{MiniChow} Meatball Sliders

Yesterday, the weather was almost cool here at the beach!  Today is even better -- sometimes a little break from this Southern summer heat is just what the doctor ordered.  I was outside enjoying the cloudy sky and below- 80 degree temperature when I decided it was time to make a little cozy meal for dinner... and nothing says cozy like a pot of sauce bubbling away on the stove and some deliciously moist meatballs baking in the oven.  

Now I don't know how you all like to make meatballs, I usually go for the bread soaked in milk trick, but these meatballs contain a cup of ricotta cheese to keep them moist so I gave it a whirl and boy were they great!  Definitely give these meatballs a try sometime, even if you just throw them in a bowl of pasta.  

On to the sauce -- everyone has their favorite and it's my personal taste to have a sauce that is just a teensy bit sweet.  Some people don't like this so feel free to omit the sugar in the recipe.  This sauce is super simple to put together but it really contains tons of flavor and pretty much impresses people every time they taste it.  
The sauce recipe makes more than you need for the sliders so save it for spaghetti the next day or simply freeze the leftovers for another time!  

{MiniChow} Meatball Sliders
adapted from Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice

Meatballs:

1/2 pound ground pork
1/2 pound ground beef
1/4 cup yellow onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese, fresh grated
1 egg (beaten)
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning, crushed between fingertips
salt and fresh black pepper
8 slider buns
4 slices sharp provolone cheese

Sauce:
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 small white onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 heaping tsp red pepper flakes
1/3 c. dry red wine
1 tsp sugar
salt and pepper
1 large can crushed tomatoes
1/4 c. flat leaf parsley, chopped


For Sauce:
Place a medium sized saucepan over medium heat.  Drizzle pan with olive oil and add onion.  Stir and cook until onions are starting to become translucent, about 2 minutes.  Add garlic to the pan and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute.  Add red pepper flakes and wine to the pan and bring to a boil.  When wine is boiling, add sugar, salt and pepper.  Decrease heat to low and add can of tomatoes and 1/2 c. water.  Stir, cover and simmer for 2-3 hours.

For Meatballs:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly grease with olive oil a large roasting pan or baking sheet with sides. In a large bowl combine all the meatball ingredients using your hands or a fork. Roll into large meatballs {this recipe should make 7 to 8 meatballs} place on baking sheet and bake 30 minutes.  Remove from oven. Place 1/2 slice of cheese on top of each meatball and top with a generous scoop of sauce.  Place meatballs back in the oven to allow cheese to melt. 

Assembly:
Butter and toast slider buns. Place a meatball on each slider bun and top with more sauce if desired.  

Mexican-Style Caprese Salad

We are all probably familiar with a traditional caprese salad: tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil and a drizzle of delicious olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  It’s one of my favorite salads because nothing beats a ball of freshly made mozzarella.  Yum!  Today I’m showing you a twist on this traditional salad -- made with a Mexican spin!  {Hello, Cinco de Mayo party!!!!}  This salad is easy to put together and it is a beautiful presentation!  Instead of mozzarella we are going to use queso fresco, which is a Mexican crumbling cheese used to top food.  It’s salty and very firm, resembling feta cheese in texture.  You can find it in the cheese section of most grocery stores. {I found mine at Walmart!}  The cheese is firm enough to throw on a grill pan, making this salad even more special!  But by all means, if you’re worried about grilling this cheese, skip that step....the dish will still be delish!

Mexican-Style Caprese Salad (makes 4 starter salads)

Salsa:

1 pint grape tomatoes, quartered

1/2 red onion, minced

2 handfuls fresh cilantro, chopped

juice from 2 limes

salt and pepper to taste

Assembly:

1 small jar Tomatillo salsa

1 package queso fresco 

extra virgin olive oil for drizzling

salt and pepper

1. For the salsa, combine all ingredients and set aside.
2. Heat a grill pan over medium high heat.  Thickly slice queso fresco into 1/2 inch thick round slices (you can probably get 2 slices per package of cheese).  Drizzle cheese with olive oil and place on the grill pan.  Grill each side of cheese for about 2 minutes or until grill marks form.  Remove cheese from pan and set aside.
3. Cut each cheese slice into 4 pieces.  Place 2 pieces grilled cheese on each plate.  Top with tomato mixture then drizzle with Tomatillo salsa and olive oil if desired.  Serve immediately. 

