Phyllo Artichoke Triangles
I actually feel sorry for artichokes. They aren’t the easiest thing to figure out how to eat, most people don’t know how to cook an artichoke, and the vast majority of these little jewels get pureed into oblivion and buried in a sea of mayonnaise and Parmesan cheese. Or they play the redheaded stepchild to spinach swimming in the familiar mayonnaise and Parmesan cheese pool.
When vegetables are used in our house, you can actually taste them. I guess that’s kind of an unspoken rule around here. You may not be able to pick out their flavor, front and center, but you can taste and feel them in whatever dish I put them in. It’s a good thing that Craig likes vegetables. Although, when we first met there were lots of veggies that he had never tried. So putting on his best child impression, he would tell me that he didn’t like this vegetable or that one. I have since figured out that when he tells me he doesn’t like a particular food, it means he’s never tried it before. The vegetables, and fruits, that he was most adamant about not liking he now loves.
I have been on a bit of a phyllo dough kick around here. It’s usually something I go through in the fall, but this year it’s the winter. There’s a lot of swearing when I break out the phyllo dough because it’s so fragile and has to be handled pretty specifically, but the end results are worth it.
Oh, and even though I was bashing artichoke dip, the leftover filling from these phyllo triangles can be used as a dip. (For the record: I’m not against dips – I’m against vegetable dip recipes where you can’t taste the veggies that are in them.)
Relationship Advice
Surprise your special someone with a dinner of just appetizers. This is how they regularly eat in Spain (they call the dishes tapas). For dinner you have little plates of lots of different kinds of foods. Everything is just one or two bites and you share. Break out a bottle of wine, or a couple bottles of beer and have some fun with it. Make a couple of things (like the artichoke triangles above) and maybe some meatballs, and a bowl of edamame. Then pick up some nuts and either grapes or strawberries. Put everything on its own small plate or bowl and sit on the floor for a casual dinner. You will get full and you will have fun eating lots of different things. Since everything is small, you can forgo using silverware and just feed each other with your fingers. This is bound to have some very positive results.
Makes 24
Ingredients
- 20 Sheets of Phyllo Dough (this is usually 1/2 of the box when there are 2 packages in the box)
- 1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter (melted)
- 1 14 Ounce Can of Artichokes
- 1 8 Ounce Package Neufchatel Cheese (light or regular cream cheese will also work)
- 3 Tablespoons Parmesan Cheese
- 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
- 4 Small Cloves Garlic (peeled)
- 1/4 Teaspoon Dried Thyme
- Kosher Salt
- Fresh Ground Black Pepper
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Farenheit.
In a food processor, add the artichokes, cream cheese, Parmesan Cheese, lemon juice, garlic and thyme. Pulse until the artichokes are in small pieces and all of the ingredients are combined.
Add kosher salt and ground black pepper to taste. Stir to combine.
Carefully peel off 1 sheet of phyllo dough and lay out on your work surface. Liberally brush it with the melted butter. Peel off another sheet of phyllo dough and lay on top of the first buttered sheet. Liberally brush it with butter (you will have 2 sheets of phyllo dough stacked). Keep unused phyllo dough covered with a damp paper towel.
Using a sharp knife, cut the phyllo (on the long side) into 2 inch wide strips.
Place 1/2 – 1 Tablespoon of artichoke mixture 1/2 inch from the end of the phyllo strip. Fold up corner into a triangle. Repeat the fold up the length of the dough strip (just like folding a flag).
As each triangle is folded, place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet, seam side down and brush with melted butter.
Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Savory Shortbread Cookies
What do you do when you have a meeting or a party to go to and you have to bring something to eat? Do you go sweet or savory? Do you go grand or understated? Whatever you do – go big or go home. By big, I mean big flavor.
