Appetizers

1. Brown Sugar Chili Chicken Wings

BLT Mini Tarts With Bacon Jam

02.07.2012 5 Comments

In my world, 4th of July is a lot like Thanksgiving. But with sunburns and pyrotechnics. An underlying feeling of patriotism and national gratitude, a day off work and an evening of food and celebration with friends and family.

But unlike Thanksgiving, the food is all fair game. There are no requisite poultry centerpieces, or traditional casseroles, you are free to cook and eat whatever you like. Most people gravitate towards easy, low maintenance grill style food, or appetizers and dips that can just hang around the kitchen waiting patiently for attention.

Here are some of my favorite foods for low key afternoon get together:

2. BLT Caprese Slider with Puff Pastry Buns

3. Jalapeno Popper Potato Bites

4. Boozy (Or Not) Watermelon Stars

And the Man of The Hour:

BLT Mini Tarts with Bacon Jam, Arugula & Grape Tomatoes

For the tart dough:

2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1 1/2 sticks of butter

1/3 cup ice cold water

For the topping:

A double batch of Bacon Jam

1 cup arugula leaves

1/2 cup grape tomatoes, cut in half

In a food processor, combine 1 1/3 cup flour, salt, sugar and butter, process until well combined. Add the remaining flour and process again until combined. Transfer to a bowl and add the water with a wooden spoon (don’t add the water while the dough is in the food processor or your dough will be brittle and cracker-like). If the dough isn’t moist enough, you can add more water, a tsp at a time until the consistency is right. Form dough into a disk, wrap with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

Preheat your oven to 375.

Roll your dough out on a floured surface. Using a 3 inch biscuit cutter, cut out 20-25 circles.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the dough circles on the bakign sheet. Prick eat circle with a fork. Bake at 375 for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Spread each mini tart circle with bacon jam, top with arugula and grape tomato halfs.

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Crab Stuffed Baked Avocado

25.06.2012 18 Comments

There is something about the raw exposure that blogging brings that forces you to face and deal with emotional handicaps that you didn’t even know that you have.

It may be the contrast between complete strangers showering you with compliments and adorations, and other complete strangers raining down harsh criticism. When in reality, neither is wholly accurate. You are, to one degree or another, somewhere in the middle.

And as harsh and those nasty comments can be, the overly positive ones have always been more difficult for me to deal with. Those readers who send compliment saturated emails about how much they love my recipes, or how great my life must be, are with no doubt a highlight of blogging. But I am always left with the fear that the pedestal will crumble and I will be exposed as the ordinary person that I truly am.

Self worth is supposed to be an isolated container, unaffected by the thoughts of others. But I’m not sure anyone has really figure out how to do that, and if he does, I’m not sure I want to meet that guy.

The truth is, sometimes we need a mirror of honesty to see how great we are, and place that value in our container of worth. And to really start to believe it.

Take a second to think back on your life and write down all the best compliments that you have ever received.

And then take the rest of your life to truly believe them.

Crab Stuffed Baked Avocado

4 oz cream cheese, softened

6 oz crab meat (drain well if using canned meat)

1/4 cup tomatoes, chopped

1 tbs scallions

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

pinch cayenne pepper

3 large ripe avocados,cut in half, pits removed

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400.

In a bowl, combine all the ingredients except the avocados and the parmesan, mix until well combined.

Fit the hole in the avocado with crab mixture, top with generous amounts of cheese. Place avocados in the wells of a muffin tin, bake at 400 until the cheese has melted about 8-10 minutes.

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Orzo Caprese In Tomato Cups

18.06.2012 20 Comments

When I was a kid "Pasta Salad" was just a requisite side dish at family gatherings that was hastily bought at the grocery store and remained in it’s plastic tub beside other more appetizing offerings while slowly making it’s way to room temperature. I never really understood how macaroni noodles, eggs and mustard where always such an important part of every barbecue I went to. And while these little gatherings were being planned, there was always a mention of it, "Who is going to bring the pasta salad?" Pasta salads have so much variety and take so little time, you don’t ever have to resort to grocery store tub again.

Instead of that I offer you this. Orzo pasta and a fairly traditional Caprese salad, mixed together and served in a hallowed out tomato (feel free to bypass the individual serving size vegetable dish for larger gatherings.)

Orzo Caprese Salad in Tomato Cups

1 cup dry Orzo pasta

2 cups (10 oz) grape tomatoes, halved

2 cups small mozzareall balls (ciliegine sized) cut in half or quarters

5 basil leaves, chopped

3 tbs pesto sauce

1 tsp balsamic

Salt & Pepper

4 beefsteak tomatoes

Cook Orzo according to package directions until al dente, put in a bowl with the grape tomatoes, mozzarella balls, basil leaves, pesto and balsamic. Toss to combine, salt and pepper to taste.

