Hot Pizza Dip from a Dairy Princess

Earlier this year, the husband and I attended a local Chili Cook-off which was a great deal of fun. We both liked the white turkey chilis the best out of the local assortment and had fun schmoozing with local restaurateurs and other chili-heads at this tasty do.

The Washington County Dairy Princess was in attendance as well and in between polishing her crown and handing out samples of cheese, she was doling out dairy-packed royal recipes. One of those was for a Hot Pizza Dip, which is a bubbly, luscious layering of various cheeses and seasonings that we have made several times since.

Now that it is the season for watching those interminable Fall sports, namely football, this makes a great excuse to avoid at least one quarter of somnambulistic activity next to my sports-loving spouse by heading off to the kitchen and whipping this up. Another chunk of time can be spent eating this in a recumbent position while nodding sagely at any sports fans as they relate tedious anecdotes and statistics about various football players and teams and you dream about Spring baseball season.

Hot Pizza Dip

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 tsp. Italian seasoning (I use oregano)
1/4 tsp. garlic powder (I use at least 1/2 tsp.)
8 oz. mozzarella, shredded
4 oz. Cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup pizza sauce (I use tomato sauce and more oregano and garlic powder)
1/2 cup each red and green bell pepper, finely chopped

Combine softened cream cheese with Italian seasoning. Spread in the bottom of a nine inch glass pie plate.

Combine mozzarella and Cheddar with chopped peppers. Layer half of this mixture over cream cheese. Spread pizza sauce over that and then sprinkle remaining cheese-pepper mixture over all.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Serve warm with those big kind of tortilla chips.

I am submitting this recipe to the Four Seasons Food September Challenge, which is hosted by Delicieux and Chez Foti, two gorgeous French food blogs.

Continuing Cruciferous Fun: Hot Caulflower Dip!

Though most everything else in the Crispy Garden has been on the "meh" side in the Summer of 2013 with the weird and wonderful weather patterns we've had, as reported previously, the cauliflower crops has been outstanding. 

I planted a little six pack of cauliflower seedlings this Spring, hoping for 1 or 2 cauliflowers, but they have all matured and all six have been gargantuan.

I have made a lot of cauliflower curries and baked, cheesy cauliflower to use up this bounty, but then my friend Lee tipped me off to Hot Cauliflower Dip. There's cheese involved (great), spinach (awesome) and lots of lightly steamed cauliflower (fan-tabulous!) which gets blended together in the food processor and then topped with more cheese and baked. It's a great way to use up some cauli-bounty and to sneak in some veggies into the summer party spread. 

I made a big batch of this to bring to our friends' house and it was appreciatively gobbled down. I managed this quick and somewhat unglamorous snapshot before it was inhaled.

Hot Cauliflower Dip

1 small head cauliflower, broken into florets (or 1/2 of one head-sized cauliflower as above)
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup mayonnaise (I think you can even omit this - my dip was a bit oily and needed blotting)
2 fat cloves garlic, peeled and chopped fine
3 cups. fresh spinach leaves (I'm going to try using frozen spinach in the winter)
2 cups grated Cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Steam cauliflower until soft. Drain and let cool.

Whiz cooled cauliflower in food processor until smooth. Add in cream cheese, mayonnaise, garlic and salt and pepper. Whiz around some more until garlic is incorporated. Add spinach and whiz around again. Mix in half of grated Cheddar.

Pack into a 13.x 9 glass baking dish. Top with remaining cheese and bake in a 375 degree oven until cheese is bubbling, about 30 minutes.

Serve with your favorite chips. Makes about 10-12 servings.

I'm sending this recipe over to Weekend Herb Blogging, the weekly blog event headquartered by Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once, and guest hosted this week by my blogger buddy and Cook the Books Co-host, Simona of Briciole. Simona will have a roundup of wonderful vegetable, fruit, flower and herb recipes and blog posts after the August 22 deadline of WHB #398, so be sure to look for that.

Those Bachelor Brothers Made me Cook

Hector and Virgil are two eccentric, middle aged twins who run The Bachelor Brothers' Bed and Breakfast on an island off British Columbia for their "clientele of slightly confused and gentle bookish people". They live with Mrs. Rochester, a parrot who is as likely to spout a Bible passage as a curse, Waffle the cat, Caedmon the absent-minded handyman, a bassoon, and frequent overnight visits from Hector's beauty products saleswoman and journalist girlfriend Altona.

Would that there were such a wonderful B&B, but alas, this bibliophilic retreat is a fictional one, from the pen of author Bill Richardson. His first book, "The Bachelor Brothers' Bed and Breakfast" is a charming treat, and so is the sequel, "The Bachelor Brothers' Bed and Breakfast Pillow Book", a continuation of the adventures of Hector, Virgil and their circle of friends, punctuated by recipes, recommended book lists, many verses of bad poetry and letters from guests who have stayed at their B&B.



It is one such letter in the book that intrigued me and set me on the path of some culinary research. One satisfied customer sends on his mother's recipe for Bread and Butter Pickles and relates how he spent time visiting his parents and copying out childhood favorites from his mother's recipe cards and cookbooks.

They all had such interesting names: Bully Pudding (a cake with chopped dates and nuts baked in), Cheese Dreams (open-faced melted cheese sandwiches, Self-Saucing Fudge Cake (sounds like a Hogwarts dish) and Double Snackers. I never did find out what Double Snackers are, but I kept imagining that they'd be some sort of delicious thing paired with yet another bit of deliciousness and melded together.

I decided that I would create my own Double Snackers and got to thinking about making a savory kind of sandwich cookie. It should be salty, crispy, but also gooey. And cheesy, since the author had gotten me salivating about what Cheese Dreams might be. I decided to make a double batch of my Southern Cheese Crisps and then make a small bit of Herbed Cream Cheese to cement two Crisps together into one delicious Double Snacker.



They are mighty tasty. A bit rich, but that's what double snacking is about. Two of these babies were perfect as an appetizer, washed down with a glass of dry, red Chianti. Yum yum.

This book-inspired cooking post is going to wend its way over to Simona at Briciole who is hosting another one of her delightful Novel Food blog event. Novel Food is cohosted with Lisa of A Champaign Taste and celebrates the love of reading with the love of cooking and there are always intriguing new book selections to seek out when reading each of the Novel Food roundups. If you are interested in joining Novel Food, the deadline is Feb. 13.

Turning up the HEAT to Cook the Books

Time to Cook the Books again, dear readers. No, it's not tax time, but time to post about the latest book selection from the greatest online foodie book club, Cook the Books, which I and two dear blogger friends started up two years ago. Johanna of Food Junkie, Not Junk Food and Deb of Kahakai Kitchen and I take turns hosting each bimonthly round of Cook the Books, and this time it is the lovely Johanna who is leading our discussion of Bill Buford's book "Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany" (NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006).


