Tea Party Sandwhiches

Sometimes I really do think the universe conspires in our favor, and when it does it really makes me smile. Some big news might be coming which would be related to that, but I'll save that for next week. But on a smaller scale, last night rather than get out of class super late, my lab was fortuitously pushed up and I got home early enough that I could spend the night with Nick. We had nothing planned for dinner so we ordered Domino's and watched Must Love Dogs. It was nice to actually be able to spend our anniversary together. It definitely made it that much more special.

And to boot my class for this morning was canceled so I get to hang out and slept late. A good week indeed.

~***~

There's something intensely cute yet satisfying about finger foods, the smaller the better. And in the case of going to any occasion that serves them, you feel a lot less guilty when you eat 20 of anything. Really that just adds up to being an appetizer, so why not eat another 20 and get your full meal in?

Tea sandwiches are a great addition to any appetizer plate and you can be as traditional or creative as you want. The key to making them is to remember that the sandwiches are meant to be dainty not overly stuffed with fillings. Here are three that I served at my last tea party, plus a two I have served in the past.

Traditional Cucumber
-very thinly sliced cucumbers
-softened cream cheese
-white bread with no crusts
-FRESH dill (optional)
1. Spread a thin layer of cream cheese on both sides of the bread.
2. Place 2 layers of cucumbers in the middle.
3. Cut into 4 triangles.

Sundried Tomato and Pesto (taken from Harmony Tea Room)
-Trader Joe's Sundried Tomatoes (also processed in a food process, I would do this AFTER the pesto)
-Fresh Pesto (basil, cashews, parmesan cheese, olive oil to taste in a food processor)
-white bread with no crusts
1. On slice one, spread pesto, on slice two spread sundried tomatoes.
2. Put two slices together so that spreads are not touching, then close with a third slice of bread.
3. Cut into 4 triangles or rectangles.

Grilled Ham & Cheese with Apricot Jam
-Thinly sliced ham (1/4-1/3 of a pound is usually enough for a small party)
-American Cheese (cheddar could also work)
-Apricot Jam
-Potato bread with crusts
1. Place two slices of ham on bread with once slice of cheese.
2. Spread Apricot jam on one side of the bread.
3. Cook in a skillet with butter until golden brown on each side.
4. When sandwich cools cut into four rectangles.

Smoked Salmon and Marscapone Cheese
-Smoked salmon
-Room temperature Marscapone cheese
-crustless Pumpernickle bread
-Capers or mixed greens (optional)
1. Assemble like a normal sandwich. (That wasn't too hard!)
2. Cut into rectangle

Goat Cheese and Roasted Red Pepper
-Softened goat cheese (not crumbled, in the block variety. Also, I wouldn't use spreadable, it doesn't have as much of a kick to it.)
-1/2 of a roasted red pepper cut into thin slices
-mixed greens
-crustless multi grain bread (or white)
1. Assemble & cut!

If you need help softening the cheese I usually put some into a little bowl and microwave it for 5-15 seconds depending on how cold it is, stir and then check to see if it needs more and continue until softened (but not boiling hot or liquidy).

An ode to my favorite sandwhich: Grilled Cheese

(Watch out, that kid looks a little too into that sandwich.)

Who doesn't love grilled cheese? Young and old alike it appeals to everyone. Especially when it's cold. Especially when you have a cold (which I have had for the past week). One day when I didn't have classes and was therefor putzing about the apartment, I started to debate what I wanted to eat for lunch. Something that would make me feel better about having a sniffly nose, and something I could make easily. After reading one of Modcloth's latest blog entries about grilled cheese I decided that would hit the spot quite nicely.

And as I devoured my sandwich a little bit too quickly, I got to thinking about some more grown up version and created a few recipes for you to try.

Drunken Goat & Caramelized Onions
1. Make caramelized onions: Slice one small onion and heat in a pan with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 2 vinegar, and 2 1/2 sugar. Cook on medium-high for a few minutes until the onions start to look a little cooked/opaque (stir often), then put the heat down to medium-low until the onions look like they are cooked, then turn the heat down to the lowest setting and forget about them. They'll need to cook for about 45-60 minutes to get that nice dark brown color you see at the restaurants.
2. Drain onions (so the bread doesn't get soggy)
3. Cut thick slices of drunken goat cheese and place on bread with onions (optional fresh spinach or baby greens as well). I think a nice thick french bread or sourdough would work best.
4. Melt butter in pan, then grill you cheese until toasty brown!
I wonder how this would taste with a blue cheese dipping sauce...
(This probably shouldn't go in a Panini Press, or be pressed down in anyway unless the onions are really well drained otherwise it will be very messy).

