Pancetta Cups with Goat Cheese and Pear

recipe from The Galley Gourmet

Ingredients:

• 16 thin slices (about 1/2 pound) of pancetta (not paper thin)
• 1 large or 2 small pears, peeled, cored and diced
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• 4 ounces mild goat cheese
• 1 Tablespoon half-and-half
• 1 Tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
• Honey to drizzle

Snuggly fit the slices of pancetta into the wells of a mini-muffin pan.  To help keep their shape while baking, ball up a small piece of aluminum foil and place into a pancetta cup.  Repeat with the remaining cups.  Place the pan into a cold oven and close the door.  Turn the oven to 400º F and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the pancetta is browned and crisp.  Carefully remove the cups, discarding the foil ball, and place them on a paper towel-lined rack to cool.  The cups will continue to crisp as they cool.

Meanwhile, toss the pears with the lemon juice in a medium bowl; set aside.  In a separate bowl, stir together the goat cheese and half-and-half.

Transfer the pancetta cups to a serving plate.  FIll each cup with a spoonful of pears.  Pipe using a piping bag or place dollops of the cheese mixture onto the pears.  Sprinkle with the thyme leaves and drizzle with honey.  Serve immediately.  Enjoy!

This salad looks absolutely gorgeous, and unlike some gimmicky food presentations, this one tastes delicious too!  Loads of greens, chopped apples, pears, strawberries, blueberries, nuts and gorgonzola.  (If you’re not a fan of the stinky blue cheeses, goat cheese or feta would also be excellent here).  Due to a small mishap (I forgot to buy poppyseeds), I wound up using a bottled dressing instead, but I will definitely be preparing the Lemon Poppyseed Dressing next time.

If you’re looking for something healthier to bring to a holiday party over the next few weeks, I’d definitely recommend this salad!

Winter Berry Salad Wreath with Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing

recipe from roomag.com

Ingredients:

• 1 head of Iceberg lettuce (Picky Apple note: I used red and green romaine)
• 4 cups mixed greens
• 1 cup spinach
• 2 bunches grapes
• 1 apple (chopped)
• 1 Pear (chopped and sliced for decoration)
• 6 Strawberries (2 whole for decorating the rest chopped)
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup blueberries
• 1/2 cup cashews (Picky Apple Note: I used walnuts.  Pecans would be yummy too!)
• 1/2 cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese (Picky Apple Note: Feta or goat cheese would also work)
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 Tbsp diced fresh onion
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 1 Tbsp poppy seeds
• 2/3 cup olive oil

Place iceberg lettuce around a round plate.  Top with mixed greens.  On both sides of “wreath” make a decoration with spinach leaves, then add bunches of grapes to each side, fanned pears and whole strawberries. Be as creative as you wish.  To the salad add chopped apples, pears, strawberries, blueberries, dried cranberries, cashews and crumbled gorgonzola cheese.

For dressing: Squeeze the juice of one lemon (1/2 cup) and pour into food processor or blender. Add honey, onion, dijon mustard, poppy seeds, and olive oil. Pulse until well blended.

I’m sharing this post with:

The Creative Spark at Clean & Scentsible

Wow Me Wednesday @ Ginger Snap Crafts

Yum!  Those extra browned cheesy bits are my favorite!

Cheesy Garlic Breadsticks

recipe from Lauren’s Latest via Pinterest

Ingredients:

• 1/2 recipe Fail-Proof Pizza Dough (recipe below)
• 2 tablespoons softened salted butter
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1/4 pound mozzarella cheese (I like to use the real stuff and slice it)
• garlic salt and pepper (optional)

Preheat oven to 500 degrees with pizza stone inside. Mix butter and garlic in a small bowl and set aside. Spread pizza dough out into a 12-inch circle on parchment paper. {This makes it easier to transfer to the pizza stone.}   Spread the butter and garlic mixture over dough and top with parmesan and mozzarella cheeses. Top with a light sprinkling of garlic salt and pepper, if desired. {That step is totally optional!}  Bake 9-10 minutes or until bubbly and golden. Remove from oven and cool 1-2 minutes before cutting. Serve hot, with marinara.

Don’t skimp on the cheese.  Use the good stuff and slice it.  Next time I’ll use even more!