This is a very entertaining memoir by Buford, a founding editor of Granta and writer/editor for The New Yorker, who left the literary life to pursue his passion for the culinary arts. Buford signs on to work as a grunt with Mario Batali at his three-star restaurant Babbo and so we get a backstage pass to the testosterone-fueled, invective-filled world of a high-profile New York City restaurant kitchen. Much of the book focuses on the Mario Batali back story, but I was actually more intrigued by two others who lie within the Rabelaisian orbit of Planet Mario, Joe Bastianich and Marco Pierre White.

Joe is the laconic scion of the Bastianich restaurant empire and Batali's business partner. He knows food and wine and how to keep the finances afloat in the Batali restaurant galaxy. He does not wax poetic about the glamour of restaurant life, having had to clean out the grease traps, pull bay leaves out of choking throats and sweep up piles of post-exterminator insect detritus in the family restaurant.

Marco Pierre White is an even more outrageous, larger-than-life character than Batali, who endured a four-month stint as White's kitchen slave in London before quitting in a fit of pique. White is so very foul-mouthed, so mean, so physically intimidating, as described by Buford, that even when the two meet, over a frightfully proper traditional roast grouse meal at White's newest restaurant acquisition, he works himself into an increasingly cold fury ruminating on every bit of the dish that is overdone or incorrectly prepared. There are croutons that are insufficiently darkened, a sauce that is too intense, butter that is not foamy enough, and an overabundance of parsley garnish. Each rant is punctuated by his dining partner's name, so that the reader feels the tension ratchet up with each seemingly polite, yet darkly ominous, phrase from White's lips:

"It's not right, is it, Bill?"

"It is made with a veal stock reduction, isn't it, Bill?"

"The bread crumbs, they're disappointing, aren't they, Bill?

"The butter sauce, ...I mean, really...One clove, [of garlic] do you understand me, Bill?"

"We're here to eat a f*$&@#ing bird, are we not, Bill?"

You get the point.

The other passage from Buford's book that really stuck with me was his description of how the Food Network packages its food celebrities (called "talents" or "brands") and their shows. They are less reliant on the quality of the cooking information so much as the sensual, lip-smacking, groaning-while-chewing presentation skills of the talent. Buford describes it further:

"The skin-flick feel was reinforced by a range of heightened effects, especially amplified sounds of frying, snapping, crunching, chewing, swallowing...The "talent" (also known as a "crossover" personality, usually a woman with a big smile and no apron) was directed to be easy with her tongue and use it conspicuously--to taste food on a spoon, say, or work it around a batter-coated beater, or clean the lips with it". (p. 143)

Seems like Julia Child wouldn't cut it these days with her data-laden French Chef episodes. But I still like to watch her chirpy reruns, which I guess makes me hopelessly old-fashioned.

It was hard to decide on a dish I wanted to prepare in honor of this book as there was a parade of cooks described in its pages. Ultimately I decided to try a recipe by Le Grand Orange, Mario Batali. I waded through a thicket of his online recipes without being inspired. So many of them consist of meaty meat plugged with other bits of meat, wrapped in layers of yet more flesh. I do see that he is planning a new book focusing on vegetables, so that should be interesting to pore over.

Ultimately, I ended up making a very elegant Batali appetizer (though we ate it for dinner, at least the gourmet type adults did), Goat Cheese Truffles with Peperonata. Now I can see that he has a dab hand at vegetarian fare and so he is back in my good graces.

To make this wonderful dish, you take some arugula, blanch it for 10 SECONDS, whereupon it wilts into submission, like spinach and becomes a whole new vegetable with a delicate texture and taste. Magical!

You then toss your blanched arugula with a lemony dressing, put a little mound on a plate, top it with red pepper strips slow-cooked with sherry vinegar, and then top these with goat cheese "truffles" rolled in paprika, crushed fennel seed (Mario says fennel pollen) and poppy seed. It was spectacularly good and changed my mind about arugula. I have only used it fresh in salads, but the blanching technique made me fall in love with this salad green which is actually still hanging out in the lettuce patch outside the Crispy Casita. Will definitely plant more arugula next Spring.


I would only change things up by making smaller, more bite-sized goat cheese truffles next time. Wouldn't this make a spectacular salad or first course menu item for an elegant Christmas dinner with the play of red and green?

Please join us after the December 3 deadline for this round of Cook the Books to see all the thoughtful and tantalizing entries. Anyone is welcome to join in our book club. There's no entry requirements other than reading our selected foodcentric book and then blogging up a post about the book and a dish that you have cooked up which is inspired by your reading. A guest judge reviews the roundup of posts and then picks a winner who receives a fabulous Cook the Books trophy badge to adorn his or her blog.

Our December/January Cook the Books selection will be Victoria Riccardi's "Untangling My Chopsticks: A Culinary Sojourn in Kyoto" and I will be hosting the book discussion and roundup with Ms. Riccardi herself serving as our guest judge. Please join us!

Cosmic Shrimp Two Ways

My wonderful sister-in-law Cathy parted with her flavorful shrimp appetizer recipe years ago after we vacuumed it up at a family party. My paper copy of the recipe is quite bespattered and tattered now, and I can't believe I haven't shared it here on The Crispy Cook before now, as it is one of our favorites. We like to bring these tasty crustaceans to parties and serve them chilled on skewers (in which case we cook up the larger sized shrimps) but we also have found the recipe makes a great warm topping for our noodles, too.

I am wasting no more time sharing this keeper with you all, especially since our Gulf Coast seafood supply is endangered with that BP oil rig disaster. Grab some shrimp now and cook this up before they are $30 a pound and marinated in crude.


Cosmic Shrimp Pasta

1 head broccoli, cut into florets (save stem for another use)

1/4 c. olive oil
1 -1/2 lbs. shrimp, peeled, deveined and patted dry (use large or jumbo shrimp if you are serving the shrimp as a chilled appetizer, otherwise medium shrimp are better for a pasta topper)
3 Tbsp. gingerroot, peeled and grated
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced

1 -1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. lime juice
1/4 tsp. salt
1 red bell pepper, roasted, peeled and chopped ( jarred roasted red peppers work fine too)
1/2 tsp. hot sauce
1 bunch scallions, sliced very thin
1 Tbsp. black sesame seed (optional, but it does add nice color)

1 lb. pasta, cooked and drained

Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add broccoli florets and steam until bright green and crisp-tender, about 4 minutes. Drain and cool.

