Grilled Bread Salad with Spinach, Tomatoes and Blue Cheese

This salad may be my favorite thing about grilling, and it's all because of the bread.

Charred bread - crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and tossed with oil and balsamic. It's seriously the perfect bite. If you haven't grilled bread for salad before, you need to do it ASAP.

I first made this salad several years ago. It has changed a bit over the years so I am sharing this updated post.

When making this bread, you don't want soft, fresh bread. Buy day old bread, or buy your bread the day before. The best bread for this salad is day-old ciabatta bread. Slice it open down the middle, brush with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and char it as little or as much as you want.

Once charred, you chop it into bite sized pieces and let it soak in an oil bath with cilantro and red onions for 15 minutes before finishing the salad.

At this point I guarantee you will be stealing pieces of the bread to eat!

The salad is finished with baby spinach, chopped tomatoes, blue cheese, balsamic vinegar, and a touch of sea salt and black pepper.

Grilled Bread Salad with Spinach, Tomatoes and Blue Cheese

Ingredients

• 1/2 red onion, sliced
• 1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
• 1/2 c good olive oil plus more for brushing the bread
• 1 loaf ciabatta bread, sliced open (see pics above)
• Sea salt and black pepper
• 2 c baby spinach
• 2 juicy red tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 2 Tbsp blue cheese
• 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

Directions

• Pre-heat your grill
• Put the onions and cilantro in a large bowl with the oil; let sit in the fridge while you prep the bread
• Brush both sides of the bread with oil and season lightly with salt and pepper. Place on the grill for 4-7 minutes per side, depending on how charred you want it. Transfer to a cutting board and cut into bite sized pieces. Add the bread to the bowl with the oil/onions/cilantro and toss. Let sit 15 minutes.
• Add the spinach, tomatoes, blue cheese, and balsamic vinegar. Toss. Adjust oil/vinegar/salt/pepper.
• Serve immediately.

Celebrating 10 Years with our Best Recipes

Today Mary Ellen's Cooking Creations turns the big 1-0!! Ten years of sharing recipes from my kitchen - I can't believe it!

It's funny to think back on how much has changed in ten years both with this blog and with me personally. When I look back through the blog year by year I can remember things happening in my life by the way I was cooking and the food I would make. Kind of like when you hear an old song and it brings back a memory. My food brings back so many memories of times in my life. Oh how things have changed! Ten years ago we were both in our early 30s -

Ten years ago I had never cooked risotto. I had never baked something that didn't come in a box. Believe it or not, I had never worked with bone-in chicken (except that one time I made chicken soup from scratch in high school). There were so many dishes and ingredients I hadn't heard of, or wasn't brave enough to try. I (thought) I loathed mushrooms and blue cheese and eggs. Things like homemade tomato sauce, pan sauces, homemade frosting and whipped cream did not exist in my kitchen. And my knife skills? None. I still used to put my index finger along the top of my cheap knives.

But then after being married for about three years, I took an interest in cooking, mostly because both my husband and I were getting sick of tacos, stuffed peppers, pepper steak, and cheese nip chicken. Sadly, that's about all we ate when we were both home... Thank goodness for work travel!

When I first jumped into really cooking, I immediately discovered that I did not enjoy measuring and preferred to go by taste, look, and smell. I soon started to read recipes and decide what I'd change before even trying the recipe. I had some failures and some successes, and learned a LOT along the way. Weekly I was trying at least 2-3 new recipes, and Saturday nights were dedicated to date nights at home where we'd cook something new and fancy together (yes, my husband is an awesome cook and loves being in the kitchen whenever he can!). I don't think we ate the same thing more than twice for at least 2 years because I was in love with experimenting and creating new recipes. That is when I decided to start this blog - it was really just a way to keep track of recipes. I had no idea where it would take me.

During those first few years, favorites were discovered and put on rotation, however I never lost that love of creating new recipes. Over the years my food has evolved to suit our lifestyle, and these days, instead of spending hours on one recipe, I focus a lot more meals to feed my family. Although every now and then I do get a full day in the kitchen and love it!!

Writing this blog has taught me and brought me so much more than just cooking.