Basic Pizza Dough
yield: 2-12 inch pizzas, approximately 1 lb. of dough

Ingredients:

• 1 cup warm water
• 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 cups bread flour (I’ve also used all purpose flour with success)

Directions:
In a large mixing bowl, preferably that of a stand mixer, stir yeast and honey into warm water. Sit for 5-10 minutes or until bubbles form and mixture starts to foam. This tells you that the yeast is alive and kicking. Pour in salt, oil and half the flour and mix. Once that flour is incorporated, start adding flour in bit by bit until you get the pizza dough to the consistency you want: slightly tacky, but when you touch it it doesn’t stick to your hands. Once you reach this stage, turn the mixer on high to knead for 6 minutes. Turn a timer on and walk away! Resist the temptation to stop earlier than 6 minutes! The dough should be smooth and easy to work with. And the bowl should be clean! Lightly grease the bowl & the dough so it doesn’t dry out, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise 1-2 hours.

Halloween Snack Mix

Ingredients:

• Bugles
• Cheez-Its
• Mini Pretzels
• Crunch n’ Munch
• Honey Nut Cheerios
• Honey Roasted Peanuts
• Candy Corn
• M&Ms
• Reeses Pieces
• Other ingredient suggestions: dried cranberries, raisins, Goldfish, popcorn (butter flavor, white cheddar), cocoa puffs, sunflower seeds, mellowcreme pumpkins

Just get your biggest bowl and throw it all together.  Want more sweet stuff?  Want more salty stuff?  Adjust to your particular tastes!  Couldn’t be easier.

Bacon Wrapped Figs

recipe by me

Ingredients:

• 1 pint of fresh figs (mine were small figs)
• 5 slices of bacon
• 1/2 cup of goat cheese
• 1/4 cup honey

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Slice each fig in half, remove stem, and place on a greased cookie sheet.  Top each fig half with a 1/2 teaspoon of goat cheese.  Slice bacon in half lengthwise, then cut each strip into 4 or 5 2″ strips (just make sure the strips are long enough to wrap around the width of your figs).  Wrap each fig in bacon, pressing it down slightly into the goat cheese, and wrapping the ends under the fig.  Drizzle all of the figs generously with honey.  Bake for 15-20 minutes, until bacon has reached your desired crispiness (I like mine crispy, but I probably cooked a little too long!).

Have you tasted figs?  What’s your favorite way to use them?

Twice Bake Potatoes

recipe from The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients:

• 8 baking potatoes
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 sticks of butter, cut into pats
• 1 cup of crumbled bacon
• 1 cup of sour cream
• 1/4 teaspoon Lawry’s Seasoned Salt
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 2 cups grated cheddar/jack cheese, divided
• ground black pepper, to taste
• 2/3 of a green onion (omit if planning to freeze!)

Wash the potatoes.  Then use a paper towel to rub the olive oil all over the potatoes.  Place the baking potatoes on a cookie sheet. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 1 hour, 15 minutes, making sure they’re sufficiently cooked through.

Place the pats of butter in a mixing bowl.  Combine with crumbled bacon and sour cream.

Holding each potato in a dish towel (they’re HOT!), slice each potato in half lengthwise.  Then scoop the insides of each potato, adding to the mixing bowl.  Be careful not to tear the shell.

Lay the hollowed potato shells on a cookie sheet.

Use a potato masher to smash the potatoes in with the other ingredients.  Mix in Lawry’s, 1 cup of the cheese, milk and black pepper.  Mix well.  Stir in green onion (if using).

Fill the empty shells with the filling and top with cheese.

Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 15-20 minutes or until the filling is warmed through.

I’ve been saving this recipe to share with you now that Feeding Tube Awareness week is over.  I’ve used this recipe TWICE in the last week and a half, and I am NOT a pizza lover.  I’ve never really tried figs before, but after I saw this on The Pioneer Woman’s website, there was no doubt in my mind that this was the pizza for me!  In fact, I wanted this pizza SO BADLY that I didn’t even mind making 3 different kinds of pizza those nights!  Let me explain: there’s no way my husband would try Fig and Prosciutto Pizza, so I made him Chicken and Spinach Alfredo Pizza.  And there’s no way The Littlest Apple would eat EITHER of those, so he had cheese pizza.  And by cheese pizza, I mean pizza dough topped with mozzarella, no sauce or any toppings.  Welcome to my crazy world of picky eaters!  All of that work on Family Pizza Night was SO worth it, though!  I LOVE this pizza!  The sweetness of the fig preserves, combined with the saltiness of the prosciutto is perfection!

I’ve adapted the recipe a little to include my own garlicky pizza dough.  I also added the prosciutto before baking the pizza so the prosciutto could get a little crispy around the edges.  Yum!