In a large frying pan, heat 2 Tbsp. of the olive oil until hot. Add garlic and ginger and cook, stirring, 2 minutes, or until fragrant. Add shrimp and cook until they turn pink and opaque, another 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat.

In a bowl, blend together the remaining olive oil, lemon and lime juice, salt, red peppers, hot sauce, scallions and sesame seeds. Add shrimp and broccoli and toss to coat.

For Cosmic Shrimp Appetizer: Cover and chill in refrigerator at least 2 hours and then thread shrimp and broccoli on wooden skewers and serve as an appetizer, with leftover sauce drizzled over. Or you can serve as a mound on a lovely plate with toothpicks on the side for personal skewering. Serves about 8-10 shrimp lovers.

For Cosmic Shrimp Pasta: Toss cooked shrimp with pasta and serve immediately with a little extra lime juice and extra-virgin olive oil on the side for diners to sprinkle on. Makes 4-6 dinner servings.

The Cosmic Shrimp Pasta seems perfect to send over to Presto Pasta Nights, a weekly celebration of the noodle in all its delicious forms, which is an event started by Ruth of Once Upon a Feast. This week's edition of Presto Pasta Nights is being hosted by Susan, The Well-Seasoned Cook, and she will be posting a pastarific roundup of all the other dishes submitted by food bloggers next Friday, May 21. Grab your pasta pot and get boiling!

I Was Just Trying to Be Fancy with Those Cute Red Jalapenos

Getting ready for a Superbowl party with friends when you dine gluten-free takes a bit of advance planning. The usual Superbowl fare at our friends' house where we indulge in this annual ritual of football and food is bit wheaty, so I always try to bring several things for Dan to eat, drink and share so he does not get glutened. While others are slinging down beer, pizza slices and breaded wings, I want to bring some alternatives. My hubby hates to impose on our hosts with his dietary restrictions, though they are always thoughtful in making sure he does have several tasty GF snacks.

I will be making a batch of hummus, another yet-to-be-determined GF snack from this list of lovelies and I wanted to bring some kind of hot finger food to pop in the oven when we arrived. Something cheesy and spicy, like a Southwestern twist on the ever popular mini quiche. I was inspired by my El Paso green chiles prize package, (which a lucky Crispy Cook reader will win after the Feb. 15 deadline), and a can of festive red jalapeno slices that lured me from my pantry.


I used Gluten-Free Kay's Hot Mamas recipe and this recipe for Mini Chile Rellenos for inspiration, assembled my ingredients and had a lovely several hours of kitchen fun. Here's my recipe:

Cooking oil spray
1 (4 oz.) can chopped green chiles, drained
1 (7.75 oz.) can red jalapeno slices, drained (I used Chi Chi's brand with lots left over for nachos and other future foodie experiments)
1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed and blotted dry
1/4 cup snipped chives (I used garden chives from my freezer)
1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
5 eggs, beaten lightly
1 cup milk
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup white rice flour

Spray 12 count muffin or cupcake pan with cooking oil. My pans are 1/4 cup so they make smaller-than-desired muffins and cupcakes, but wonderful mini-quiches. Mini-muffin pans would probably work well too, but one would need to adjust the baking time downward.

Distribute corn kernels, chives, green chiles and cheese equally among the muffin cups.

Mix eggs, milk, cumin, salt and flour. Blend well. Pour over mounded ingredients in the muffin cups. Garnish each mound with a red jalapeno wheel or two.

Bake in preheated 400 degrees F. oven for 30 minutes or until tops are browned and bubbling. Let cool in muffin pans for 10 minutes, then remove from pans and let cool until they are warm. Serve immediately. They are a little too moist to serve as finger food, so I served them on a plate with a little tomato salsa on the side to my taste tester.

Makes 12.

Now, you may have noticed that this recipe bears no title. I proudly bore my creations in to my Gluten Free Superbowl Taste Tester for his review. Dan looked at my cheesy offering and grinned.



"What should I call them?", I asked innocently.

Dan merely chuckled and continued to look bemused at his plate.

"Go ahead and eat it", I urged.

Dan shook his head.

"What? It's good, I already ate one. You'll like it."

Dan looked at me again fixedly. "You're kidding me, right?"

"What is wrong with this? It's good."

"Rachel, it's a boob."

I gasped. And looked. And realized I had cooked up a perky, little edible breast.

"Oh man! I can't bring these guys to the party. I'll never live it down."

"No, they'll be perfect. You can say they're in honor of Janet Jackson's peek-a-boob."

Ay, caramba! That was one surreal Superbowl moment in 2004 when Jackson bared her breast during her half-time dance number. I was trying to collect my kids to start our drive home (they were younger and it is a school night, after all) and had stopped to watch the musical interlude on a couch in my friends' basement rumpus room. When the breast escaped I thought perhaps my eyes had deceived me, and turned to my compatriots on the sofa, but both young lads were aged ten and under and it didn't seem appropriate to converse with them on the subject of perhaps-imagined nipple slip. The television announcers didn't mention anything and so I went upstairs to chat with some adults about the subject.

Nobody else had paid attention to the half-time show! I was astounded and perhaps thinking that I had indulged in one too many beers. Dan drove us home and it wasn't until later when I hopped on the Internet that I found out that I wasn't delusional but had indeed witnessed celebrity nudity during America's holiest football holiday.

Back to my culinary creations. I'm of two minds about whipping up another batch of these snacks to bring to our party. Part of me is a prude: I am the Crispy Cook, not the Lascivious Chef. The other part of me would like to offer them to my (adults only) friends with a scampish wink. Dan and I certainly got a kick out of imagining many other mammalian monikers for these offerings: Boob Jobs, JJ Peekaboobs, Wardrobe Malfunctions, Tex-Mex A Cups, Cheesy Chesties, Bosom Bites, Whatever. They certainly are Hot Mamas too.


There are other edible homages to Janet Janet's torso out there, (The Amateur Gourmet's cupcakes are anatomical likenesses indeed) and the concept of the erotic bakery is not a new one, so I would be able to point out that other dirty minds out there wearing aprons.

I just don't know now. I am not a young, ironic thing, so perhaps I will bring a more sedate hamper of GF goodies for my sweetie to enjoy tomorrow. These bosomy bits seem more suitable for a bachelor party or a meeting of the local La Leche League. Or maybe I'll put more than one red jalapeno adornment atop each snack to avoid the whole business entirely.

Let's just hope the members of The Who won't be brandishing their bits at tomorrow's half-time show. I don't want to have to bake up any of their septugenarian body parts.

