How about a fun salad to celebrate that the world didn’t end yesterday?

Wild mushrooms and citrus may seem like a odd pairing, but they are delicious together, especially in this light and lovely salad where the mushrooms are grilled and the salad is garnished with a touch of goat cheese and toasted hazelnuts.

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This is the perfect appetizer to make for your family or take to a party this holiday season. It comes together easily. It can and should be made ahead of time. It’s pretty and makes an impressive presentation. Plus, it feeds a crowd!

Herbed Cheesecake

Crust
3/4 cup pecans
3/4 cup dry seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
Filling
16 ounces (2 packages) cream cheese, room temperature
11 ounce log goat cheese, room temperature
1 cup sour cream
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3 eggs
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes (packed in oil) drained and finely chopped
1  1/2 tablespoons fresh dill, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh chives, minced
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
Garnish
Fresh dill sprigs
4 cherry tomatoes, halved and, if desired, roasted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9-inch spring form pan with nonstick cooking spray. Line the bottom with a piece of parchment or foil and spray the top of the paper as well. Triple wrap the spring form with heavy-duty foil, coming up the sides and nearly to the top.

Crust: Place the pecans and bread crumbs in the bowl of a food processor and blend until pecans are finely chopped, add the melted butter and turn on machine until the mixture begins to come together.

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Today, it’s another of the recipes from Saturday’s Christmas Craft Party, stuffed mushrooms. What’s not to like? Bacon. Cheese. Mushrooms. Pepper Jelly. It’s all good! This would be perfect to bring to a holiday party.

But, before I get to it, I have to share with you just how clever my friend, Sheila is and how she “constructed” a second long table for our crowd in her craft room.

See this table? It’s really drywall set atop two sawhorses. Next, she cut up two twin bed-skirts and used them as the table skirt. Finally, Sheila used her Kitchen Papers Flourish Paper Table Wrap to cover the top. So resourceful and so darn pretty!

OK, on to the recipe!

Bacon Wrapped Cheesy Mushrooms

15 to 18 slices bacon, cut in half
12-ounces (1  1/2 packages) cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup diced green onions
3/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup pepper jelly
30 to 36 fresh medium to large crimini or white mushrooms, stems removed

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two large baking sheets with foil. Place a rack atop one of the baking sheets.

Place the bacon pieces, in a single layer, on the prepared baking sheet without the rack. Partially cook the bacon in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool while you prepare the mushrooms.

In a medium bowl, mix together the cream cheese, green onions, cheddar cheese, and jelly.

Use a small spoon to stuff the mushroom caps with the cheese mixture, really pack it in there.

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Maybe I should feel guilty about putting this up as a “recipe” – but honestly, I don’t.

I saw a photo of this on Pinterest several months ago and finally made it this past Saturday for our Christmas Crafts Class.

The tasty little picks disappeared right before my eyes. So yeah, I’m gonna write it up as a real recipe.

The original Pinterest post I saw used Serrano ham. I used prosciutto, salami, and other thinly sliced cured and smoked meats I had leftover from my Thanksgiving appetizer tray.

Any thinly sliced smoked or cured meat will work. Let’s see – Capocollo, Pancetta, Mortadella, Sopressata, Iberico Ham, Speck, or Calabrese … any and all would all be perfectly lovey.

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This salad was one of the easiest dishes I made for the Christmas Crafts Party and it seemed to be the most popular thing on the table… go figure!

It kinda looks like a hot mess, but I have to admit, it was pretty darn tasty. I adapted the recipe from one I found on the Hidden Valley® website.

Southwestern Cornbread Salad

12 homemade cornbread muffins, cooled completely and then coarsely crumbled, divided
2.25-ounce can sliced ripe olives, drained and then set to dry on paper towels
16-ounce can pinto beans, rinsed, drained, and then set to dry on paper towels
11-ounce can whole kernel sweet corn, drained and then set to dry on paper towels
1 cup Hidden Valley® Spicy Ranch Dressing, divided
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and diced
1/2 cup diced red onion
1 cup tomatoes, diced and then drained on paper towels
1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

In large salad bowl place half of the cornbread crumbled muffins.

