Three Cheese Artichoke Nibbles

 

It's a tradition. On winter full moons, we gather the usual suspects, don our snowshoes, and take an adventurous hike through the snowy woods. Most times, the moon lights our path so nicely that we don't even need headlamps to find our way.

After a bit of hard work, we rendezvous back at the lodge to warm ourselves in front of a roaring fire. There, we sip some wine and try to out-do one another with fabulous little finger foods. 

Here's mine from last night ~ which got rave reviews from all my snowshoeing friends:

Three Cheese Artichoke Nibbles

The general consensus: "these tasty little goodies are pretty much to die for"

• 2 cans artichoke hearts, finely chopped
• 1 white onion, finely chopped
• 4 - 6 garlic cloves, minced 
• 2 containers Better'n Eggs (liquid eggs) Or, 12 shell eggs.
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 2 tablespoons cayenne hot pepper sauce
• 2 tablespoons Worchestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 container French Fried Onions
• 1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
• 1 cup sharp Cheddar cheese
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup Mozzarella cheese

How To:

Saute onion, artichokes and garlic in a little bit of olive oil. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Spoon into mini muffin tins. Bake these little goodies @ 350 (F) for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

Happy February Full Snow Moon

* While this is not a low fat appetizer, using liquid eggs vs. shell eggs trims 48 grams of fat from this recipe. Bonus! You really can't tell a difference in taste. I prefer Better'n Eggs because this brand doesn't contain seasonings that interfere with my recipe flavors.

Roasted Beets

Please don't write me off as a raving lunatic. Not just yet, anyway. I know... I know... the only time you've ever eaten beets was when Granny forced them down you ~ and the only good thing to come of that experience was how they turned your taters pink.

But, here's an amazing fact about the lowly beet: Eaten fresh, they're surprisingly tasty.

Roasted Beets
Prep time: 1 whole minute!

• Snip tops and tails
• Rub, tub and scrub
• Drizzle with olive oil
• Sprinkle with sea salt
• Roast @ 375 (F) until slightly tender (about 45 minutes)

Who knew?
Beets are simply suffering from a bad rap because cheap salad bars display their canned counterparts just to make us queasy.

Fresh beets are rich in dietary fiber, vitamin C, magnesium, iron, copper, phosphorus, and a gazillion other things that are good for us, though we're not sure why. Fresh beets are so healthy they even slow cancerous tumors. But, why wait until you have one foot in the grave to give them a try? Roasted beets are dee-lish.

Flower Pot Bread

It may look like a bread pan but it's actually a flower pot I never use. :)

On Mondays I bake bread. Don't I sound like a Pioneer Woman?

Alas, that's about as far from me as we could be. The only kid getting home schooled around this joint is Bad Dog. Were I to hand out report cards, he'd be getting an F.

I bake bread for a few simple reasons:

1. I love the methodical motion of kneading bread dough.
2. I'm learning how to live on half my salary...
3. Therefore! I'm very upset that a totally tasty loaf of bread can cost four or five bucks. Such delightful luxuries are no longer within my budget.

These days, I make 'artisan bread' at home. I love this simple recipe and I especially love the fact that the ingredients cost me about... 50 cents!

Good to go. It will rise more in the oven because this bread isn't punched down and allowed to rise a second time. A sprinkling of cornmeal keeps the bread from sticking.

Flower Pot Bread
* Named as such because I'm too cheap to go purchase a terracotta bread pan. Breads bake up quite nicely in this old flower box.

• 2 cups white flour
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 4.5 teaspoons active yeast
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1.5 teaspoons salt
• 2 cups warm water

How to:
Using an electric mixer, combine the white flour, yeast, honey, salt and water. Mix for 2-3 minutes. Add the whole wheat flour while stirring with a large spoon. Sprinkle a little bit of white flour onto a bread board, knead for 10 minutes. (Great isometrics!) If the bread is sticky while kneading, simply add a little more flour.

And, then:
Place in a terracotta bread pan. Let it rise - perhaps an hour or so. Bake at 375 (F) for about 45 minutes. Easy peasy!

Voila!

Tips for truly great homemade bread:
Preheat the oven to 425, turn heat down to 375, pop the loaf in the oven, mist with a little spritz of water. The beginnings of high heat and the misting gives you a nice, crunchy bread crust.

* A yummy, fat-free dense bread.
** This is a high altitude recipe that requires no specific adjustments for lower altitudes. You may find your dough requires more flour and it's okay to add up to another cup.

Roasted Pears w/ Blood Orange & Pomegranates Recipe

I am first and foremost a gardener ~ pleased as punch to say that after 7 years of tender loving care, I have a pear crop! (Find the yummy recipe at the bottom of this blog post.)

I also have a few plums, apples, cherries and crab apples. (Look out!) I planted these saplings to feed the birds. Feel sorry for them in this harsh, high plains desert. Though I also wonder about their intelligence. Since they can fly for free, why don't they go some place lush and lovely?

Because that's what I do. Every time I bank enough frequent flier miles to do so.

Anyhoo! Planting fruit trees has worked out better than I ever expected. The birds love 'em and so do my dinner guests. This autumn I'm cooking up all kinds of special goodies...