Bejeweled Beans for my GF Football Fan

Despite my husband's funk as he watches his beloved Giants team falls further behind this football season, there must be a hallowed time for him each week to scream at the television set and revel in his sports lust. And there must be accompanying snacks.

Before the gluten-free lifestyle entered our household, the snack fuel for these weekly testosterone-laden sessions primarily consisted of beer and pizza. Now that barley malt and wheat crusts are verboten for my hubby, I try to make sure we have Redbridge Beer (made from sorghum, reminiscent of Killian's Irish Red Ale) around and some tasty dips and spreads for his tortilla chips and vegetable sticks.

I was planning to make some guacamole for his last viewing session, but my avocado was too far gone, so I rummaged around the cupboards for inspiration and decided to make a spicy bean dip for him. It was a hit with the old man, so I made sure to write down what I slapped together to share with you all.



This beany dip was spicy, easy and pretty, so I call it:

Bejeweled Bean Dip

1 (15.5 oz.) Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained (cannelli would work well too)
2 Tbsp. butter
1 tsp. garam masala (substitute curry powder if you want a milder heat)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup snipped chives
1/2 red pepper, seeded and diced
1 Tbsp. mango chutney
Salt and Pepper to taste


Melt butter in frying pan and heat garam masala 1-2 minutes, or until fragrant. Add garlic, chives and red pepper, and cook, stirring, another several minutes, until red pepper is softened.

Add beans, and mash them up a bit, stirring and cooking another several minutes to heat through. Add mango chutney and season with salt and pepper.

Makes 2 cups. Great served warm with tortilla chips.

Go Giants!

Stuffed Grape Leaves with Zucchini and Cilantro

Earlier this summer I put up six quarts of preserved grape leaves from some wild vines around our pool fence and we've made two batches of dill and mint-scented stuffed grape leaves. With an abundance of zucchini now shooting from our four plants on a daily basis (when will I learn to only plant one or two summer squashes?) I try to cook up my zukes each night and stash some away in the freezer, but we always seem to have a bit of leftover sauteed zucchini hanging around in the fridge.

We tried a new zucchini variety this year, Bush Baby, which grows a shorter, rounder squash, with lovely dark and light green stripes. They are not very seedy and have a nutty flavor. Like all zucchinis, of course, they are reproductive champs, so I have been trying to pick them every day and cook some up in various ways for our summer suppers. The leftover cooked zucchini usually gets tucked into the freezer, but the other night I thought about chopping some up into some other leftovers: cooked rice and tomato sauce and making stuffed vine leaves. Untraditional they were, but TASTY! The fresh cilantro adds a nice green zing as a change from the traditional mint and dill.



Once you have access to brined grape leaves, making dolmades is a breeze. The time-consuming part is the grape leaf harvest and selecting the perfect-sized leaves and leaves without Japanese beetle chomps. After washing the leaves, rolling them into bundles and brining them up took only short while. But if you have them brined up or purchase grape leaves already preserved, all you need to do is basically whip up a rice salad, stuff your grape leaves and bake them.

Here's what I did:

Stuffed Grape Leaves with Zucchini and Cilantro

1 cup tomato sauce (I had leftover homemade with lots of garlic and basil)
3 cups leftover cooked rice
1 cup sauteed zucchini (I had sauteed it with garlic, olive oil and fresh basil), coarsely chopped
3 Tbsp. finely chopped cilantro
36 preserved grape leaves in brine
Olive oil
Juice of 1/2 lemon

Drain leaves and unfurl. Pat dry and reserve.

Pour half of tomato sauce to cover bottom of a 1 quart baking dish. Place remaining tomato sauce in a mixing bowl with rice, chopped zucchini and cilantro. Don't add any salt and pepper as the salt from the brined grape leaves will seep in to season the filling during baking.

Place one teaspoon of this rice filling in the center of each grape leaf. Fold sides in first, then roll up and place, seam-side down, in saucy baking dish. I found that 36 stuffed grape rolls covered the bottom of my baking dish, but you may haved different results with differently-shaped baking dishes and differently-sized grape leaves. Any leftover rice stuffing can be seasoned with a little brine from the grape leaf jar and eaten as a refreshing rice salad later.

Drizzle a little olive oil over the top and cover with foil. Bake in preheated 350 degree F oven for 30 minutes.

Let cool 5 minutes. Then drizzle lemon juice over top and serve. Also great cold!

Mangia!

Makes 36 stuffed grape leaves.
A refreshing dinner on a hot and steamy summer's eve.



I am sending a platter of these delicious stuffed grape leaves over to Weekend Herb Blogging, a weekly food blogging event headquartered at Cook (Almost) Anything At Least Once. WHB is focused on the Vegetable Kingdom and posts which show how to grow and eat vegetables, fruits and herbs. This week, Weekend Herb Blogging is being hosted by A Food Lover's Journey. Stop by and check out the WHB roundup after the August 16 deadline. And start thinking about a great vegetable, herb or fruit recipe for the week of August 24-30, when I'll be your WHB host.

Dolmades from Our Own Brined Grape Leaves

Dan and I have always liked dolmades, those delectable grape leaves stuffed with rice and herbs that figure prominently in Mediterranean cuisine. We have only had dolmades at restaurants or from a pricey can from the grocery aisle, but when I saw instructions for preserving grape leaves on Kalofagas and Foodycat I bookmarked this information and stored it away until the wild grapevines that encircle our pool fence were springing forth once more.



It was a project which took the better part of a hot, sunny morning (I did prune back the grape vines at the same time as I harvested my grape leaves) but finding unblemished leaves free of bird poop and beetle chomps was a task, as was finding the correct sized leaves. My web friends advised picking leaves where the center portion was about the same size as one's palm. If you harvest leaves from a friend or public spot, do be sure to inquire if the leaves are also pesticide-free.

I followed Kalofagas' instructions, but used 6 quart-sized canning jars as I wasn't sure what "medium" Mason jars were and found I needed to prepare 50% more hot brine to fill my jars. A couple of my jars didn't seal so I tucked them into the refrigerator since I wanted to make a couple of batches of dolmades within the week. I also liked his recipe for baking the dolmades rather than trying my hand at sauteeing them (less opportunity for stuffing leakage) so that was my course of action.

I made one batch of Kalofagas recipe with sauteed ground beef (I'll bet ground lamb would be amazing too) and one batch without meat. Both came out of the oven perfectly tender and delectable, although they were a little more salty than I prefer, so I would leave out seasoning the filling with additional salt next time. We liked them so much that I plan to cook up another batch and trot them out this weekend when we have guests.