My issue was compounded due to the fact that my get together was with a bunch of foodies. While you might think another foodie wouldn’t have a problem deciding what to bring to a foodie gather, but you would be wrong. The pressure was staggering! Okay, I may be exaggerating just a bit – okay a lot. I thought that most people would go the sweet route, so I decided that savory was the way to go. That and the fact that I’m trying to get ready to go out of town, made me also go for E-A-S-Y. Oh, and if you were wondering where my story of Craig is, he was already out of town so I had to hold down the fort by myself (another reason for easy).
Appearances can be deceiving. These cookies look like those adorable little Walker’s shortbread cookies or those discs made by those sweet little elves that live in trees. While they may be little, they are not sweet. They get their savory kick from Parmesan cheese a topping of more cheese and black smoked salt. I got the original recipe from an old Bon Appetit magazine, but I’ve really changed it up. (Shocking, I didn’t leave a recipe alone.)
Along the lines of full disclosure I have to give mad props to the photographer on this one. Patti, over at Worth the Whisk took this shot for me. I didn’t bring my camera. So thank you Patti! BTW, she’s got some great recipes over there too.
Relationship Advice
Spice things up at home too. I know that I just talked about going out on weekly dates. But instead of going your regular route: a movie, dinner, a play, don’t tell you significant other what this nights date is. Have them meet you somewhere then walk together to an art gallery, a wine bar, or a hot new club. The idea is to just get in the mindset of doing something different every once in a while. They say variety is the spice of life and that doesn’t just pertain to food. It also pertains to things that you do or places that you go together.
Makes 2 dozen
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 Cups All Purpose Flour
- 3/4 Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese (plus more for topping cookies)
- 1/2 Cup Finely Ground Toasted Walnuts
- 1/8 Teaspoon Ground Fennel (or fennel pollen)
- 1 Cup Butter Cubed (2 sticks)
- Black Hawaiian Smoked Salt (or large crystal smoked salt)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.
Line baking sheet with parchment paper (these cookies are pretty delicate when they come out of the oven, the paper helps when removing them from the baking sheets).
Mix flour, Parmesan cheese, fennel and walnuts into bowl of food processor.
Add butter, in small pieces, and pulse on and off until dough starts to come together.
Bring the dough together to form a ball. Divide the ball in half and roll into 2 12″ logs. Roll each log in plastic wrap or wax paper and chill for 1 hour.
Remove dough from refrigerator and break into pieces and form balls.
Arrange balls on lined baking sheet about 1 1/2″ apart. Flatten each ball into a 2″ circle.
Sprinkle tops of shortbread cookies with Parmesan cheese and smoked salt.
Bake shortbread until tops are dry and edges begin to turn golden brown (20-30 minutes).
Remove cookies from baking sheet and cool on racks.
Crunchy Chickpeas
Aaaack! I am dying over here. Yes, I’m still doing my detox and I’m ripping my hair out. Not that my 2 liquid meals a days aren’t fulfilling. Oh, don’t cry for me…I get 1 solid meal a day too. And no, it’s not a big pile of lettuce covered with puffs of some kind of calorie free air. I’m actually fine with the food, but I need something to snack on. If you haven’t guessed by now, this post isn’t about My Man’s Belly…this one is about my belly.
Snacks, or the lack thereof, are one of the main reasons people tend to fail when they are dieting/detoxing/eating healthy. Yeah, you can chew on gum until your teeth fall out, but an entire pack of gum or 1 pound bag of carrot sticks can’t really fulfill that craving for something that crunches and has the flavor of a potato chip or cheese doodles.
Last month a friend of mine ran a recipe for an Italian favorite from her childhood – roasted chickpeas (garbanzo beans). I immediately made them, inhaled them, then made a second batch. I was hooked. You can pretty much flavor these things with any seasonings you like: garlic, salt, cayenne pepper, garam masala, Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning and the list goes on and on. So whatever you’re craving you can have. Plus they are super easy to make. And, I’m betting that you probably already have everything you need to make these in your cupboard.
