Honey-Drizzle Cheddar Cheese

It's Christmas time and I get to host Christmas Dinner for the second year in a row. The challenge is preparing it with a 4-year old and a 7-week old baby. I keep saying to myself, "keep in simple". How can you really keep it simple when you're preparing food for a dozen people? Simple would be having pizza delivered. I'm not going to go that route, of course. So after coming up with a menu that consists of a cheese & cracker appetizer, I decided to do something a little different. Enter a recipe from Kraft.com. I decided that I could do something different yet simple.

So easy. Take a block of aged white cheddar cheese, drizzle it with honey (or better yet - English Golden Syrup) and top it with a combo of chopped nuts and dates. I was a little nervous only because I'm not a huge fan of honey. But, I've gotta tell you, it was wonderful! I used hazelnuts since I had them on hand and they worked out really well. The balance of flavors between the ingredients was wonderful. This is definitely an appetizer that I'll put out again or even take to a friend's house.

Ingredients

1 8 oz. Aged Reserve Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese

1/4 cup honey

1/2 cup chopped nuts (any kind: walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans)

1/2 cup chopped dates

1 apple, sliced
crackers

Directions

1. Place cheese on cheese board; drizzle with honey.

2. Top with nuts and dates.

3. Serve with apples and crackers.

Side Note:

I really should start concentrating more on food presentation. I primarily only use recipes that have a photo of the end product. I don't like leaving anything to the imagination in this respect. In the real world, do people spend that much time thinking about the presentation or are we all thinking more about the taste and temperature of the food we prepare?

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/honey-drizzled-cheddar-cheese-123518.aspx

Parmesan Crusted Baked Zucchini Sticks with Marinara Sauce

Back in the beginning of August when I was hosting a dinner for neighbors who had returned to the US, I executed a bunch of new recipes. One of the apps I made is this one. I loved the idea of baking a zucchini stick appetizer. I actually followed this recipe 100& and it turned out really tasty. The only problem I encountered was keeping the breading on the sticks. The egg that is used for dredging doesn't stick very well to zucchini and even less when you have skin on the stick. I mashed it in a bit and it worked pretty well. I'd make this again.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup bread crumbs (I used panko)
1/2 cup parmigiano reggiano (grated)
1 teaspoon oregano
1 pound zucchini/courgettes (sliced into sticks and pat dry)
salt and pepper to taste
1 egg (lightly beaten)

Directions:

1. Mix the bread crumbs, parmigiano reggiano and oregano in a bowl.
2. Season the zucchini with salt and pepper.
3. Dip the zucchini in the egg and then dredge in the bread crumb mixture.
4. Place the zucchini on a baking sheet in a single layer with the skin side down.
5. Bake in a preheated 425F oven until golden brown, about 20-25 minutes.

http://closetcooking.blogspot.com/2009/02/parmesan-crusted-baked-zucchini-sticks.html

Blueberry-Banana Stacks

Having my neighbors back in town and coming over for dinner inspired me to try three new appetizer recipes. Their children were visiting grandparents out-of-state, but I still had three young ones to try and appeal to. I found this recipe in Parents Magazine back in April 2009. Simple, cute, versatile and bite size. They were a hit!

Ingredients:

8 mini flavored popcorn cakes (or mini rice cakes)
strawberry cream cheese
1 banana, sliced
8 blueberries

Directions:

1. Spread popcorn cakes with strawberry cream cheese
2. Place a slice of banana on top
3. Add an extra dollop of cream cheese
4. Top with a blueberry

Hot Spinach & Artichoke Dip

My next door neighbors moved away for a year...a very long year. And, they moved very far away...very far, like to The Republic of Georgia...right at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe. Far across the world, my neighbor Monica read my blog and made kind comments about wanting to try some items when she returned home.

Well, she and the rest of her family are back in the States and to welcome them home we hosted a dinner and invited some other neighbors over. I didn't recreate any of my previous blog entries but I did try to execute three new appetizers and here's the first one.

Hot spinach and artichoke dip! Who doesn't love it when you go out to a restaurant and order it? Although I am a vegetarian, I am not a fan of spinach and will only eat it raw. I also am not a fan of artichokes and will only eat it in combination with spinach in a creamy dip. I might have a strange condition. ;) I found this recipe on someone else's blog and changed the recipe only slightly. I tried it on a multi-grain cracker before serving it and then decided to toast up some "black & white" loaves from a local bakery department. I lightly brushed the bread with garlic olive oil before toasting and it was wonderful. I later put out some untoasted bread and my husband preferred to eat it this way. To each their own...

