These salads for dinner are substantial enough, yet easy enough to pull together. You can make various substitutions as needed. For example switch out chicken for salmon on the Greek Salad and shrimp for crab on the Crab Louis. I included Asian Slaw and you can add grilled chicken or grilled shrimp for an outstanding salad. I also included my summer wedge salad which can be a meal in and of itself.

Salads for Dinner

• Summer Wedge – Corn, Bacon, Tomato with homemade blue cheese dressing.
• Asian Slaw – A medley of veggies with a great ginger dressing. Add grilled shrimp.
• Taco Salad – With the best taco salad dressing.
• Spinach Salad with Grilled Peaches – Add grilled chicken breast or rotisserie chicken. Fall in love with a peach vinaigrette.
• Shrimp Avocado Tomato Salad – This can be put together fast, but feels like slow food.
• Kale Greek Salad with Salmon – Add Lemon Dressing, Olives, Feta.
• Salad Nicoise – with Seared Tuna, Shallot Vinaigrette. Feel free to replace this with canned tuna.
• Crab Louis – With the best remoulade dressing. Feel free to replace crab which is pricey with steamed shrimp.
• Big Mac Salad – It’s all in the right sauce.

The post Salads for Dinner in August appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

This is the kind of lunch that you can serve to both people on gluten free or keto diets and those who are not following a diet. For the grain free folks, just wrap them in my grain free tortillas.

Most days I skip any kind of roll and eat two of them, because I’m a true bacon lover at lunch time. I find that if I eat meat (with fat) at lunch, I’m not hungry for another six hours. Let me know if that works for you too. I never eat breakfast and eat lunch when I return from working out. If my lunch is mainly meat, I have no need to snack at 4:00.

How to Make Bacon Wrapped Hot Dogs

The process of making these is really easy. The key is using healthy all beef hot dogs that don’t have nitrates or nitrites. You can also do the same with the bacon. Some of the hot dog brands I’ve used are boar’s head, Trader Joe’s, and Apple Gate.

• Slice Hot Dogs down the middle, but leave attached.
• Stuff with your favorite cheese. Cheddar or Pepper Jack work great.
• Wrap with bacon.
• Bake in 400 F. oven. on baking sheet or cast iron for 8-10 minutes.

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Sides for Bacon Wrapped Hot Dogs

• Broccoli Salad
• Blue Cheese Cole Slaw
• Cauliflower Salad
• Sweet Potato Fries, Oven Baked
• Popcorn Cauliflower

You might also love these bagel dogs, which are keto friendly.

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Bacon Wrapped Hot Dogs

Cheese Stuffed Hot dogs, wrapped in bacon, oven baked

Course Sandwich

Cuisine American

Keyword bacon, hot dogs

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 6 Servings

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• Hot Dogs
• Buns
• Grated Cheddar Cheese 1 tablespoon grated per hot dog
• Bacon one slice of bacon per hot dog

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• You can use a baking stone, sheet pan or cast iron frying pan.
• Grate cheese.
• Slice hot down center, leaving it still in one piece. Stuff. Wrap in bacon. I don’t use tooth picks, as they are harder to turn. just carefully turn and they should still stay together.
• Check at 10 minutes to turn over. Bake another 10 minutes or until bacon looks crisp. Serve in toasted buns or for keto friendly, serve in my keto tortillas.

Notes

I don’t use tooth picks to keep together, as they are harder to turn. Just carefully turn and they should still stay together.

The post Bacon Wrapped Hot Dogs Stuffed with Cheese appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Why am I’m telling you how to arrange a beautiful cheese plate?

It’s not because everywhere I turned in France, I was blown away by the cheese. I was and it seems that the French never tire of it either. I remember one night at a party in Grenoble, after several courses of food, the cheese came out and it nearly caused a riot as people elbowed their way to the cheese table.

My decision to write about a cheese board actually started this past summer with a conversation at a cocktail party. I was having a conversation with an amazing home designer who said she wouldn’t know where to start in arranging a cheese plate. She can arrange furniture at magazine level, so I got to work to make this easy and no fail.

How to Build a Beautiful Cheese Plate

Do not be intimidated by the hundreds of cheeses available. If you follow my simple rules, you can put together a fantastic cheese plate. The key is BALANCE, and I’ll make that easy for you.

Establish a Budget 

Cheese can be pricey, as high as $30 a pound, so decide a budget first for the cheese and for the accompaniments.

You can build a cheese plate by shopping at a gourmet cheese department or going to a places like Costco. The advantages of shopping in a gourmet cheese department such as Whole Foods or your local cheese shop is that they will let you taste anything.

They are well versed with how to make selections, and they will offer lots of variety.  They will even cut you smaller pieces of cheese, something you cannot do at the warehouse stores. Nashville has a very nice cheese shop in East Nashville, the Bloomy Rind and they will be happy to help.

More on shopping tips at the bottom of this post.