Southwestern Surf & Turf with Jalapeno-Cheddar Grits

And now on to the entree of our Southwestern-Themed dinner party:  Southwestern Surf & Turf with Jalapeno-Cheddar Grits!

I’m going to spare you with all the “OH-MY-GOSH, everything is so delicious but I need to describe it all in painful detail” because I’ve got a whole lot of recipes coming at ‘cha!  Trust me when I say this:  the sauce under the shrimp pairs fantastically with both the beef and the grits; the tomatillo salsa cools the palate and pairs with everything.  Put in the work on this meal and you will be extremely rewarded in the form of a flavor explosion!!!!  That is all....  On to the recipes!

Bacon-Wrapped Shrimp with Tomatillo Salsa and Tomato Vinaigrette

Tyler Florence 

Serves: 4

Tomatillo Salsa:

6 tomatillos, husked, rinsed, and cut in chunks

2 avocados, peeled and cut in chunks

2 jalapeños, cut in circles

1/2 bunch fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped

1/2 red onion, diced

Juice of 3 limes

2 tablespoons canola oil

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Tomato Vinaigrette:

1 ripe tomato, halved, seeds squeezed out

1 canned chipotle pepper in adobo

1 garlic clove

Zest and juice of 1 lime

1 tablespoon sherry vinegar

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

2 tablespoons canola oil

Shrimp:

20 large shrimp (about 2 pounds), peeled and deveined, tails on

10 bacon slices, halved

Extra-virgin olive oil

2 green onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal, for garnish

Chopped fresh cilantro, for garnish

For the tomatillo salsa, toss the tomatillos, avocados, jalapeños, cilantro, and onion together in a large bowl. Add the lime juice and canola oil, and turn to coat; season with salt and black pepper. Turn the mixture over a few times until the avocados are slightly mashed and the salsa is creamy. Cover and refrigerate while you prepare everything else.

Puree the tomato, chipotle, garlic, lime zest, lime juice, sherry vinegar, sugar, and salt in a blender until smooth. Pour in the oil and puree again until emulsified and slightly thickened. Refrigerate.

Wrap each shrimp in a piece of bacon, overlapping the ends so they stick together. Place a large skillet over medium heat, drizzle with a 1/2-count of oil, and heat just to the smoking point. Lay the shrimp in the pan (do this in batches if it’s crowded) and sauté until the bacon is crisp, tossing so the shrimp cook evenly. To serve, spoon a mound of the tomatillo salsa on each plate. Drizzle a pool of the tomato vinaigrette and top with 5 shrimp. Garnish with green onion and cilantro leaves.

Chipotle Beef Marinade

1 (2 ounce) package dried ancho chiles

1 teaspoon black pepper

2 teaspoons cumin powder

2 tablespoons fresh oregano, chopped

6 cloves garlic

3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

1/2 red onion, quartered

1/4 cup vegetable oil

One (3lb) beef tenderloin

Soak dry chilies overnight in water, until soft. Remove seeds. Add all

ingredients except meat in food processor. Puree until smooth.

Spread mixture over chicken, or other meats and refrigerate at least

one hour, up to 24 hours.

After marinating, heat grill to about 400 degrees F, or if cooking

inside, heat small amount of oil in skillet or grill pan over high

heat. Salt meat to taste (optional), and grill lightly, turning only

once, until done.

Jalapeno-Cheddar Grits (serves 4)

1 c. stone ground grits (not instant!)