Relationship Advice
You need to take some time yourself. Yes, it’s wonderful that you do so many things for so many people: you show up to work on time, you volunteer for extra projects at work, you volunteer in your community, you spend time putting together meals for your significant other, you go to the gym, you clean your house, etc. etc. But if you’re not taking some time out for yourself you aren’t helping yourself or anyone else in your life. You need to take some quiet time where it’s all about you. By doing this you can focus on who you are, what you like, and what you don’t like. It allows you to re-focus your energy. By taking some time for yourself, you’ll be energized to tackle projects and be more present in your relationship.
Serves 2-4
Ingredients
- 2 15.5 Ounce Cans Chickpeas (Garbanzo Beans)
- Olive Oil Spray (or 1 1/2 Tablespoons Olive Oil)
- Garlic Powder
- Onion Powder
- Piri Piri (or Cayenne Pepper)
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Farenheit.
Drain and rinse chickpeas in colander and let sit for 5 minutes.
Pour the chickpeas onto a foil lined, rimmed baking sheet. Blot chickpeas dry with paper towels. Make sure the chickpeas are dried well.
Spray chickpeas with a thin coating of olive oil spray. Use your hands to roll chickpeas in oil to make sure all surfaces are covered.
Sprinkle seasonings onto chickpeas.
Bake for 30-40 minutes until browned and crunchy.
Be careful, as the chickpeas can sometimes pop like popcorn.
Arancini di Riso
This is the requisite “welcome back to reality” post. Being that it’s the first work day after the long holiday season. It seems difficult to get my head together today. Probably due to the lack of coffee in my system since I’m now on day 3 of my self-imposed detox. It doesn’t help that I’m writing this post about the yummy Arancini we had on New Year’s Eve and that Mr. Belly has not joined in on the healthy start to the New Year. His idea of starting the new year off healthy is having a healthy sized dinner. So he gets mac and cheese for his dinner tonight. But back to these lovely little Arancini.
I’ve never made these before, but I had seen them months ago and had kept rolling a recipe for them around (no pun intended) in my head. I knew at some point I wanted to make these for some occasion. The occasion happened to be New Year’s Eve with Mr. Belly and our annual Wii battle. Yes, that’s an occasion at our house. If I don’t save my good wines for super special over the top occasions, why should I wait to make the Arancini for some special over the top occasion? If that was the case, We’d never drink any of our wines. So if it’s a good enough rule for the vino…it’s good enough for the food.
Traditionally, Arancini are a Sicilian treat made with rice, peas, meat and cheese, but they are also made with leftover risotto. I get it. They look fussy and time consuming. Trust me…fussy they’re not, easy it is, and the only time consuming part is that you have to make up the rice mixture in advance and let it cool. You could use pretty much any kind of rice you want, except instant rice. I had basmati rice around, so that’s what I used and it came out great. This whole recipe is pretty tough to mess up. Your reward is a little golden ball of warm rice flavored with cheese and spices with a gooey cheesy center and a crunchy outer coating.
Relationship Advice
An occasion is as special or as mundane as you make it. A quiet evening at home can be just as special as eating at a 5 star restaurant. Why keep saving that bottle of wine for a “special occasion?” How often do you actually get to spend a truly quiet night at home doing what you want…not what you have to do? Celebrate that!
Makes 30 2″ Arancini
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 1/2 Cups Basmati Rice
- 3 Cups Chicken Broth
- 3/4 Cups White Wine
- 2 Eggs
- 1 Cup Shredded Parmesan Cheese
- 1/4 Teaspoon Dried Thyme
- Zest of 1 Lemon
- Kosher Salt
- Fresh Ground Black Pepper
- Canola Oil
- 30 1/2″ cubes of Emmetaler Cheese (or Swiss, Mozzarella, Gruyere)*
- 1/4 Cup Milk
- Panko Bread Crumbs**
Directions
Put olive oil in a medium size saucepan over medium high heat. Once oil is hot add the rice. Stir rice to coat with oil and lightly toast.
