There are root vegetables that not only have I never cooked before, but I’ve also never tasted before. Shocking, I know.

Two examples are rutabagas and turnips. I have never had them or felt the need to have them either. But when I was given a bag of each, well, I wasn’t going to throw them away.

One of the visiting instructors at Les Gourmettes Cooking School had a family emergency and needed to reschedule her classes. It happens, no problem, except that owner, Barbara Fenzl, had already purchased all the groceries. I was the lucky recipient of the produce. I was excited and especially grateful for the watermelon radishes, broccolini and beets because I use those on the Crudités Harmony Boards. I was still grateful but much less excited with the rutabagas, turnips, and parsnips.

As far as root vegetables go, I prefer to stick to potatoes and radishes. I don’t’ like carrots and despise beets. Parsnips are okay, but the rest I happily pass by. So I decided to treat the trio as I do potatoes.  I peeled, chopped, boiled, and mashed them. Then seasoned them up and spooned them in a casserole, baked, and then finished it off with some cheese on top.

I’ve eaten the resulting dish for two nights in a row with sliced tomatoes and basil and you know what? Not bad, not bad at all!

If you don’t own a hand masher, you should get yourself one, while you’re at be sure it is a double-action masher, here’s a Link.

Mexican Street Corn was another of the side dishes for Chanté and Cody’s wedding in the woods over Mother’s Day weekend.

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Easy Cheesy Refried Black Beans

• 2 cups refried black beans
• 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
• 1/3 cup prepared salsa
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup grated Monterey Jack
• 1/4 cup diced red onion, garnish
• 1/4 cup diced tomato, garnish
• 1 minced jalapeño, garnish
• 1/4 cup roughly chopped cilantro, garnish

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A couple of months ago I bought a 3-pound bag of refrigerated shredded beef at Costco. It had a long-away expiration date (March 2018!) and the photo of the beef on the front of the bag looked so good!

It sat in my refrigerator for a few weeks, then I took it on our trip to Carlsbad in the beginning of August, just in case we decided to make tacos or something. We never opened it, so it came back to Arizona. I finally opened it last week.

Not at all as pictured on the package. What a disappointment! Costco is known for its thorough vetting process before selecting and selling products. I’m not sure how this product slipped through. It didn’t taste all that bad, as I did end up using it for tacos one night, but then decided I’d rather use the rest in some sort of casserole. It tasted much better mixed in with other ingredients. The next time I make this dish, I’ll be using leftover beef from a roast.

Note: In a photo of the ingredients below, you may notice that the can of green chiles is missing. That is because I decided to add them as I was assembling the dish.

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Sweet Zoey and me testing the appetizer I made for Tram and Steve’s St. Patrick’s Day/Going-Away dinner party last Friday night. Zoey and Zak were not fans of the Guinness Fondue, but they did love all the dippers for it.

One of the dippers is blanched Brussels sprouts.

To blanch them; trim the ends and cut them in half. Bring a pot of water to a boil and add 1 tablespoon of salt. Add sprouts and boil for 3 or 4 minutes, or until a paring knife pierces a sprout easily. Drain and then shock in ice water. Drain on paper towels and leave at room temperature until serving time. Note: When you’re trimming and halving the sprouts, you’ll end up with a pile of single leaves. I blanched the leaves first for about 30 seconds, shocked and drained them, and used them in a salad the next day. Zero waste!

Also a note about another dipper – the pretzel roll cubes. I didn’t have time to get to Costco and buy a package of their pretzel rolls, which are the best around, in my opinion. Instead, I bought the Trader Joe’s pretzel rolls. You know I love my Trader Joe’s, but there is no comparison between the two rolls. The Costco variety is saltier and way more pretzel-y. Lesson learned.

One last note before the recipe. I know, I’ve got so much to say about this easy-breezy appetizer! A third and very important dipper is apple cubes. In my rush to assemble and set out the appetizer when I arrived at Tram’s, I forgot to add the apple cubes to the serving tray. I felt like something was missing, but I brushed it off. Finally, a guest asked, “What is this container of apple cubes for?” Darn it! Don’t forget to put them out because they add a much-needed light and bright color to the tray of dippers and are a delicious fresh addition to the overall taste choices. *If you look closely in the left upper corner of the photo above, you’ll see them in their storage container with the purple trimmed lid. Oh well.

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day. Faith and Begorrah!

I’ve mentioned several times before that I am a founding member of the Phoenix chapter of Les Dames d’ Escoffier. Our March meeting was an appetizer potluck and I made these fun and savory pimento cheese lollypops to share.

No matter how cute and tasty they may have been, they could never compete with the out-of-this-world Fried Chicken that Charleen Badman, chef/owner, of the ever wonderful FnB, brought to the meeting! So darn good! But since I don’t have the recipe for Charleen’s chicken, the recipe for the lollypops will have to suffice.

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This recipe came straight from the Pepperidge Farm website. And I have to confess, so did the photo. The picture I took was too blurry to use.

My beautiful friend and neighbor, Lisa, made it and topped hers with an adorable puff pastry candy cane in place of the poinsettia you see pictured here. What’s not to love?! Cheese, puff pastry, almonds, and dried cranberries. Yum!

Tomorrow I’ll finally wrap up with the last recipe and some final thoughts from the 2016 Holiday Appetizer Pot-Luck.

Photo

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Recipe #6 from the 2016 Holiday Appetizer Pot-Luck is rich and creamy and what I’d call decadent. In other words, stick to the crudités if you’re watching your fat intake! Then again, this was served during the holidays, certainly, a taste can’t hurt.

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Hello friends,

I’ve put off this day for far too long. I’m going through some life changes. As such, blogging about food and entertaining and putting on the “everything is just fine” face has felt disingenuous.

After trying several times over the past five weeks to get a post up and stopping short each time, I have decided that today is the day.

My last post, on January 13th, was a recipe from our 2016 Holiday Appetizer Pot-Luck. I figure that is as good a place as any to pick up where I left off and get on with it!

These chicken cheeseballs were a big hit and could not be easier to throw together. They can be assembled, lined up on the baking sheet, covered with plastic wrap, and then refrigerated the night before or in the morning, and then baked off just before your guests arrive. They are even delicious at room temperature. I’m certain they would be great the next day too, but there were none left, so I can’t swear to that.

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The first appetizer from the 2016 Holiday Appetizer Pot-Luck was made by my cousin (and friend!) Michelle. They are super easy and colorful little skewers.

As you know, most of the recipes from the party are ones I found online and sent out to the guest to choose from. If you would like to see the original post for this recipe, with many more photos, go HERE.

Antipasto Skewers

• Bamboo skewers
• 24 mini fresh mozzarella balls
• 24 small basil leaves
• 12 slices of salami, cut in half
• 1/2 pound fresh tortellini, cooked
• 1 jar roasted red peppers, sliced
• 1 jar of artichoke hearts
• 24 olives

Using bamboo skewers layer your ingredients in the order shown, starting with the mozzarella balls and ending with the olives.

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