Spicing Up Snack Time- Stuffed Jalapenos

A while back my father-in-law sounded the call and my husband came running. A tree had fallen in their backyard and my husband and his stepbrother went to help him get the big thing chopped up. After a long, hard day of labor my husband was finally able to come home. And he brought with him a few gifts of appreciation for his efforts- mainly produce from their garden and several jars of homemade jam. Among the produce were almost two dozen tiny jalapeno peppers. I wasn't really sure what I would do with so many little ones. Luckily for me I saw this post over on Made By Mike that pointed me in the right direction. I checked out the Stuffed Jalapeno recipe from Everyday Food and decided it would be a great use for them. Petite Pepper Poppers to the rescue! Since my peppers were much smaller than the recipe called for I just had to keep an eye on them while cooking. They came out pretty good though. I'm definitely going to give this recipe a try again, maybe with some different variations on the filling. These would be fun for all those football games that are ahead of us this fall. Also great for parties or an evening of board games. Even, dare I say, a night of television guilty pleasures. Hoarders, anyone?

Stuffed Jalapenos
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 4 to 6

4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar
6 large jalapenos, halved and seeded
Coarse salt and ground pepper

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a small bowl, mix together cream cheese and grated sharp cheddar. Season with coarse salt and ground pepper. With a small spoon, fill each jalapeno half with about 1 tablespoon cheese mixture. Place peppers on a parchment-lined baking sheet and cook until cheese is browned and bubbling, about 10 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through.

My notes: I sprinkled a few of the peppers with bread crumbs to add a little crunch. Bacon and ranch mix are two variations that immediately come to mind for this recipe. Enjoy!

L'il Smoky the Cheese Ball

Sorry it's been so long since my last post. Josh has been out of town, I was planning our housewarming, we're about to go on vacation, yada yada yada. You know how it goes. But speaking of our housewarming I wanted to share a recipe that I made for it. I was just looking to do a general snack smorgasborg, so the menu went something like- assorted cheeses, pepperoni, assorted crackers, baguette slices, pita wedges, two types of hummus, assorted crudites, ranch dip, Ruffles, tortilla chips, salsa, guacamole, cold pesto pasta salad, pretzel nibs, mixed nuts, flavored potato chips, brownies, chocolate chip cookies, and some cupcakes from Stephanie. The one new recipe I decided to try out for the party was Amy Sedaris's cheese ball, L'il Smoky. I loved the kitsch factor of a cheese ball, and I loved the quirkiness of it being an Amy Sedaris recipe. I did have to encourage people at first to give it a try, our generation not really having a large exposure to cheese balls. But once people gave it a shot it turned out to be the hit of the party. There was just a tiny little nub of cheese and nuts left at the end of the night. I'll definitely make this recipe again for future entertaining.

Amy Sedaris's L'il Smoky Cheese Ball















2 8 oz. packages cream cheese, room temperature
2 cups shredded smoked Gouda, room temperature
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tbsp. milk, cream, or half-and-half
2 tsp. A-l steak sauce
2 cups crushed walnuts or pecans
crackers for serving

• Place Gouda, cream cheese, butter, milk, and steak sauce in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment; mix until well combined. Transfer mixture to refrigerator; let chill overnight.
• Roll cheese mixture into a ball. Place nuts in a shallow dish. Roll cheese ball in nuts to fully coat. Serve with crackers. If preparing in advance remove ball from refrigerator 30 minutes before serving.

My notes: I made a half-size ball and it worked out well for our party of about 25-30 people. I served it surrounded by Wheat Thins, but it was just as good with the other crackers options on the table. The smoked Gouda and steak sauce combine to give it a great flavor. One of our vegetarian friends remarked that it tasted almost meaty, and I assured her that it was due to the cheese/sauce combo. No meat involved!

P.S. If you click the recipe title link you can watch a hilarious video of Amy on Martha Stewart making this cheese ball!