Balance Your Cheese Board with an Assortment of Cheeses and Complimentary Accompaniments.

A balanced cheese board will contain, cheese, crackers and bread, jam and honey, nuts, fruit and something perhaps something savory such as prosciutto or salami, although that’s not necessary.

Use only Four or Five Cheese Selections, and Vary the Type.

Cheese can be broken down into 4 categories. Bloomy, Hard, Semi-Soft, and Fresh.  (Fresh means not aged and spreadable, such as goat cheese ).

Choose one or two hard or medium hard cheeses, a soft bloomy cheese such as brie, and either a goat cheese or a blue cheese. Not all bloomy or blue cheeses are alike, and I highly recommend you taste the cheese in advance.

Taste Your Cheese Before You Buy. Your cheese monger may recommend a cheese you hate. Cheese is subjective. Don’t feel obligated to like their pick of the day. Tell them it’s not for you and your guests and select another sample.

Bloomy Cheese. Soft Ripened Cream Cheese.  Saint Angel is a triple-crème cheese that is very mild in flavor. I like my cheese a little tangier, but this is a good selection for a well rounded cheese plate. We purchased a very pungent bloomy cheese in a French Market for the train to Italy, and we fell in love with Saint-Felicien’s mushroom tang and it’s heaven when served with crusty bread. We also love  Cowboy Creamery from California.

Medium and Hard Cheese. I have a propensity for sheep’s milk cheese and will always include one on my cheese tray. Sheep’s cheese is easier to digest than cow’s milk and is often a good choice for those who are lactose intolerant. I love the nutty sheep’s milk cheeses like P’tit Basque from France, and Manchego from Spain. If I can find a good Toscana Pecorino, I’ll consider myself lucky. Unlike Romano Pecorino (which is very sharp and salty), this is more approachable as an appetizer, and is especially nice with honey.

A mild cheese that is very festive is Wensleydale with Cranberries. Made with cow’s milk and some sheep’s milk from the United Kingdom, originally made by Monks and passed to farmer’s wives, most people like this.

Fresh Cheese which is not aged. We have a local goat’s milk cheese here from Noble Springs Dairy that is of the highest quality chèvre and my favorite, a little soft-ripened crottin called Harpeth Fleur, a perfectly elegant cheese. I’m also quite fond of award winning Humboldt Fog from California.

A small amount of blue cheese is wonderful to add depth and saltiness. Here, I served pears with Roquefort, and this would be a great addition to a cheese table. You could choose a blue such as Maytag Blue, a french blue sheep’s milk, Roquefort, or an Italian Blue, Gorgonzola. Blue cheeses vary greatly in tartness and creaminess, and you might be surprised that you think you hate blue cheese until you find that right one, or you love blue cheese and find one you cannot tolerate. Keep tasting.

Serve Cheese at Room Temperature – Be sure to take the cheese out an hour before your party. Cold cheese is tasteless and dreadful. Even a bland cheese will come a little bit to life once it warms up.

Choose a Few Accompaniments, Fruit, Nuts, Jams etc. to Build Your Beautiful Cheese Plate

Jams, Honey, Chutney – After you have decided upon your cheese, select one or  two sweet accompaniments, such as one fig jam, preserves, or honey. Some people like pepper jellies, but unless they are quite special, I tend to stay away from them. I would not pour anything over the cheese, but allow guests to help themselves. Serve these in little bowls.

Bread – You can make a delicious loaf of bread like this no-knead artisan bread. 

Here is an awesome gluten free French Bread recipe that would be a wonderful addition.

Crackers – Water or pita crackers are best. You might also include a gluten free cracker. Avoid textures like saltines and Ritz. I also included a chocolate fig cake that is dense and amazing when paired with a hard cheese. Trader Joe’s has a gluten-free seeded cracker we love.

Fruit – Grapes, sliced apples, pears, or nectarines already sliced bring sweetness, texture and color to the board. In this picture, I drizzled syrupy raspberry balsamic over nectarines. Apples, pears, and grapes pair well with every kind of cheese except semi-softs like Mozzarella. Strawberries and apricots go best with soft ripened cheese and goat’s cheese.

Salty Savory Meat – I wrapped melon with prosciutto to add a dairy free element, and because it’s so good. You could add in slices of salami as an alternative. You could also serve this bacon jam.

Nuts or Olives –  Marcona almonds are the perfect accompaniment to any cheese board. In the winter near Christmas, these roasted rosemary walnuts are wonderful. Or, you could add some rosemary to the Marcona almonds. Olives are a nice way to add some salty, briny notes. Add some orange or lemon zest to the olives.

Serve a Sweet with Your Cheese Platter

You might add a tray of dark chocolate, which will go well with red wine for a nice finish. You could also include a light tart such as this pear almond tart, which I tend to serve when the only thing I”m serving is a cheese tray.

Step out and be Different with a Savory Cheesecake

Here is a Savory Cheesecake with a Potato Chip Crust. Recipe Here.

