Superbowl Prep Underway

It's that time of year!   The Super Bowl is the annual championship game of the NFL, first played on January 15, 1967.  Super Bowl parties have been part of the tradition.  Typically, finger food type snacks like chicken wings and chips with dip are served at these parties.  Super Bowl XLIX will be played on February 1, 2015.  We are hosting our annual Super Bowl party, expecting about 20 guests so preparations are underway.

I have a tentative menu:  deviled eggs, Mexican layered dip, nachos & cheese, loaded tater tots, chili, veggie tray with hummus, chili dogs and pulled pork buns.  There is a bit of overlap in the ingredients which lessens the prep while increasing the versatility.  For example, green onions will be used for the Mexican layered dip, loaded tater tots and the veggie tray.  The chili can be served as is, with nachos, as chili dogs or on the tater tots.  Most of the food prep will be done on the Saturday, using slow cookers on Sunday.  The only cooking on Sunday will be the tater tots.

My husband requested the deviled eggs.  I put out a tray for game day last week and they last all of about two minutes.  They were a huge hit!

Deviled eggs are inexpensive and easy to make.  The only problem with making deviled eggs is peeling.  The fresher the eggs are, the harder they are to peel with the shell pulling off chucks of the egg white.  The reason being, fresh eggs are more acidic than older eggs so the shell sticks.  The good news is you know your eggs were fresh.  The bad news is, the resulting peeled eggs are aesthetically unappealing for deviled eggs.  The easiest way to get perfectly peeled eggs with no sticking is to add 1 teaspoon of baking soda to the water when cooking the eggs.  Baking soda will reduce the acidity of the eggs so the shell doesn't stick. 

Crab Cakes for Two

Crab is such a lovely seafood - sweet, tender, low calorie, high protein and delicious with hot drawn butter!  I absolutely love crab, specifically king crab legs.  I am rather picky about crab preferring fresh or frozen to canned.  Canned crab is fine for crabmeat dip but that is about the extent of our use for it.  I will often bring home a few crab legs from a restaurant meal when possible but for most purposes, we buy froze king crab legs from Elite Gourmet Food Service that delivers to the door in southern Ontario.

I thoroughly enjoy sitting down to a plate of king crab legs, leisurely savouring each succulent morsel.  My husband, on the other hand does not enjoy cracking crab legs!  In order to use crab meat as an ingredient, the legs must be cracked open releasing the tender, sweet meat.  This is not a difficult task but it is a bit time consuming.

I bring water to a boil in a roasting pan then add the frozen crab legs.  Most of the leg pieces have the larger knuckle where it was attached to the body of the crab.  I crack the cooked crab legs according to their segments, pulling connective tissue to help release the meat.  I also use a thin tipped fork to help release the meat and kitchen shears to open segment portions that refuse to crack open.  Once all the crab legs have been cleaned, I break the larger chunks up depending on how they will be used.

Crab cakes are a delightfully tasty way to use fresh or frozen crab meat.  Like many homemade favourites, there are as many ways to make them as there are cooks.  The big debate appears to be which is best, baked or pan fried.  Baking reduces or eliminates the butter for cooking but at the same time removes the flavour the butter imparts to the crab cakes.  We prefer pan fried crab cakes.  They are easy to make, a tender and tasty seafood main or make them smaller for an appetizer.  Our recipe gives a yield of four crab cakes just perfect for two.  We like Breton crackers for this purpose but you can substitute with your favourite cracker. 

Crab Cakes for Two
recipe by: Garden Gnome

½ c Breton Bites, original whole wheat, crushed
1 egg
4 tsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
3 tbsp Miracle Whip (or Miracle Whip Clone)
1 tsp garlic pepper
1 tbsp finely chopped green onion
1 tbsp finely chopped parsley (optional)
8 oz (226 g) crab meat pieces
1 tbsp butter

Whisk egg, lemon juice, Miracle Whip and garlic pepper together.  Stir in crab meat and green onions.  Gently mix being careful not to break up crab meat.  Mix in crackers.  Divide into four equal portions (mixture will be stickly).  Heat butter on medium heat.  Place each crab mixture portion in heated butter and flatten.  Fry until golden brown, about 5 minutes each side.  Remove from fry pan.  Drain and serve.

Makes 4 patties
Serves 2

Nutritional Value per serving:
298 calories, 14 g total fat (7g saturated fat), 177 mg cholesterol, 726 mg sodium, 468 mg potassium, 19 g total carbohydrates (2 g fibre, 4 g sugar), 25 g protein

Easy Holiday Appetizer - Bacon Wrapped Scallops

The holiday season means entertaining for many which ultimately means serving some type of food.  Appetizers are my go to for entertaining!  They are perfect for those events where a full meal is not planned.  It takes very little time or effort to make appetizers that look fancy, taste delicious and are made with only a few ingredients. 

Bacon wrapped scallops are the perfect, easy to make appetizer that is always well received.  I made a tray of them for my husband to take to a small holiday house party.   I used one and a half pounds of 20/30 count per pound scallops and two packages of bacon cut in half.  A serving size of bacon wrapped scallops is 3 at 169 calories, 25 mg protein, 1.5 g total fat, 255 mg sodium and 0 mg carb.  All around bacon wrapped scallops are a healthy appetizer choice.  Be sure to drain before serving and make them healthier by using a low sodium bacon. 

