French Onion Grilled Cheese {recipe}

Have you ever had this "Duhhhh" moment when you think to yourself 'Why haven't I thought of this earlier?'. Well I had one of those when I saw the recipe for this an amazingly delicious grilled cheese sandwich. It's the perfect combination of sweet and salty, crispy bread and melty cheese. 

Ohhhh my! Just talking about it makes me want to go whip out another batch. 

Plus, like I say in almost all my recipes - it's so easy to put together.

Ingredients
- 5 red onions
- 2 tbsp of butter
- 1/2 lb of thinly sliced Swiss Cheese
- 1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
- 1/2 cup of red cooking wine
- french baguette
- thyme
- salt and pepper to taste

Cooking Process 
Makes 4 sandwiches

 Chop up the onions roughly, you don't want to dice them as they will cook down and will be very mushy. Melt the butter in a bottom-heavy sauce pan and add the onions. Leave the heat on medium and keep stirring the onions through the cooking process. 

 Cut the bread into 1/4 in thick slices and arrange 2 pieces of cheese on each side. I mean it's grilled cheese after all so you may want to pile on. Also, get the good stuff, something with tang and perfect sweetness - you don't want to ruin this puppy with domestic Swiss. That's just a sin.

Keep stirring the onions and when they start to wilt, turn up the heat just a notch. The goal (which my hubby said I failed to achieve this time, because he cooks the french onion soup in our family and it's absolute french perfection) is to have your onions start caramelizing on high heat. When you start seeing the purple color on the edges of the pan start browning, that's the sugar from onions coming and almost starting to burn. That's when your onions are done. They will cook down in volume a lot. 

Add the balsamic, wine and thyme and keep stirring to let all the liquid evaporate for another 5 minutes. Once the onions don't have anymore liquid (they will be very mushy though), turn the heat off and set aside. 

Spread about 2 tsbp of onions on one side of the bread, add salt and pepper and cover with the other. 

We didn't add any salt into the onions so at this point they are very sweet. Do a taste test and see how much salt you want in them.

Heat up a panini maker or just good ole-fashioned skillet and  spread a little butter on the outside of the sandwich. Heat it up until the cheese is melted and starts sizzling.

Enjoy! 

Winter Wonderland Baby Shower

Entrance Sign

Table setting and window decor

My sister and I

from left to right: my aunt, mom and MIL

All the wonderful gifts 

Cutest diaper cake one of my friends made for me

Snow Baby Cake

Sister-in-law and I

I had most wonderful time at the baby shower thrown by my mom (with help of friends) last weekend. 

It was amazing! 

Everything from decorations (Winter Wonderland Theme) to food and presents was just the best. I felt so loved and cared for, plus I didn't have to do anything for this fete. It was more formal with sit down dinner and fun games, then opening of presents and desserts.

 Everything was matching and color coordinated, not to mention very well organized. 

I am so happy to know that my baby boy is so loved and cared for. I'm so thankful for such a wonderful family and amazing friends that made that day special. 

Merry Berry

sweater: Target, blazer: Banana Republic, skirt: thrifted, heels: BCBGirls, 

So the mamma over here is growing by the hour. We are almost at 31 weeks and he's super very active. I mean, it looks like I have a Rocky-in-da-making in there - you can see the belly bounce. Like a lot.

It's becoming very real with all the baby shower gifts and diapers all over our house. Hubby doesn't really appreciate all the ruffles on the bassinet, but there are no manly bassinets out there. So the kiddo (and the daddy) are going to have to make peace with the most adorable bassinet that my friends gifted me.

On totally different note, I'm loving the berry color right now. It feels like I'm wearing a little bit of Christmas, and that's just very merry berry. 

Have a great day! 

Pretty in Polka

top: Target. khakis: Gap, shoes: Aldo, necklace: J.Crew(via Ebay)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

 Everywhere I go... 

Except we are getting some warm temperatures up here... And I love it! The longer I can wear my non-winter clothes, the better. On the other hand, I love seeing all the Christmas decor up. Unfortunately, this year I won't be decorating much because we are in the middle of a move and it's going to  take a while. 

Although, no snow and 60s? I'll take that over any decorations...

Have a great day and thank you for reading!

Spinach & Cheese Rolls {recipe}

Once in a while I find a recipe that's just easy to make and really yummy. Then my mom finds it tasty (which happens very rarely), and it becomes a winner.

These rolls are super-duper easy to make. You can put anything you want inside but this is my take on the 

Spinach and Cheese Rolls.

Makes about 30 rolls. 

Ingredients:

2 sheets of puff pastry (I used Pepperidge Farm)

1 bag of spinach

1/4 lb of turkey pastrami (or ham)

1 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese

1 egg

1 tbsp of water

1tsp of olive oil

garlic and onion seasoning

Preparation:

Thaw the puff pastry according to package instructions. Cut the pastrami into small pieces, then fry the spinach with 1 tsp of olive oil just until it starts to wilt. 

Roll out on sheet of dough on lightly floured surface. Take a pin roller and smooth out all the edges. Don't roll the dough too much or it will become too thin. 

Beat the egg with water and s=brush the surface of the dough. Evenly spread half of the pastrami, spinach and cheese.

Roll the dough tightly into a long cannon, then cut pieces with extra sharp knife (about 15 pieces)

*The thinner you want your rolls to be, the less stuffing you should use, as they won't cook through with all the cheese*

Lightly oil a baking sheet or aluminum sheet and spread the rolls evenly on a pan. Brush each roll with the egg and water mixture.

Bake the rolls on 400F for about 15 minutes, then turn them over and put back into oven for another minute or two. Be careful not to burn them on the other side, as you just want the cheese to brown a little.

Cool the rolls until you can handle them with your hands and enjoy!