Entertaining and planning menus is one of my favorite things to do. I love sitting with my notebook writing out ideas and I totally appreciate that my husband lets me run them by him a million times. Luckily he enjoys it too, and we love creating holiday menus together. We often start talking about Christmas months before the big day!

Photography has also become a hobby of mine. I know I still have a lot to learn and hope to find the time to take some classes soon, but on my own I can see much improvement. Those early food pics were pretty homely, as my husband would say! (so please, as I share some old recipes below, be mindful of that :)

And finally, it's crazy to think that I wasn't even on Facebook when I started this blog. There was no such thing as Twitter, Instagram, Yummly, Pinterest, Snapchat, Tumblr, etc. I could go on and on! It has been fun connecting with people through those platforms and learning the best ways to use them to connect with all of you (and meanwhile my 6 year old sees a logo and knows what social media platform it belongs to - it's like second nature to them!).

Since my life and this blog are completely entwined, I can't help but think of how my personal life has changed over the past ten years. Ten years ago I was in my early 30s, married almost 4 years and working in the corporate world, traveling the country (and world) for pharmaceutical and medical meetings. After the birth of my daughter I decided to move on from that life, and now I consider myself very lucky that I am able to work part-time for now so I can be there for the school bus, school events, and extracurricular activities with my amazing 6 year old daughter.  Ten years ago I wasn't even thinking of kids yet, and now this little one is almost 7! How awesome is it that she loves to get in the kitchen with me and we can pretty much get her to try (almost) anything. Most recently she tried mussels and loved them! She's an energetic little girl and keeps us on on toes - our little first grader who loves acting, dancing, cooking, singing, playing outside, reading, writing, making lists, playing games and telling jokes. Things haven't always been easy over the past ten years - although blessed to be in our forever home, it has been a continuous work in progress and it always seem like something is going wrong or breaking. We have both dealt with unemployment, secondary infertility, pregnancy losses, and the death of our first dog, Daisy Mae. During all of those times, I always turned to cooking as my therapy. Family and cooking have been my one constant through all of these ten years. 
So take a trip down memory lane with me as I share my most popular and/or favorite recipes. These are recipes that have been shared the most, liked the most, and recipes that have been favorites of my family. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

My top post of all-time comes from May of 2008 - Time for a Party. In this post I shared a menu for a party including this recipe for tortilla pinwheels, and now I see them pinned all over Pinterest. They are a hit! I take them to every party and get asked for the recipe several times at each party. Sometimes simple is the best! 

My husband has contributed several recipes, desserts, and wine reviews to this blog. Two of his recipes are in my top searched, pinned and shared recipes! He loves making this Maine Lobster Stew, has made it for the last 2 years on Christmas, and is always looking for excuses to make it again. I'll take credit for helping with the plating and taking the photos. 

Another recipe of his that sends a lot of people to this blog through searches is his Beef Negimaki. After ordering it several times at our local sushi place he decided to make it on his own. We both agreed it was even better than the restaurant's! Since this post is from 2009 the pic isn't great, but what I do love about this post are the step by step photo instructions for cutting and rolling the beef. 

My top breakfast post of all time, and one that I make often, is a grab and go breakfast - Egg Muffins for Breakfast-on-the-Go. 

I'm so happy that this next recipe is in my top ten of all time because it is one of my favorites - Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes with a Lemon-Garlic Aioli. "Too hot to cook" and "grilled chicken salads" are both so commonly searched, and lead my followers to this post for Yakitori Chicken with Cold Veggie and Soba Noodle Bowls. This is one of my top chicken recipes as well as a top salad recipe. 

With close to 200 chicken recipes in this blog, it was really, really hard to narrow it down to my favorite. I have so many, from this French Onion Braised Chicken and this Gruyere Chicken with Mushrooms, to Shredded Chicken with Chiles and Chicken and Dumplings. I finally chose a popular recipe, and it is fitting that it is a bone-in recipe - Garlic Herb Roast Chicken with Vegetables. 

Soups are cooked in my kitchen once a week over the cool and cold months, so with over 80 soup recipes in this blog it is hard to choose a favorite. This Potato and Corn Chowder with Bacon is one of my most popular, and it is one of my favorites because it is so hearty and well, bacon!