2 c. low sodium chicken broth, more if needed

2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced

4 oz. cream cheese

4 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

salt and pepper to taste

Combine grits and chicken broth in a medium sized sauce pan over medium heat.  Stir to combine and bring to a rolling simmer.  Decrease heat to low and continue to stir grits until most liquid is absorbed, about 10 minutes. Add minced jalapeno peppers and stir to combine. Test grits for done-ness.  If grits are not tender and creamy in texture, add a little more broth and continue stirring until grits are soft. {This can take anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes depending on your grits}.

When grits are done, remove from heat and stir in the cream cheese and cheddar cheese and stir until smooth.  If grits are very thick, add some more broth or water to loosen them up, if desired.  Test seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed.

Mexican Chili Cups

It’s time to start planning those Super Bowl menus!!!!  Once I realized that my Eagles were toast this year, I lost almost all interest in football....I literally didn’t even know who they were playing each week.  UGH, another depressing year!  The part of football that I can never lose interest in is what food I’ll be serving up while we have games we don’t care about playing in the background.  :)  

In the early fall, I posted some great “Game Day at Home” recipes that are perfect for your big football party, but today I’m throwing another one out there... Mexican Chili Cups.  What’s so great about these is they are great served hot and they stay great at room temperature.  This recipe can easily be doubled to feed an enormous crowd and you can pretty much use your imagination as to what to fill these little tortilla cups with!  Snack on!

Mexican Chili Cups (makes 24 cups)

6 medium-sized flour tortillas

cooking spray

1 can chili with beans (any brand)

2/3 c. shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese

1 small can sliced olives

2 green onions, green parts thinly sliced

light sour cream for serving

1. Using a 2-inch round cookie or biscuit cutter, cut 4 circles out of each tortilla, making 24 tortilla circles.  These will be the base of your cup.
2. Using a 24-cup mini muffin pan, spray each cup with cooking spray and gently press each tortilla round into each cup.
3. Preheat oven to 425.  Spoon about a teaspoonful of chili into each cup and top with cheese.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until cheese is melted and edges of tortilla begin to brown.  Remove from oven and let cool for about 3 minutes.  
4. Remove chili cups from pan and place on serving platter.  Top with olives, green onion and sour cream.  Eat!

Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers

Well I had a lovely Christmas holiday with my family up North but MY GOD was it cold!!!!!!!!  It’s true what they say about your blood thinning out when you move South because I swear I couldn’t tolerate the temperature.  This girl was always out sledding, skiing, snowboarding, romping in the snow and now I had to bundle up in every piece of clothing I brought with me just to run to my car and drive to the grocery store!  Not to mention the hour and a half drive from my husband’s family to my house that turned into  a 4 hour drive due to rapid snowfall.  Sooo, yeah, I miss my family like crazy already, but I’m glad to be back in the South -- where todays’ low temperature was 44 degrees.  That’s pretty balmy compared to what we just endured.  

So, tonight is New Year’s Eve -- many of us are “partied out” from the dozens of holiday parties, family gatherings, office parties we’ve been pigging out at for the past month.  I am included in this collection of people.  Enough of the parties already...I need some sleep and some kind of green smoothie.  But, yeah, it’s New Year’s Eve and we might as well go out and have one too many glasses of champagne and hoot it up before we start those resolutions we will break by January 5th. :)

Ok here’s where the food comes in -- the last hurrah before you trade in your delish snacks for carrot sticks -- bacon + cheese + jalapeno peppers = party in your mouth.  These are so painfully easy to make so get started.  One word of advice.  Please...PLEASE wear gloves when slicing and seeding the jalapenos.  Like, seriously.  I always scoffed at this when I read it in a recipe....but I was usually only chopping one jalapeno.  This time I handled a dozen peppers....cut to me sitting on the couch during a party with my hands in a glass of milk.  Honestly.  They were on fire and that fire lasted until the middle of the next day.  Trust me on this!  Otherwise, enjoy! :)

Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers

12 fresh jalapenos, 2 to 3 inches in size

1 stick 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened

1 c. shredded sharp cheddar cheese

12 thin slices bacon, cut in half

1. Cut each jalapeno pepper in half, length-wise.  (This is the part with the gloves!!!!!!) Remove the seeds and the white membrane with a spoon or paring knife.  
2. Combine cream cheese and cheddar cheese in a small bowl and smear cream cheese mixture into each jalapeno half.  
3. Wrap each jalapeno with halved bacon slice and place on a cookie sheet or glass baking dish.
4. Bake jalapenos in a 375 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes.  If after 20 minutes the bacon doesn’t look done, switch on the broiler and broil until done.  Serve immediately or at room temperature.