Fig Prosciutto Pizza With Arugula

adapted from The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients:

• 1/2 recipe of Garlicky Pizza Crust (see below)
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 4 Tablespoons Fig Spread Or Jam (I went lighter on this the second time around so the sweet fig wouldn’t overpower)
• Kosher Salt To Taste
• 12 ounces, weight Fresh Mozzarella, Sliced Thin
• 6 ounces, weight Thinly Sliced Prosciutto, torn or cut into small pieces
• 1 bunch Washed And Rinsed Arugula
• Freshly Ground Pepper, to taste
• ½ cups Shaved Parmesan

Roll out 1/3 of the pizza dough as thinly as possible. Place on a large baking sheet.

Drizzle lightly with olive oil and sprinkle lightly with kosher salt. Spread fig spread (or jam) all over the surface of the dough. Sprinkle lightly with salt.

Lay sliced of mozzarella all over the surface. Sprinkle lightly with salt and freshly ground pepper. Top with prosciutto.  Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until crust is golden, cheese is bubbly, and prosciutto is starting to get crispy.

Remove from oven and sprinkle on arugula and Parmesan shavings.  Pop back into the oven for another 3-5 minutes, until Parmesan cheese melts.

Cut into wedges or squares and serve immediately!

Garlicky Pizza Crust

(my recipe, slightly adapted from here)

Ingredients:

• 1 package (or 2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• 3 cups flour, divided
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons chopped garlic

Combine yeast and water; let stand 5 minutes. Whisk in the olive oil and salt. Stir 2 cups flour and garlic in a large bowl; make a well in the center. Add yeast mixture; stir until a soft dough forms. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 50 minutes.  Add remaining 1 cup flour and knead until flour is incorporated into dough. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.   Let rise in a warm place for 35 minutes.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees F with a pizza stone on a rack in the top 1/2 of the oven.

Makes enough dough for TWO thin crust pizzas, or one thick crust.  (I used thin crust for this pizza.)

Lettuce wraps are something that I don’t order at restaurants or make at home very often, but when I do, I always enjoy them!  The technique for these is a bit different than the Grilled Chicken Lettuce Wraps I’ve made previously.  These use ground chicken and have a more complex ingredient list (and a more complex flavor as a result!), but they are still easy enough to make.  Ground chicken isn’t something I normally buy unless it is on sale, but these will definitely be making an appearance on our menu from time to time.

Ground Chicken Lettuce Wraps

from The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook via goodLife {eats}

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. ground chicken
• 4 teaspoons soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons canola oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated on a microplane
• 1/2 cup chopped red onion
• 8 shiitake mushrooms, diced
• 4 peeled water chestnuts, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 4 teaspoons rice vinegar
• 3 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 1 head Butter lettuce
• 1 1/2 cups cooked jasmine rice
• 1 – 11 ounce can mandarin orange sections, drained

In a bowl, marinate the ground chicken with the soy sauce, wine, and cornstarch for 10 minutes at room temperature.

Heat a wok or large frying pan over high heat. When hot, add the oil, swirling to coat. Stir in the garlic, ginger, red onion. Fry for 30 seconds, until fragrant.

Add the ground chicken, cooking and stirring until lightly browned, about 2-4 minutes. Stir in the mushrooms, water chestnuts, rice vinegar, and oyster sauce. Simmer for 2 minutes, or until the meat is cooked through. Stir in the red bell pepper and simmer until it is tender-crisp, about 30 seconds to a minute. Season to taste with salt and pepper, if desired.

Assemble the lettuce wraps by spooning a heaping tablespoon of rice and filling onto each lettuce leaf. Top with 2-3 mandarin orange sections.

SO easy to make and SO addictive (and SO not good for you)!

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Ingredients:

• 1 can chunk chicken
• 1 block (8 ounces) Neufchatel cheese
• 1/3 bottle Frank’s Buffalo Sauce
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Colby Jack cheese

In a microwave safe bowl (I often use an 8″pyrex dish or a 1 quart baking dish), use a fork to shred or break up the chunks of chicken.  Mix in the cream cheese, Frank’s Buffalo Sauce, and 1/2 to 3/4 cup of the shredded cheese.  Combine well.  Top with remaining shredded cheese.  Microwave for 6-7 minutes, or until the edges of the cheese are starting to get a little brown (those brown edges are my FAVORITE part!).  Allow to cool for a few minutes, then serve with tortilla chips, celery, and/or carrots.