Having these jars of brined leaves in the pantry seems so luxurious now. I can whip up a batch of dolmades easily if I have leftover cooked rice and then throw them in the oven for an hour to steam away. Thank you Foodycat and Kalofagas for such tempting and easy to follow culinary advice!

This adventure in harvesting, preserving and cooking with wild grape leaves is being sent in to Weekend Herb Blogging #190, which is being hosted by Laurie of Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska. I'm sure Laurie is familiar with stuffed grape leaves but they were a new and exciting exploration for me. Weekend Herb Blogging is a weekly blog event that highlights fruits, vegetables and herbs and is permanently headquartered at Cook (Almost) Anything At Least Once. I always learn something new and usually bookmark a few more recipes to try with WHB, so be sure to check out the roundup after the Sunday deadline.

Spicy Roasted Chickpea Nibbles

While perusing my copy of Ashley Miller's "The Bean Harvest Cookbook" (Newtown, CT: Taunton Press, 1998), I came upon her recipe for Chickpea Munchies, roasted cooked chickpeas spiced up with garlic and curry powder. I was looking for a little nibble for my hubby and I to sip wine with, so I switched around the spices, threw in some leftover cooked rice and used canned cooked chickpeas instead of the home-cooked dried chickpeas called for in Miller's version and they turned out splendidly. My hand was little too generous with the garam masala, so we were sucking down liquid refreshment at a rapid rate (an old bartender's trick is set out salty and spicy snacks to encourage more drink orders), so do take care. Especially if you're buying.



The result is a lovely cocktail snack, CRISPY on the outside and softly mushy on the inside. Don't worry about the skins of the chickpeas sloughing off when you stir them around; these skins take on a nice crunch when they are baked and add to the texture of the overall mix.

The Nibbles were great warm out of the oven and Dan spent a few days snacking on them cold. I stored them in an airtight container when they cooled and they survived nicely at room temperature. Here's my adapted version of Miller's great recipe:

Spicy Roasted Chick Pea Nibbles

2 (14.5 oz.) cans chickpeas, drained, rinsed and patted dry
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. garam masala (or your favorite curry powder blend)
1 cup cooked white rice
Kosher salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Heat olive oil in frying pan. Add minced garlic and, stirring constantly, cook 1 minute. Add garam masala and stir another 1-2 minutes. Add chickpeas and cook another 2-3 minutes, stirring.

Turn out into a 9x12 glass baking dish. Bake for 15 minutes. Stir and add in cooked rice. Bake another 15-20 minutes, or until nibbles are at the desired peak of crunchiness. Season with salt and pepper.

Makes about 2-1/2 cups of nibbles.

After I made these nibbles, I researched some other ways to roast one's chickpeas and found these other recipes which I intend to try soon:

Crispy Roasted Chickpeas with Moroccan Spices from Kalyn's Kitchen

Roasted Wasabi Chickpeas from About.com (make sure wasabi powder is wheat-free)

Spicy Roasted Chickpeas from Rosa's Yummy Yums

Amazing Toasted Mixed Nuts from The W.H.O.L.E. Gang

This ode to the Roasted Chickpea post seems the perfect submission for My Legume Love Affair, a monthly blog event that celebrates the legume in all its glorious variations and is the brainchild of Susan over at The Well-Seasoned Cook. The current round of MLLA is being hosted by Annarasa. You can join in the fun with a leguminous post by the deadline or wait to catch Annarasa's roundup after the June 30 deadline.

Easy on the Eyes and the Wallet: Three Yummy Bean Dips

Warmer weather means more picnics, parties and outdoor socializing is going on, and so I came up with a beautiful dip to share with family and friends that couldn't have been easier to put together with a few pantry staples.

We are BFFs with the legumes, so I always have a few varieties of canned and dried beans in the larder, and some homemade pesto in the freezer from at least one or two garden seasons. Throw in a jar of roasted red peppers and some seasonings, and you're good to go in replicating this pretty tri-color bean dip.

The April Royal Foodie Joust is winding down over at the Leftover Queen's Foodie Forum and this time the three required Joust ingredients are not so much ingredients as colors: Red, Green and White. I thought about making a more complicated Joust entry like a Vegetable Terrine, but our family is in the midst of Spring soccer, softball, SAT test review, music concerts, etc., so I ended up serendipitously coming up with this yummy bean trio during an interlude in between all my chauffeuring.



We dunked baby carrots and red pepper strips in it and topped a few salads with a dollop of these three gorgeous bean dips, and I know I'll be making it again soon for friends.

Here's the easy recipe:

Red, Green and White Bean Dips

2 (15.5 oz.) cans cannellini (white kidney) beans, drained and rinsed
2 cloves garlic, peeled and rough chopped
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp. salt
3 Tbsp. olive oil

1/2 tsp. ground sage

3 Tbsp. basil pesto
2 Tbsp. snipped fresh chives (scallion greens would be a good substitute)

2 roasted red peppers, drained and rough chopped


Place beans, garlic, lemon juice, salt and olive oil in food processor and pulse until smooth. Mentally divide bean paste into thirds, Remove two of these portions and place each third into its own bowl to mix in red and green ingredients.

Return to remaining third bean spread in food processor and add ground sage. This is your White bean spread. Pulse until blended. Scoop out into small bowl and let sit.

Return one of the other third portions of bean spread into food processor and add pesto and snipped chives. Pulse until blended. Scoop back out into its own bowl and reserve. This is your Green bean spread.

Rinse out food processor and dry. Add third portion of bean spread and add in chopped roasted peppers. Pulse until blended. Scoop back out. This is your Red Bean Spread.

You can either serve these three bean spreads in separate serving dishes or try arranging them together in a 4 cup serving bowl by making three distinct mounds and then swirling the edges together in a hopefully attractive manner. The Red bean dip is a little runnier, so try molding the other two first.

Makes 4 cups.

The entries for this tri-color Royal Foodie Joust are just stunning already so be sure to head over to the Foodie Forum to see gorgeous red peppers, beet gnocchi, the visual pun of avocado "guacamole" ice cream (with chips!) and some other stellar interpretations of this fun foodie event.

Adopt a GF Blogger: Gluten Free Kay & Her Hot Mamas

Sea at the Book of Yum is celebrating one year of founding the Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger event, in which participants choose a gluten-free blogger or a blogger with a lot of tagged GF recipes, and then cook up a recipe from their adoptee and blog it up. In the past I have discovered many great GF bloggers and new family favorite recipes (love those Onion Bhajis!) through this fun event and it certainly gives me an excuse to go through my extensive list of bookmarked recipes and actually put one to the test.