Method:  Cut the package of bacon across the short end in the middle.  Wrap each half slice of bacon around a scallop, secure with a toothpick and place on sided baking sheet.  Bake at 177°C/350°F until scallops are opaque, about 45 minutes.  Carefully remove the baking sheet from the oven keeping it level to avoid spilling the liquid.  Remove the bacon wrapped scallops.  Drain.  Serve warm.

Bacon wrapped scallops should be served warm.  Surprising they do warm up rather well if there are any left overs or if you would like to take them cooked ahead!  If taking bacon wrapped scallops to a gathering, a short distance is best.  Place in a single layer in a shallow baking dish, cover with aluminum foil and wrap lightly with a T-towel.  You can also do all the prep work at home then take them ready to cook.  If you choose this method, be sure to ask the host ahead of time.  Taking the bacon wrapped scallops prepared but uncooked is not suitable for shorter duration gatherings due to timing. 

Meatballs for the Masses

The holiday season is a time for gatherings, large and small.  Quite often they involve bringing a dish.  Immediately logistics come into play such as ease of traveling as some dished travel better than others.  At the same time the setting must be considered as well which will dictate the type of dish you can bring.   My husband was going to a holiday football game with 30 other football fans.  He wanted to bring something for the tailgate party before the game.  Since most of the offerings for the tailgate party would be snack type, we made a large batch of meatballs.  Meatballs are one of my larger gathering stand-by dishes.  Depending on the setting, I make and serve them in the slow cooker or in a large foil baking pan in the oven.  A larger batch can be made using the foil baking pan.  This method is great for those gatherings where using a slow cooking is not possible or for larger gatherings where the meatballs can be kept hot in the oven until ready to serve.

I make meatballs that are just that, meatballs meaning no fillers.  Calculating how much of a dish to bring can be a challenge.  Numbers tend to not be written in stone so even though a gathering may be for 30, there may be more or less.   In this case, there were 30 maximum so at best one or two would not attend.   I planned on 1/4 lb of beef per person, or 4 - 1 oz meatballs each which worked out to 120 oz or 7½ lb ground beef.  I started with 10 lb/160 oz of lean ground beef which would make 160 - 1 oz meatballs, enough extra. 

I started with 10 lb of lean ground beef in two batches for easier mixing.  I sprinkled a little garlic pepper over the meat then mixed well.  Actually, my husband did the mixing so this was a team effort!  I poured a bit of cold milk over the meat to serve as the binder for the meatballs.   Milk allows the meatballs to keep their shape during cooking resulting in firm yet tender meatballs.   My husband formed the meatballs by hand then we fried them using four non-stick skillets.  The cream interior skillets are ceramic non-stick while the darker interior ones are T-fal.  The browned meatballs were transferred to the foil baking pan to finish cooking in the oven as each pan was ready.  I poured  Sweet Baby Ray's barbeque sauce over each addition of meatballs.  I started the meatballs at 120°C/250°F to keep warm until all the meatballs were added to the pan then I made the final addition of barbeque sauce, about a cup of water and increased the temperature to 177°C/350°F.  Had I been cooking the meatballs in the slow cooker, I would have omitted adding the water.

I cooked the meatballs uncovered at 177°C/350°F until the sauce was hot, bubbling and reduced.  In haste, I neglected to put a baking sheet under the foil baking pan so we carefully maneuvered one under before removing the meatballs from the oven.  Don't they look delicious?

I always make beef or venison meatballs using only meat, milk and either garlic pepper or Montreal steak seasoning.  I keep the seasoning light so the meatballs can be used with any desired sauce, homemade or otherwise.  These meatballs can be home canned in sauce if desired and they freeze nicely.  I like keeping a few pounds of cooked meatballs in the freezer for a quick entertainment dish or using a few for dinner.

I covered the piping hot meatballs with aluminum foil for traveling.  Then we carefully put a T-towel under the foil baking pan on top of the baking sheet (not pictured.  The meatballs would be warm in time to be enjoyed at the tail gate party.  This method works well for meatballs that will be enjoyed within a hour to forty-five minutes of removal from the oven.  If the meatballs will be served after that period they should be kept at 120°C/250°F in the oven.  As always when taking meatballs to an event, I included a package of round toothpicks. 

If you need a simple, easy dish that is sure to please make up a batch of meatballs.  Add a bottle of barbeque sauce of your choice and some toothpicks for a tasty appetizer perfect for holiday entertaining!  Don't forget to make extra for a quick meal start during the busy holiday season. 

Grilled Stuffed Mushrooms

We love our mushrooms!  Mushrooms are quite versatile as they can be eaten raw or cooked, and they can be cooked in a variety of ways.  My preference is to buy mushrooms directly from one of the local mushroom farms especially for canning, freezing or bulk cooking.  However, a fair share of the mushrooms we buy also come from the grocery store.  When buying from either source there is the option to get larger stuffing mushrooms, one of our favourite ways to enjoy as an appetizer.

Large mushrooms (aka stuffers) can be stuffed with a fruit or vegetable mixture, bread stuffing, escargot, or a seafood mixture.  The possibilities are almost endless.  Stuffed mushrooms are delicious but grilled stuffed mushrooms are divine!  Grilling adds a hint of smokiness to the grilled stuffed mushrooms that can't be duplicated in the oven. 

I made grilled stuffed mushrooms as an appetizer at our vacation home.  The stuffing was simply cubed bread with a little butter, sea salt, pepper, finely chopped onions and homemade poultry seasoning.  I mixed the bread cubes with the butter and seasonings then formed into generous sized balls to fit inside the cap of each mushroom.  I placed the stuffed mushrooms into a foil baking dish then topped with shredded mozzarella cheese.  The stuffed mushrooms were cooked on indirect medium heat on the grill until the cheese was bubbly with golden brown highlights.  The grilled stuffed mushrooms delicious and ever so easy to make, perfect as an appetizer!

