It’s not always practical to serve a salad. For instance, at a cocktail party or any occasion where guests will be standing. These colorful and flavor-packed little salad skewers come to the rescue! They are a nice alternative to the standard crudités platter.

You’ll be using a knife to cut iceberg lettuce. There is an old wives’ tale that warns that using a knife on lettuce will cause the cut edges to quickly turn brown. This is not true. Not if you are using the lettuce within a day or so. All torn or cut lettuce leaves will eventually turn brown, under the same scientific theory that causes an apple or avocado to turn brown after cutting.

Even though you cut the lettuce well ahead of time for this recipe there is no fear of the edges turning brown because the cut pieces are held in ice water to keep them crisp and free of any browning.*

Even so, you’ll see that I do use a hard plastic knife especially made for lettuce. It’s one of the many tools crowding my kitchen drawers and cupboards that former students have given me. I have it, so I use it, but it is in no way a necessity.

*It is important to cut and assemble the lettuce portion of the skewers well ahead of time, not only to crisp the lettuce but because this step of the recipe, although extremely simple, is time-consuming and it is the last thing you’ll want to do at the last minute.

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I love the thick cut bacon from Costco. It’s the only kind I buy, so it is what I used to make these yummy tater tot poppers. That was a big mistake! By the time the bacon baked enough to get crispy, the tots were nearly falling apart. Be sure to use cheap thin-slice bacon … my mistakes are all for your benefit. You’re welcome!

These poppers are spicy-sweet. You can amp up the wow factor by replacing the maple syrup used in the brown sugar glaze with jalapeño jelly. I didn’t think of it until after I made them, but I’ll be doing that next time, for sure! For some unknown reason, the jar of pickled jalapeño didn’t make it into the “ingredients photo” but be sure to include them when you make this ~ otherwise, they are not poppers at all ~ just boring bacon-tots.

Lastly, I don’t give you quantities here so make as many or as few as you’d like. I suggest many. They are addicting.

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On May 29, 2011, I posted a recipe for Jalapeño Poppers.

Poppers are jalapeño peppers, cleaned out, filled with cheese, wrapped in bacon, and baked. And in this case, brushed with apricot preserves. The spicy morsels make for one delicious and addictive appetizer.

A little more than three years later, I have another delicious and addictive recipe for you … not little poppers, but instead, great big firecrackers!

I’m calling them firecrackers because they have an extra flavor explosion – chicken and BBQ sauce. The firecrackers can be sliced and served as appetizers or cut in half, on a diagonal, and served as the main course.

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This easy and super pop-pop-popular tapa has only three ingredients and takes only a couple of minutes to throw together.

Sometimes the Spanish chorizo can be difficult to find. I found it at Cost Plus World Market.

Chorizo-Filled Dates Wrapped in Bacon

Spanish chorizo sausage, casing removed
14 Medjool dates, pitted
7 slices thick-cut bacon, halved crosswise

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

Make an incision on one side of each date and remove the pit. Discard the pits and set aside the pitted dates.

Cut the chorizo sausage into 14 little sticks about twice the size of the pits you removed.

Tuck a chorizo stick into each date and pinch the dates closed. Wrap a half strip of bacon around each date and secure with a toothpick.

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A quick note before we get to today’s recipe: If you read yesterday’s post about the amazing cauliflower, you’ll recall that I said my friend, Ronnie had the dish at the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans. Ronnie sent me a fabulous photo of the hotel lobby all decked out for Christmas. It’s a must-see, so I’ve added it to the bottom of that post, for all to enjoy. Check it out!

So… I heard about an amazing snack that is served at a bar in Brooklyn. The bar is called Pork Slope and the appetizer  – Is chicken & Waffle Sliders. How perfect would that have been for the Super Bowl?!?

Via

Dang it. Oh well, you know what I did? I served it as our Official Olympics Opening Ceremony Snack. Yeah, take that lopsided 2014 Super Bowl! You were not worthy of these Olympic sliders!

I found a recipe online, changed it just a tad… and …. it was a major hit with my two guys.

A quick word about the frozen waffles. The recipe I found called for Aunt Jemima’s frozen square waffles. I could not find Aunt Jemima waffles at my grocery store, nor could I find square waffles. Belgium waffles – that was all they had in any and all brands. The closest thing to a square that I was able to find were octagonal waffles.