Cauliflower Crust Garlic "Breadsticks"

Would the person(s) in charge of creating a crust made of cauliflower please come forward?!?!?!?!  I seriously need to know who thought of this madness because it is pure genius!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I don’t know about you guys, but I tried the low-carb diet craze when I was in college.  My diet lasted about 6 hours.  I woke up in the morning and made my way to the cafeteria for a wonderfully delicious ham, bacon, and cheese omelet.  I wasn’t hungry until 6 hours later when I perused the salad bar, piling hard boiled egg, chicken, ham, turkey, bacon bits and cheese on my salad and topping it off with ranch dressing.  Low-carb heaven!  Well that’s when I spotted them.....croutons.  Ohhhh man.  Yeah so that’s the moment my low carb diet ended.  

Even in those short hours of dieting, I craved bread...and let me tell you...this cauliflower crust hits the darn spot!!!!!!!  I tested it on hubs and simply said that I had some garlic breadsticks for him to try and he literally didn’t know the crust was made of cauliflower.  Boom!  Husband test, passed!  So anyway, the crust is crispy and chewy and most importantly, cheesy.  Give it a try -- it’s completely and utterly worth the work!  Trust me!

Cauliflower Crust Garlic Breadsticks (Serves 2 to 4)

from An Edible Mosaic

1/4 of a large head of cauliflower

1 teaspoon olive oil

2 cloves garlic, grated or minced

1 large egg, lightly beaten

4 oz mozzarella cheese, freshly grated and divided 

1/2 teaspoon dried Italian herb seasoning, divided

1 pinch each salt and pepper

Cooking spray

Marinara sauce, for serving (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350F and line a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan with parchment paper so that the excess paper hangs over the sides; lightly spray the parchment paper with cooking spray.

To “rice” the cauliflower, grate it on a cheese grater; you should have about 1 1/2 cups (lightly packed) of riced cauliflower.  Put the riced cauliflower into a microwave-safe bowl and microwave (uncovered) until softened, about 6 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally (don’t add water or anything else); cool slightly.  While the cauliflower cooks, heat the oil in a small skillet over low heat; add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds to 1 minute, stirring constantly; cool slightly.

To the bowl with the softened cauliflower, add the garlic, egg, 3/4 of the cheese (reserving 1/4 for topping later), 1/4 teaspoon of the dried Italian herb seasoning (reserving 1/4 teaspoon for topping later), and a pinch of salt and pepper.  Stir to combine and then spread in the prepared loaf pan.

Bake until the loaf is set and starting to turn golden, about 30 minutes. {I actually baked mine about 40 minutes to get crispier edges}.  Line a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper; use the parchment paper to lift the loaf out of the loaf pan and carefully flip it over onto the lined baking sheet (so the bottom is on top).  Bake until golden, about 10 minutes.

Preheat the broiler.  Cut the loaf cross-wise into 8 pieces.  Slightly separate the pieces and sprinkle the cheese on top along with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon dried Italian herb seasoning.  Broil a couple minutes until the cheese is melted and golden in spots.  Serve hot or warm.

Chorizo, Egg and Cheese Quesedillas

Who doesn’t love a nice crispy, melty quesedilla?  I happen to love ‘em stuffed with just about anything, any time of the day or night.  I find them to be an amazing “fourth meal” or a meal at around 11pm when you find yourself staring into the fridge, not truly hungry but just in the mood for “something”.  Oh and I love to slather them with hot sauce and sour cream {and of course a healthy dose of guac, if available}.