Next layer on the drained olives and pinto beans.

Follow that up with drained corn and 1/2 cup of the dressing.

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These bacon and olive based appetizers aren’t the prettiest plate on the table but with their hint of curry, they are sure to be the most popular!

Many thanks to Barbara Fenzl, who demonstrated this recipe in her classes last month at Les Gourmettes. She agreed to let me to share them with you.

Bonus  -  They are so Easy-Breezy!

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When I have little bits of various cheeses hanging about in the fridge – this is the sort of thing I make.

Chicken Alfredo Fusilli

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
2 cups quartered small tomatoes
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 cup fat free half-and-half
1  1/2 cups blend of grated cheeses; such as Asiago, Parmesan, and Fontina
1 pound cooked fusilli pasta

One at a time, between two sheets of plastic wrap, pound each chicken breast evenly with a flat meat pounder.

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There is so much to love about this mac & cheese:

1. It’s mac & cheese for goodness sake – gotta love that!
2. It has three fantastic cheeses – provolone, Fontina, and mozzarella … no cheddar in sight
3. No need to do a stove-top roux first – super easy
4. It’s topped with rich beef short rib meat
5. The meat is already cooked and prepared, ready to shred and use – EASY!
6. Individual servings – awesome!
7. It was a huge hit with my guys (husband, son, and Dad) last Sunday night – Manly Man Mac & Cheese!
8. Lastly, if you made or plan to make the 3-cheese grilled cheese sandwich from yesterday’s post… this uses the same 3 cheeses. Coincidence? I think not.

Yeah, this is good stuff, perfect for a family meal and special enough for guests. I purchased the prepared boneless short ribs at Costco, but I’ve noticed that most grocery stores sell precooked and packaged short ribs as well. For some strange reason, the Costco package is 17 ounces, but we’ll just round it down to a pound – to make it easy. The meat also comes in a sauce, drain it off and discard, you won’t need it. You will be making an easy and much better ragù.

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More than 2 1/2 years ago I made a bold confession to you – I love Campbell’s Tomato Soup more than homemade tomato soup. Just image my joy and excitement when I saw on Facebook that, for a very limited time, Target was carrying Andy Warhol inspired Campbell’s Tomato Soup cans. I LOVE those cans, the original art which you can check out HERE and the cans sold at Target. I drove from store to store to store to find all four colors of the cans. Below you can see what I was able to round up.

Warhol created his first Campbell’s art in 1962. It consisted of 32 separate canvases of 32 different Campbell’s soup varieties.

The “extreme” colored cans didn’t come around until 1965. Warhol claimed to have eaten Campbell’s soup for lunch, nearly daily, for 20 years.

No, I’m not going to give you the recipe for Campbell’s Tomato Soup, you’ll find that on the back of the can (I use milk – not water), but how about a grilled cheese sandwich to accompany your soup? Done!

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I adore Greek Salad! The feta, the olives, the dressing – it’s hard to beat!

When I made this salad with the addition of kabobs, I threaded wedges of red onion along with the tomato halves. The onions overpowered the salad, so I’ve omitted them from this recipe, although you’ll see them in the photos.

The pickled red onions really make the salad, so use those instead. You will always find a jar of pickled red onions in our fridge, we throw them into just about everything. I’m also missing sliced English cucumber in the photos.  I forgot to buy the cucumber when I was at the grocery store, even though it was on my list – hate it when that happens!

Oh, and the reason I thread the chicken and the vegetables on separate skewers is to be sure there is no cross-contamination from the yogurt marinade clinging… but the not fully cooking on those tomatoes. Better safe than sorry! You can always re-thread before serving, as I did here.

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