December 18, 2011: Goat Cheese Phyllo Cups Hors d’oeuvres Recipe

Here’s another recipe fantastic for holiday parties. It doesn’t take a lot of preparation time and they taste good even if they’re not served hot. You can always swap out ingredients, too, using different veggies and cheese combinations (but do keep the base of cream cheese and egg white intact).

Goat Cheese Phyllo Cups with Korean Pork Skewers and Mozzarella Cheese Focaccia Bread

Goat Cheese Phyllo Cups

1 sheet phyllo dough (or one package frozen phyllo cups)

4 ounces cream cheese

2 ounces crumbled goat cheese

1 egg white

1 T. minced pimiento

1 T. finely minced, fresh jalapeno pepper (seeds removed) - optional

2 green onions, thinly sliced (white parts, reserve greens for garnish)

1 t. minced garlic

¼ t. cayenne pepper

½ t. garlic salt

¼ t. freshly ground black pepper

Cut thawed phyllo dough into 12 squares. Press squares into bottom of greased muffin cups.

Cream together cheeses. Whisk in egg white. Add remaining ingredients. Spoon about a tablespoon of mixture into each phyllo cup. Prick edges of dough with a fork. Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes, until browned on the top and dough is puffed. Sprinkle with chopped or sliced green onion as garnish.

Makes a dozen hors d’oeuvres

Tip: for a bit of crunch, add a couple tablespoons of slivered almonds.

November 28, 2011: German Style Green Beans

Here’s a quick and easy side dish that’s just a bit different. I call it German style because it reminds me of my grandmother’s recipe for hot potato salad.

Tip: this is a great way to use up a few slices of bacon and the last of a bag of fresh or frozen green beans.

German Style Green Beans served with macaroni and cheese for a simple, easy weeknight dinner the whole family will love.

German Style Green Beans

2 cups fresh green beans (or about half a large package of frozen green beans)

2 slices bacon

¼ cup chopped onion

1 t. diced pimiento

1 t. dried minced parsley

1 T. brown sugar

1 T. apple cider vinegar

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Boil green beans in a pan of water until crisp-tender, about 10 minutes. Drain.

In same pan, cook bacon slices (you may have to cut them in half to fit) until crisp. Remove to a paper towel. Do not drain bacon grease. Add onions and sauté over medium low heat until tender, about two minutes. Add remaining ingredients and heat through.

Serves 2 – 3

October 18, 2011: Stuffed Mushrooms Recipe

Well, my resolve to eat lower fat foods didn’t last too long… When my husband got home after working out of town for a while, I wanted to give him a special dinner so I fixed his favorite steak sauce, baked a couple potatoes, and made these stuffed mushrooms as an accompaniment. Actually, this recipe isn't very fattening and if you use fat-free cream cheese (blah! yuck!) it might even be a good diet dish. :-)

Cream Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms

2 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 t. diced pimiento

1 green onion, minced (both white and green parts)

1 t. finely minced garlic

Freshly ground black pepper

8 – 10 white mushrooms, cleaned and stems removed

1 t. olive oil

Cooking spray

French fried onions (about 4 teaspoons)

Balsamic vinegar

Mix together cream cheese, pimiento, green onion, garlic and black pepper.

Spray inside the cups of the mushrooms with the cooking spray. Fill each with cream cheese mixture (go ahead and mound it over the top if you wish).

Heat olive oil in skillet over medium low. Add mushrooms, cheese side up, cooking for about 5 minutes, or until they begin to soften on the bottom. Splash a bit of balsamic vinegar in bottom of the skillet and cover. Cook another 5 minutes. Remove lid from pan and sprinkle French fried onions over the tops of the mushrooms. Place pan under broiler for about a minute, just enough to heat the onions.

Serves 2

July 8, 2011: Grilled Potato Salad

Wow! What happened to Blogger? New changes caused me to miss a couple days of posting so I'm sorry if you were looking forward to a new one that didn't appear! Why fix what isn't broken? Oh well, I've got to get used to the new format, I reckon. So... getting back on track...

Although my favorite type of potato salad is the traditional, mayo-sauced version with that yellow tinge, every now and then I break out of the mold and convince my family to try something new. This is one of those recipes.

I happened to have some of the corn salad recipe leftover from the previous night’s meal, so I simply used that in place of the corn.