So it was around 11pm and there I was staring into the fridge {looking for “something”} and I realized I had all the ingredients for one of those crispy, melty ‘dillas!  Woo hoo!  I decided I’d make this one a breakfast quesedilla - because why not make a great thing greater by adding breakfast food?!  The wonderful thing about quesedillas is that you can taylor them to whatever you have lying in your fridge.  All you need is cheese and tortillas.  Got some canned tuna?  Throw it in there!  Leftover chicken or steak?  Go for it!  Roasted veggies?  Yum-City!  Get playful and adventurous -- when has a quesedilla ever let you down?

Chorizo, Egg and Cheese Quesedillas

{makes 1 large quesedilla - serves 2}

2 quesedilla or burrito-sized flour tortillas

cooking spray

1 link ground chorizo

1/2 can black beans, drained and rinsed

2 eggs

splash milk

salt and pepper

2 big handfuls of shredded monterey jack cheese {or any cheese you have in your fridge}

cilantro, for garnish

serve with: salsa, guacamole, sour cream, hot sauce

1. In a small skillet over medium high heat, add chorizo and cook until done.  Add black beans to chorizo and stir to combine.  Remove mixture from pan and set aside.
2. In a small bowl, whisk eggs, milk, salt and pepper.  Pour into hot skillet used for chorizo and scramble eggs.  Set aside.
3. Place a large skillet over medium-high heat and coat with a hefty dose of cooking spray.  Lay a tortilla in skillet and top with 1 handful cheese, bean and chorizo mixture, eggs and another handful of cheese.  Top with second tortilla and spray top with more cooking spray.  Cook quesedilla for 3 to 4 minutes or until tortilla is beginning to brown.  Flip quesedilla and cook 3 to 4 more minutes, until beginning to brown.
4. Remove quesedilla from skillet to cutting board and cut into 8 slices.  Garnish with cilantro and serve with salsa, guac, sour cream and/or hot sauce.

Tiny Food Party and Teeny Chicken Parmesan Crostini

By now, everyone here should know about my obsession with mini food.  I have an entire section of my blog dedicated to it!  So needless to say, I almost died of happiness when I found out my favorite food blog, Spoon Fork Bacon, was releasing a cookbook called Tiny Food Party!

The writers, Teri Lyn Fischer and Jenny Park, have created a fantastically creative book, packed with gorgeous photos, amazing menus and most importantly, food that you can make at home with supplies you probably already have.  The book is broken down into four chapters: Tiny Snack Party, Tiny Dinner Party, Tiny Dessert Party and Tiny Cocktail Party, with special themed menus already created for you!  How simple is that!?

I have to compare this book to another “mini food” book I own called Bite by Bite: 100 Stylish Little Plates You Can Make for Any Party by Peter Callahan.  While his book is beautifully written and photographed and filled with inventive ideas, most recipes require special teeny tiny bread pans, displays or other intricate tools.  The girls of Spoon Fork Bacon have truly created a book that anyone can cook from -- without stocking their kitchen with additional supplies.  Kudos to Teri Lyn and Jenny -- you have created something very special!

To show you how easy they make it, here’s a cutesie recipe for Teeny Chicken Parmesan Crostini.  So simple, I made them after working all day and within minutes had an adorable and tasty snack to munch while channel surfing.

Teeny Chicken Parmesan Crostini

makes 24 crostini

Toasts:

1 sourdough baguette, sliced into 24 (1/4-inch-thick) pieces

1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Chicken Parmesan:

8 chicken tenders, each cut into 3 pieces

1 cup all purpose flour

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup Italian-Style breadcrumbs

1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper, to taste

4 slices provolone cheese, each cut into 6 pieces

1 1/4 c. marinara, homemade or store bought

1. Preheat oven to 375.  Brush baguette slices with oil and place on a nonstick sheet pan.  Season with salt and pepper.
2. Bake bread slices for 15 minutes or until golden brown.  Keep the oven on.
3. Place flour in a shallow dish, eggs in a second shallow dish, and bread crumbs in a third shallow dish.  Dredge chicken in flour, then in eggs and then in bread crumbs.  Warm oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.  Saute chicken for 4 to 5 minutes on each side.  Season with salt and pepper.  Place chicken on a sheet pan and top each piece with a small slice of provolone.  Bake for about 5 minutes, or until cheese melts.  Spread about 1 tbsp marinara on each toast and top with a piece of chicken.  Top crostini with extra marinara and serve warm

