A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting up with some local food bloggers. (Trust me, locals, I was as shocked as you that there was more than, oh, 2 of us around here). Our hostess with the mostest for the evening was Maggie of Dog Hill Kitchen. She selected a light summery tapas-style theme for the evening and served, among other yummy snacks, the best beef short ribs I’ve ever had in the form of sliders. (P.S. Maggie? I’m still daydreaming over those babies. I have GOT to make those!) We also had Angela of Notes From a Country Girl Living In the City who brought some really awesome strawberry balsamic jam to serve on a loaf of rustic bread and Shayne of Fruitcake or Nuts who brought potato topped with herbs & pickled herring and some red pepper dip that I desperately need the recipe for.  I brought along this Rosemary & Garlic White Bean dip along with Garlic Feta Dip (one of my favorite things EVER).

Not surprising, when you leave a party of food bloggers, you don’t leave hungry. The food was incredible. Plus it was great to get together with people who wouldn’t bat an eye or think it was weird if you were to say “Wait! Before we eat this I have to take a pretty picture”.

Rosemary and Garlic White Bean Dip
printable recipe

Ingredients:
1/4  cup  olive oil, divided
2  cloves garlic, peeled and minced
2  cans (15 oz. each) white beans, drained and rinsed
2  tablespoons  fresh lemon juice
2  teaspoons  kosher salt
3  sprigs fresh rosemary, rinsed

Directions:
Sauté the garlic in 2 Tablespoons of the olive oil in a medium pan until fragrant. Be careful not to brown the garlic.

Combine the beans, lemon juice and kosher salt in a food processor. Add in the garlic & oil and wipe the pan clean. Puree until smooth.

Combine the remaining olive oil with the rosemary in the pan and stir just until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Remove the heat and set aside the rosemary.

Pour the rosemary oil over the bean dip. Mince 1 teaspoon of the rosemary and sprinkle over the top of the dip.

Serve at room temperature.

Source: MyRecipes

While it may not be perfectly authentic, I absolutely love PF Chang’s. Unfortunately the closest location to us in Northern Michigan is more than 3 hours away, so we don’t get to go as often as we’d like, thus leaving me lettuce-wrap-less. Tragic, I know. Then a few weeks ago my new Food Network Magazine showed up in my mailbox. I opened it up and there was a recipe for lettuce wraps! Of course, we made them for dinner the following night. And, even less surprising, they were better than the original. No 3 hour drive required!

P.F. Chang’s Chicken Lettuce Wraps
print this recipe

Ingredients:
For the chicken
1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced
1 large egg white
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
1 Tablespoon Chinese rice wine or dry sherry

For the Stir-fry sauce
2 Tablespoons oyster sauce
1 Tablespoon hoisin sauce
1 Tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
1 Tablespoon Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
2 teaspoons cornstarch

For the noodles
2 bundles cellophane noodles
peanut oil for frying

For the Stir Fry
4 Tablespoons peanut oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon minced peeled ginger
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced
4 scallions; 2 minced, 2 cut into 1 inch pieces
Kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/2 lb shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and diced
3/4 cup diced water chestnuts

For Serving
Small lettuce leaves
Soy sauce, chili paste and/or hot mustard

Directions:
To make the chicken
In a small bowl whisk together the egg white, rice whine and cornstarch together. Toss in the chicken until coated, then cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

To make the stir-fry sauce
In a small bowl, combine the hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, soy sauce, rice wine and sesame oil. Add in the cornstarch and whisk together until the cornstarch has dissolved.

To make the noodles
Place a medium saucepan over high heat and fill with 3/4 inch of peanut oil. Heat the oil until it reaches 380 degrees. While the oil is heating pull apart the bundles of noodles. Place a handful of the noodles into the heated oil for 5-10 seconds or until they puff up. Remove from the oil and place them on a plate covered in paper towel, then repeat in several batches for the rest of the noodles.

To make the stir-fry
Place a large skillet over medium heat and coat in 2 Tablespoons peanut oil.  When the oil is hot add the chicken and sauté 2-3 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate and set aside. Add the remaining 2 Tablespoons of peanut oil to the skillet and heat. When the oil is nearly smoking add the garlic, ginger, jalapeño, minced scallions, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and the sugar. Stir together and sauté for 30 seconds.

Add the mushrooms, water chestnuts and scallion pieces to the pan and stir-fry for 2 minutes.

Pour the stir-fry sauce and chicken into the pan and cook for 1 minute.