Photo via Martha Stewart

Easy Entertaining with Proscuitto-Wrapped Chicken

Yeah, yeah, yeah- I know. I'm still being lazy about posting. But it's not general laziness, I've just been far busier in other places than the kitchen. But I am very much looking forward to getting back to lots of cooking when I'm finally set up in my new kitchen at the house. In the meantime, here's a recipe I made back in January that I can share with you. Josh was a very busy guy during that month, and there were a lot of nights where I only had myself to cook for. Sometimes I wouldn't bother to go to the effort of making a meal, but I did take the opportunity to try out this "Cooking for One" recipe from Everyday Food one night. This recipe was so simple and fast, not to mention delicious, that I quickly realized how great it would be for entertaining. Just multiply your ingredients by the number of guests and you're ready to go.

Prosciutto-Wrapped Chicken Breast
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 1
















1 teaspoons olive oil
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast half
3 thin slices prosciutto
Lemon wedge, for serving

• Heat broiler of toaster oven (or oven). Season chicken with salt and pepper; wrap with prosciutto. Place chicken, seam side down, on baking sheet; rub with remaining teaspoon oil.
• Broil until chicken is opaque throughout, 15 to 20 minutes. Serve with a lemon wedge.

My notes: The side dish was included in this recipe, green beans that you broil along side the chicken. Mine came out inedibly burned to a crisp. Hence the cropped photo and edited recipe. If you'd like to give the green beans a shot, Everyday Food tells you to toss about 4 oz. green beans, ends trimmed, with 1 teaspoon olive oil, salt and pepper. Just pop on one half of your baking sheet, opposite the chicken breast. And good luck, cause my chicken was perfect, but my green beans had a trash can burial.

Easy Entertaining with Beef Bourguignonne

I realize that I took my little blog vacation, said I was back, posted two entries and then promptly disappeared again. We've been so busy with house-hunting, family holidays, and Josh's shows that I've either not been cooking at all or I've been making fast, familiar recipes. However, just because a recipe is fast doesn't mean it can't impress. I recently tried this recipe I'd pulled from my February 2008 Real Simple. You may be familiar with their "Fake It, Don't Make It" recipes usually in each issue, and this is one of them. This meal was so easy and so quick, and on top of that so delicious. This would be a great recipe for having friends over during the holidays, like we all so often do. Of course half our friends are vegetarian, so you'd need to make sure you've got the right crowd for this dinner. I served it over egg noodles and it was seriously fantastic. Since we were all on our lonesome the night I made it I froze the extra two servings and it was still just as good when we had that a month later. Serve it with a fresh salad and some good bread and you'll be ready to go.

Quick Beef Bourguignonne
Recipe from Real Simple; Serves 4














1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/4 pounds sirloin steak, cut into 1-inch pieces
Kosher salt and pepper
1 10 ounce package sliced mushrooms
1 16 ounce package frozen pearl onions
2 cups red wine
1 10.75-ounce can Campbell's Golden Mushroom soup
1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped (optional)

• Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.
• Season the steak with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Transfer the steak to a bowl and set aside.
• Add the mushrooms and onions to the pan and cook until the liquid has evaporated. Add the wine and simmer until reduced by half, 5 to 6 minutes. Stir in the soup and 1/4 cup water and bring to a boil. Add the steak and juices from the bowl and simmer, 2 minutes.
• Divide into individual bowls and sprinkle with the parsley, if using.

My notes: I used a relatively cheap Cabernet Sauvignon for this recipe and it was really good. I don't know anything about wine, but I found the recipe had enough other flavors going on in it that I could drink the same wine with my meal without it being too much. I left out the parsley, since this dinner was just for us and I saw no use in buying a whole bunch of parsley just to sprinkle on this one meal. However, for entertaining I would definitely use it to help break up the brownness of the dish. Not the prettiest picture, I realize, but I was in a hurry. Afterall, I got to eat it when I was done!