A Few Easter Goodies

One thing is always for certain whenever we get together as a family and that is an abundance of good food!  Last Saturday was no different when eleven of us celebrated Easter and two of the little ones turning a year older.  The weather was warm and sunny, perfect for the little ones' Easter egg hunt.  Our meal consisted of spiral cut ham, homemade baked beans, homemade creamy coleslaw, home canned green beans,baked potatoes, home canned pickles, a vegetable tray and fresh baked bread.  Appetizers were deviled eggs and seafood.  Dessert was birthday cake.  It was a wonderful gathering!

A couple of our kids (parents to oldest and youngest grandkids) surprised us with a gift basket from Barrie's Asparagus Farm. They have shopped there on several occasions so the farm is on our list of places to visit the next time we are in the Cambridge area.  Barrie's Asparagus Farm is located at 1236 Kings Road in Cambridge, Ontario.  They are fourth generation food producers on Cedardale Farm.  There is a farm market on site where they sell their own produce and products as well as fresh local produce, meats, cheese, honey, maple syrup, grains, baking, preserves, eggs, dairy and much more.  The gift basket was packed with some of their products made with asparagus.  Asparagus will soon be in season here which means I will be doing a bit of canning.  I'm always looking for new ways to use a long time favourite vegetable!

Asparagus is one of those vegetables that we don't get very creative with even though we eat a lot of it.  We prefer fresh asparagus either steamed or grilled.  I can just enough asparagus to use for making cream of asparagus soup.  The products in the gift basket included: vegetable crackers, kettle chips, stone wheat crackers, fusilli pasta with asparagus, asparagus tortilla chips, asparagus salsa and tomato asparagus parmesan pasta sauce.  All of the products in the gift basket except the vegetable crackers and kettle chips had asparagus as an ingredient.  The salsa, pasta sauce a pasta with asparagus are all products I could make as new products for the pantry at home.  I could like make the stone wheat crackers with asparagus as well.  The tortilla chips use asparagus flour which can be made at home from dried asparagus.  Oh the possibilities!

The kids that brought the gift basket also brought a shrimp and crab claw platter.  Our kid would actually like to give up their current profession in favour of becoming a chef.  Although that likely will not happen, she has been taking culinary courses.  She is currently learning how to make trays for entertaining including this beautiful seafood tray.  The presentation is stunning although the little ones did not quite appreciate the crab claws.  They were having no part of the claws at all but ate the crab as long as they could not see the claws.  The adults, on the other hand loved the shrimp and crab.  I thought it was a wonderful and unique presentation!

A couple of our other kids (parents to middle grandkid), brought the birthday cake.  Their little one was turning five while youngest was turning four.  They chose a birthday cake to highlight one of the toys all of our grandkids and in fact the kids still play with, Lego.  The grandkids love playing with Grandma and Papa's huge Lego bin and Lego is their favourite toy at home.  Their birthday cake was made to look like Lego pieces.  Isn't it precious?

The cake was chocolate with a marshmallow icing covered with fondant.  The top connectors were made from rice crispies.  Happy Birthday with the grandkids' names were written in cake decorating icing.  The presentation was really cute!  We took a lot of pictures of them enjoying their birthday treat.

Every holiday and some special days have traditional dishes but that doesn't mean you can't break from tradition or even create your own traditions.  Crab in some form, usually as an appetizer,  has been a long tradition in our family for most special meals.  Shrimp is usually served as well.  That's the beauty of these types of gatherings.  They evolve over time, forming new traditions but kept together through good company, lots of laughter and good food.

Scotch Eggs

A couple of friends of ours immigrated to Canada from Lancashire, England several years ago.  She is an amazing cook who has been involved in the restaurant and food service industry since making Canada her home.  She has owned and operated everything from a canteen to English style pub to café to upper scale  restaurants.  The focus has always been on home style cooking that brings in her English roots.  Both of them are really fun to be around with remarkable senses of humour.  At the one English style pub aptly named Rovers after Rovers Return Inn on the long running British soap opera, Coronation Street (aka Corrie).  My husband and I watch Corrie every day! 

Her English style fish & chips are the best you will ever taste!  Then again her steak and kidney pie is right up there on the delicious factor.  Her husband has a couple of bands, one with his friends and one with his adult kids.  Both are very good.  A couple of weeks ago, he and his friends were playing at a local venue so we stopped in for a night of entertainment.  We didn't realize it was her birthday.  There was a large spread of food set out, most of which she had made herself. 

I spotted a dish on the table I had never seen before so quickly inquired.  She told me the dish was Scotch Eggs and promised to show me how to make them.  Scotch eggs were made by Scottish farmers and shepherds in the Middle Ages as a way to take their meal to the fields, much the same way, much the same way Cornish pasties came to be.  They are hard boiled eggs wrapped in a seasoned sausage then coated with bread crumbs and deep fried.  Bon Appétit calls them a gastropub staple something I am sure we will discover during our visit to England.  According to Jamie Oliver, the Scotch eggs should be eaten warm with the centres hot and oozing a bit and if you really want to make it proper serve with Scottish cheese. 

Now I know what Scotch eggs are, I am planning on making them for our next games night gathering.  I think they will go over rather well.  As pub grub goes, this is a rather simple dish with few ingredients, low prep time and short cook time.  All this makes for an easy dish for games night.  I'll report back on how well the dish was received.