What you want to use for each slider is four squares of a waffle for the top “bun” and another four square piece for the bottom “bun.”  Here is what I did.

Take a waffle.

Cut 3 “four square” pieces from each waffle.

A package of 6 frozen octagonal waffles yielded 9 sliders. Here’s the math:

6 waffles = 18 “buns” = 9 sliders

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The following four ingredients take 5 minutes to assemble…

The resulting meat will be feeding your family and guests for days on end…

And they deliver the most versatile, easy, meal-making thing you’ll have had in your refrigerator in a long time.

Tender, juicy, and tantalizing Kalua Pork is amazing as is. Stuffed into a toasted roll – pretzel rolls being my personal favorite – is a meal in itself.

But there is so much more you can do with it; add to omelets or frittatas. Fill a wrap or toss into a salad. Pile into tortillas or crisp lettuce leaves, garnished with tomatoes, guacamole and salsa, for sumptuous tacos or lettuce wraps.

You get the idea – this stuff is versatile!

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I can not begin to tell you how difficult I find it is to even think about decorating this house for fall. It is still in the high 90’s during the day. Even attempting to place a real pumpkin outside would be asking for disaster.

At least the mornings and late evenings are finally cooling off to the low 70’s. That helps a little.

Plus, one of my favorite areas to decorate for the season is the front entry.

Last year it looked like this…

Today, it looks like this.

Hmm, at least the “caution” cones are a bright pumpkin orange. That might be all the entry decorating we get this year.

No matter ~ I vow to dig out the fall and Halloween decorations today and then do something with them.

The morning and evening cooler temps did instill in me the urge to make a double batch of yummy fresh corn chowder. A double batch because I wanted to share with my very generous neighbor, Cheryl.

You see…..

A few days ago, Cheryl anonymously dropped off culinary treasures at my front door (yes, she tromped through the dirt to get there). I don’t know for sure if she meant for the gift to be anonymous, but I wasn’t home and she left it with Connor.

Not surprisingly, Connor had no idea who Cheryl was, all he said when I ask who dropped it off was, “I don’t know, she was thin and pretty.”

Oh, thanks to Connor, that describes all my neighbors!

After a little detective work on my part, Cheryl fessed up.

This is Cheryl at the Christmas Crafts Class back in December 2012. On that note – watch for info tomorrow about my upcoming Fall Crafts & Decor Class …

So what was the culinary treasure that Cheryl gifted me with?

Homemade Croissants!

There were three of them!
Connor was home … so coincidentally there were three of us.
I ate one, and immediately hid the other two – eventually eating all three.
Connor did not know what was wrapped in the towel he had accepted.
Dave never knew they even existed.
They were mine. All mine. And they were delicious!
Thank you, Cheryl!

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One of the things you’ll usually find in my refrigerator is caramelized onions, sometimes called onion jam.

I use them in roasted meats, savory tarts, gravy, sandwiches, quiche, soups, appetizers, on pizzas, you name it!

The process of cooking the onions is slow but crucial to achieving that soft, tender, sweet caramelized taste. On the plus side, they can be made days in advance and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator or even frozen.

Considered the crown jewel of dates, Medjool are prized for their large size, extraordinary sweetness, and chewy texture. They were once reserved for Moroccan royalty and their guests.

Put the sweet onions together with the sweet dates, wrap them in bacon, and you have perfection! Serve these to your family and guests and thank me later.

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“Here’s a story of a lovely lady, who was …”

No, stop there! Not “bringing up three very lovely girls. All of them had hair of gold, like their mother, the youngest one in curls.”

Let’s try again…

“Here’s a story of a lovely lady, who is all about getting what she wants. She uses trickery and scams plus plans and schemes, and drives her youngest child insane.”

That could be the theme song for my own sitcom or reality show. Honestly, I drive poor Connor crazy with all my ideas. He desperately tries to resist, but somehow he can’t escape when I pull him into these plans, completely against his will and better judgment.

I’m going to give you the recipe today first, and then if you feel like hearing the story behind it, feel free to read all about it, after the recipe.

This is a fun way to make grilled cheese.

Use whatever cheese or cheeses you like.

Top the cheese with your favorite additional fillings, or no fillings at all.

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