Prosciutto, Brie, & Fig Panini

I know I just posted a panini recipe, so please forgive me for the repetition. My excuse is I wanted to finish up sharing how I used the rest of the fig paste from my fig crumbles. It was another panini and another very satisfying lunch. This time I used prosciutto, brie cheese, and fig paste. There's no need for me to even write up a recipe. It's that simple and that good. Just throw the three ingredients onto some sliced french bread and put it in your panini grill. Once again if you don't have a panini press, you can put it on a grill pan or regular stove top pan and press down with a spatula or lid.

We went to the shore again this weekend, and enjoyed some gorgeous weather. We also made another stop at the fish market so expect some more seafood recipes this week.

Chicken, Fig & Blue Cheese Panini

I love my panini maker, I'd say it's one of the wedding gifts we have gotten the most use out of. It's great for making sandwiches a little more exciting, it makes them taste better, trust me.   In my quest to use up the fig paste I still had from these fig crumbles, I made a chicken, fig, and blue cheese panini, and it was a great combination.  The blue cheese really complements the sweet fig paste. Keep reading for the recipe.

Fig and Goat Cheese Crostini

I had a lot of leftover fig pasted from the Fig Crumbles I made last week, and I definitely wasn't going to  let it go to waste. One use I found for it were these easy fig and goat cheese crostinis, which make for an easy appetizer. Usually when I make these, I use a fig compote made of chopped dry figs (1/2 cup), red wine (3/4 cup), granulated sugar or brown sugar (2 Tablespoons) , and a couple pinches of thyme, but I figured the fig paste was a good substitute since I had it on hand.

Ingredients (choose how much you need based on how many you would like to make/serve)
Baguette
Log of Goat Cheese
Fig Compote or Fig Paste
Olive Oil

Directions
Slice baguette and brush both sides with olive oil. Toast bread on a grill pan over medium high heat (2-3 minutes each side) or for bake about 6-8 minutes at 400 degrees in the oven, turning half way through.

Once baguette slices are toasted, smear goat cheese onto crostini and top with fig compote or fig paste.

Soft Baked Fig Crumbles

My friend recently introduced me to Eat Live Run's blog and I'm hooked. There are so many recipes on her blog I want to try, and the added bonus is that she also blogs about travel and wine country, 2 things close to my heart.

I decided to make the soft baked fig cereal bars, as they looked like a healthy option for breakfast or for an afternoon snack. Also, because I love figs.  You're probably starting to notice that I love a lot of food. I didn't have the patience to put the love into rolling out the crumbly dough, so mine turned out more like soft baked fig crumbles, which worked just as well for me. I 'rolled' out the bottom rectangle straight onto the cookie sheet, covered it with the fig paste, and then pieced together the other half of the dough on top as crumbles. I also baked it as one big giant bar and then cut it into squares after it was cooked. Needless to say I had one for breakfast this morning, and I was sad I didn't bring an extra for an afternoon snack.

An added bonus is that I had a lot of left over fig paste and I can't wait to use that up with some other recipes. I'll keep you posted on what I end up using it for.