Caprese Salad on a stick

I love Caprese salad!  This was a great appetizer, of course I couldn't only eat one.  :-)

1 pt grape tomatoes
Fresh mozzarella balls
Fresh basil
toothpicks

For the dressing:
EVOO
Balsamic Vinegar
1 clove garlic

Depending on the size of your basil leaves, you may be able to use 1 basil leaf per "stick".  For me, I had to cut some of mine into large pieces.  All you do is thread the tomato, cheese, and basil on a toothpick.  Easy peasy!  I laid them all out on a plate and drizzled the dressing across them.  If you can't find mozzarella balls, you can use any type of fresh mozzarella.  I bought mine in the log form and cut it into cubes.  It worked just as well.

Dressing:
Crush 1 clove of garlic and put it in your dressing bottle.  Then pour in your oil and vinegar and shake it up.  I use about 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar.  If you like it less tangy, use less vinegar.

Sweet Potato Cakes with Black Bean Salsa

I haven't thought to make my Sweet Potatoes with a little mexican flair before.  These were really tasty!  I adapted this recipe from Lisa is cooking.

For the cakes:

2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into large chunks
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
5 green onions, both white and green parts, finely chopped
4-6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4-6 tablespoons butter

-Steam the sweet potato chunks for 15-20 minutes until completely tender, and then transfer to a colander and allow to drain until dry. 
- Once very dry, place sweet potato chunks in a large mixing bowl and mash with a potato masher to break up chunks. Add flour and finely chopped green onions, and mix with your hands to form a smooth batter. Using your hands here is best so that it doesn’t become over mixed. In a food processor, the sweet potato mixture could quickly become gummy. Taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper if needed. Once the mixture is smooth, and the flour and green onions are mixed in, you’re ready to fry. Note: the mixture should be sticky but not wet, so more flour may be needed.
- In a non-stick skillet, heat two tablespoons extra virgin olive oil and two tablespoons butter over medium-high heat. Form round, flat cakes from about two tablespoons of batter per cake, and fry four or five at a time for three minutes per side until golden. Transfer finished cakes to a paper towel-lined baking sheet to drain and cool. Add more oil and butter to pan between batches as needed, and continue frying a few cakes at a time until all are ready for their toppings.



For the black bean salsa:
1 16 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained, or 1 cup dried beans, prepared
1 small can mild green chilies, chopped**
1 small, yellow bell pepper, small diced
¼ cup finely minced red onion¼ cup cilantro leaves, choppedJuice of 1 lime
¼ teaspoon salt
Sour Cream for serving


-Combine all salsa ingredients (except sour cream) in a small bowl and stir to combine.  Salsa can be made in advance and stored in the refrigerator.


-Top each cake with sour cream and black bean salsa and serve.


**If you like heat, use a chopped chile in adobe sauce instead of the mild green chilis.  This will really kick it up!

Peanut Butter Brownie Trifle

MMMM!  How can you go wrong with Peanut butter and chocolate.  This was fab!  It comes from How Sweet it is.


Peanut Butter Fudge Brownie Trifle

1 batch of your favorite brownies, boxed or from scratch, cooled and cut into cubes
1 large box (5-ounce) of instant chocolate pudding, prepared and chilled (this will most likely call for 3 cups of milk, nothing else)
1 bag of peanut butter cups, chopped
2 cups heavy cream
3-4 tablespoons granulated sugar, depending on your desired level of sweetness
1 cup of creamy peanut butter
1 cup of powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
8 ounces of whipped cream cheese, at room temperature

In the bowl of an electric mixer (or using a hand mixer), beat heavy cream and sugar on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form. Transfer the whipped cream to an separate bowl and stick in the fridge until ready to use. I did not even clean the bowl of my electric mixer and just began mixing the peanut butter mixture.