Three Cheese: English Cheddar, Smoked Gouda, and Gruyere
1. Grate three cheeses together and put inside potato bread.
2. Add bacon if you really want to clog your arteries.
3. Melt your butter, grill, and start looking up a good cardiovascular surgeon.
(PS. If you make grilled cheese on a George Foreman, no butter needed. It toasts it perfectly on its own.)

The Vegan
Soy Cheese (or you could use regular American Cheese), sliced cherry tomatoes, and tempeh
1. Dice tomatoes very small and cut tempeh very thin.
2. Put all ingredients in sandwich.
3. Grill! (I think something like this would work best on a George Foreman)

The Frenchie:
1. Cut thin slices of Pears (do not peel) and thick slices of Brie
2. Put sandwich together and before putting on the top piece of bread, sprinkle sliced almonds and brown sugar on top.
3. Heat and serve!

We also like to make these little concoctions with crescent rolls. Gouda cheese and raspberry jelly! Or peanut butter, chocolate, and bananas (ok, I know there's no cheese in there, but a little bit inside a crescent roll is soooo good). There are so many options you can come up with! (As long as you don't burn them like Nick has done.) Heat up your ham and cheese, add cheese to your BLT, or check our these two AMAZING recipes I found online from A Sofa in the Kitchen and Pantry Raid.

Top 5s of Partying and Entertaining: Part 2

Last year around this time my husband and I decided that we really wanted to throw a theme party at our apartment. Actually, that's a lie. I decided I wanted to have a theme party and he just put up with my wild idea (which tends to be how it goes, we're very much a Lucy and Ricky kind of couple, except I'm the Hispanic one...and hopefully we won't get divorced). I can't remember why, but I decided that the theme should be 1950s Cocktail Party (this was before we were into Mad Men, but I think this kind of a party would be great for a premiere or season finale of that show). And we required everyone to get dressed up, we served little finger foods, and hard drinks.

A lot of our friends don't know each other (we've got our core social group, but then tons of people who aren't part of that), so I really wanted to promote conversation. As I mentioned in my last Top 5 entry, I spread out all my little finger foods all over the apartment to try to get people to mingle and talk. This sort of backfired, but for a very good reason. People were too busy eating all the food to be bothered with socializing. Once they were done eating, then things really kicked into high gear.

So what did I serve them? A variety of things. The normal go-to's like cheese and crackers and nuts, but most of the things I put out were homemade. Cooking for me is a labor of love, and I love entertaining just as much. So while I know sometimes it requires a lot of time and effort to put together a meal, I didn't mind making a ton of little finger foods for our guests (please note, I think I might be insane...or a robot). However, even though most of my dinner recipes take a lot of time, these appetizers don't require anywhere near as much effort.

Enjoy!

1. Zucchini & Cheese Crostini

2 zucchini grated
1 2/3 cups of Gruyere Cheese
1 small egg
a dash of worcestershire sauce (or any really high quality smokey meat sauce, plain old BBQ won't do, needs to be really thick and smokey)
a loaf of good bread

Cook in a preheated broiler (or just turn the oven on really high and cook on the top shelf)

Put the grated zucchini in a clear dry kitchen towel and twist tightly, squeezing out all the excess juices. Put in with the rest of the ingredients. Slice up bread and spread on top. Then put on a cookie sheet until the tops get brown (watch very closely it will be different for every oven, mine is usually 5-10 minutes depending on how high I turn it).

This recipe is based on a recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks: Easy Breakfast & Brunch

2. Granny's Dates

Pitted dates )if you can't find any, you can always take the nut out yourself)
Crumbled Blue or Gorgonzola Cheese
Bacon

This recipe (brought to you by my Granny), doesn't have any measurements because how much you need is based on how much you want to make.