For this special Anniversary Edition of this event, I immediately thought of my kindred gardening spirit, Gluten Free Kay in Indiana. She has a glorious garden as evidenced by her many photographs of vegetables, fruits, herbs and lovely flowers, and even the occasional box turtle visitor. Kay is an adventurous gardener and keeps trying new varieties in her garden plot, including cucuzzi squash, sorghum and paprika peppers.

Kay is also does heavy duty in the kitchen when the harvest starts pumping out food at a record pace and I am in awe of her canning, dehydrating and other food preservation skills. She even dried and ground her own paprika from homegrown peppers! And let's all stay tuned to her adventures in worm farming!

Despite multiple food allergies aside from the gluten-filled wheat family, Kay has a sunny and undaunted spirit and concocts delicious, beautiful and healthful recipes, including many on my bookmarked list. I would love to follow her lead in making my own paprika and to make her Tomato and Goat Cheese pie, but somehow I never seem to assemble all the ingredients there. I did however, get everything assembled to make a batch of her Hot Mamas and they were as delightful as I had hoped.

These are VERY cheesy and rich, so a little bit went a long way when I made them for our little family. We had them with salad for lunch and then a Hot Mama was reheated over beans and rice for another meal and another and another... These would be great to make for a party and next time I'd like to try them baked in muffin tins rather than a big 9x13 baking dish, so they could be sized into individual portions.



Be sure to visit Kay's blog sometime soon to see what exciting plans she has for the 2009 garden and to see what other treats she is whipping up in her kitchen. The added bonus are the occasional photos of the handsome and venerable Daddy Cat that prowls around her grounds. And the Book of Yum will be posting a roundup of Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger posts after the March 8th deadline, so be sure to drop by and wish Sea a Happy Anniversary!

Cook the Books Club: The Language of Baklava

The Language of Baklava. And Muhammara. And Rosewater. And Lemony, Garlicky Hummus. It's all found in the second book pick from the new foodie book club, Cook the Books. Our current host, Deb of Kahakai Kitchen, picked this marvelous memoir by Diana Abu-Jaber, about her childhood growing up in icy Syracuse, New York in an extended Arab family, headed by her father Bud (Ghassan) and his gaggle of brothers.

I inhaled this book, and plan on rereading it soon, both to consult it for the recipes and to relive some of the poignantly funny scenes that the ever-observant young Diana noted between her lively dad and her various relatives, teachers, and neighbors. You can read my fuller review of this wonderful book ("The Language of Baklava: A Memoir, by Diana Abu-Jaber, NY:Pantheon, 2005) on my book blog, The Book Trout, here.

Each chapter in the book is followed by a wonderful Arab recipe and this inspired me to seek out Claudia Roden's great cookbook "The New Book of Middle Eastern Food" from my local library so I could learn more about this cuisine and try out some new dishes. I lingered over this 500+ page cookbook and decided to make the following feast:

A pot of Mint Tea
Magical Muhummara
Labneh Balls
Stuffed Grape Leaves and Oil-Cured Olives over Lettuce
Sesame-Rosemary Crackers
Steamed Rice
Fava Beans

The Mint Tea was brewed by steeping dried mint from my summer garden, the Fava Beans and Stuffed Grape Leaves came from cans from the "Gourmet" section of the grocery store, but I found a bit of kitchen time to whip up another batch of very tasty Sesame-Rosemary Crackers that I experimented with earlier.



The Magical Muhammara recipe is a real winner and it is straight from the pages of "The Language of Baklava". If you don't have a copy of this wonderful book (and if you are a foodie or bibliomane, you should!), then you can go to the Saveur website to get Abu-Jaber's savory recipe for this spicy, complex-flavored dip made from toasted walnuts, pomegranate juice, roasted red peppers and other delights. I've made it twice now, and my husband has wolfed it down appreciatively. We're planning to bring it to some great cook/friends this weekend during the Superbowl festivities (Go Steelers!) and I have no doubt it will be a hit. It's easy to make (and easy to make gluten-free with GF crumbs) and tastes exotic and decadently good. Magical even.



The Labneh Balls were somewhat of a Crispy Cook experiment. Roden's cookbook notes that labneh, or yogurt cheese, can be rolled into balls and rolled in spices and drizzled with olive oil for a delightful appetizer. I had made yogurt cheese, or labneh, before, which is also easy. You just need time to let plain yogurt, mixed with a little salt, drain at least overnight to remove the moisture and make the yogurt into a creamy, spreadable cheese. Because I have some frisky, dairy-loving cats around, I made my labneh in the refrigerator, with a coffee filter-lined sieve poised over a bowl. This recipe gives more specifics, but I basically just rolled the finished labneh in chopped Italian parsley, toasted sesame seeds and smoked paprika, and then drizzled it with some extra-virgin olive oil. The labneh balls went well with the homemade crackers, too.



We feasted well that evening and plan to keep all these wonderful foods in our Crispy Cook repertoire (although the fava beans tasted a bit, well, dusty. Perhaps fresh favas are more sumptuous). I can recommend "The Language of Baklava" to anyone who enjoys an interesting biography, book about food or humorous writing. Ms. Abu-Jaber has promised to stop by and review all the Cook the Books posts after Deb posts the roundup (after the Feb. 15 deadline) so be sure to check back then to see what we all cooked up.

Soybean and Feta Dip, Grown my Own Self

Yet another snowy December day out there in our winter wonder corner of upstate New York. It's been a hectic holiday week, but I am looking forward to a cozy meal with my family tonight and the anticipation of a decorated tree when I return home after work tonight. I made a few snacks and baked a few items for our Christmas feasting in between ice storms, kid chauffeuring, book selling and shopping errands this week and one of the delights was my blogger friend Deb's Edamame-Feta Dip.

I have bags of frozen, blanched green soybeans in our freezer from our summer garden and this was a new way to munch on them. I discovered that I didn't have any lemons on hand for this recipe, but after perusing my ever-present table of condiments in the fridge, I came up with most of a 15 oz. jar of pickled red peppers. Once drained and chopped, they subbed in the acid tang of the lemons and added Christmasy color as well. Delicious!



I am submitting this dip as my contribution to Andrea's Recipes end of the year Grow Your Own Event. This fun event celebrates the home-grown, foraged, fished and hunted items for the table from great home cooks around the world and will be running through December 30, 2008. Be sure to check Andrea's roundup after that date to see what we all made during this festive month.

Here's wishing a Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and a Happy, Healthy, More Peaceful New Year to all!

