Last weekend, my nephew Jack announced that he wanted to see the Great Balls of China.

A little switch makes a big difference.

Take this Provencal Tomato, Olive and Goat Cheese Galette. At first glance, it looks like a pizza. But it’s actually a free-form tart piled high with sliced Roma tomatoes, black olives, crumbled goat cheese and onions sautéed with garlic and herbs. That might not sound like a huge difference, but the pie pastry is impossibly flaky, so when you cut into it with your fork, it shatters, and all of the toppings that were barely contained anyway just start tumbling down into this beautiful mess of buttery crust and bright, summery flavors.

The recipe says it’s eight servings, but my belly says four.

© 2010 Rebecca Crump. All rights reserved.

“Dude. Seriously? Don’t even try it. Just buy the can.”

My sister was less than enthusiastic when I told her I was working on a recipe for homemade Sloppy Joes. She’d tried a few copycat recipes for the canned mix. And really, really hated them.

So, I looked up the ones she’d tried, jotted down some notes and decided on a few things. Namely, I didn’t want green or red peppers in my sloppy joes. It’s a texture thing. And I didn’t want to replace the canned mix with ketchup. I know that not all ketchups are created equally, but the one in my fridge contains high fructose corn syrup and other amazing feats of science. So does my favorite canned sloppy joe mix. Why trade one for the other? For me, the point of making sloppy joes from scratch was to avoid any man-made nutritional grenades.

(Butter and brown sugar don’t count, because they are surely of The Lord. Testify!)

© 2010 Rebecca Crump. All rights reserved.

There’s no such thing as a bad grilled cheese sandwich.

Think about your mom’s grilled cheese. It was probably made with the cheapest, whitest bread she could get her hands on and a few slices of “American pasteurized prepared cheese product.” The filling was gooey. The bread was crisp and buttery. Even when it came out a little blackened, you’d just scrape it with a butter knife and keep eating. Manna from heaven.

When you love something that much, you never lose your soft spot for it. But you might want something slightly more sophisticated than white bread and imitation cheese. A grilled cheese for grown-ups.

© 2010 Rebecca Crump. All rights reserved.

Most days, I’m a big fan of the entire process of cooking. The whole peeling, slicing, steaming, baking, braising, parboiling, deep-frying, grilling, roasting shebang. But some days, a 30-minute meal seems like 25 too many.

That’s a sandwich day.

Since today’s Meatless Monday, I wanted to share a sandwich that’s truly vegetarian – not just a regular sandwich without the meat – because when you’re going meatless, it’s incredibly easy to get stuck in the “Can I get a turkey and cheese sandwich without the turkey?” rut. This Hummus Vegetable Sandwich has thick, creamy hummus on one slice of whole wheat; a somewhat pungent black olive tapenade on the other. In between, you get the raw crunch of thinly sliced cucumber and the sweet chewiness of grated carrot.  Together, they give you a sandwich that’s defined by its own perfect balance of textures and flavors. Not by the absence of turkey.

Continue reading: Meatless Monday: Hummus Vegetable Sandwich

© 2010 Rebecca Crump. All rights reserved.

OK, I cheated a little on this one.

I dropped my tart pan on the kitchen floor, and it didn’t bounce.

So, I grabbed a deep-dish pie crust out of the freezer. And, it turns out that Pillsbury® Pet-Ritz® frozen pie crusts came out in 1962, so they fit nicely into our “Mad Men” menu. I love it when Laziness and Serendipity come together.

© 2010 Rebecca Crump. All rights reserved.

OK, you’ve got a gorgeous rib-eye or two and a few ears of corn, and you’re ready for a cookout!

But then something happens.

It rains. Or it’s too hot outside. Or you thought you had enough charcoal, but you don’t have enough charcoal, and OH MY GOD YOU JUST CAN’T go to the grocery one more time this week. No way. Mental block.

That’s when you break out this recipe for Rib-Eye Steak with Warm Tomato Corn Salad. Everything’s cooked in one skillet. First, the steak. Then, the vegetables. Onion, pepper, fresh corn and cherry tomatoes flavored with garlic, chili powder, salt and a squeeze of lime. In the time it would take to grab that bag of charcoal, you can get this bright, summery meal on the table and into your belly. Winner!

© 2010 Rebecca Crump. All rights reserved.

Goat cheese. Creamy, tangy, lovely goat cheese.

We’ve used it in at least a dozen recipes. Like the Tomato and Goat Cheese Tarts made with puff pastry. Easy and delicious. The Focaccia with Caramelized Onions. Not-so-easy but still delicious. The Grilled Zucchini Rollatini and the Wild Mushroom and Goat Cheese Quesadillas. Oh, and the Grilled Vegetable and Goat Cheese Sandwiches! I need one of those in my life ASAP.

Yes, I’m a goat cheese fan. So, I’m excited about spreading the love with this week’s “Summer of Gourmet Entertaining with Chavrie®” Giveaway, featuring approximately $100 in goat cheese-related prizes from Chavrie® Fresh Goat Cheese! 

Continue reading: Meatless Monday: Chavrie® Gourmet Goat Cheese Pizza (Plus Giveaway!)

© 2010 Rebecca Crump. All rights reserved.

“Hey, girls! Peanut butter or pimento cheese?”

Mama called out that choice every day of summer vacation, when my sister and I were too busy – knee-deep in Barbie dolls, books and baby dolls – to bother with sitting at the table to eat our lunch like civilized humans. With one of those sandwiches, we could eat with one hand and keep the other hand free for more important things, like playing “Life” and pillow-fighting and doling out the occasional Slap of Justice when someone cheated.

My summertime choice was always pimento cheese. Nothing against peanut butter, but when you step outside into the summer heat and feel like you’re suffocating in the armpit of Satan, the coldness of that pimento cheese is a cure-all.

Of course, I’m assuming you know what pimento cheese is, but if you’re not a Southerner (by birth, marriage or choice), I have some explaining to do.

© 2010 Rebecca Crump. All rights reserved.

Today, I’m pleased to report that Jeff and I are as comatose as two people can be without actually being hooked up to medical equipment or shooting heroin.

After three days of painting, two road trips, three fireworks shows, a couple of cookouts and a family reunion, we are in deep recovery mode. The shades are drawn. The a/c is cranking. How many episodes of “Band of Brothers” have we seen today? I don’t know, but we’ve been in it to win it since 1100 hours. Since Normandy!

Fighting aside, I didn’t want to let the day slip away without sharing this recipe for Ina Garten’s Greek Panzanella. It’s a serious contender for summer stapledom.

© 2010 Rebecca Crump. All rights reserved.

According to my hometown newspaper, a few weeks ago, someone found a box in a parking lot downtown. The writing on the box warned that anyone who touched it would lose their hands. So, the person who found the box called 911, and the Bomb Squad came to investigate its contents.

Just then, the box’s owner showed up. She was a Chicago woman who’d driven down for a family reunion and brought something special with her: a big, messy box of ribs. After the party, she’d left the empty box to dry outside, because it was too big for a trash bin and too funky for her hotel room. And what about that “lose your hands” warning? It was written on the box by a rib joint employee who didn’t want anyone taking them besides this customer.

When it comes to picnics, it pays to take something that won’t get you in trouble with the Bomb Squad.

© 2010 Rebecca Crump. All rights reserved.