A Belated Holiday Food Post & Varietal Cuts

In between the traditional family favorites, I tried out a couple of new recipes over the Christmas holidays, and want to let people know about an easy and elegant appetizer, Smoked Trout Spread, which was a hit with the Crispy Crew. We had half a package of smoked trout left in the fridge and I needed a quick edible to bring to a friends' house. After a rummaging of the fridge and a few whizzes in the food processor, this tasty appetizer emerged:



Smoked Trout Spread
1 smoked trout fillet, skinned and separated into chunks
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Hot pepper sauce to taste
Snipped fresh or frozen dill

Throw everything into the food processor and whizz around until thoroughly mixed. Slap into a serving bowl, garnish with some more snipped dill. Cover and chill at least one hour to meld flavors.

Tastes rich and looks like you slaved in the kitchen. Hah! Serve with crackers.

The other recipe I tried over the holidays was a Sugar Plum recipe I bookmarked from my downstate New York buddy, Arlene, over at The Food of Love. I subbed crushed up gluten-free ginger snaps for the graham cracker crumbs and we all enjoyed these sticky sweetmeats.



I also wanted to announce the winner of the December Cookbook Giveaway. Mona is the lucky winner of Ann Amernick and Richard Chirol's book "Souffles". Congratulations Mona!

In a final bit of housekeeping at Crispy Cook Central, I also wanted to let my loyal blog readers know about the General Mills Company's commitment to reduce the sugar content in its cereals, especially for those marketed to children. We always like to have a box of two of the Rice Chex or Corn Chex cereals on hand so that we can enjoy a quick, gluten-free breakfast and I use crushed Chex as a substitute for GF bread crumbs when cooking. Right now you can click on this link to get a $1 coupon off any General Mills cereal. I recently received some coupons for 4 free boxes of General Mills cereals through the My Blog Spark program sponsored by General Mills. You can find out more about My Blog Spark opportunities here.