Ingredients:

1/2 (10 ounce) package frozen spinach (thawed, drained and coarsely chopped)
2 (7 ounce) jars of marinated artichoke hearts (drained and coarsely chopped)
4 ounces cream cheese (room temperature)
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 clove garlic (grated)
1/2 teaspoon chili sauce (optional)
1/4 cup grated parmigiano reggiano (grated)
1/4 cup mozzarella (grated)

Directions:
1. Mix everything and pour it into a baking dish.
2. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until bubbling and golden brown on top, about 30-40 minutes. Finish off under the broiler for a browner top, if desired.

http://closetcooking.blogspot.com/2008/11/hot-spinach-and-artichoke-dip.html

Smoked Mozzarella and Apple Mini-Calzones

On Saturday night I had friend and her family coming over for dinner. I hadn't spent much time with this friend recently and so having her family of four coming over gave me the inspiration to try all of these amazing recipes I keep finding on Pinterest. I actually had 5 new recipes to try on her family as guinea pigs! Watch out and cross your fingers!

I started out the evening with a Smoked Mozzarella and Apple Calzone. I found smoked mozzarella at Whole Foods. I really wanted to use whole wheat pizza crust, but I didn't have time to make my own and the grocery store only had regular pizza crust. I had quite a bit of the various filling ingredients left over, but I don't think I could've managed to stuff any more things inside.

My guests gave it the thumbs up. I loved them with the dijon mustard for dipping, my husband didn't. This was labor-intensive so next time I might try and use crescent rolls, although that might be sacrificing too much flavor to save some time. I'll let you know...

Makes 12.

Ingredients:

1 whole wheat pizza crust

1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
1/2 tbs butter
1 medium apple (honeycrisp, fuji)
1 cup diced smoked mozzarella cheese
1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
handful of fresh thyme
handful of fresh chives

extra virgin olive oil for brushing
dijon mustard to serve

Instructions:

1. Make the pizza dough or use store-bought fresh dough, let it come to room temperature
2. Warm butter over medium heat in a saucepan and add the thinly sliced onion. Continue to move them every so often until they begin to caramelize, about 12-20 minutes.
3. Seed and cut the apple into a rough dice. Pull the thyme leaves and give them and the chives a nice chop. Get all of your fillings in order.
4. Roll out dough into a rectangle shape. Roll it thin, but not too thin since you don't want it to rip. Make 3x3 inch squares and lay them on a floured baking sheet.
5. Pile toppings into the middle of the square. Take a pinch of onions, then apple, both cheeses then herbs. Add a twist of black pepper if desired. Fold one corner across to the opposite corner, gently press and fold the open edges and pinch or roll the edges.
6. Brush the top of each mini calzone with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Bake in the upper third of the over for about 14 minutes, until tops are crispy brown. Let them rest a minute before eating. Serve with dijon mustard for dipping.

http://sproutedkitchen.com/?p=2173

Sausage & Sweet Potato Squares with Garlic-Lemon Mayo

Southern Living magazine has so many wonderful recipes and they put together so many great cookbooks. I'm kicking myself for letting my magazine subscription run out because I'm probably missing more really neat recipes like this one.

This relatively simple appetizer has such a great visual presentation and pops with flavor. If I was a food stylist it might have looked more like the photo in the magazine (Sept. 2008). As you can see in the photo below, mine didn't turn out as shiny and I forgot to include the absolutely amazing garlic-lemon mayo in the photo. Cutting sweet potatoes into 1" chunks isn't easy. Using a restaurant dicer would've been much easier. You definitely want to get the sweet potatoes diced to the same size so that they cook evenly. You also want to cut them to a size that complements the size of the sausage you serve with them.


This appetizer was so good. Being a vegetarian I just dipped roasted sweet potato into the garlic-lemon mayo. It was so wonderful! Definitely worth making again and again.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 32 (1-inch) cubes
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 pound spicy smoked sausage, cut into 32 (1/2-inch) pieces
• 32 wooden picks
• Lemon-Garlic Mayonnaise
• Garnish: fresh thyme sprigs

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450°. Place sweet potato cubes on a lightly greased 15- x 10-inch jelly-roll pan. Drizzle potatoes with 2 Tbsp. oil, and sprinkle with pepper and salt. Toss to coat.
2. Bake at 450° for 15 to 20 minutes, turning cubes twice.
3. Cook sausage in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat 3 to 4 minutes on each side or until browned. Drain on paper towels.
4. Place 1 sausage slice on top of 1 sweet potato cube; secure with a wooden pick. Repeat with remaining sausage slices and potato cubes. Serve with Lemon-Garlic Mayonnaise. Garnish, if desired.
   

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/sweet-potato-squares-with-lemon-garlic-mayonnaise-10000001831906/

Magazine Note:

Serve Sweet Potato Squares warm or at room temperature. Make garlic-lemon mayo in advance.

Potato Bites

The Super Bowl. What images does that conjure up in your mind? Party. Football. Commercials. Food. Lots and lots of food.

This year, for Super Bowl XLV, we had neighbors over with their children to watch the big game. We typically go to a party, but this year Super Bowl Sunday fell on a night that just happened to be my night to pick up "the Panera donations". Meaning, where ever I was watching the game, I'd have to drop everything and leave at 7:30 PM. That's a whole other story.

So, with menu planning on my mind, I visited the Kraft Food website and found a recipe for Potato Bites. This recipe seemed a lot easier to make then potato skins. There were only 3 reviews on the site at the time and the only real comment regarding the preparation was "it's messy to make". Thanks. Rolling mashed potatoes into balls sounded "clean" to me.