Halloween Party -- Part 2

So today on Part 2 of our Halloween Party I have some more decor ideas for your home as well as my favorite foods from the party!  I really had a great time coming up with some of these recipes or modifying some recipes I already had to give them that touch of spookiness that Halloween brings.  Everyone’s favorite appetizer from the party was the Roasted Eyeball Crostini {aka, Roasted Grape Crostini with Gouda and Thyme}.   If you haven’t had roasted grapes yet -- give them a whirl!  They are amazingly sweet yet fit so well in savory dishes.  

Ok -- more decor!!!  My guests loved walking through the house and stumbling upon the staircase overrun with rats and candles.  The rat cut-outs and the candles are both dollar store finds and I bought the plastic pumpkin at Michael’s for a few bucks and decorated it with plastic spiders.

I love free printables from the internet!  For any holiday -- just Google “free ‘insert holiday here’ printables” and you will find tons of cute cupcake toppers, art, stickers, invitations, etc, for your next party.

Another big party hit was the menu I put out.  I simply bought a $3 frame from Walmart, downloaded a free spooky font at www.dafont.com {the most amazing font website everrr!}, and typed out everything that was being served.  I called everything by it’s “creepy” name then spelled out in detail what exactly was in each dish.  This made it easy for me to point my guests towards something fun to look at while I was putting the finishing touches on my apps.

Yay, Food!

Roasted Eyeball Crostini

{Roasted Grape and Gouda Crostini}

1 baguette, thinly sliced into 24 slices

cooking spray

72 red grapes {3 grapes per crostini}

salt and pepper

extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling

6 ounces gouda, sliced into 24 thin pieces

2 tsp chopped fresh thyme

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Place baguette slices on a cookie sheet.  Spray each side lightly with cooking spray.  Bake crostini for 5-7 minutes, flipping over each piece halfway through, until just starting to brown.  Remove from oven and set aside.
2. In an oven safe glass dish, combine grapes, salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.  Mix to coat grapes well.  Roast grapes for 12-15 minutes, until they begin to burst.  Remove from oven and set aside.
3. Top each crostini with a slice of cheese, 3 grapes and a sprinkle of thyme.  Return to oven and bake about 5 minutes, until cheese melts.  Serve immediately.

Crispy Brain-Stuffed Mushrooms

{Chorizo and Asiago Stuffed Mushrooms}

1 package button mushrooms, cleaned and de-stemmed

1/2 lb ground chorizo

1 small onion, minced

3 oz asiago cheese, grated

1/3 c. plain bread crumbs

extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling

1. Place cleaned and stemmed mushrooms in an oven safe baking dish.  Set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
3. Heat 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.  Add onions and saute for about 3 minutes.  Add chorizo and cook until browned and crispy.  Remove from heat.  Add breadcrumbs and cheese and mix until combined.
4. Spoon mounds of mixture into mushrooms and press gently to pack in.  Drizzle with olive oil.  Bake 15 minutes, or until sizzling and cheese is melted.  Serve immediately.

Bacon-Wrapped Roaches

{Bacon-Wrapped Blue Cheese Stuffed Dates}

1 package medjool dates

3 oz good quality blue cheese

1 package thinly sliced bacon, each slice cut in half

1. Make a slit in each date and stuff a small piece of blue cheese inside each.
2. Wrap a half of a slice of bacon around each stuffed date, overlapping ends.
3. Preheat a large skillet over medium high heat.  Place bacon-wrapped dates in hot pan, seam side down and cook on each side until crisp, 1 to 2 minutes per side.  Skewer and serve immediately.

Liver Pate Canapes

{Chicken Liver Pate}

-- This recipe makes a lot of pate so consider cutting the recipe in half, unless of course you are crazy for chicken liver pate!