Stuffed Portabello Mushrooms

We indulge in appetizers sporadically at home.  Appetizers are usually reserved for entertaining or special occasions.  Every once in awhile I either am testing a new appetizer recipe or idea.  Such is the life of a food blogger but really I would be doing it whether I was blogging or not. 

A couple of nights ago we had pan fried cod, steamed potatoes, spaghetti squash and stuffed portabello mushrooms.  Portabello mushrooms are a wonderful meat replacement but because of their size they are ideal for stuffing, grilling and even browning.  I bought a package of portabello mushrooms because they were on sale.

Stuffing for portabello mushrooms can be just about anything from vegetable based to meat or seafood based.  We really like them stuffed with crab meat or pizza stuffing.  The deep, woodsy flavour of the portabello mushrooms really compliments savory flavours like sage and rosemary.

I decided to use a simple bread stuffing for the portabello mushrooms.  The stuffing was beyond simple yet it made for a very nice appetizer.  I just mixed soft broken bread with a bit of butter, poultry season, salt and pepper then rolled it into a ball to stuff the mushroom cap and topped with Parmesan cheese.  I served the stuffed portabello mushroom caps with pan fried cod, steamed potatoes and spaghetti squash.

Now, if you look at the plate you will notice everything is close to the same colour which is something I try to avoid for both nutrition and presentation.  I am craving spaghetti squash likely because we have not been getting enough beta carotene in our diet lately.  Cravings are always an indication of some type of nutrient missing in the diet.  At any rate, the meal was served with a tossed garden salad so at least we got a few greens into the meal!

My Version of Pigs in a Blanket

My husband and I host a monthly games night that sees anywhere from 15 to 25 plus ourselves.  Then there are the special games nights or all day events like Superbowl, the weekly Sunday gatherings, along with family and friends.  Essentially, we have one or two things going on at our house weekly that involve entertaining.  That means over the course of a one month period, I make a lot of appetizers and finger food!

There are just some appetizers and snacks that are always in high demand.  So it is with pigs in a blanket.  The original recipe uses mini hot dogs and Pillsbury refrigerator crescent rolls.  Each package of crescent rolls will yield 8 pigs in a blanket but if you are making a lot of these as I do, wrapping them individually takes more time.  I seriously went through 5 tubes of the Pillsbury refrigerator crescent rolls making these last Saturday!  I have tried other dough coverings but the refrigerator crescent rolls are the ones that always win out perhaps because that is how their Mom's made pigs in a blanket.

I modified the recipe to use Schneiders 100% Juicy Jumbos (wieners).  These wieners contain no fillers, no by-products and no MSG.  These wieners are longer than the regular sized wieners. I open the tube of refrigerator dough but instead of breaking into the crescent triangles, I just separate it into two rectangles (4 triangles each).  Then I place one jumbo wiener at the short end of a rectangle and roll it up.  I bake as per instructions on the tube, 400°F until golden brown as pictured.

Once baked, I remove from the oven, place on a cutting board and cut on the diagonal using a serrated knife.  I pop a wooden toothpick into each slice for serving.  I usually put out dipping bowls of BBQ sauce and sometimes I put cheese in with the wieners, but the big ticket item is the plain pigs in a blanket.

Cut this way, the yield is usually 12 per tube of refrigerator dough instead of 8 wrapped traditional style.  I think making pigs in a blanket this way is a lot easier and they look just as yummy plus I don't have to buy those smaller wieners.  They may look a bit unconventional but the guys love them!

Flatout Flatbread Turkey Pinwheels

We arrived home from our vacation home on December 20, spent the day shopping before finally arriving home.  The next day we had a party that involved bringing a dish on December 21.  Now, I am good at pulling off last minute dishes but I was tired and had been feeling under the weather for well over a month.  One of my quick stand-bys is spirals which can be made with any type of filling using home-made or store bought tortilla shells.  We stopped at a Meijer's on the way home where I spotted a new to me product called Flatout Pinwheel Lavash Flatbread made in Saline, Michigan.  Essentially, this is a flour tortilla shell formed into a rectangle so you get more spirals out of it with less waste.  It is a lower carb, high fiber flat bread.  I popped two packets of 4 pinwheel lavash flat bread into the cart.

Lavash flat bread is an Armeenian soft, thin flat bread similar in texture to flour tortillas, shaped into a rectangle and traditionally  slapped against the hot walls of a clay oven.  It is popular in Iran, Iraq, Turkey and the Caucasus.  Flatout makes five kinds of flat breads including lavash in a variety of flavours.  There were instructions on the back of the package as to how to assemble the pinwheels.  Pinwheels are similar to the ham spiral appetizers I make fairly often but with a few more ingredients.  What is important is that bit of null space in the middle.  Other than that you can basically do what you like.  Use these just as you would to make a regular wraps or spirals with your filling of choice.

I used a mixture of sour cream, Miracle Whip and garlic herb seasoning for the base mix (to the right) then topped with lettuce, smoked turkey, honey mustard, red pepper and seedless cucumbers.  On the other end (to the left) I used plain homemade Miracle Whip.

There are three tricks to getting nice results when making spirals.  First, you want to place the ingredients on top then roll tightly!  Second, you need that blank space.  Third you need the covered last third to hold it all together.  Once the wrap is tightly assembled, press to ensure tightness then turn so the long end faces you and cut across to form pinwheels or you can cut in half to form sandwiches.