Serving Wine or Beer with a Beautiful Cheese Plate

I am not a wine expert, and I want to keep this simple for you. If you have such an assortment of cheese from mild to hard and strong, include some white wine such as chardonnay (Louis Jadot Macon-Villages Chardonnay is lovely)  or sparkling white which will pair well with the bloomy and softly ripened cheeses. Pinot Noir is a mild red that will also work, even with bloomy cheeses.

Do serve some full-bodied red wine for the stronger cheeses, (I like a deep, fruity Zinfindel) and Doug likes smoky reds like Malbec. Consider serving one sweet wine which will go well with salty blue cheese. Feel free to serve beer with a cheese platter too. Here is a good article on how to pair cheese with beer.

Arrange Your Cheese for Your Beautiful Cheese Plate

You can use your imagination to make the board attractive. Use cake plates, tile slabs, traditional cheese boards, platters, and pretty little dishes for the accompaniments.

Slice some of the cheese ahead, but put out cheese knives for each cheese. You might also want to put name tags at each cheese. Do not slice all the cheese at once. 

Have fun. I have these little mice that always make into on the cheeseboard. After all, a cheeseboard is part entertainment, part delicious.

Shopping Tips for Cheese Buying

• Buy your cheese at least a few days in advance of your event, so that you can shop with leisure, not settling for the local grocery that doesn’t carry much.
• Costco has some really great cheese. It’s where I buy my Manchego and Gouda. They also have Brie and Speciality Cheeses. The only issue might be the larger pieces.
• Trader Joe’s has the cheese, the crackers, the nuts and jams. You could also buy a pre-made tart or cookies as the sweet part. I love the Burrata and the Basque.
• Aldi’s sells cheese, which you can check out, but there have been times I couldn’t get what I wanted.
• Whole Foods will be pricier but you can taste and get assistance. You can ask them for a soft, a hard, a bloomy and a fresh and they should know what you mean. They also have several sheep’s milk cheese choices aside from Manchego and they carry Cowgirl Creamery.
• Some Kroger’s carry Murray’s Cheese, which is very good, but don’t expect to taste or get much assistance unless you run into a demonstration.
• If you have a local cheese shop, take the time to visit and make it an enjoyable experience.

So tell me, what is your favorite cheese?

The post How to Pick an Assortment of Cheese for a Cheese Board appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Once I figured out a good recipe for grain free biscuits, my imagination soared and these grain free egg biscuits in muffin cup were born. They were so good the first time around, but I tested them three times to make sure you can get the same results.

Our grain free biscuit is ever so popular,  not just at Spinach Tiger,  but on the internet in general.

If you google grain free biscuits, you’ll find us fast,  and after testing and retesting, I’m proud of these biscuits. These are so helpful for people avoiding grains either for low carb and keto diets or for grain brain reasons.

This prompted me to start developing more recipes with the basic recipe. Maybe you remember our grain free stuffing. 

The grain free biscuits are mainly made with almond flour, coconut flour and golden flax meal, egg whites and butter. This is what they look like in the basic recipe.

Add Your Own Favorite Ingredients to Grain Free Egg Biscuits in Muffin Cup

This egg biscuit is one of my most exciting recipes in the grain free world because you customize it with the ingredients you love. You can mix and match too!

Here are my recommendations:

Add Greens: I add mine raw, as they will cook in the oven. I love to add arugula or baby spinach, but you could add cooked chopped asparagus, broccoli or kale.

Add Cheese: Just a little smattering of cheese is all you need. Cheddar, manchego, goat cheese are good choices.

Add Bacon: Make bacon lardons first cut cutting across, fried and drained.

Add Chives, Shallots or Leeks. Saute first. I saute shallots in bacon grease.

Add Heavy Cream for a more quiche like texture. This is just an option. I like them both ways.

How to Make the Grain Free Egg Biscuit in Muffin Cup

I use the OXO silicone cups. After trying several silicone cups, these work the very best. Nothing sticks, and they will pop right out.


I have also made larger ones using these little mini bottomless cake pans.

Make the biscuit batter. I have a video at the biscuit recipe to show you how to do that. Fill each muffin cup with about two tablespoons of mixture. You should get about 8 to 10 egg biscuits. Press in on the bottom and around the sides. If you are using the small cake pans, you will get about 4 servings.

It will take about half egg per muffin, and a whole extra large egg for the bigger size. Bake at 350 degrees F. until the eggs are cooked, usually about 10 minutes for the muffins, a little longer for larger pans.

You Can Freeze the Grain Free Egg Biscuit Muffin

I was worried that these couldn’t be frozen and then would end up going to waste. I froze them and then microwaved them. To my surprise, they were still good, and not rubbery. Of course, if you’re going to eat them within a few days, you can just refrigerate.

You can also make them in a toaster oven. These are truly on the go egg biscuits,  and I’ll admit that  I’ve eaten them in the car quite a few times.