Grilled Potato Salad

2 pounds red potatoes, cleaned and quartered
3 T. olive oil
½ t. kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 can corn or 3 ears of fresh corn, shucked
2 T. jarred, diced pimiento
2 T. minced yellow or orange bell pepper
¼ cup mayonnaise
¼ cup Greek yogurt
1 t. garlic salt
½ t. paprika
1 T. fresh or freeze dried cilantro, minced

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Toss together potatoes, olive oil, salt, and pepper in a 13 x 9” baking dish. Roast for 45 minutes or until potatoes are soft. Remove from the oven and cool slightly. Cut into 1 ½” chunks.

Mix together remaining ingredients. Add cut potatoes.

Serve warm.

July 7, 2011: Grilled Corn Salad

Here’s a slightly different way to serve grilled corn with your summer barbecues. This recipe is similar to the Parmesan crusted corn recipe I shared with you last month but this one capitalizes on the sweet flavor of fresh corn. Try it and see what you think!

Grilled Corn Salad

3 ears corn
2 T. mayonnaise
1 T. jarred, diced pimiento
Juice of one key lime (about 1 tablespoon)
1 t. garlic salt
1 t. honey
1 t. dried parsley

Prepare corn by removing silk and husks (if wrapping in foil). Grill over medium indirect heat for 20 minutes or until done, turning often.

Remove corn from the cob. Combine with remaining ingredients. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Serves 4.

April 28, 2011: Chicken Casserole Recipe

This is an easy, simple, tasty casserole for those nights when you aren’t feel particularly creative about dinner (which I’ve been experiencing a lot lately); just add a fresh green salad and maybe some crusty bread and voila! You can easily double this recipe and have enough to feed a family of four or five (use a 13 x 9 inch pan). And because it still tastes good even when it’s not hot, it makes a great dish to contribute to a potluck meal.

I first found this recipe in an issue of American Profile and the recipe is attributed to Elaine Arnold. As usual, I’ve done just a wee bit of tweaking and here’s my version.

Chicken Casserole

2 large chicken breasts, boiled and shredded
2 small stalks celery, finely chopped (optional)
1 8-ounce can water chestnuts, drained
1/3 cup sliced almonds
1 2-ounce jar pimientos
2 T. minced onion (can use dehydrated)
½ to ¾ cup light mayonnaise (depends on how much chicken you have)
2 T. lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste
French fried onions (the kind in a can)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a medium-sized casserole dish or 8 x 8 inch square pan.

Combine all ingredients (through salt and pepper) and mix well. Start with half a cup of mayonnaise and add more if necessary (too much mayo makes this casserole taste very greasy). Place the mixture into the prepared pan; top with French fried onions and shredded cheese. Cover the dish and bake for 30 minutes.

Tip: Feel free to add/substitute other vegetables. For instance, I’ve used diced red bell pepper in place of the pimientos before and mushrooms instead of celery. You could also add mandarin orange slices and bean sprouts to make it more “Chinese”. My husband doesn’t like nuts so I omit the almonds; it would also taste good if you substituted pecans or cashews for the almonds. Experiment with the ingredients your family likes best.

April 8, 2011: Spicy Deviled Eggs Recipe

When it comes to spring and the Easter season, it never seems complete without serving deviled eggs at least once! I’m not sure why we tend to make deviled eggs only at this time of year; they’re a great appetizer for any party or special occasion meal. Of course, we always have lots of eggs in our house because of our hens; this recipe is one of my favorite ways to serve them, especially when I’ve got a lot of eggs to use up before they spoil!

Everyone’s got their own way to hard boil eggs; what I do is place the eggs in a saucepan, sprinkle in a bit of vinegar, then add water until it covers the eggs. I bring the pot to a boil, then cover and turn off the burner for 20 minutes. When the time is up, I drain the hot water and add cold water and ice cubes to quickly cool them down.

Note: It’s hard to peel really fresh eggs. Use eggs that are at least a week old for best results.

Spicy Deviled Eggs

6 hard boiled eggs
2 green onions, finely chopped; reserve about 1 T. of green tops to sprinkle on top of prepared eggs
1 t. minced pimiento
2 t. diced jalapenos or green chile
1/3 cup mayonnaise
½ t. hot sauce
½ t. garlic salt
¼ t. dry mustard
¼ t. cumin
¼ t. freshly ground black pepper
1/8 t. cayenne pepper

Peel the eggs and cut in half. Carefully scoop out the yolks and place in a mixing bowl. Add remaining ingredients except for cayenne pepper and mash until well combined. Place about 2 – 3 teaspoons of the yolk mixture back into each of the white shells. Sprinkle with cayenne pepper and reserved green onion tops.

Tip: Boil an extra egg in case one doesn't peel well and the white is unusable. I broke one while I was making this recipe so I had extra egg yolk filling - that's why the ones in the photo are so full!