Don't the turkey pinwheels look delightful?  I like that they were larger with room for more filling in comparison to using regular flour tortilla shells.  The actual wrapping style is similar to wrapping sushi so the presentation is a bit more colourful than some spiral appetizers I have seen or even made.  I really like the Flatout flatbread for this particular application which means the next time I make home-made tortillas, I may just be doing a bit of experimenting, rolling the dough out into a rectangular sheet then cooking it on the griddle.

Gater Bites

There are a lot of alligators around the area of our vacation home.  I love taking the golf cart out after dinner to get a few pictures.  I don't even have to go a block before I spot them.  Gators are to be respected because they can easily maim or kill a human. They can out run a human who is running in a straight line so the best defense if one comes after you is to run in a zig zag.  Now, with me it would be rolling into the fetal position knowing the gater is going to win.  The thing is gators really are rather docile so won't attack unless provoked.  Being of sound mind, I stay in the golf cart taking only pictures and never provoking them.  We have a 10 footer in the resort where our vacation home is.  Talk about an impressive animal!

Gater is offered at many Floridian restaurants usually as a breaded appetizer.  I have seen frozen gator pieces at one grocery store but they really aren't the norm.  I've never seen them at Publix, Sweetbay, Walmart or Sam's Club.  They tend to be a bit more popular in tourist type areas like Key West and pub grub style restaurants.

Everyone says alligator tastes like chicken but seriously it doesn't.  The closest it comes to is frog legs.  It is mildly flavoured but has a considerably different texture from chicken.  Gator is usually served as an appetizer with some type of spicy dipping sauce, almost like a tartar sauce kicked up a bit with hot pepper sauce.  It is usually breaded similar to chicken nuggets.  If you can find gator meat, they would be very easy to make at home.  Our nephew was delighted to enjoy a basket of gator bites.  It really made his day before heading back to the cold of home.  Talk about good times spent in the company of family :)

Jalapeño Poppers

Much of the summer months have focused on gardening, home food preservation, and restocking the pantry.      At the same time we were enjoying the first summer in our new home which meant a lot of poolside entertaining and grilling on our dual fuel (propane, charcoal) grill.   It did not take long for us to become hooked on grilling with charcoal!  Charcoal gives an incredible flavour to food that can't be duplicated using other grilling methods.

Appetizers are usually the precursor for many restaurant dining experiences.  I often make appetizers when entertaining because they are a wonderful way to offer several dishes without a lot of extra work.  The beauty of a lot of appetizers is it looks like you spent a lot of time making them when you didn't.

I made jalapeño poppers for a small gathering.  This appetizer is so simple to make and it got rave reviews.  I used jalapeño peppers from the garden, extra thick cut back bacon, cream cheese and cheddar cheese.  A word of warning when growing peppers.  They will cross pollinate so leave plenty of space between varieties otherwise your sweet bell peppers or jalapeño peppers may end of having the heat of a habanero pepper.

Method:  Pre-heat oven or charcoal grill to 180C° (350° F).  Bring an 8 oz block of cream cheese to room temperature.  Mix in about a half cup of shredded cheese of your choice.  Wash the peppers then cut in half lengthwise.  Remove the seeds and pith.  Spoon the cheese mixture into each half.  Cut the package of bacon in half.  Wrap a half slice of bacon around each stuffed pepper.  Place on Silpat or parchment paper lined baking sheet.  Bake until bacon is well cooked.  Remove from oven and allow to drain on paper towel lined cooling racks.  Serve hot.

Loaded Potato Skins

Appetizers are great meal starters that don't necessarily have to reflect what the meal is about.  They are fun and tempting but in most restaurants are over priced for what you are getting.  Appetizers range in price from $5 to $12 in restaurants and yet many can easily be made at home for a fraction of that cost.  One of the easiest and least expensive appetizers to make at home is loaded potato skins.

Loaded potato skins are a very popular appetizer in restaurants.  A restaurant serving of loaded potato skins is usually 4 to 6, the equivalent of 2 to 3 about 3 - inch potatoes, sometimes cut into wedges.  The average price is $6.99.  Toppings are usually cheese, bacon, sour cream and garnish.

To make restaurant style loaded potato skins at home:  Shred cheddar and Asiago cheese.   Cut bacon across the strips then fry until crispy for bacon pieces.  Drain well.  Bake the desired number of medium sized potatoes until tender.  Remove from oven.  Cut in half lengthwise.  Carefully scoop out the inside flesh leaving about a quarter inch of flesh on the skin.  Reserve the scooped out flesh for potato soup or a side.  Put a good amount of shredded cheese and bacon into each potato shell.  Place on a baking sheet.  Bake at 350ºF until cheese is bubbling.  Remove from oven.  Top with sour cream, fresh chives and/or thinly sliced green onions.
 

Mini Ranch Pizza Appetizers

[This is my first of two entries being submitted to the Hidden Valley Ranch™ Recipe Challenge.  I hope you enjoy the flavours!  My second entry will be posted tomorrow.]

As soon as my box of Hidden Valley Ranch™ samples (full sized bottles) arrived for the Hidden Valley Ranch™ Recipe Challenge, I had an idea for a recipe.  Well, actually I had three so I started experimenting in the kitchen.  In the end, I had four nice recipes that were delicious keepers according to my taste testers and two that were good but needed more tweaking.  So here is one of the keeper recipes that I decided to use for my first entry in the recipe challenge.