I had a hard time figuring out what to call these larger sized ones.  Sometimes I call them Keto Biscuit Frittatas.

You might also be wondering if you can do this with my gluten free biscuits.  I’m going to test that out and come back to you. I’m sure it would work, but I’ll have to test that before I encourage it.

Let me know if you make these. I’m on instagram and you can tag me #spinachtiger at SpinachTiger

More Grain Free Baking Recipes from Spinach Tiger. 

More Keto, Low-Carb Recipes.

Disclosure: This site contains Amazon afflilate links which earn a small commission, but do not affect or increase price.

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Grain Free Egg Biscuits in Muffins Cups (Keto Friendly, Paleo)

Amazing Grain Free Egg Biscuits in Muffin Cups are keto and paleo friendly, and perfect for on the go breakfast. You can freeze, heat, and eat.

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• Grain Free Biscuit Batter recipe here
• 4 extra large eggs
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream can be optional
• 1 ounce cheddar cheese or your favorite cheese
• Add in your own favorite ingredients:
• Spinach leaves
• Diced Leeks or shallots
• Cooked Chopped Bacon or sausage

Instructions

• Make grain free biscuit batter
• Mix eggs with salt, pepper, heavy cream
• Spray muffin cups. I use Oxo because they do not stick.
• If you use a different pan, make sure you spray them well.
• You can use cupcake liners, but also spray them.
• Take about two tablespoons of batter and press into bottom and sides of muffins cups.
• Pour in egg, leaving room for additional ingredients.
• Bake at 350 degrees F. for about 10 minutes, until eggs are set.

Notes

If using larger cake pans, make sure to spray well. You will use about 4 -6 tablespoons batter, enough to push on bottom and sides. You don't want it too thick.
Add egg mixture. Bake about 15 minutes. You want to make sure their is no liquid left.

You will get 8 to 10 egg biscuits in muffin cups.

The post Grain Free Egg Biscuits in Muffins Cups (Keto Friendly, Paleo) appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Confession time. Until this recipe, I never liked mac and cheese. I know I should be thrown out of the South for saying that, but wait, this homemade macaroni and cheese recipe changed my mind.

The problem I’ve had with macaroni and cheese is too often, there’s no there there. I’ve left it on plates in restaurants for being too milky, too flavorless or too dry.

This best homemade macaroni and cheese recipe works, and  is so good. Wear stretchy pants; you’ll eat seconds.

The recipe also has a story. My mom, Retro Rose, cut the recipe out of the Tennessean and saved it for years. She came over one day and we made it together. To my great surprise, it was fabulous.  I looked at the name and behold, it was from a Nashville friend and fellow blogger, Beth Sachan. That really made me smile, which is funny because her blog is called Eat.Drink.Smile.

I played a little bit with the original recipe as it was super rich, but it’s still gooey good.

It’s not the the first time my mind has been changed by food. I used to hate kale and now I have numerous kale recipes showing how wonderful it can be.

Sometimes people think they know themselves, but we are not an inanimate object; we are a living organism and we change our sleep patterns, our hairstyles, the size of our shoe heels, and the color of our lipstick. We also change our eating minds about what we like and don’t like. It’s all about exposure and that right moment.

My husband hated red wine until we accidentally found ourselves in the middle of a Chianti wine festival in Italy. I hated liver until I went to Paris. I hated macaroni and cheese until I moved to the South and had the crispy topped version like the one I’m showing you.

I like when macaroni and cheese is gooey inside, but still intact. It’s such a satisfying bite.

The best homemade macaroni and cheese recipe is not topped with breadcrumbs but instead toasted bread pieces. Trust me. You’ll never make it any other way after you’ve had it like this. It also has to hold together for me to like it. I like gooey instead of runny. This is all that and more.

Turn up the Heat in the Best Homemade Macaroni and Cheese Recipe by Adding Poblano Peppers

I added in some poblano peppers. You can further the heat by substituting one of the cheddar cheeses with a pepper cheese, or leave the heat out altogether.

The tricky part of a good mac n cheese is making the roux. This one is perfect and comes out every time.

Now that I am a big mac and cheese fan, be prepared for numerous versions, because I tend to geek out like that. I do have one mac and cheese appetizer here. You can save some of this for that.

Save the leftovers to make these mac n cheese nacho party bites.

So tell me, is there something you love eating now that you used to hate?

More Southern Recipes

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Poblano Mac and Cheese

How to make the best homemade macaroni and cheese, with poblano peppers and three cheese for a gooey mac n cheese that makes the South proud.

Course Entree

Cuisine American

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour

Servings 8

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 pound of elbow macaroni
• 2 tablespoons salt for macaroni water
• 8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese grated
• 8 ounces white cheddar cheese see notes
• 4 ounces gruyere
• 4 cups half and half or whole milk
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 6 tablespoons flour
• 1 poblano pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
• 4 slices tuscan type bread cut into one inch cubes (or use heavy farmhouse bread).