Add chicken broth and white wine to rice in 1/2 cup increments and stir continuously. As each amount of liquid is absorbed, add the next 1/2 cup of liquid until all of the liquid is absorbed and rice is creamy. The rice should be starchy and creamy, NOT fluffy and separate.
Remove rice from heat stir in Parmesan, thyme, lemon zest and add salt and pepper to taste.
Let rice cool at least 2 hours. Preferably overnight in the refrigerator.
Thoroughly mix 1 egg into cooled rice mixture.
Spoon 2 tablespoons of rice mixture into your hand (using an ice cream scoop makes this job much easier), start to form the rice into a ball. In the center of the mixture, add in the cube of Emmentaler. Continue to form the rice ball around the cheese. Once the ball is formed, set it onto a baking sheet and continue doing this until all of the mixture is used up.
Set up 2 bowls. In one bowl, beat 1 egg and the milk. In the other bowl, add the panko bread crumbs.
In a deep pot or heavy skillet pour canola oil to 1″-2″ deep and heat to 350 degrees Farenheit. If you don’t have a thermometer, heat the oil until it is hot but not smoking. The oil should sizzle when a bit of the rice is dropped into it. (Using a thermometer is the best way to ensure that your fried foods come out perfectly browned and not greasy.)
While your oil is heating, dredge the rice balls in the egg and milk mixture, then roll in panko bread crumbs. After coating, set back onto baking sheet.
Once oil has reached 350 degrees, add 3-4 rice balls to the oil (do not overload the pan as the oil temperature will drop too low and your food will take a long time to cook and will get greasy). Cook until golden on one side (approximately 2-3 minutes) then turn the Arancini over to cook the other side. The Arancini should be a rich orange/golden color. Once done cooking, remove to drain on paper towels.
If you want to keep all of your Arancini warm for serving, you can put these in a 300 degree oven (on a baking sheet) as you finish them.
* You can also use small meatballs or vegetables for the centers.
** If you don’t have Panko bread crumbs, you can use regular bread crumbs or ground crackers. Or to make this gluten free, you can use chickpea flour.
Chestnut Mushroom Pate
Like many of you, I am preparing for D-Day…Thanksgiving. Most years, we go to a friends house and have a fantastic meal with 8-10 people. Everyone brings something so it’s not a chore for any one person. This year, because it’s been one of those years, it’s just Craig and I. I would like to do something nice, but not the big involved dinner since it’s just the two of us. But noooooooo….heaven forbid he doesn’t get his turkey. And, for the record, a turkey breast or store bought cooked turkey will.not.do. Nope, I’m looking at a day in the kitchen making the turkey and at least 3 side dishes. He’ll help me clean up (maybe), but cooking the feast is all on me.
But I have a plan. My plan is to make a couple of filling Thanksgiving appetizers a couple of days in advance. By doing this, I’m hoping that he’ll fill up on them while I’m cooking and I can get away with making 1 side dish (which will have to be mashed potatoes…with raw onions on the side) and a salad. So I’ve been going through all of my recipes and trying to come up with two appetizers to have on hand. They’ve got to be something I can make in advance and one must be healthy and the other maybe not so healthy. (Update: Check out Amy’s site for more appetizer recipes.)
I’ve got a recipe for our neighbor’s world famous pate, but while it is fantastic and can be made ahead…it’s not exactly at the pinnacle of good for you. Still, I couldn’t get the thought of a pate out of my head. When I looked for some other pate recipes, what I kept finding was that each pate recipe was more fat laden than the previous. So I went the vegetarian route and created one that doesn’t taste healthy, but is. Craig has already tasted it, and has given it his royal approval. (He doesn’t know I plan on making more and having it out with some cheese and crackers while I cook.) Since I know he really likes it, I am guaranteed he’ll be eating so much, that he’ll be pretty full and my plan will work.