Yesterday, I told you how I made the  charcoal grilled jerk seasoned chicken that I would be using for my first entry in the challenge.  I use a lot of Greek style pocketless pitas when entertaining.  Cut into four or eight wedges they are perfect for appetizers.  At the same time, these pitas are perfectly sized for a child's meal and they would be a tasty, easy treat for a child's birthday party.  My goal when creating this recipe was a bit rustic, flavourful, easy to make mini pizza that would appeal to both adults and kids.

If you are making them for kids, place various vegetable toppings and let them assemble their own pizza.  Guaranteed they will choose more vegetables than expected!  Of course a little taste testing of the ingredients while making their pizza always helps.  We did this with our kids when they were young.  Even though they were and are still veggie lovers, it always amazed me how letting them choose made a such a difference. 

Ranch® really is the new flavour of the day.  It's not just for dressing and dips anymore!  I used the new Hidden Valley® The Original Ranch® Cheese Creamy Dressing & Dip as a blending base flavour for this recipe.  The flavour works nicely with the other flavours, giving a creamy element to the pizza.  We liked the flavour so much, the Ranch® Cheese has earned a place in our pantry. 

Mini Ranch Pizza Appetizers
recipe by: Garden Gnome

3 Greek style pocketless pitas
1 cup (250 ml) prepared charcoal grilled jerk seasoned chicken
4 slices Provolone cheese*
2 tbsp (30 ml)sweet peppers, red and yellow
3 tbsp (45 ml) Sweet Baby Ray's® Barbecue Sauce
3 tbsp (45 ml) Hidden Valley® The Original Ranch® Cheese
2 tbsp (30 ml) brocoli, chopped
2 tbsp (30 ml) green onions, sliced
⅓ c (75 ml) seared mushroom slices
1 tbsp (15 ml) butter
3 tbsp (45 ml) chopped tomatoes (optional)

Slice the mushrooms and pan sear in a little butter.  Drain and set aside.  Chop broccoli and sweet peppers.  Slice the green onions thinly.  Brush the tops of the pitas with Sweet Baby Ray's® Barbecue Sauce.  Tear the cheese slices into thirds and distribute even over top of each pita.  Divide chicken into thirds and place on pitas.  Squeeze in a circular motion about 1 tbsp of Ranch® Cheese dressing over each pita.  Top with mushrooms and then the prepared vegetables.  Bake at 350ºF/175ºC in oven or outdoor grill on Silpat lined baking sheet until cheese is melted and just turning golden on the edges.  Remove from oven.  Cut into 4 or 8 wedges as desired using a pizza cutter.

*I could only find sliced Provolone cheese here so used it as that is the flavour and texture I wanted.  Grated Provolone cheese can be substituted.

Cheese Pinwheels

Happy Mother's Day!

Puff pastry is one of my favourite ingredients to work with because it is so versatile.  It can be used for sweet or savory dishes ranging from appetizers, to desserts and snacks to main course dishes.  While puff pastry can be made from scratch using the long prep method it is far easier to use the homemade short prep puff pastry method or buy puff pastry in the grocery store.

Purchased puff pastry can be found in the freezer section of the grocery store.  It comes in a package of two rolls wrapped in wax paper.  Thaw in the refrigerator but keep cold until ready to use then unroll and cut as desired.  Homemade puff pastry dough should be chilled then rolled as desired and chilled until ready to use.

I used a roll of purchased puff pastry to make cheese pin wheels.  These are very easy to make!  I sprinkled grated cheddar cheese over the pastry sheet, pressing lightly to hold the cheese in place.  Then I turned the sheet so the long side faced me and rolled, jelly roll style.  I pressed the ending edge to secure the cut into half inch thick slices using a sharp knife.

I pre-heated the oven to 400°F/200°C then baked the cheese pin wheels until the puff pastry turned a light golden brown and the melted cheese started browning slightly.  I cooled the cheese on a cooling rack.

Cheese pin wheels are simply delightful.  The puff pastry is rich and flaky pairing nicely with cheddar cheese.  Any cheese could be used though.  They are lovely as an appetizer and perfect for entertaining as they are just so easy to make.  You could add a light topping of tomatoes and green onions or a bit of salsa if desired.  This kid friendly, mother approved, easy appetizer is sure to become a family favourite!

Smoked Salmon Appetizer and Spiral Ham

We had our big Easter celebration this past Saturday.  The kids and grandkids were home with the Easter bunny making a special appearance for the little ones.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous so the Easter egg hunt was held outdoors.  We had a lot of delicious foods, shared a lot of laughter and took lots of pictures for our picture albums. 

All family members from the youngest to oldest pitch in helping with food prep for any family get together.  We made a smoked salmon appetizer.  This is a very easy appetizer to make.  You need small crackers, cream cheese, a couple of small packets of thin sliced smoked salmon and capers.

Capers are the pickled, edible flower buds of the caper bush (Capparis spinosa).  They are traditionally used as a garnish, in pasta dishes or in tartar sauce.  Their intense flavour pairs quite nicely with the smokiness of smoked salmon.

Ham is our traditional meat for Easter.  I seldom buy a boneless ham because it usually pressed meat (higher processing) and the bone can be used for other meals.  Our local Wal-mart had spiral hams on sale for $20 regardless of the size.  Needless to say I bought the largest one I could find.  Spiral hams are a great deal because not only do you have a thin sliced ham for dinner as well as left overs for sandwich meat. you have a nice sized bone for making soups or stock.

Most spiral cut hams come with a honey and spiced glaze, as did this one.  The glaze is used during the last 10 minutes of cooking.  These types of hams are usually cooked for about 2 hours (12 - 15 minutes per lb) at 250ºF.   I served the ham with dressed up mashed potatoes, niblet corn and crusty French bread.  It was a delicious, unpretentious home cooked meal.