It's funny that ten years ago I had never made risotto, and now I have over 20 risotto recipes on this blog. Risotto is in my top ten search words, so I picked one of my favorites for this anniversary post - Three Garlic Risotto. I have been making this one for years (it was probably one of the first risotto recipes I ever made!) but finally just blogged it recently. 

Still, after ten years of doing this, I only use my crock-pot for shredded/pulled chicken, pork or beef. My top slow cooker and top pulled pork recipe is this amazing Guinness Pulled Pork. I'm so happy it gets so much love because it definitely gets a lot of love in this house! Korean Pulled Pork Tacos

My personal favorite pulled pork recipe is the pork for these Korean Pulled Pork Tacos. These are pretty popular on Pinterest, too! 

And sticking with the pork theme, this Stuffed Pork Loin with a Mushroom Wine Gravy is one of my most popular posts. It is a great recipe, perfect for holidays or entertaining, and the tutorial for cutting and rolling the pork is spot-on. This post, and the picture, are from 2008 - 

This is a newer recipe and it quickly became my second most popular appetizer - Cheesy BLT Stuffed Jalapenos, and it is easy to see why. Look how yummy! 

Let's finish this off on a sweet note! I don't bake that often - my husband is actually the baker in the house. This cake recipe has become a favorite of both of ours, and is my most popular dessert recipe on the blog - Philly Fluff Cake. 

Thank you to all of my readers and followers for making the last 10 years possible. I have enjoyed sharing and learning with all of you, and I appreciate all of your comments, likes and shares. I look forward to continuing this journey in my kitchen and with this blog, and hope you will be there with me! Thank you!

Grilled Lemon-Garlic Asparagus with Parmesan

Asparagus is hands-down my favorite vegetable to grill, so I am crazy excited that asparagus season is upon us. We have a friend who cuts asparagus at his brother's farm, and I am just counting the days until we get our first bunch. There is nothing like cooking it just a few hours after it was cut - it's so sweet and fresh, and we easily eat the entire bunch in one sitting!

Not only is asparagus delicious, it has so many health benefits. Check out more info on asparagus shared by Quick Easy Cook.

There are so many ways to cook asparagus. I usually toss the asparagus with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast it, but for our first grilling night of the season, I wanted it to scream spring. Adding lemon brightens up the flavors, and garlic is a must because, well, garlic! It makes everything better.

I mixed olive oil with lemon juice, lemon zest and garlic and poured it over the asparagus before adding sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

These grilled up quickly, so they were still slightly crunchy with a perfect char on the tips. Once they came off the grill I quickly added some freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Grilled Lemon-Garlic Asparagus with Parmesan
Original Recipe by Mary Ellen of Mary Ellen's Cooking Creations

Ingredients

• One pound of asparagus, woody ends snapped off
• 1/2 c olive oil
• Juice of 1/2 of a lemon
• Zest of 1/2 of a lemon
• 2 cloves of garlic, pressed
• Salt and pepper
• 1 Tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• Additional lemon zest, if desired

Directions

• Mix the olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest and garlic. Pour over the asparagus and toss until coated. 
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Place on a hot grill and cook 2-4 minutes; flip and cook an additional 2-4 minutes until charred but still crisp.
• Transfer to a plate and top with the grated Parmesan cheese and additional lemon zest. 

Grilled Flank Steak Crostini

An elegant appetizer for entertaining - crusty, toasted bread topped with creamy melted cheese and thinly sliced grilled flank steak. 

Our friends were in town on business recently so we were lucky to spend a fun night with them over good food and of course, lots of good wine. We definitely don't get to see them enough so this midweek visit was a special treat. 
As soon as the visit was planned I started to discuss the menu with my friend Jeff who shares my love of food and cooking. My husband tried to contribute (I'm lucky he loves to cook, too!), but whenever Jeff visits the food is always our thing. 
I knew our menu would include several courses. We ended up with three appetizer courses an an entree. Honestly, but the time we were done with apps I didn't even need an entree, but after an hour break we got back to cooking. 
Our favorite appetizer was this grilled flank steak crostini. I love crostini with different toppings, so for this one we decided on melted cheese and thinly sliced grilled flank steak. From there I just winged it and made several kinds of crostini with different toppings. 