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375 F.

Make macaroni.

• Cook elbow macaroni in large pot of boiling salted water, until tender but firm to the bite, stirring occasionally.
• Add in the poblano pepper into the boiling water and allow to blanch for four minutes, until nearly soft.
• Remove pepper to cool.
• Once macaroni is done, drain and set aside, adding in a tablespoon of butter and stirring.
• Once poblano pepper has cooled, trim stem, seed and dice into very small pieces.
• Using a medium sized, heavy duty sauce pan, warm the milk and cream together with the cayenne pepper, black pepper, and nutmeg.

Make roux.

• In a separate high sided frying pan or dutch oven pan, melt 4 tablespoons butter on medium low heat.
• Add the flour and continue to stir constantly with a whisk, until a roux has formed, about one minute. It will be smooth and thick.

Make cheese sauce.

• Add the warmed half and half to the roux.
• Continue to cook on medium heat until the mixture is thick, about 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
• Remove from heat. Add cheeses to the roux, reserving 1/2 cup cheese for the top.

AssembleMake macaroni and cheese.

• Spray your baking pan. Add poblano to macaroni.
• Put the drained macaroni into the pan.
• Mix cheese sauce and macaroni.
• Toast slices of tuscan bread cubes in oven until lightly toasted.
• Add on top of macaroni and cheese.
• Bake until bubbly about 30 minutes. Check at 15 minutes. If top is getting to browned, lightly top with foil.
• This will make (1) 13 x 9.

Notes

If you want to make the mac n cheese spicy, add cooked poblano and substitute white cheddar with pepper jack.

If you do not use the poblano peppers, add in a 1/8 teaspoon of freshly ground nutmeg. Keep the cayenne pepper.

The post Best Homemade Macaroni and Cheese Recipe appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

There is nothing better than finding a local food company that makes high quality gourmet food products, except maybe one thing, and that’s products that make your next party so much easier.

Once you try a pepper jelly in a grilled cheese, you’ll never want it any other way, and it was a big hit at one of our parties. Just make several, and cut into smaller pieces and serve on a tray. Of course everyone loves pepper jellies with cream cheese and these are amazing.

I love their peach jalapeno, but you could use any of the other Zack’s Pepper Jellies (raspberry, blackberry, pineapple, strawberry, hot chocolate habanero).  If the kids don’t want the heat, my favorite blackberry is a kid favorite. The sweet potato butter is a must have (and is part of the giveaway).  We used that all up first, mostly with my  famous Southern biscuits. 

Who is Southern City Flavors?

Southern City Flavors is a family owned gourmet foods companies, located right here in Franklin, Tennessee where I live, just south of Nashville, and I couldn’t be happier than to share these products with you. When you read the ingredients you will understand why. The jams are just fruit and sugar, no strange ingredients, which is why you can find them in Whole Foods!

Owner, Mike Weeks, creates the flavors and he has a remarkable palate. Each product is so well balanced with just enough of this or that, whether it’s sweet, savory or heat. He tells me that he will pass around a new product to friends and then fine tunes his recipes, based on the feedback.

He has good experience with putting flavors together as he started playing with food and flavors almost 18 years ago when, along with some fraternity brothers, when they started entering and winning chile contests. That went on for over a decade, taking Tennessee State Championship several times. This winning streak progressed with barbecue contests, where they took the Tennessee State Championship and the World Grand Championship. That’s when the idea to “bottle” the sauces started. One of my favorite barbecue sauces is the Bourbon Bacon. I recently put them on mini-meatballs for a party.

The company started with just six products and today there are 80 products,  including something new and genius. They’ve taken their stone ground grits and seasoned them to go with various proteins. All you need to do is add the meat, and except for the seafood, all can be made in a crockpot. There are four grits mixes, made for beef, shrimp, chicken and pork.

Where can you buy Southern City Flavors?

Local stores in the Franklin and Nashville area including Whole Foods will have some of the products and one of the best places to buy all 80 products is on-line. SHOP HERE.

The Generous Giveaway is Over – Winner Announced Below

Long before Southern City Flavors decided to send me a package of goodies to try, I was already an avid fan  and long time customer. The pepper jellies aren’t your old timey jellies. The fruit is very flavor forward so it’s not just a mouthful of heat. It’s hard to pick a favorite, but the winner will be receiving several to enjoy.

Here are 8 of the 12 products one winner will receive.

Merry Christmas and you’re welcome!

GIVEAWAY is Over. The Winner is Jake Bray.

Here’s all you need to do. A comment gives you one entry, but you have lots of ways to get more entries.

1. Tell me what item most appeals to you. You can see all the products here at Southern City Flavors.

OPTIONAL CHANCES for  Extra Entries. Come back and leave separate comment for each. Let me know if you already do these things. Still counts.