Superbowl Follies (2)

Yesterday I shared the first of three posts on our Superbowl entertaining.  I like to alternate between a hot and cold dish every two hours.  The reason being, many of our guests are consuming alcoholic beverages so it is our responsibility as hosts to ensure ample food is available to counteract the effects.  Coffee, tea, hot chocolate and other non-alcoholic beverages are always available as well. 

Snack type foods are always on the tables in our games room.  These usually consist of pretzels, peanuts, and potato chips but sometimes I put out fresh popped corn or even a candy tray.  Pictured are two of the bowls of snacks.  Instead of pretzels, I used pretzel crisps.  These are thin, crunchy pretzel crackers.  The are all natural, oven baked crackers with 0g trans fat, 0g saturated fat and 0mg cholesterol, so are a healthier option than potato chips.  There are 110 calories in a serving of 11 pretzel crisps but 270 calories in a serving of 20 of the potato chips pictured.  Converting to equal amounts it works out to 200 calories per 20 pretzel crisps.  They can be enjoyed plain, dipped or paired with any topping of choice.

I use the industrial strength wheeled cart that served as extra storage in our last kitchen as a self-serve station for various dishes.  There is a plug on that wall as well as a television.  To the left is the entry to the utility room where there is a full size, side-by-side refrigerator with water and ice in the door.  Beside the refrigerator is a bank of cabinets with countertop that we installed shortly after moving in.  It serves as a dry bar for drinks.

Nachos are always a hit even at our monthly games night.  I set up the top shelf of the cart as a nacho station as pictured.  The nacho chips, cheese in the themed slow cooker and nacho trays were purchased at Sam's Club.  I used the squatty 250 ml designer mason jars as serving bowls for home canned salsa, home canned jalapeño peppers and sour cream.

Later I set the cart up for cheese and crackers on the top shelf.  Quite often our guests will bring a dish or snack.   The wive of one of our guests generously made the cheese and meat tray.  He is doing a lot of custom woodworking for us, building my cookbook shelf, drink tables, medicine cabinet and custom trimming in the main bathroom.  Just wait until you see the custom work he is doing in the kitchen!   I added the mini Breton and Snackers crackers along with dill pickles and garlic dill pickles.  Surprisingly, dill pickles are a huge hit as well even at our monthly games night.

The second shelf was set up with small paper plates and bowls along with a banana cake another wife brought.  She also brought snickerdoodles!  It is common for one or more of the wives to come out to the monthly and special events especially for the dinner.

I use paper plates, bowls and serviettes for the large, special events although I have used regular dinnerware.  This is a practical measure when entertaining for larger groups.  I don't use disposable serving dishes for either special or monthly events nor do I use disposable plates or bowls at the monthly games night.  I very rarely use disposable cutlery either.  I do however use the disposable nacho tray.  For some reason, everyone loves these trays!  They are not expensive either.  The Bakers & Chefs 125 count package I buy is $4.98 at Sam's Club which is less expensive than paper plates. 

Superbowl Follies (1)

Superbowl weekend is a huge event at our house.  This year Superbowl Sunday fell on the day following our regular monthly games night so let me tell you I was a very, very busy person with prep starting early in the week.  We had about 15 for the monthly games night on Saturday starting at 6:30 PM then running into the wee hours of the morning with me putting out food every two hours.  Our Superbowl party started at 12 PM the next day with me providing lunch, dinner and food every two hours for about 30 until they finally wandered home in the wee hours of the morning.  I was and still am exhausted but I have a lot of other irons in the fire.  I was going to make one huge Superbowl post but decided to break it into three posts after realizing how many pictures I had to share.  On the Superbowl menu and most of it homemade from scratch: vegetable tray, fruit tray, cheese and meat tray, banana cake, cheese sticks, BBQ meat balls, moose meat chili, spiral ham buns, cheesy hash brown casserole, baked beans, snickerdoodles, along with a wide variety of snack type foods.  Enjoy!

Superbowl parties are all about junk food but I really do try to make most of the offerings as healthy as possible.  Pigs in a blanket is one dish there really isn't a lot of ways of making it healthier and yet it is a very much requested dish.  I honestly do not care for pigs in a blanket!  They are made by wrapping wieners in refrigerator dough then baking until golden brown.  I cut them on the diagonal into 1 - inch sections then pop a toothpick into each section for serving.   I make them healthier by using all beef wieners.  I could make fresh dough or use puff pastry but the guys would complain the taste is not the same.  While I don't care for them myself, they are easy and inexpensive to make, and always a sure party favourite.

If you recall, I made the meatballs for the Superbowl party much earlier in the week.  The beauty of the way I make meatballs is they freeze nicely for later use and any sauce can be used when rewarming.  I ended up with a total of 11 lb of meatballs made over two sessions.  I froze them until Superbowl Sunday.  Then I put them into my largest slow cooker and poured Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce over then.  I set the slow cooker on low and let them cook until warmed through when I announced to the guys they were ready.  The entire batch of meatballs were devoured that afternoon!

Meatballs are really an inexpensive, frugal Superbowl treat.  They go over well and when made in advance the way I do mine have minimal prep on the day of the event.  You really can use any sauce you want but on the day of a large event like this using a store bought sauce can save a lot of time.  Any Diana Sauce works nicely but you can use pretty much any sauce.  If you want to make one from scratch, the sauce I use on sweet and sour ribs works nicely as well and it is really quite inexpensive to make, something that anyone cooking for larger events will greatly appreciate.