Relationship Advice
Sometimes you’ve just got to take one for the team. You know, hanging out with some of his neanderthal friends or spending time with his creepy uncle Tim who you try to avoid at all costs. Or, like making a huge dinner when it’s only going to be the two of you. But doing these things, as much as you dread them and don’t want to do them, really goes a long way in his mind. While he may not verbalize this to you (do they ever verbalize things?) he knows that you didn’t want to do it but because he asked you to, you did.
Makes 1 1/2 Cups
Ingredients
- 1 Pound Steamed and Shelled Chestnuts
- 1 Ounce Dried Porcini, or Wild Mix Mushrooms (about 1 cup)
- 1 Medium Fennel Bulb (sliced and roasted with olive oil)
- 1/4 – 1/2 Cup Mushroom Water (water from reconstituting mushrooms)*
- 1/2 Medium Onion (roughly chopped)
- 1/2 Lemon (juiced)
- 1 Teaspoon Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1/4 Teaspoon Dried Thyme
- 1/4 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 1/8 Teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
- 1/16 Teaspoon Ground Cloves (optional)
Directions
Place mushrooms in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Let sit for 15-30 minutes, or until mushrooms are soft. Drain mushrooms in a cheesecloth lined strainer.
In the bowl of a food processor add all ingredients, except mushroom water. Pulse several times to chop ingredients. Being careful to leave sediment in bowl, start adding mushroom water to ingredients. Keep pulsing until ingredients reach the consistency you desire. You will need to scrape the sides of the bowl to ensure all of the ingredients are thoroughly combined and uniformly chopped.
Serve immediately or refrigerate overnight. This pate tastes best if it has time for the ingredients to meld together overnight.
* You could use a combination of mushroom water and marsala wine to this pate for even more flavor.
Sauteing the mushrooms in olive oil will deepen the flavor even more.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Decadent Brownies
While I was visiting my mother-in-law, a couple of weeks ago, we were bonding over a Paula Deen show. Little did I know, but she was a closet Paula fan. While we snickered at the copious amounts of oil and butter in everything, we were both drooling over the brownies she made.
The brownies were simple to make and looked delicious – that is until…she dumped a bowl of freshly whipped cream onto one of the unsuspecting brownies then sprinkled it with enough powdered sugar that it looked like the bathroom counter at Lindsay Lohan’s house.
We both thought these brownies would be delicious enough all on their own.
I decided that these were the perfect food to squash my sweet cravings. I changed an ingredient to fit my craving (I know, you’re surprised to hear that). When you see this recipe, you will laugh at how simple it is, and beat yourself up for not thinking of it yourself (I sure did). After I had my pieces, I cut up the rest and sent them into work with Craig. I. can. not. have. a. pan. of. these. around. I got an e-mail from him that was a forward of several e-mails that he received from his co-workers. He’s now the most popular guy at the office, and I only have two of them that have found themselves a home on each of my thighs. (That’s better than a whole pan – right?)
Relationship Advice
Want to make your guy fall head over heels for your cooking, and you too? Make him this recipe. Trust me, you can do this one and he will think you are the world’s best baker. This is also a great recipe to make and take to parties or the office. This one truly impresses.
My version of Paula Deen’s recipe (okay, I changed only changed 1 ingredient)
Serves 9 – 18
Ingredients
- 3 – 4 3.25 – 6 Ounce Candy Bars (I used Reese Peanut Butter Bars)
- 1 19.8 Ounce Box Brownie Mix (I used dark chocolate)
Directions
Prepare the brownie mix according to package directions. I followed the recipe to make the fudge brownies – for a rich consistency.
Line an 8″x8″ or 13″ x 9″ pan with foil so that it comes up the sides and end of pan.