2. Like Spinach Tiger on Facebook.

3. Subscribe to Spinach Tiger and never miss a recipe.

4. Like Southern City Flavors on Facebook.

5. Follow me on Twitter.

Winner was chosen at random using random.org

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Gourmet Food GIVEAWAY and Recipe for Peach Habanero Grilled Cheese, Easy Party Food

Spice up a grilled cheese sandwich with peach jalapeno jelly

Course Sandwich

Cuisine American

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 1

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon mayonnaise can use butter
• 2 slices bread
• 4 slices gruyere cheese or white cheddar
• 1 tablespoon peach jalapeno jelly

Instructions

• Spread mayonnaise on bread
• layer cheese on one side of bread and jelly on other
• Put in frying pan (cast iron or griddle is optimal) on low heat.
• I like to put another cast iron pan (or heavy pot) over the grilled cheese to weigh it down.
• Check at two minutes per side or until golden brown.

  Note: the peach jelly in the url should have said peach jalapeno.

The post Peach Habanero Grilled Cheese, Easy Party Food appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Pimento cheese Deviled Eggs.

This is the perfect appetizer for any party, any time of year. It’s easy. It’s do ahead. It’s pretty, and at least here in the South, it’s beloved.

The general rule of thumb for parties in Nashville is the expectation of bringing a dish with an invitation. This was not true of parties in Pennsylvania or California, unless it was very specifically a community potluck.

I personally don’t want people bringing dishes to my parties, for there is just food out there I can’t put on my table. You surely know what I’m talking about. Or am I just awful? But seriously, my family would have died if someone showed up at our door with some American frankenfood. Desserts, wine, fruit, flowers, nuts, candy, all totally acceptable as long as the desserts were homemade. Some family members would have been insulted if someone brought a hot covered dish because in our family, the role of the host was to be food provider and this, of course, was done with pleasure. After all, we are Italian.

Now that I live in the South, I embrace the “covered dish” aspect of a party, as far as taking food. I actually have to restrain myself from taking four or five dishes, which is some kind of obsessive compulsive twitch I’ve developed since living here. Italians also have a fear of not having enough food at a party or at any meal for that matter.

You may not be aware of how neurotic, snobby and picky Italians can be. It would not be uncommon for one of my aunts to be looking over the food just to make sure only family members made it, or to hear a whisper “who made that?” to ascertain the quality of the dish. That same aunt refused to go to potlucks, because she had a fear of butter, but that’s another story.

The flip side of that darkness is that Italians generally (at least a generation ago) delivered fantastic food, except there is another caveat.

Italians (at least in my family) were so over the top with this food snobbery, that they might pick apart another Italian’s food if they come from what they considered an undesirable region. An undesirable region is any region their family didn’t come from. After having been to Italy and hearing the folklore and stories of feuds and territorial fights, I understood the root of this.

And, just to make you feel better, I have had epic failures at parties where I’ve brought something no one would eat. A few years ago I made a spicy tuna salad that went untouched and my signature cupcakes that no one wanted to gain weight on. It happens.

The funny thing is that when I do go to potluck type parties, my friends will be anxious for me to try their food and a little worried because I write a food blog. I want to tell them, don’t worry because I write a food blog. Worry because I am Italian. Please see the humor in this. It’s also in my genes to be gracious and nice and kind, and I’ll be the first to tell someone how wonderful their dish is. If I taste something awful, I don’t let anyone see me cover it with a napkin and head to the trash can. You know you’ve done this too.

But, one thing I’ve discovered here in the South is the power of the deviled egg.

Take deviled eggs to a party and they are gobbled up so quickly, you can grab your empty dish and head to the next party. People eat them in one bite, maybe two and grab another. Even the dieters eat them. You know the type, the people who tell you they are on a diet at a Christmas party. I’m wondering now if that’s true or if they are just as weird as I am.

I had my first pimento cheese deviled egg at a food blogger’s pot luck and it was my favorite thing at the party. It was a little bit different than this recipe in that the pieces of cheese were more visible, while this is made more smooth, and both versions are good.

These Pimento Cheese Deviled Eggs are extra special, because they are made with pimento cheese and a little heat. For ease, you can buy your best gourmet pimento cheese or simply make your own. The only hard part about this is making those perfect hard boiled eggs, recipe here.

The crazy confession I have to make is that these are my first deviled eggs that I’ve ever made, and one of the best I’ve ever eaten. So tell me, what do you bring to potlucks and when you throw parties are you hopeful that people will bring food or bring the booze?

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Spicy Pimento Cheese Deviled Eggs

Spicy Pimento Cheese Deviled Eggs, winning appetizer and a Southern treat.

