeze handfuls of spinach mix to remove as much liquid as possible, and transfer to a bowl. Stir in feta, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
  5. Place a small spoonful in the bottom corner of one strip and the fold into a triangle and cut. Repeating until all strips are used.
  6. Place the triangles on a greased cookie sheet, spraying the top of each triangle and bake until golden brown, 20-25 minutes in the center rack. Cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.