To serve in tomato cups, cut the beefsteak tomatoes in half widthwise and use a melon baller to scoop out the insides.

Fill with Orzo Caprese Salad and serve.

Roasted Jalapenos with Bacon Jam & Goat Cheese

28.05.2012 18 Comments

“In war, there are no unwounded soldiers.” – Jose Narosky

(Photo source unknown)

Thank you for all of the people who had fought, those who have died, the ones who will always nurse wounds and the mothers and fathers who had to stand back and watch it happen.

Thank you for the gift of peaceful days, Sundays with our families and the ignorance that allows us to enjoying without a full realization of the true sacrifice that was made.

To those who have died and those who were left behind, Thank You will never cover it.

Roasted Jalapenos with Bacon Jam & Goat Cheese

12 fresh jalapenos

3 oz cream cheese

1/4 cup Bacon Jam (posted last week on The Beeroness)

3 oz goat cheese

1 tbs butter

1/2 cup Panko

Preheat oven to 400. Cut the jalapenos lengthwise, removing the seeds and the inner membranes.

Place on a baking sheet and roast until soft, about 10 minutes.

Using a butter knife, smear the inside of the jalapenos with cream cheese.

Top the cream cheese with bacon jam.

Using your fingers, top the bacon jam with goat cheese.

In a microwave safe bowl, melt the butter. Add the panko and stir until coated.

Top the jalapenos with the buttered panko and roast at 450 until the panko has browned, about 5-8 minutes.

Bacon & Panko Crusted Scallops

23.05.2012 14 Comments

Bacon wrapped scallops sound like such a great idea, don’t they? Two fabulously delicious meats teaming up for one incredible bite. There’s an issue. A huge, unavoidable, technical glitch: the cooking times. Like most great loves lost, the deal breaking fundamental flaw is timing. Bacon takes somewhere around 3 times as long to cook as scallops, giving you two options: Hideously dry, overcooked scallops or semi-raw undercooked bacon. Yum, appetizing.

If you really want to fly in the face of Kosher and wrap your shellfish with pork, you have two really great options:

Wrap your scallops in prosciutto, like I do here, only needing attention on the scallops cooking time since proscuitto can be served any where from raw to cripsy,

Bread your scallops with crushed bacon and Panko, which I do below.

Either way, pork and scallops are harmoniously reunited. I knew those two crazy kids would work things out.

Bacon & Panko Crusted Scallops

4 strips of bacon, cooked

1/3 cup panko

8 large scallops

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup milk

2 eggs

1/2 tsp salt

3 tbs canola oil

Roughly chop the bacon and add to a food processor along with the Panko, pulse until well combined and the bacon is reduced to crumbs, remove from food processor and add to a bowl.

Add the flour to a plate.

Add the milk, eggs and salt to a bowl and beat to combine.

Dry the scallops very well and dredge in the flour, knocking off any excess, dip in the milk/egg mixture and then into the Panko/bacon bowl, coating well. Place in the refridgerator for ten minutes to allow the coating to stick.

Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook scallops on both sides until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side, taking care not to over crowd the pan.

This is what happens when you try to photograph food while hanging out with a 2 year old:

Herbivoracious Cookbook Review & Caramelized Apple and Blue Cheese Crostini

21.05.2012 16 Comments

At a book release party for Michael Natikin’s Herbivoracious I fill my plate past capacity with the gorgeous spread laid out at a Culver City restaurant, his cookbook’s recipes incarnate. It isn’t until I’m halfway though the incredible tasty bites that I realize that it’s vegetarian. Of course it is, its Herbivoracious. This is how I like my vegetarian food, as a celebration of produce rather than and explanation for missing meat. This is what Michael has managed to do, turn out an entire book of recipes so full and beautiful that the addition of animal protein would be an imposition. Recipes that range from perfectly simple to complex and inspirational. This isn’t a book for vegetarians, or for accepting meat eaters, it’s a book for everyone who loves food.

Cookbooks, in a real life paper and page form, are even more important to me that ever. As I pull out my Grandmothers copy of The Joy of Cooking, with her notes scrawled in the margins with a soft pencil I can feel a connection with her that would have been lost if eReaders had been invented 50 years ago. I feel her in the pages, and she is still able to teach me what I was never able to learn when she was alive. I want this for my daughter, for my future Grandkids, another piece of me to be found in an old box, when they are ready to receive it. Cookbooks should be the last thing to be digitized, you won’t pass down a kindle, make notes in the blank spaces with a number 2 pencil.