Mom's Basic Meatballs

Superbowl weekend is fast approaching.  This year we are entertaining Saturday evening for about twenty.  A couple of those guests will be staying over night to partake of our annual Superbowl party of about twenty.  As you know I have been busy painting the kitchen and now with three days until the festivities, am in high gear doing menu planning and preparing a few dishes ahead of time.  Meatballs are a hit at Superbowl parties.  One of the grocery stores has a 907 g (2 lb) box of meatballs on sale for $4.97, regular price $7.97.  This works out to $2.49 per pound at the sale price.  Homemade meat balls made by grinding your own meat using a shank roast or other cut of beef on sale can be considerably lower than that price per pound.  Unlike store bought meatballs, my homemade version contain no fillers.

I have ground beef from our last beef on the hoof purchase to use up so did not grind from a fresh cut of beef.  The price works out to $2.35 per pound across all cuts of for organic, hormone-free beef.  Hopefully this year's price will be the same!

When I make meatballs, I don't use any fillers.  Any seasonings I do use, I keep to a minimum so the meatballs can be used in a variety of dishes.  I used 4.5 lb of lean ground beef for this batch.  The binder I prefer is cold milk.  The milk tenderizes the meatballs without adding much in the way of flavour.  I used a little garlic pepper as a seasoning.  The screen on top of the mixing bowl is a splatter guard available at kitchen outlets and many department stores.  Meatballs can be fried, baked or boiled but my opinion is frying gives the best results.  I used the larger of my new Paderno EcoPan ceramic coated frypans.  My gosh, as a non-stick surface these fry pans are a dream to work with without the worry of PFOA and PTFF off-gassing of other non-stick cookware.

Cold works as a great binder for ground meats because it congeals the fat in the meat.  I put the metal mixing bowl in the refrigerator to chill.  Once chilled I add the meat and any seasonings, mixing well.  Then I pour in the cold milk a little at a time until the meat sticks together.  At this point it is time to heat the fry pan and start forming the meatballs.

I use a meatball former for consistent sized meatballs.  Larger meatballs can be made by hand but you have to work quickly to prevent warming the meatballs before putting them into the fry pan.

I add just a little extra virgin olive oil to get the frying process started.  I also work in small batches in a rotation style.  Each meatball is formed then placed in the pan one at a time rather than making all the meatballs at once allowing them to warm.  Once the meatballs are browned on one side, I use a slotted wide spoon to carefully turn then then push that batch to the side of the fry pan furthest from me.  While they finish cooking, another batch is added to begin cooking.  I remove the cooked meatballs, turn the others then add a new batch.  I continue in this fashion until all the meatball mixture is used.  This may sound like a lot of work but it really is not.

Once all of the meatballs are cooked, I allow them to cool.  I do not drain them because I am using lean ground beef and a slotted spoon so then is little to drain.  If using regular ground beef, I would recommend draining the meatballs.  At this point the meatballs are ready to be added to the desired dish, home canned or frozen for later use.

Without a lot of added seasoning the meatballs can be used in any dish ranging from soups and pastas to a wide variety of meatball appetizers.  Just pour the frozen meatballs into your slow cooker then add desired sauce and heat.  Serve right from the slow cooker for a Superbowl party.  Just add a slotted spoon and toothpicks so guests can help themselves.  I have a football theme slow cooker just perfect for this type of presentation.  I'm planning on using a honey-garlic sauce on the meatballs for the Superbowl party.

Easy Pizza Appetizers

Fresh baked bread does not keep long so it is best to make only what you can use within a day or two.  It can be wrapped tightly then froze if desired but I prefer to keep my freezer space for more expensive foods like meats and fish.  A few days ago I baked my first batch of homemade bread in my new natural gas oven.  I made the dough for a 1 lb loaf then divided into thirds.  If you look at the resulting loaves, there is purposely a size difference.  The reason being each sized loaf was destined for a different use. 

There wasn't a huge difference in size between the to larger loaves.  I used the mid-sized loaf to make easy pizza appetizers.  These are very similar to Bagel Bites without the high cost.  In fact, the homemade version comes in at under 5¢ per piece compared to the commercial version at 20¢ each.  The toppings can be a creative as desired but we like them rather simple. 

I cut the loaf into half inch slices on a slight diagonal.  This gives a bit more surface area for toppings.  Once the bread was sliced I arranged the slices on a Silpat lined baking sheet for topping. 

I topped the fourteen French bread slices with homemade pizza sauce and a blend of four fresh grated cheeses.  I kept the toppings simply as this was a snack for my husband and a friend while they were watching Sunday afternoon football and a larger meal was planned for dinner.  Honestly, any topping is fair game so this is a great way to use up some those little bits of left-overs.  Other toppings that are good on these easy pizza appetizers include: homemade bacon bits, ham, green pepper, green onions, olives, ground beef and onion.  The nice thing is you don't need much of any one topping either.  For those who enjoy anchovies, one anchovies per appetizer would be delightful!

I baked the pizza appetizers in a pre-heated 400ºF oven until the crust was light golden and the cheese was bubbly.  These were a quick, easy yet tasty afternoon snack.  

If you don't bake your own bread, the French baguettes in the bakery section of the grocery stores can be used for this same purpose.  In fact the baguettes are perfect as a base for garlic bread, cheese & bacon appetizers, and bruschetta.  It's easy to whip up a quick snack or appetizer simply by having homemade French bread or store bought baguettes on hand!