Feeding my Hungry Guests with Chili-Fried Shrimp

There is an exciting new band of food bloggers joined in raising awareness of and funds for hunger issues. Val of More than Burnt Toast, Ivy of Kopiaste..to Greek Hospitality and the various folks at Equal Opportunity Kitchen are the beautiful minds behind BloggerAid. Through December 28th, 2008 Equal Opportunity Kitchen is hosting an event, "BloggerAid: Because We Can Help" that asks for recipes that one would feed a hungry guest visiting during the holiday season.

The Dance of the Holiday Shrimps immediately popped up in my mind. Everybody likes shrimp (except for the allergic and kosher crowd, but I would make those guys something equally scrumptious) and they cook so quickly that a Crispy hostess can always throw something together that is speedy and splendid for her hungry guests. I will share my recipe for Chili-Fried Shrimps that can be served with a trio of dipping sauces that are just right for noshing throughout the holiday season.

Chili-Fried Shrimps

1 lb. large shrimp, peeled and deveined (frozen, thawed shrimp works just fine as long as the little pink beauties are thoroughly patted dry). Leave tails on for dipping handles or remove them if your family is tail-phobic, as mine is.

1/2 cup white rice flour
3 Tbsp. cornstarch
2 Tbsp. chili powder
1 Tbsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper

3 Tbsp. peanut oil

Mix rice flour, cornstarch, chili powder, garlic powder, salt and black pepper in brown lunch bag or other bag. Shake to mix. Pop in the shrimps and shake them to coat them well.

Heat wok or large frying pan. Add oil and heat until a shrimp dropped in sizzles and bubbles at the edges. Fry shrimp in batches, about 5 minutes for each batch, stirring and turning until they curl up and are completely pink. Drain on paper towels and keep warm.

Serve with a variety of dipping sauces. We like the following:

Spicy Peanut Sauce:

1 cup creamy peanut butter
3 scallions, finely minced
2 tsp. sesame oil
2 tsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. red pepper flakes


Standard Shrimp Cocktail Sauce:

1 cup ketchup
2 Tbsp. ground horseradish
1 tsp. lemon juice
Splash of hot sauce


Creamy Dill Dipping Sauce

1 cup plain yogurt
3 tsp. snipped dill
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. salt


A platter of fried shrimps with dipping sauces makes a nice part of an appetizer spread or could serve as the main meal, paired with some steamed rice and a green salad, for 4-6 people.



Equal Opportunity Kitchen is also donating the proceeds from some lovely handmade gifts, including bookmarks, keychains and cell phone charms, to the World Food Programme as part of this wonderful BloggerAid event. They can ship anywhere in the world, so do consider these beautiful little gifts during this holiday season.

You can find more out about the events and membership of BloggerAid by clicking on the badge to the right directly under my About Me information. If you are a blogger, I would like to extend a warm invitation to you to join us in planning some fun events for the future to help alleviate hunger throughout the world.

Panforte and Madeleines with Gluten Free South Africa

Sea over at the Book of Yum had a thematic Adopt-A-Gluten-Free-Blogger event to prepare recipes for the holiday table and I knew immediately who I was going to adopt: Aylena of Gluten Free South Africa. Originally from Ireland, Aylena moved to South Africa two years ago and blogs about the beautiful landscape and gluten-free restaurants, bakeries and bed-and-breakfasts in the Capetown area. And then there are those wonderful recipes for baked goods that she provides with equally enticing photographs! Her recipes are provided in metric measurements, but these are easy to convert to American measurements if you click on the Cooking Conversions link at the lower right-hand side of the Crispy Cook links section.

I was lured in originally by her panforte recipe. Panforte is a classic Italian dessert studded with lots of fruits and nuts, somewhat like a fruitcake, only without those nauseating clots of candied fruit. Aylena's recipe makes use of some non-traditional nuts and seeds, like sunflower and pumpkin seeds, and adds a tasty bit of cocoa. Based on Aylena's photo, I assumed they would be more chocolate-y than they are. Rather, this panforte version is more spicy from the ginger and makes a sophisticated sweet treat. You could make one giant panforte or make smaller panfortes for, as Aylena puts it, versions of the "original energy bar".

Aylena's recipe was easy to follow, and though I couldn't find my candy thermometer, I was able to determine when the heated syrup was ready through the old soft ball test (a drop of syrup is plopped into cold water and it can be squished between one's fingers to form a soft ball). I decided to divide my panforte into two separate batches. One was formed into small patties and baked on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and the other half was pressed into some silicon Christmas tree forms.



The Christmas trees really came out well as the syrup base of the panforte oozed into all the crevices of the silicon mold. If you go this route, though, you have to let the panforte cool completely before popping them out. These were intended as holiday gifts for some friends, but I notice that my panforte supply has been tapped by hungry members of the Crispy Cook brigade and I will have to do a better job of protecting my homemade holiday gift supply. Or make more panforte!



Thrilled with Gluten Free South Africa's panforte goodness, I decided to make a second recipe from Aylena's wonderful blog and got another hit with her Baby Marrow Madeleines. Marrows are also known as courgettes or zucchini, and I had a bag of frozen shredded zucchini from our garden which I thawed out and squeezed dry for this lovely recipe. I actually have a madeleine pan (from the Dollar Store, woo hoo!) which formed the lovely shell shape for these appetizers. We ate them with some other snacks while waiting for the main part of our Thanksgiving meal to cook. They are like mini-quiches, delectably moist and cheesy and were so easy to make.



Two stunners from Gluten Free South Africa! Thank you, Aylena! And thank you Sea for hosting this great gluten free blogging event. It is so much fun to roam around the gluten free blogosphere in search of new recipes and blogger buddies. Be sure to check back at the Book of Yum for Sea's delicious and festive roundup.

Herbed Feta Fritters

There was a sweet and tasty post over at Food Buzz recently by Sam the Greek Gourmand in which his plans to produce a banquet for the 24,24,24 Blog event (24 feasts in the same 24 hours by 24 bloggers from all over the world) was interrupted (happily) by the early arrival of his new son!

Sam took it all in stride, and changed around his plans to provide an awesome Greek feast for the hospital staff that so lovingly took care of his new, expanded family.

I prowled around his great blog and found myself bookmarking recipes right and left. The first thing I decided to try out were these magnificent Feta Fritters. Sam's recipe, handed down from his Aunt Dimitra, consists of mashed potatoes, feta cheese, egg and crumbs with a luscious infusion of dill and mint. I went out to the herb patch to gather my ever-present dill but the mint plant had closed down for the season. I have contained the invasive mint in its own large container and I guess this caused the plant to hibernate early. Luckily, though, I still had a shrubby rosemary plant hunkered down in another section of the garden that I hope will overwinter in our Zone 4 climate. The mint no doubt would give the fritters a different taste, but I figured rosemary plants, a Mediterranean native and a distant relation in the mint family, would also work well, and happily, it did. I subbed in an equal amount of finely minced rosemary leaves for the mint (sorry, Aunt Dimitra!) and substituted brown rice flour for the all-purpose flour called for in Sam's recipe to keep them gluten-free, and man, they were good!