But the main reason to buy cookbooks is simple: recipe testing. Cookbook recipes are tested, over and over, to insure that the unchangeable print is perfect. Bloggers make a recipe once, giving online recipes a much higher rate of flaws, my own included. You are our testers and your feedback gives us insight in how we write the recipes and if we later make changes to what we have already posted. With bloggers cranking out up to 10 recipes a week, you can hardly blame us. But cookbook authors take much more time and care, agonizing over measurements, yields, terms and times, getting hundreds of hours of opinions and feedback because once it prints, that’s it. No updating posts, or responding to comments, the recipe has to be perfect.

That is why you should buy cookbooks.

Even if you aren’t a vegetarian, ESPECIALLY if you aren’t a vegetarian, Michael Natikns book is a must own celebration of produce. Buy it, make notes in the margins, and pass it down to endless generation of food loving humans.

Caramelized Apple and Blue Cheese Crostini

Recipe from: Michael Natkin, Herbvoracious
Makes 16 crostini
20 minutes

½ cup loosely packed fresh tarragon leaves
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
16 thin slices of crusty baguette
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 small apples such as Pink Lady, cut into 16 wedges
Tiny pinch of cayenne pepper (Don’t be afraid of this, it put this dish over the top!)
Freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup blue cheese (such as Blue de Causses or Gorgonzola dolce), at room temperature
Flaky sea salt (such as Maldon) or large crystal sea salt (such as red Hawaiian salt)
(I added a drizzle of raw honey)

1.Preheat oven or toaster oven to 400 degrees.

2. Set aside 32 nice looking tarragon leaves. In a mortar and pestle or mini food processor, roughly puree the remaining tarragon with the olive oil.

3. Brush the baguette slices with the tarragon oil, reserving the crushed tarragon. Toast in the oven (on a baking sheet) or toaster oven until golden brown and crispy, about 5 minutes.

4. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the apples on in a single layer, working in batches if needed, until both sides are golden brown and somewhat tender, about 5 minutes. Season with a pinch of cayenne pepper and several grinds of black pepper.

5. To serve, arrange two slices of cooked apple on each crostini. Top with ½ teaspoon of the blue cheese, a speck of the crushed tarragon, two whole tarragon leaves, and a few grains of sea salt. (Drizzle with raw honey, if desired)

Baked Brown Sugar Chicken Wings With Roasted Red Pepper Cream Sauce

16.05.2012 50 Comments

People always ask what I prefer: sweet or savory. The truth is I have a strong pull to mix them together, blur the lines. I add savory ingredients to my baked good and sweet ingredients to my savory dinners.

The best fried or baked chicken recipes there are have a touch of sugar. It’s this magic secret ingredient that just seems way to simple to make such a huge impact. If you already have a baked or fried or even grilled chicken recipe that you are perfecting, add a tsp of brown sugar and see how it gives an entirely new dimension to the flavor.

And the sauce combines two of my favorite kitchen staples: roasted red peppers and goat cheese. Both are savory ingredients with a touch of sweetness.

I baked these, more or less because it was easier. But they would also lend themselves well to frying, if you are brave enough.

Brown Sugar Chili Chicken

2 tsp brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp onion powder

2 tsp dried minced garlic

2 tsp smoked paprika

2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp black pepper

2 tbs olive oil

8 chicken legs or wings

1/3 cup roasted red pepper, chopped

2 oz goat cheese

1/4 tsp salt

2 tbs sour cream

Preheat oven to 425.

In a plastic bag, or a bowl, combine the first 7 ingredients. Drizzle the chicken with olive oil and rub to coat. Add the chicken to the bag (or bowl) and toss or shake bag until well coated.

Place on a baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes, turn the chicken over, and continue to bake until cooked through, about 10-15 additional minutes (depending on the thickness of your chicken).

In a food processor, add the roasted red pepper, goat cheese salt and sour cream, process until well combined.

Mango Wrapped Mozzarella

07.05.2012 22 Comments

I’m back. Sort of. When I say that I’m move into my new place, all that means is that my stuff is physically there.

In boxes. Lots and lots of boxes. But the gas isn’t on yet, so I can’t cook, and showers have been very cold.

Like this mango.

So the theme for this week is about food you can cook without a stove.

Which can be tricky. But when you are so sick of take out and pizza and all you want to do is cook a meal for your family and the stove is gas which hasn’t been turned on yet and the new place doesn’t have a microwave and your old place had a built in one that had to stay and you can’t figure out which of the billion boxes holds the cord to the electric griddle, you have to make do.

So this is what I made for breakfast for my first morning in the new house:

Scrambled eggs in the waffle maker. Totally works.

Bacon cooked on an electric crepes maker.

Toast.

It may have been my most creative use of heating elements, but it wasn’t the most delicious breakfast ever to be made by my hands.