Add the peanut butter and cream cheese to the bowl and beat at medium speed, scraping down the sides a few times until mixture is creamy. Add in powdered sugar and mix until combined, then mix in 2 tablespoons of milk. Remove the whipped cream from the fridge and add 1 cup of it to the peanut butter, folding it in until the mixture turns lighter in color and is mostly combined.

Grab your trifle dish and begin to layer your ingredients however you’d like. I did a layer of brownies, then pudding, then a handful of chopped peanut butter cups, peanut butter, whipped cream, and so on. I repeated it until I got to the top, then piped the remaining whipped cream on top and sprinkled the candy on. You really can’t go wrong with layering – just use a long spoon to serve!

Blizzard Bars

These were super easy to make and super delicious!  They are from Mel's Kitchen Cafe.  

INGREDIENTS:

12 ounces chocolate chips, semisweet, bittersweet or milk chocolate

1/2 cup creamy or crunchy peanut butter
3 cups crisp rice cereal (like Rice Krispies)
2 cups mini marshmallows
1/2 cup chocolate chips or M&M’s

Garnish: mini marshmallows and additional M&M’s

DIRECTIONS:
Lightly grease an 8X8- or 9X9-inch baking pan and set aside.

In a large, microwave-safe bowl, melt the chocolate chips for one minute. Stir. Then continue to microwave in 30 second increments until the chips are completely melted. Stir in the peanut butter until combined. Let the mixture cool slightly, about five minutes. Add the rice cereal, marshmallows and chocolate chips and/or M&M’s. Fold together with a rubber spatula until well combined.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Press additional marshmallows and M&M’s into the top of the bars, if desired. Let the bars cool and set for 5-6 hours until they are firm and no longer gooey and melty. These bars take a lot longer to set up than the Avalanche Bars, in fact, when I made them, I kept pressing on the top wondering if they would ever set up. Sure enough, after a long enough rest, I finally cut into them (even though they still felt soft on top) and they were gloriously decadent and messy. Once the bars are firm and set, cut into squares and serve.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

Hi Friends,
There is no chicken dinner post here, but my son often says this phrase when someone wins something, so I couldn't resist.

So, the winner of the Calendar Giveway is:


Maggie!
Thanks to everyone for entering the contest!

Blessings to you,
Chellie

Bean soup

If you haven't entered my giveaway yet, there is still time!  The details are here

This recipe comes from a room mate I had years ago.  At the time I had no interest in cooking like I do now.  She was an excellent cook and I had her write this recipe down for me.  I've kept it all this time.  It's probably been at least 13 yrs. or so.  It's a classic tasting dish.  I hope you enjoy it.

1 lb dried Great Northern Beans (or navy or other white bean)
1 medium onion finely chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1 tsp sugar
2 carrots
1 ham shank
salt and pepper to taste

If you're preparing ahead of time, rinse your beans, cover them with about 3 inches of water and soak them overnight.  If you don't plan that far ahead, still rinse the beans, place them in a large pot and cover with about 3 inches of water.  Bring to a boil, turn off the heat, cover and let stand for 1 hour.

Add the rest of the ingredients and let the soup simmer, covered, about 3 hours or until the beans are tender.  You may need to add more water, but I never have.  Once it's finished, remove the shank and pull off all the ham and add back to the soup.  The ham should fall right off of it.  You can add additional ham if you like.  For me, it just depends on how much actually was left on the ham bone.  In this case, I bought a spiral cut ham and used the shank from that.

Give Away!!!

Hi friends!  This week, I am giving away my custom-created calendar.  Have you got your 2012 calendar yet?  Or would you like this one??  It has a recipe for each month.

To enter this giveaway, all you need to do is add a comment in the comment section of this blog of your favorite Christmas tradition.  Extra entries for:

• becoming a follower
• subscribing to email updates
• posting about this giveaway on your blog
• posting on fb about this giveaway
• tweet about this post

Contest starts today, December 20 and ends Friday December 23 at 6pm.  Good Luck!!