Jalapeño Popper Melts

l made these yummy sandwiches for dinner on Saturday. It's like a grown-up grilled cheese flavor explosion! The recipe is from Kraft and I adapted it slightly using similar recipes from Pinterest. 

Things you need...

Bread

Crushed pretzels

Pepper jack cheese 

American cheese

An egg wash (egg and milk)

Bacon

Jalapeño peppers

First I cooked the bacon. Perfectly, according to my boyfriend. I'm glad I've achieved the skill of cooking perfect bacon. Yay for small accomplishments!

After the bacon was cooked I made my egg wash and got my sandwiches ready. I dipped one side of each slice of bread in the egg wash and then in the crushes up pretzels to form a crust. I put a piece of bread in the pan and built the sandwich... 

Pepper jack. American. Bacon. Jalapeños. More pepper jack. The top slice of bread. I cooked it until one side was done and flipped it and cooked the other side. 

They. Were. Delicious. My boyfriend ate almost two of them and said they were "amazing."  I always feel great when he enjoys my cooking, which is pretty much all the time. I love that he doesn't hesitate to tell me how much he likes it and that he thinks I'm one of the best cooks ever... Along with the best girlfriend ever, which is a title I wear proudly. I may not be (am probably not) the best girlfriend in the history of the World but I'm his best girlfriend ever, which makes me a gppy girl!

So this is one that isn't recommended by just me... It's not the healthiest (although I used light whole grain bread and lower fat cheese... Tried to make a few good substitutions) but it is delicious. You can combine it with something healthier like a veggie for a better version. 

No picture this time... I deleted it! 

Cabinet Re-Do

I broke a door on a bathroom cabinet a while ago and decided to re-purpose it. I'm getting ready to move and decided I won't use it in the bathroom at the new house. 

The shelves had a couple spots from things spilling on them so I cleaned them up and then used some white spray paint to cover the stained spots. Perfect. I can't even see where they were. 

Next I used shelf paper to dress it up a little. This was my first time using shelf paper so it took a couple tries to get it right. And it is still not perfect. Luckily it's on the back so when things are on the shelves it won't be noticeable. 

There are a few bumpy areas that I smooths out as best as I could. They show up in the picture but not when I look at it. So that's good! I also realized that I didn't have the second piece of paper line up correctly. The shelves are able to be adjusted so I moved the middle shelf so that it's hidden. 

My first shelf paper experience wasn't a total success but it wasn't a complete fail. I'd say with only a couple minor mistakes it turned out pretty well. 

I definitely know more about using shelf paper and what to pay attention to next time! 

The shelf is one that I bought at Target a year or two ago. It's a basic style so I'm sure they still carry something similar. The gray and white chevron paper is by Macbeth and I picked it up at TJ Maxx a while ago. I was so exited to find it there!

White Pizza

This delicious recipe was found on Pinterest but originates from the Cooking Light website.

I changed the recipe by using a Pillsbury thin pizza crust instead of a frozen dough. I spread a mixture of ricotta (part skim), fat free mozzarella, freshly grated Parmesan, minced garlic, and a little skim milk on it. Then I topped it with some sautéed spinach and garlic. 

Result? Delicious!

One fifth of the pizza (three squares the way I made it) is less than 400 calories. Honestly? I could've (easily) eaten more than a fifth!