So boil, mash, scoop, stuff and roll. I did it 24 times, just like the recipe called for. These balls were huge and looked good. (Jokes were made about this while people tried them). After baking for about 15 minutes, I served them. They turned out really well, but could've used more time in the oven since the cheese was still more chunk then a melty, gooey center. Yeah, melty is not a real word. I know.

We have some left over so it'll be interesting to see how well they reheat.

Enjoy!
http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/velveeta-potato-bites-121401.aspx

Mini-Taco Salad Appetizer

Every Friday night is "Taco Friday" here at my house. A friend of mine has "Taco Tuesday" at her house and I thought the idea was so good that I decided to steal it for my family. Knowing what your family is going to eat one night out of every week means I only have to attempt to be creative six other nights of the week. And, who wouldn't want to eat their favorite meal once a week? It's one of my favorites, and since I cook 99% of the meals, the husband and son must eat it every week too. (Well, realistically, my son doesn't eat it. But maybe that will change one day).

We're not a very exciting family so the chances of us heading out on a Friday night are slim to none and tacos are a super fast dinner. We always have shredded cheddar on hand. I manage a restaurant for the closing shift on Wed. and Thurs. and our diced tomatoes are only supposed to be used for that day's business. So...if I remember, I snag a soup cup full of diced tomatoes to use for Friday dinner. Seems like a waste to toss them and using them the next day to make a $7+ salad doesn't seem fair to the customer - so they are mine! Wa-ha-ha!

So last Friday night I was preparing vegetarian tacos for dinner. If I've got organic ground beef on hand I'll make it for my meat-eater husband. Last Friday he was out of luck. So as I was preparing the meal (which I can do in as little as 12 minutes), I pulled chips out of the pantry. I love tacos, my husband prefers taco salad. So anyways...I was pulling chips out of the pantry and found I had two open bags. Mission rounds are my favorite. We also had those kind that look like little chip cups. Light bulb moment...and there we have it. The creation of the mini-taco salad appetizer. I secretly made three and presented it to my husband. He looked so excited as I place the plate in front of him. Honestly, I know the presentation is wasted on him and I know he was hungry, hence the excitement of seeing food placed before him. But...after hearing how good they were, even though they were vegetarian, I decided to delay dinner while I made myself a couple. OMG! So good. A little bit of this and a little bit of that sitting on a tortilla chip was the perfect amount of every ingredient.

After preparing a few more to photograph, we finally had dinner. And, we both went back for seconds. Yum. Every "Taco Friday" is going to begin with Mini-Taco Salad Apps from now on!

Oh, and as a side note, I'm getting a new camera in February! I am so excited that I've been literally dreaming about it. Hopefully my photographs will look more appealing after I learn how to use the camera, since it'll be sooooo much better than the one I currently use.

Mum's Cranberry Relish-Brie App

In Progress...

Dinner @ No Frill Grill, Virginia Beach

In Progress...

Mini Caprese Bites

Southern Living magazine and cookbooks never steer me wrong.

Back in December '08 I prepared this appetizer for our Christmas dinner. This little bowling wasn't going to cut it, so I changed my app layout for a large serving plate.










This was the finished display.

Prep: 20 min. Grape tomatoes vary in size from week to week at the grocery store; some pints we found had only 24 while others had more than 40. Good news, you should still have enough mozzarella balls because they are generally sold in 8-oz. containers that have more than enough.

Yield: Makes 8 appetizer servings

Ingredients

• 1 pt. grape tomatoes, halved
• 10 to 14 fresh small mozzarella cheese balls, cut into thirds*
• 32 (4-inch) wooden skewers**
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 6 thinly sliced fresh basil leaves
• Kosher salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Thread 1 tomato half, 1 piece of cheese, and another tomato half onto each skewer. Place skewers in a shallow serving dish.

2. Whisk together oil and next 3 ingredients. Drizzle oil mixture over skewers; sprinkle with basil and salt and pepper to taste.

*1 (8-oz.) package fresh mozzarella, cut into 1/2-inch cubes, may be substituted.

**Wooden picks may be substituted.

Marci Parham, Birmingham, Alabama, Southern Living, MAY 2008

Soft Fresh Herb Cheese & Grape Crostini

Back in December '08 I must've had time on my hands, even with a 1-year old running around. I successfully pulled off three appetizers to contribute to the Christmas dinner my Mother-in-Law was hosting.

I adapted this recipe from one I found in Bon Appetit magazine. The original recipe called for herb goat cheese, bit since I'm not a fan of goat cheese, I improvised. It was unique and yummy.

Attached is the original recipe.




As you can clearly see, presentation and photography were not my strengths. I chose not to use three different color grapes because grapes are hard enough to find in December. Also, their fresh herb cheese is so much more visually appealing than my cheese spread, although I'm sure mine appealed to the non-goat cheese eaters in the group.

I would definitely prepare this again, with a little more attention given to the visual appeal.