6 tbsp unsalted butter, divided

1/3 c. minced shallot

1 lb chicken livers

salt

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tbsp capers

1 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp anchovy paste

1/4 c. brandy

1/4 c. cream

1. Trim any fat/connective tissue from livers and discard.
2. Heat 2 tbsp butter in large saute pan on medium heat and let butter brown, 3 to 5 minutes.  Don’t let it burn.  
3. Add shallots and saute 1 minute.  Add livers, spacing them well so they can brown.  Sprinkle with salt.  Flip after two minutes.  Once browned, add capers, thyme, garlic and anchovy paste.  Saute 1 minute.
4. Take pan off heat and add brandy.  Turn heat to high and boil down brandy to consistency of syrup, 1 to 2 minutes.  Turn off heat and cool mixture.
5. Place mixture in food processor and pulse to combine.  Add remaining butter and cram and puree.  Mixture will firm up in fridge.  Pack in ramekins or small bowl and fridge for 1 hour.  Serve with baguette slices, crackers or in this case, rounds of white bread, buttered and toasted.

Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes

2/3 c. all purpose flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 (15oz) can pumpkin puree {not pumpkin pie filling}

1/2 c. sugar

1/4 c. brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 c. half and half or evaporated milk

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Line a 12 cup muffin tin with cupcake liners.  In medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie spice.
2. In a large bowl, whisk pumpkin puree, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla and half and half until well combined.  Add in dry ingredients and whisk until no streaks of flour remain and batter is smooth.
3. Fill each cup with 1/3 c. batter
4. Bake 20 minutes.  Cool in pan.  Cupcakes will sink.  Chill before serving and top with whipped cream and nutmeg.

Caramelized Shallot, Capicola & Fontina Frittata

I had big plans for our day off yesterday....Big Plans!  We got back from Europe last week and have been working like dogs to make up for lost time {and so we didn’t have to take as many vacation days ;) } so I packed our Sunday with lots of fun and food.  First I would wake up without my alarm and go for a leisurely run that would be nothing but enjoyable, then make this divine frittata for breakfast, followed by some laundry, then heading to our local Eagles’ bar to watch our team beat the Steelers.  After our big win, we would come home, scrub the house from head to toe, make a big dinner and enjoy the Sunday night football game before drifting casually off to sleep.  

Soo.....it totally didn’t happen that way.  My run definitely wasn’t as easy as I’d have hoped.  The Eagles lost, which turned into having a few too many drinks at the bar, which turned into coming home and passing out on the couch, which turned into me having ice cream for dinner while hubby went to bed at 9pm.  The one thing that came out perfectly was the frittata. It was AMAZING.  I know I toss that word around a lot when it comes to food, but the best part about this breakfast dish is that it’s packed with meat and cheese and it still comes in under 400 calories per serving and doesn’t leave you hungry a few hours later.  I’m particularly excited to eat my leftovers for lunch on a toasted baguette -- a frittata sandwich if you will.  Enjoy!

Caramelized Shallot, Capicola & Fontaina Frittata

from Family Circle, October 2012

1 tbsp unsalted butter

2 large shallots, finely sliced

2 oz capicola ham, sliced into ribbons

6 eggs

1/4 c. reduced fat milk

1/8 tsp black pepper

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

6 oz fontina cheese, cut into cubes

parsley, for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Melt butter in a 10 inch oven proof nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add shallots and cook for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add capicola and cook for 1 minute.  
3. Whisk together eggs, milk, pepper and nutmeg.  Stir in 4 oz cheese and pour into skillet.  Cook for 5 minutes, stirring once after 2 minutes.  
4. Place skillet in oven and bake at 350 for 5 minutes.  Scatter remaining 2 oz cheese on top and bake an additional 5 minutes until frittata is set.
5. To serve, gently slide frittata onto serving plate and garnish with parsley.

Nutrition Facts per serving {recipe makes 4 servings}: 336 calories,  25 g. fat, 23 g. protein, 4 g. carbs