Pour in half of the brownie batter into lined pan and smooth batter. Place the unwrapped candy bars, side by side, on top of batter. If using an 8″x8″ pan, you may have to trim the candy bars to fit. Make sure brownie surface is covered with the candy bars.
Pour remaining half of the brownie batter on top of the candy bars.
Bake brownies according to the instructions on the package. Let cool for at least 30 minutes. Lift brownies from pan, using the foil, then cut into squares.
Maple Bacon and Parmesan Shortbread Cookies
This is sheer madness, I know. But what was I supposed to do? While I was trying to clean out the refrigerator (I have to do this once a year whether I want to or not) I found some of the most disgusting things. It’s amazing what creepiness grows in those cold boxes. Anyway…while I was tossing out one science experiment after another, I ran across some sticky bottles of jelly and syrups. You know, the one’s you see in a store and think “oh how cool is this – I’ll definitely use this” only come face to face with reality and you’ve used it once and it has taken up permanent residence in the back corner of the refrigerator (because it’s stuck to the shelf by the same kind of sticky substance NASA uses to glue those space shuttle tiles on with).
After throwing out numerous bottles and jars, and putting a few back (I swear I’ll use them for something) I turned around and found that I had this sad little plastic bottle of pancake syrup still sitting on the counter. I took this as a sign that I should cook something with it. Plus it was really sticky and I didn’t feel like cleaning it up and putting it back in the refrigerator.
I could have made pancakes for dinner, Craig would have loved that, but I thought that would be too easy…too obvious. I was kind of thinking about cookies. But I was also thinking about bacon (because I was already braising some for another dish that you will be seeing very soon). Then I was trying to come up with something to marry these two soul mates with and I came up with cheese. Yeah, I didn’t get it either at the time but sometimes I just have to run with my weird thoughts. And this time it worked for the better.
I have a serious weakness for shortbread, so that’s how I determined what type of cookie this was going to be. But trust me, this cookie is really easy to make. I will admit that it is a little confused in that it doesn’t know if it is a breakfast food, a dessert or something to be passed as an appetizer in between the cheese plate and the olives. But I think that just gives you lots of options…and excuses to make these.
Words of Wisdom
Cleaning sucks! But cleaning out the refrigerator is one of life’s little curses. Unfortunately, it has to be done so here are a couple of ways to really make it work in your favor.
By the time you get done throwing everything out (because the expiration dates are long past due) you’ll see that you have nothing to eat so you can go out and buy all of those healthy foods you keep swearing you are going to start buying.
If you time the cleaning just right, you won’t have anything left in your refrigerator to cook for dinner, and no time to start anything even if there is something left in there. So you both will have to go out to eat if you plan on being nourished for the evening.
Makes 24 Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 Cups All Purpose Flour (plus additional for dusting)
- 1/2 Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese + 1 Tablespoon Parmesan Cheese (separated)
- 1 Cup Chilled Unsalted Butter (cut into 1/2″ x 1″ pieces)
- 3/4 Cup Maple Flavored Pancake Syrup
- 1 Tablespoon Crumbled Bacon (cook 1-2 strips of bacon and crumble in food processor or chop by hand)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
In food processor, blend flour and parmesan cheese.
Add butter to flour and cheese mixture by pulsing blade. Keep pulsing until dough starts to come together. Add maple syrup, through feed tube, while pulsing.
Lightly flour work surface.
Turn dough out onto work surface and form a loose ball.
Divide dough in 1/2 and roll each half into a log. Cut log into 12 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and place on lined baking sheet, space 1″-2″ apart. (You may have to lightly dust your hands with some flour to keep dough from sticking to you – use the flour sparingly.)
Flatten each ball into a 2″ round.
In a small bowl, mix 1 tablespoon parmesan cheese with 1 tablespoon crumbled bacon. Sprinkle on top of each cookie.
Bake cookies for 20-25 minutes. Tops should be dry and edges golden.
Transfer to a rack to cool completely, then store in a covered container.