To serve place the noodles on a platter and top with the chicken mixture. Place on lettuce leaves and soy sauce for dipping.

Source: Food Network Magazine

When we go to Olive Garden (never. Brian hates it. HATES it. He’s so picky.) I always drool over the smoked mozzarella fonduta appetizer. Then one day, back in the I Suck At This Cooking Stuff days, I wandered online to search for a recipe. It’s melted cheese. It couldn’t be that complicated to make, right?

Right! This is such a fast recipe to throw together. The most time-consuming part is grating the cheese.

Sidebar: I have a confession. I loathe grating cheese. For some reason, I’m very, very slow at it and it takes me half the time of preparing and cooking a dish to grate the dang cheese.

Just a suggestion- if at all possible, purchase slightly more of the smoked cheese than you need. If you’re anything like us, you’ll end up eating half of it while it’s being grated, then you’ll need to go buy more for the actual fondue. Not that I’ve ever done that….

Smoked Mozzarella Fondue
print this recipe

Ingredients:
3 C shredded smoked mozzarella cheese*
3 C shredded provolone cheese*
1 C sour cream
1 t. dried thyme
1/2 t. red pepper flakes
1/4 t. cayenne pepper
3 T. grated romano cheese
3 T. grated parmesan cheese
diced roma tomatoes and chopped fresh parsley for garnishing, if desired. I leave these out
1 loaf Italian or French bread, sliced into pieces. I prefer them a bit thicker- 1/2 inch or so

* Note: You can use either smoked mozzarella or smoked provolone, but just use one of the cheese smoked. Otherwise the flavor gets a bit overwhelming.

Directions:
Pre-heat the oven to 450°.

Grate the cheese and set in a large bowl. Mix together the mozzarella, provolone, sour cream and spices until well combined.

Lightly oil a 9×9 glass pan. Pour the cheese mixture into the pan and bake for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, slice the bread into 1/4 inch thick slices (or however thick you’d prefer). Set them on a lightly greased cookie sheet.

Add the bread into the oven and bake both the fondue and bread for another 5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and slightly bubbly on the edges and the bread is toasted.

Garnish with tomato & parsley and serve. (I skip the garnish)

Source: Unsure. I believe I got the recipe straight from Olive Garden’s website a few years ago.

Ingredients:

2 russet potatoes
Salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
Paprika, to taste
1/3 cup colby-jack cheese
5 slices of bacon, cooked and diced
Green onions for garnish, if desired
Sour cream, if desired

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°. While the oven heats, scrub the potatoes and slice them into about 1/4 inch slabs.

Place the slabs of potato on lightly greased cookie sheets. Season each side of potatoes with salt, pepper and paprika. Cook for 30 minutes. Flip, then cook for another 15 minutes.

Remove pans from oven and add cheese and bacon to the top. Return to the oven and cook for another 10 minutes or so until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Remove from oven and let cool slightly. Serve with sour cream.

Source: Amber’s Delectable Delights

This was the very first year since we’ve been married that we had the ability to watch the Superbowl at home. Until a few weeks ago the only TV in our house would only play movies. We didn’t have cable, we didn’t even have an antenna. But now we’re busting into the media world, 1950s style. We have an antenna! I decided to celebrate our first Superbowl watching at home by making yummy foods to eat.

BLT Wraps

Ingredients:

3 8- or 9-inch flour tortillas
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
1-2 tbsp. Ranch dressing
6 pieces bacon, cooked and crumbled
1/2 cup shredded lettuce
1 large tomato, diced
Ranch dressing for dipping, if desired
(I also added a bit of shredded Colby-jack and cheddar cheeses)

Directions:

Cook bacon and let cool, then crumble.

Lay out tortillas. Mix together the cream cheese and ranch dressing in a small bowl until smooth, then spread mixture over the tortillas. Sprinkle with lettuce, tomato, bacon and cheese.

Doesn’t that look pretty?

Roll up the tortillas tightly, then slice into 1 inch pieces (We just cut them in half). Serve with ranch dressing for dipping. (We skipped the dipping. They didn’t need it in our opinions)

Source: Annie’s Eats

Ingredients:

8 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 T. non-fat milk
1-2 cloves of garlic, crushed (I used 4 large cloves)

The original recipe also calls for 10 fresh mint leaves, but I left these out and added a hefty amount of crushed black pepper.

Directions:

Mix thoroughly in food processor (I used my kitchen-aid with the whisk attachment since my food processor is lame)

Source: Recipe Zaar