Course Appetizer

Cuisine American

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 12 minutes minutes

Total Time 42 minutes minutes

Servings 24

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

Pimento Cheese

• 1 cup shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese
• 2 tablespoons cream cheese
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
• 1/8 teaspoon smoked paprika or to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
• 1 tablespoon sriracha sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoons pimento plus enough for garnish

Pimento Cheese Deviled Eggs

• 14 hard boiled eggs always make extra for mistakes and tasting
• 1 cup pimento cheese
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
• 1 teaspoon yellow mustard

Instructions

Pimento Cheese Spread

• Mix cream cheese with Worcestershire.
• Mix all cheeses with sriracha, pimento, salt, pepper. Refrigerate, while making hard boiled eggs.

Pimento cheese Deviled Eggs

• Make hard boiled eggs. Recipe here.
• Run hard boiled eggs under cold water. Peel.
• Mix mayonnaise, mustard together with salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly, until yolks are like a spread, no crumbles. Mix with pimento cheese.
• Taste for heat, salt, and mayonnaise. Add only as needed. Put into a pastry bag fitted with a large 1 M or star tip.If you don't have, use a plastic bag and cut a very small hole in one corner.
• Slice lengthwise and empty yolks into a bowl.
• Squeeze mixture onto eggs. Refrigerate covered, by placing in a large baking dish.
• Serve within 24 hours.

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I’ve added yellow mustard, green olives with pimento, and sharp cheddar cheese. It’s the egg salad I grew up on served at the counter of the drug store across the street from my house. Most of you are probably too young to remember drug stores that had soda fountains and served sandwiches.

Tuna, chicken and egg salad were standards.  The egg salad was special because of the cheese and olives. To this day, if I say “egg, olive and cheese” to my childhood friend, she will smile and remember the vanilla soda and bag of chips that came with it. I think I’m lucky to have a history of sitting at the soda fountain. It was one of the ways we stayed social in our immediate neighborhood. I miss that.

I remember my first dates with three different boys who were all best friends. Over the course of one week each boy took me to the drug store for a soda. I never swallowed my cherry coke, because I thought my swallowing made a noise and at 13, I was self-conscious of everything. When Boy Number One made his awkward move, I froze and  wouldn’t give him a goodnight kiss. He did what 14 year old boys do. He told everyone, and I became known as the girl who said, “I don’t want to.”  I was teased at school as different boys would come up to me and say “I don’t want to, I don’t want to.”  Part of me felt backward as I had never been kissed and part of the “I don’t want to” was I didn’t know how to.” But part of me didn’t care, because I didn’t want him to be the first and as awkward and shy as I was at that age, I still was in possession of myself.  Since Boy Number One was rejected, Boy Number Two, took a chance and took me to the drug store, but I was so appalled by his new short hair cut, I went home before there was any chance of his trying. Thirteen year old girls can be fickle like that.  Boy Number Three not only teased me with “I don’t want to” he yelled out my weight on the school bus for everyone to hear. It wasn’t a weight to be proud of, so I was shocked when Boy Number Three phoned. He skipped the whole drug store ritual, probably realizing it had a rejection curse attached to it, and asked me straight out if I would be his girlfriend. I remember my response to this day.

“Me and you? You and me? It was incredulous that someone who had stayed in the background watching me be courted by his best friends, while he chose to poke fun of me and publicly humiliate me in the school yard and on the school bus, had a secret crush on me for as long as I had one on him. This is either a very beautiful take on romance or another reason for all girls’ schools.

He won my heart and became my first boyfriend, my first kiss, and a part of my heart history.  I’ve been thinking about him a lot for the past week because he passed away prematurely right before Christmas, and although I haven’t seen him in 15 years, at a high school reunion where he insisted I be his date which is a whole other story,  it hit my heart and brought me back to that drug store. I’ve had dreams of him.

I unexpectedly grieved a bit. I realized that the things that happen in childhood and teenage hood are profound to our identity and our emotional makeup. He meant a lot to me many lifetimes ago, and although I moved on in high school, college and into adulthood, he was a part of me, and a part of my history.

His sister is still my best friend and I wasn’t surprised by the news, knowing he had a long term illness. Part of me regrets not having sent a note his way, but I didn’t want to disrupt things with his family. I think I fooled myself into thinking the past was the past and it wouldn’t touch me. But it did, and that makes me think that all relationships have meaning and purpose, even if they don’t end up in the “happily ever after.”

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Egg, Olive and Cheese, A Delicious Egg Salad for Parties

A delicious egg salad, sparked with olives and cheddar, served in a mason jar for a appetizer.

Course Salad

Cuisine American

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 45 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 6 hard boiled eggs Go here for perfect hard boiled egg technique
• 2 teaspoons yellow mustard
• 4 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon thinly sliced olives
• 2 tablespoons cubed sharp cheddar cheese
• salt pepper

Instructions

• Mix yolks with mustard and mayonnaise until creamy.
• Chop egg whites. Mix together with olives and cheese. Season with salt and pepper.

The post Egg, Olive and Cheese, A Delicious Egg Salad for Parties appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

As Fall is just waiting in the woods (I hope) my heart went right to pears. September is a favorite month around here because it gets cooler (a little) and I want to nest and have friends to come over for dinner. This five star makeover is an appetizer pizza that will make any dinner party just a little more elegant but not in any pretentious way. After all, it’s still pizza. Served with a starter white wine, it goes well before almost any main dish.