Sam serves the feta fritters as an appetizer, but I served them as a hot garnish for a nice tomato, lettuce, and caper salad tossed with an herbal vinaigrette and they were a beautiful and fragrant meal. I even had leftovers for two lunches the next day, though the fritters are less yummy when cold.

After three years of herbal fun, Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen, the founder of the Weekend Herb Blogging, has passed the reins on to Haalo, an Australian food blogger and author of the gorgeously-photographed Cook (almost) Anything At Least Once. This week's guest host of Weekend Herb Blogging is Diary of a Fanatic Foodie, where the accent is on Italian cooking, Baltimore food favorites and other luscious posts. I am submitting this adapted version of Sam's Feta Fritters as my entry for this week's round (#158!) of WHB and urge you to try it soon, that's how yummy these fritters are. I'll be making them again in the near future, perhaps over a Greek Salad with Kalamata olives and sliced Bermuda onion. Be sure to check back with Diary of a Fanatic Foodie after Sunday for the complete WHB roundup.

An Elegant Little Chutney Cheese Ball

The Gansevoort Farmer's Market is closing for the season tomorrow, October 30. I stopped by last week and picked up some bread and rolls for the freezer from Saratoga Gluten-Free Goods, and some supplies from my upcoming annual girlfriend's getaway weekend: wine (Colebrook winery) and artisan cheese made by Elizabeth Porter of Argyle, New York.

One of the cheeses, a tangy and creamy white chevre, demanded that we eat it before my escape, so I mixed it with a little chutney, curry powder and salt and gently rolled it in sliced almonds for a fantastic snacklet. It was soooo good I shall have to relay the exact dimensions of this easy recipe:

Chutney Cheese Ball

8 oz. fresh goat cheese or chevre
2 Tbsp. apple chutney
1 Tbsp. curry powder
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup sliced almonds (I will toast them next time!)

Mix cheese, chutney and curry powder together. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Gently scoop this mixture into a ball shape and roll in sliced almonds.

Cover with plastic wrap, chill and let flavors mingle at least several hours before serving.

An easy and elegant appetizer that serves about 6.

I am offering this dairy delight to La Fete du Fromage hosted by Chez Loulou, an American transplant in the vineyard soil of southern France. Her photography is just gorgeous and the food and wine posts are just great. Check it out every month on the 15th to learn more about the great cheeses of the world.

Herbed Cream Cheese

With the abundance of herbs popping out in my garden, I remembered a homemade herbed cream cheese recipe that used a generous amount of greenery. I have made this recipe many times and it is a versatile one that can accommodate whatever fresh herbs are in season. When I make it in the winter, I pull out snipped chives and basil from my freezer and grind up dried rosemary, oregano and thyme in my mortar and pestle, but for summer, a nice combination of snipped fresh herbs is just heavenly and puts the clean, green taste of herbs front and center.

I have a good bit of volunteer dill and lots of other perennial herbs planted throughout my vegetable and flower patch, so I pulled out one of my favorite French cookbooks, "A Provencal Kitchen in America", by Suzanne McLucas (Boulder, CO: Johnson Books, 1982) for the basic bones of the recipe and then riffed off of that. This cookbook is one I use a lot as it has many Mediterranean recipes focused on seasonal fruits and vegetables. The cookbook also grades recipes by degree of difficulty, so it is easy to run through and see which recipes fit your repertoire of cooking skills.

I brought this appetizer with some crackers to a Fourth of July party and it was scooped up quickly by adults and kids alike, so I think you all may enjoy it too. It's easy to make and transport to boot.


Herbed Cream Cheese

2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened (I used one low-fat cream cheese and one regular cream cheese)
1 stick butter (1/2 cup), softened
2 cloves garlic, run through a garlic press or very finely minced
2 Tbsp. EACH snipped fresh herbs: dill, parsley, basil, thyme, lemon balm, chives (in winter use 1-1/2 tsp. EACH dried herbs of your choice, ground in mortar and pestle)
Salt and pepper to taste
Splash of white wine, lemon juice or milk to moisten just a little bit

Mix cream cheese and butter together. Add garlic and herbs and mix thoroughly. Season to taste with salt and pepper and add just enough liquid to make the cheese mixture a bit more spreadable.

Form into a circle or ball and adorn with snippets of herbs, cracked pepper, or spices. Cover and chill in refrigerator for at least 2 hours to let harden.

Serve at room temperature.

This makes enough for a crowd (20 people), so you may want to halve the recipe for a smaller gathering.

I am submitting this recipe for the current round of Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted this time by Briciole, an interesting food blog that illustrates Italian cooking terms with delicious results. Weekend Herb Blogging is a cooking event started by Kalyn's Kitchen which is now in its third year, and which highlights herbs and other unusual plant ingredients.

Chinese Take-in at the Crispy Cook

So Gluten-Free Gobsmacked has been tempting me for many months now with a recipe for Shrimp Dim Sum Balls and I finally got around to corraling the ingredients and making a batch. I tried the Shrimp Balls with a beard of rice vermicelli coating (Dan likes them that way) as in Gobsmacked's original recipe



and without

(us chicks preferred ours nude)

They were yummy bits of shrimp goodness either way and so we over-gorged on them and were unable to feast on the beautiful and tasty Spring Rolls that I also made that evening. It was okay, though, since they are nice cold and we tucked them in our respective lunch pails the next day.



I had a dickens of a time trying to break up the rice vermicelli noodles, though. I I used my hands and kitchen shears and just had to wrestle with them to get them into 1/2 inch pieces. They kept sproinging all over my kitchen and I'm finding them still as I sweep and clean up days later. I would just avoid them.

I also also added an 8 oz. can of sliced water chestnuts to the shrimp goo mixture in the food processor, as well as a bit of soy sauce, sesame oil and garlic powder. I also made a nice dipping sauce for both the shrimp balls and the spring rolls out of soy sauce, red pepper flakes, brown sugar and sesame oil. With a little pickled ginger on the side, it was a heavenly feast.

For the spring rolls I softened up some rice wrappers in water and then filled them with a stir-fry of 1/4 head cabbage, some chopped mint and cilantro from the garden, 5 cloves garlic, 2 shredded carrots and the remaining rice vermicelli that I gave up on bearding my shrimp balls with and tossed in hot oil in the wok until puffy and CRISPY.

And of course, Crispy is always good.