Look how beautiful!!! 
Half of the crostini had melted provolone and steak, while the other half were topped with blue cheese and the steak. Toppings I used were chopped grilled red onions and sliced roasted red peppers. Once the crostini came out of the oven I topped some of them with cold tomato bruschetta topping and fresh arugula. 
I can't even pick which combination of ingredients were my favorite - they were all good!! They were so good that the next night my husband and I made more for dinner with the few leftovers that we had, and I plan on making them for a girls' night I am hosting next week (as long as the blizzard doesn't mess up my grilling plans!!). Yes, THAT good!

Grilled Flank Steak Crostini Original Recipe by Mary Ellen of Mary Ellen's Cooking Creations
Ingredients

• 1 baguette sliced into 3/4 inch pieces on the bias (a slight diagonal slice)
• Extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole
• 1 flank steak
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Cheese (I used sliced provolone on half and crumbled blue cheese on the other half)
• Other toppings, such as:
• 1 roasted red pepper, sliced
• 2 rings red onion, grilled and chopped
• Fresh arugula

Directions

• Heat grill to high. Season flank steak liberally with salt, pepper and dried thyme. Cook __ min per side, flipping only once, to medium rare (or medium, depending on your liking). Let rest 10 minutes before slicing into very thin slices.
• In the meantime, heat your oven to 400 degrees. 
• Place the baguette slices on a cookie sheet and brush with olive oil. Put in the oven for 5-7 minutes, until crispy.
• Remove from the oven and rub each baguette with the raw garlic. Top each baguette with cheese, steak, and other toppings, except the arugula (optional: put some more cheese on top). Return to the oven and turn your broiler on high for 2 minutes or until the cheese has melted. 
• NOTE: if you don't want your steak to cook any more under the broiler, only top the baguettes with cheese and other toppings and broil. Top with the steak after removing from the oven.
• Optional: top with some fresh arugula and drizzle with olive oil before serving. 

Grilled Corn Salad with a Chili-Lime Vinaigrette

Sweet summer corn - isn't it the best?

My favorite way to prepare it is grilled - charred, to be exact - and that is what inspired this salad.

Charred corn is packed with smoky flavors, so pairing it with something bright and zesty with a touch of heat works perfectly. I used cilantro and lime for the bright and zesty flavors, grilled red onion for some sweetness, crunchy red pepper for texture, spicy jalapenos for heat, and a dressing featuring chili and lime to pull it all together.

This Grilled Corn Salad can be eaten as a salad or you can really get creative with it. Picture it on fajitas or tacos - the perfect topping! Put it on top of grilled chicken or fish. Or just grab some chips and scoop it up like salsa!

I will definitely be making this one a few more times before the summer corn runs out.

Check out two of my other favorite summer corn recipes here -
     Grilled Corn with a Chipotle Lime Butter
     Mexican Grilled Corn Salad with with Citrus Aioli.


Grilled Corn Salad with a Chili-Lime Vinaigrette
Original Recipe by Mary Ellen of Mary Ellen's Cooking Creations

Ingredients

• 6 ears corn, cleaned (remove husks and all silk) and washed
• 1 red onion, sliced into rings (don't separate within the rings)
• 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 jalapeno, minced
• Handful of cilantro, washed and chopped
• Olive oil, salt and pepper

Dressing Ingredients

• 1/4 c vegetable oil
• Juice from 1/2 of a lime
• Zest from 1/2 of a lime
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• Salt and pepper

Directions

• Mix all of the dressing ingredients together and chill until ready to serve.
• Heat grill to medium high
• Brush/spray the corn and red onion with olive oil; season lightly with salt and pepper. Grill until charred in spots (to your liking), about 15 minutes. 
• Stand the corn on end. Using a sharp knife, remove the kernels into a bowl. 
• Chop the grilled red onion
• Add in the red pepper, jalapeno and cilantro
• Toss with the dressing and serve. 

Orange-Teriyaki Grilled Chicken and Vegetable Kabobs

My husband is the marinade guy. I think he has come up with 90% of the marinades we have tried over the past 10+ years. He is really creative, tries anything, and has made us some amazing meals. I keep telling him he needs to write a marinade cookbook! Last night I took over and tried something new (but yes, I did ask his advice as I was mixing and creating!).

