Photographer, Mary, chose to make these quick and easy goat cheese stuffed dates. I found a couple of other photos that Mary shared with me of the lovely party-goers. Those are included here. Mary, Thank You! <3

If you or your guests are not big fans of goat cheese, use half goat cheese and half cream cheese to tone down the tangy taste. Personally, I’m all the way Team Goat Cheese!

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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I was using up the wheat berries that I had left in my freezer from THIS recipe. You could use cooked quinoa, Israeli (pearl) couscous, farro, bulgur, or barley for this delicious and refreshing summer salad.

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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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I love dates. In sweet dessert dishes. Stuffed and then wrapped in bacon! And in savory main dishes like this one, inspired by a Martha Stewart recipe.

Remember when Kim and I harvested blooming cilantro from Sandy’s garden?  I hung my cilantro to dry and finally collected the coriander seeds. I am using the all of seeds harvested (all 1  1/2 teaspoons of it!)  in this one recipe.

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Usually, I’m all about the candied pecans, but sometimes it’s nice to have the more natural flavor of the pecan come through. There is no better way to achieve that than to toast or roast them… and that is true for all nuts. Because when heated, the natural oils come to the front and the flavor just pops! Not only are we roasting the pecans, but also tossing them with a little butter and salt. And we’re doing the same thing to fresh dates. Because of a date’s natural sugar, the added butter and salt enhance the sweetness and it becomes its own little candy morsel!

The idea for this recipe came from my dear friend and colleague, Kim Howard. Kim told me about a pecan and date salad with a late harvest vinaigrette that she had at a restaurant. It just sounded too wonderful to not try and duplicate at home, so here goes…Kim, let me know what you think. I can tell you that my plumber, Larry of Lawrence Plumbing, loved it! He happened to arrive soon after I took the photo and right after Connor turned it down for his lunch… he wanted bagel bites… College boys, what the heck!?! But Larry was more than appreciative and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate him… if you ever need a plumber, let me know, because he is the best, promise!

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