First fry your bacon like you would normally do (but don't fry it until it's completely crispy, you want to make sure it's still pliable enough to work with). While those are cooking, slice the dates in half on one side (make a little slit, don't completely cut in half) and stuff with as much cheese as you want. I think a medium amount works best. Press the date back together and when the bacon is cool enough to handle, wrap half a piece around the date and secure with a tooth pick. All done! They can be served warm or cold.

3. Roasted Red Peppers and Goat Cheese

1 Red Pepper
Crumbled Goat Cheese
Fresh Basil

To make a roasted red pepper you must be ok with getting your stove top dirty. Step 1, turn on gas burner. Step 2, put the red pepper on the burner. Step 3, turn the pepper until it's all charred on the outside (make sure you watch it, the pepper will catch fire -which is ok- but you don't want it to get out of control and burn your house down. Step 4, when it's cool enough to handle take the burnt skin off with your hands. All done!

Next you slice the peppers into slivers. You're going to be rolling these up, so they should be thick enough to put some cheese in and not so long that the roll in several layers. Then take some of the goat cheese and a basil leaf and roll inside one of your pepper slivers with a tooth pick. All done!

This recipe is based off of one from Vegetarian Food for Friends.

4. Caramelized Onion Puff Pastries

Half of one medium sized onion (or one small onion)
SMALL puff pastries you can get in your freezer section at the Super market
Gouda Cheese

Start the onions first. These take a long time to cook, but you can start them and then forget about them and come to them towards the end of your meal and you'll be ok.

Generally the rule is one medium onion requires 3 tablespoons of sugar, 3 of olive oil, and 3 of vinegar. If you're working with a smaller onion use 2 of each and add more as necessary. Slice up the onion real thin, then put in your pan with the other ingredients. Cook on medium-high for a few minutes until the onions start to look a little cooked/opaque (stir often), then put the heat down to medium-low until the onions look like they are cooked, then turn the heat down to the lowest setting and forget about them. They'll need to cook for about 30-45 minutes to get that nice dark brown color you see at the restaurants.

Next, cook the pastries according to the directions on the box. When they're done, take the tops off and put in a little bit of cheese and a little bit of your onions. Put the top back on and put in the oven for 2-3 minutes (just enough to get the cheese a little melty). Then you're done!

This can also be done with the larger puff pastries and made into individual appetizers if you're having a sit down dinner party.


5. Fresh Mozzarella and Tomatoes

Who does not love this appetizer? I honestly don't know anyone who doesn't love part or all of it. It's just that good!

1 Long Log of BelGioioso Fresh Mozzarella Cheese (you can use any brand, but this is my absolute favorite brand, the cheapest, and you can get coupons for it too)
2-3 Tomatoes from the vine
Olive Oil
Very good quality vinegar
Basil (optional)

Slice the tomatoes the slice the cheese in pieces needed to cover the tomatoes. Put them together (with the basil as an option, if you're doing the Roasted Red Peppers I wouldn't, too many of the same flavors running around), then place them on your serving dish. Next drizzle the olive oil and vinegar on the plate. The end.


Wow, this just made me really hungry, I think I need to go make myself some breakfast now.

Enjoy!

PS. With the exception of the Fresh Mozzarella, all of the cheeses on here you will have some left over of. With the block cheeses, you can easily cut them into a more presentable shape and serve them with crackers and with the crumbled cheeses you can either save them to put on top of a pasta dish or make a quiche with the rest of the package. Nothing gets wasted here!

Last minute dinner guest - Risotto & Beans

Most of the recipes I make up start one of two ways. 1. I find a recipe somewhere (online, in a book, or from TV) and change it around a lot into something I like better or 2. I need to figure out something to make and throw random stuff together in hopes that it turns out good. In both cases I always warn my husband in advance, "This is an experiment, let me know if this is ok." And then while he eats I grill him with 40 questions about the taste, texture, etc. When it comes to food I am super picky (probably the only area in life I am truly high maintenance), but what is the point of rushing home to cook a nice meal if Nick hates it? The point is to make something with leftovers so I don't have to cook tomorrow, and we have lunch too. Therefore he's got to like it, and I'm willing to sacrifice once in awhile if I make something I don't 100% love so that he doesn't eat the same foods every day.