I don’t have a great story today, except to tell you that the ingredients were free. I won a $100 gift certificate at our local Whole Foods with this recipe I submitted for peach clafoutis. Part of my splurge included the fig jam, fresh mozzarella, pears and a very sharp Inverness cheddar cheese. I purchased these items to eat separately and this pizza was only made by default. It was not my original intention but it was nearly addictive and we made it two days in a row. That right there made it push the broccoli rabe pizza over (for another day) and become the five star entry.

Fig jam mixed with a bit of olive oil to spread on dough.

Pears Love Cheese. The cheddar cheese proved outstanding, but you could easily use a manchego, brie, goat or a blue cheese. And, as an afterthought, some finely chopped walnuts would work well also.

I used a mandolin to slice the pears very thin and evenly. I went back and forth deciding the order of the ingredients and put the fig jam (mixed with olive oil) first followed by pears, then cheese, then a little more fig jam and the salt. When it comes out of the oven, follow up with black pepper and fresh thyme.

Tell me, what is your favorite non-red sauce pizza?

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I purchased an imported buckwheat pasta when I was in San Francisco in anticipation of putting this dish on the schedule. This is one I would have not have intuitively thought of. The dish comes from Valtellina, a valley in the Lombardy region of Italy, bordering Switzerland, where buckwheat easily grows.

Only the chard stalks are used, and the potato and pasta are cooked together. It then gets assembled and placed in the oven with fontina and parmigiano-reggiano cheese pulling it all together.

The green leafy chard can be used for another dish. I boiled and then sauteed the leaves with pine nuts, golden raisins, olive oil and a splash of vinegar and served it as a side dish with the pot roast made here . I always opt for rainbow chard if I can find it, especially in this dish where only the stalks are used.

The idea of pasta with potato is not new to northern Italy if you remember this dish from Genoa. It has inspired a dish that is coming soon, with homemade buckwheat pasta and sweet potatoes that you won’t want to miss.

You Can Making Your Own Buckwheat Pasta
Pizzoccheri pushed me a little bit outside the box. I’m not likely to make buckwheat pasta, but I had to try. And, it’s not that easy. Do not make buckwheat pasta as your first homemade pasta. You may become disheartened and never make pasta again. Master regular

There is no gluten to keep it together and it doesn’t get elastic enough to work with easily. It can stick in your pasta machine and frustrate you. But, keep trying because eventually, you will get the right feel of the dough and have success. It’s worth it.

The recipe for the PIzzocheri is from Marcella Hazan, but the recipe for the buckwheat pasta is my own, as I find using semolina flour helps the buckwheat flour gain some elasticity and is easier to work with.

Buckwheat Pasta Recipe
Ingredients

• 1 cup buckwheat flour
• 1/2 cup semolina flour
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon milk or cream (if necessary)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

I tried three different combinations and this particular recipe was by far, the easiest to work with.
My long standing recipe for pasta is 1 cup flour and 2 eggs, and then adding in more flour as necessary. In this case, you will probably need to add in more liquid, and I used 1 T cream.

Mix flours together with salt. Make hole in center and beat one egg at a time and gradually incorporate flour into egg, going from outside in.

1. Wrap in plastic wrap. Allow to rest for 30 minutes. Dough will probably still be sticky, so use flour to roll out. If you put through the pasta machine, you probably won’t be able to go past number 4. After number 4, pasta starts to shred. Pasta will still be tender. You will probably need to clean your pasta machine with each pass through as the buckwheat pasta tends to leave residue.
2. Once pasta dough has been taken through machine, allow to rest again for 20 minutes uncovered. This air-drying process will make cutting the pasta an easy process without stickiness.

Cook just as you would any other homemade pasta, boiling salted water and just a few minutes.

Pizzoccheri Recipe

Ingredients

• 3 to 3 1/2 cups Swiss Chard Stalks cut into 3 inches long and about 1/2 inch wide (2 bunches)
• Salt
• 1 cup potatoes sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 4 garlic cloves, mashed and peeled
• 2 dried or 3 fresh sage leaves
• 4 oz. imported Italian fontina cheese, sliced thinly
• 2/3 cups freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Boil pre-cut chard stalks for ten minutes. Add potato, until cooked through. Drop pasta into water and cook until done, If pasta is homemade. If not cook pasta separately so as to not overcook.
3. You can take chard stalks and potato out, set aside and put pasta in same boiling water.
4. Saute garlic in butter on medium heat until golden. Discard garlic, add sage leaves, turn once or twice. Turn off heat.
5. Drain pasta. Put pasta, chard stalks and potatoes into baking dish. Toss with sage butter.
6. Put in fontina cheese, and place in upper most rack of oven for about 4 minutes. Serve with grated cheese.

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