I planned on grilled chicken kabobs, and after creating and smelling the marinade, it was an easy decision that I'd be including pineapple and red onions on those skewers. There are so many flavors in this - bright citrus from the orange juice, sweet and salty flavors from the teriyaki, and so many other layers from the garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes.

My favorite thing about this marinade, besides the flavor it gave to the chicken, is how it caramelized when grilled. Look how beautiful these are with all of those colors and caramelization -

You can use any veggies you want, but I highly recommend including pineapple and red onion. Everything else is up to you, but in my opinion, the more colors the better! I just love pretty food.

This is easily a weeknight meal. The chicken marinates all day or overnight, you can chop all your veggies ahead of time, and then it's the 5 minute task of assembling the skewers while your grill heats followed by 15 minutes of grilling. I think brown rice would go nicely with this, but we had plenty just with the chicken and all of the veggies.

Before we get to the recipe, I have to share these 2 pics. I took advantage of the filtered sunlight in my backyard to snap some pics before bringing the food in the house. First, my wiry little puppy got in a shot, so of course my daughter had to get in one as well!

My 2 sweet girls :)

Orange-Teriyaki Grilled Chicken and Vegetable Kabobs
Original Recipe by Mary Ellen of Mary Ellen's Cooking Creations

Ingredients (for 4 large skewers)

• 1/4 c teriyaki sauce
• 1/4 c orange juice
• 1/8 c olive oil
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/4 tsp ginger (I buy the jarred ginger, but fresh would be great as well!)
• Optional: 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, for heat
• Dash of black pepper
• 2 chicken breasts cut into cubes
• Veggies, chopped into cubes of similar sizes; I used several pieces of pineapple, 1/2 of a red onion, 1 zucchini, 1 yellow squash, 1/3 each green and red pepper
• Salt and pepper
• 4 long skewers (I use metal skewers; if you use wood, soak them in water for 30 minutes first to avoid burning/scorching)

Directions

• In a bowl, mix the teriyaki, orange juice, oil, garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes and salt. 
• Pour over the chicken in a ziploc bag. Marinate in the fridge for at least 8 hours (overnight ok). 
• Heat your grill to high.
• Assemble the skewers using 4-5 pieces of chicken per skewer and alternating veggies. You want to pack them tightly so they don't spin when you turn them on the grill. Season lightly with salt and pepper. 
• Grill until cooked, approximately 15 minutes, turning every few minutes.
• Let rest 5 minutes before serving.

Tequila Lime Grilled Flank Steak

This summer we have been all about grilled meat, chicken or fish with simple salads and grilled veggies. One of my husband's favorites is grilled flank steak. We have had it several times over the past few months, but the one he made last week was by FAR the best! You HAVE to try this marinade!

He created one of his amazing marinades using mostly tequila and lime. He let it marinate overnight for a total of 20 hours and man did that steak take on some amazing bright and zesty flavors!

He takes great pride in his grill marks. Halfway through cooking on one side, he will turn the meat 90 degrees to get those beautifully crossed grill marks. And since we both like our steak cooked differently - I prefer medium well (I know, I know - I'm working on that!) whereas he prefers medium - this flank steak was perfect because the edges cooked a touch more for me, so we were both happy.

This was a huge piece of steak - look at the shape on this thing!

This marinade is so simple - you have to try it. I will file this recipe under to many categories - summer cookout, entertaining/dinner party, easy weeknight meal, summer meal and makes great leftovers. On day 2, put some of the sliced steak over a salad for lunch, or make tacos, quesadillas, or fajitas.

Enjoy!

Tequila Lime Grilled Flank Steak
Original Recipe by Jon of Mary Ellen's Cooking Creations

Ingredients

• 2-lb flank steak
• 1/4 c Olive oil
• 1.5 oz Tequila
• 3 Cloves of garlic, minced
• Juice of 1 lime
• Zest of 1 lime
• A few pinches each salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

• Mix all of the marinade ingredients. Place flank steak in a gallon Ziploc bag or shallow dish. Pour marinade over the steak and marinate in the fridge for at least 8 hours, up to 24 hours. 
• Heat grill to high
• Remove steak from the marinade and place on a hot grill. Be careful - the tequila in the marinade will make your grill flare up a bit!
• Grill 8 minutes per side turning 90 degrees halfway through for good grill marks
• Let rest 10 minutes before thinly slicing across the grain