Peppers are one such food. I really only like roasted red peppers, but I try to throw them in once in awhile to my cooking to keep him happy. And generally every week when I food shop I'll make sure I have some onions, a red pepper, and then another vegetable I can COOK (salad veggies don't count). I'm really bad at planning meals (which is actually really horrible, this is how food gets wasted because you buy too much or forget about things). But onions and peppers last a long time and go in just about everything, so I build most of my meals around them.

Tonight I had one of my co-workers, Noelle, come over for dinner. She was having car trouble and we play soccer together so she came home with me and then I drove her to the game. Since Nick is away on a business trip I have been very lazy about cooking (long story short, I'm currently on a diet---for a secret reason!!!---and if I have no reason to cook, I'll just eat half a peanut butter sandwich and carrots). When I went food shopping I bought some tofu, yogurt, and Mother's Day cards. So when Noelle asked me to drive her to soccer and I said yes, it totally didn't dawn on me that I had no real food in the house (and when we have company that's the one time I actually plan a meal in advance).

Tuesday night I rushed into my kitchen at 10:30pm and rummaged through the pantry. Cooking for Noelle is a special challenge because she is allergic to sugar (not diabetic, actually allergic) and after knowing her for two years and cooking for her a lot, I have learned just how many things have sugar in it that you didn't really realize (tomato sauce? crackers?). So I scoured food labels and pieced together a one pot dish that I hoped wouldn't be too too heavy right before a game and came up with Rice and Beans Risotto--another taken on a Spanish favorite.

Ingredients you may already have:
*2-3 cloves of Fresh Garlic
*3 tablespoons Olive Oil
*2 tablespoons Butter
*4 cups of water or chicken stock

Ingredients you should always have:
*A can of beans (personally, the Puerto Rican in me has brand loyalty to Goya, but I honestly don't know if there's one that's better than another)
*2 small Onions

Ingredients you'll need to buy:
*two handfuls (maybe 1/2 - 3/4 of a cup) of a cheese blend (I used the four Mexican cheese one)
*1/2 of a red pepper
*1 1/2 cups Arborio rice - special rice for risotto
*Adobo - yes, more Goya. A blend of spices, garlic, salt, and cumin. I personally like the version with no pepper.
*Recaito (another wonder Goya invention, I ALWAYS make all my rice and beans dishes with it)


Step 1 - Clean and dice the veggies and garlic. Heat a large non-stick pan and put the olive oil and butter in. Once the butter is melted cook the veggies (and season with Adobo to your taste) until the onions start to look a little opaque.
Step 2 - When the onions look like they are starting to cook, add the rice. Make sure you stir and get the olive oil and butter over everything. While doing this heat up some (or all of the water/stock). I generally just take my measuring cup and nuke it 1 cup at a time (30 seconds-1 minute), but most people heat it up in a pan. For the sake of doing less dishes, I take the lazy route out.
Step 3 - Add a little bit of liquid to the pan, if it sizzles right away it's the perfect temperature, you can add more. The trick to risotto is to add a little bit of liquid at a time. As the liquid evaporates you add more (and stir frequently) because you want to slowly draw the starches of the rice out. While you're doing this, you should do step 4 as well.
Step 4 - Dump one can of beans (I used black) into it's on small pot that you can put a cover on. Add a little bit of water to the can when it's empty (maybe 1/4 - 1/3) and stir to get those good bits that stick to the bottom out and dump that in the pot too. Then add your Recaito. Do this to your own taste. Recaito is very savory. It's tomato based and also has onions, a minimal amount of cilantro, and other spices in it. I usually do 2-3 spoonfuls in my beans, but since this is unseasoned white rice, I did 5 big spoonfuls. Then cover the pot and cook on medium, stirring occasionally.
Step 5 - When the risotto is done, add the beans and stir. Then add your cheese and stir. Make sure most of the liquid is evaporated, it should still be creamy.
Step 6 - Let it cool a little, then serve!

Other options for meat eaters - Add shrimp or chicken. For that you should cook it in a separate pan with Adobo and Olive Oil, then add at the very end.
Other veggies this would go good with - Yellow peppers, zucchini, mushrooms (cook these at the beginning with the Onions and red peppers)

I'd say this was enough food for 4-6 people (depending on if this was your only dish, or just a side dish). And if you need to go out and buy everything (including the olive oil), it should cost you under $25 to make.

PS. I took pictures, as soon as Nick comes home and tells me where the digital camera cord is I'll upload them.