In keeping with the motto of my life: Figure out what is great about the situation that you are in and enjoy the crap out of it, I decided to give you a tasty treat that requires no cooking. It only has three ingredients and the only tricky part is shaving the mango with the vegetable peeler. But even if you need two of three strips of mango to go around the mozzarella ball, who cares. Its easy and tasty and looks fancy. Don’t sweat it.

I hope to bring you pictures of my new place soon, right now the mess isn’t nearly charming enough to be photogrpahed. Except Taters room, it’s her perfect little sanctuary in the midst of the chaos, even the pictures are hung and every box has been unpacked. Other than that, the rest can wait.

Mango Wrapped Mozzarella

1 large mango

12 Bocconcini or Ciliegine sized mozzarella balls

2 tbs balsamic vinegar

Peel the mango with a vegetable peeler. once the peel has been removed, shave thin slices of the mango with the vegetable peeler until you have enough to cover the mozzarella balls.

Wrap the mozzarella balls with the mango slices and secure with a toothpick. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar.

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Crab Guacamole

13.04.2012 12 Comments

I try to eat a healthy balanced diet. Most days, my daily meal planner looks like this:

Breakfast: 2 slices of high fiber wheat toast with 1 tbs of peanut butter each and coffee. Lots of coffee.

Lunch: Quinoa salad or leftover dinner from the night before.

Dinner: Some arrangement of lean protien (mostly chicken or fish), vegetables, and either rice or quinoa

But sometimes I just want to use the gorgeous avocados that were delivered to my door from a local produce delivery service. I want to mix it up with crab and sour cream and eat it over the sink while Tater plays in the back yard. So that’s what I did.

I added fresh jalapenos, and removing the seeds removes most of the heat so you get the flavor, a little crunch and just a bit of heat.

Crab Guacamole

3 large ripe avocados

1 tbs chopped shallots

2 tbs chopped fresh jalapeno, stem and seeds removed

1/2 cup full fat sour cream

3 ounces crab meat

2 tbs lemon juice

2 tbs chopped cilantro

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp chili powder

cut the avocados in half, remove the pit and scoop the flesh into a large bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and smash it all together until well combined, but some chunks of avocado still remain.

Let’s Have A Ball Themed Kids Party & Apple Slice Party Balls

04.04.2012 14 Comments

I am now the mother of a two year old.

Of course I’ve been warned about the Terrible Two’s and the nightmare that I am now a party to.

And no offense to those who have gone before me, but I rather enjoy this age. Every age, every situation and every person is not without drawbacks. There is no such thing as a perfect situation. Quality of life is built on figuring out what is great about the situation that you are in and enjoying the crap out of it.

So, what is great about 2 year old?

You get to have all the answers. You are able to solve all of their problems. These tiny little humans see you, their moms, as the Fair Princess Goddess of The Universe. You have control over everywhere they go and who they play with. And all of that will end way too soon. As much as I long to have more freedom and independence, sleep past 6:30am, set my schedule on a whim, travel to exotic places and be able to pee in private again, I know without a single tiny doubt that I will miss the hell out of my 2 year old once she is all grown up.

For Tater’s second birthday, my little tomboy wanted to run around the back yard and play with balls, her favorite thing in the entire world. So that’s what we did.

I had huge gigantic balloons from Sweet Lulu.

I made Yarn Ball Party Favors, You can see the DIY here:

Dozens of red and white beach balls covering the lawn, that I bought from Oriental Trading

Tater was in love with this.

I filled a red baby pool up with a bag of ball pit balls.

And as I shared with you a few weeks ago, I’m tring to rid my life of food dye. Quite a challenge for someone who is used to spending hours concocting the perfect frosting color for cakes. I let go and accepted the fact that the frosting I made with beet powder was just going to be purple and that was OK. More on that in a later post.

A least I was able to sneak some antioxidants and vegetables into her cupcakes, at fine compromise in my opinion.

And the food went largely unphotographed. A pretty shocking thing in my world, given the frequency with which I snap food pictures.

We did, however, reserect the Tater Tot Bar from last year.

I used white cone cups and made the cone holder out of a cardboard box and wrapping paper.

I also made the Hanging Paper Lanterns, one of my very first post was how to make them.

And I remade the paper Happy Birthday banner.

I did get a few shots of my Apple Balls, cored and sliced apples held together with rubber band and bakers twine. I replaced the core with string cheese. This will keep them fresh, un-browned and party ready for hours.

First, core and slice the apples using an apple slicer.

Remove the core and replace it with string cheese. Reassemble the apple and secure with a rubber band, then tie a ribbon or bakers twine around the rubberband. This will help your apple slices to stay fresh longer, without turning brown.

If you can, try to find string cheese that is the same size, or just a bit larger than your apple corer.