Did you know? Each Pomegranate contains about 800 seeds and they make a delightful sweet tart garnish for pretty much anything.

Roasted Pears with Blood Orange & Pomegranates Recipe

• 3/4 cup Red Zinfandel wine
• 3/4 cup Pomegranate juice
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 tablespoon cloves
• 1 tablespoon grated orange peel
• 1 blood orange, peeled, sectioned

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Plus:

• 1/3 cup sugar

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Top with:

• 1/2 cup fresh Pomegranate seeds
• Truly fabulous vanilla bean ice cream

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How to:
Combine top list of ingredients (everything except the sugar and pom seeds) in a sauce pan, over low heat. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Add sugar, stir until dissolved.

Take 6 ripe, luscious pears and partially peel them ~ create stripes by peeling lengthwise, leaving a space and peel another strip. (Makes them look very pretty and unique.) Remove the core from the bottom of the pears. Leave the stems on.

Spritz a square glass baking dish with cooking spray. Pour sauce over the pears. Roast @ 350 for about an hour.

Dried Garden Tomatoes: Save A Fortune, Come Winter

Took a walk through the Veggie Garden of Wunx last night. She had plenty of pretty flowers but what struck me when I rounded the garden corner were tomato vines, taller than me. She must have had 300 luscious tomatoes, ripening on the vine.

It got me thinking about how tricky tomato seedlings can be.

Sneaky, conniving little monsters. They act so sweet and innocent in the springtime. So tiny. There's room! Let's plant a few extras!

Twelve weeks later all hell breaks loose and, well, you can run but you can't hide.

So, it IS Labor Day weekend and these tomatoes SHOULD be red by now. They'll probably get there but how does one cope with a truckload of tomaters?

Never fear. Hazel is here. She dries tomatoes in her oven and Wunx can, too. :)

Oven-Dried Tomatoes

• Start with firm, ripe (not overly ripe) fresh-picked tomatoes.
• Slice cherry tomatoes in half, slice larger tomatoes into 1/2 inch pieces.
• Sprinkle sea salt to improve flavor and speed up the drying process.
• Set the oven to 175 - 200 degrees (F).
• Place tomatoes, skin side down, on a baking sheet. Perforated pizza pans are great because they allow air circulation.
• Slowly roast these babies. It could take anywhere from 3-12 hours (depending upon the size of the tomato slices.)

How to Know if You've Screwed Up:
√ Dried tomatoes are done when they feel pliable, kind of leathery.
√ If your tomatoes are brittle, they're over-done and you get an A for effort, nothing more.

To Rehydrate Dried Tomatoes:
Soak in water for 1-2 hours or toss directly into soups and stews.

You can dry green tomatoes. However, you might be a whole lot happier if you ripen them the old fashioned way and dry them when they're ready. That's why windowsills were invented, way back when.

Dolled Up Chocolate Chip Cookies ~ Recipe

I live in a world class ski resort town, which means this joint is crawling with two types of year 'round residents. The obligatory ski bums plus an astonishing number of highly talented pastry chefs ~ because tourists love to eat almost as much as they love to ski.

It gets pretty intimidating showing up at parties when your friends are paid professionals but this dolled-up recipe of my Mom's get's them every time.

Mom used to make these with milk chocolate and peanut butter chips. (Personally, I think it tastes better that way.) But, these rich, dark chocolate chips, coupled with the sweet, smooth taste of white chocolate chips makes this look like one very cool cookie...

Dolled Up Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

1 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup Better'n Eggs liquid eggs* or 2 large eggs
2+1/4 cups flour
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1 cup white chocolate chips

How to:
It's easier if you use 2 bowls: cream butter and sugars in one bowl. Combine dry ingredients in the other. Then stir it all up and make sure it tastes great by gobbling a good bit of the dough.

Bake @ 350 for about 10 minutes.

* Two traditional large eggs adds an extra 10 grams of fat to this recipe. I often use liquid eggs in decadent recipes because they are fat free. No one notices the difference since these recipes are so high in fat from other ingredients. Most liquid egg products contain onion powder. Better'n Eggs does not and so it doesn't mess with the flavor of my cookies. :)

Fresh-Picked Raspberry Muffin Recipe

My hard gardening work is finally paying off. The raspberry bushes in my garden are producing enough fresh fruit that I can actually make something with them!

I've baked these muffins using blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries. They're very tasty as a triple berry muffin but raspberries are my most favorite thing in the world.

We LOVE a big burst of raspberry flavor so instead of stirring the berries into the muffin mix I place them on top.

Raspberries are very fragile - this method keeps them intact while baking. The muffin mixture will rise up and gently cover the fresh berries as it bakes.


Fresh-Picked Raspberry Muffin Recipe

• 1 stick butter
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 cups flour
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil

* PLUS! 1 cup fresh raspberries.

First:
Melt the butter.
Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
Combine eggs, butter and milk, add to dry ingredients.

Next:
Use a non-stick cooking spray or line muffin tins with baking cups.
Fill the muffin cups to about 2/3 full.

Last but not least! Sprinkle fresh raspberries on top of the muffin mixture. Bake at 400 degrees for about 20-25 minutes.

* Makes about a dozen muffins.