Pecan, Brown Sugar, & Kahlua Baked Brie
via My Life As a Mrs.

This was definitely a hit. My Dad and I polished off one on Christmas Eve, and it took everything in us not to eat the other one until Christmas Day — but don’t worry, we helped out with that one too!

Matt isn’t a huge fan of tomatoes or salad, so the idea of a tomato salad doesn’t really appeal to him. He was out of town this weekend so I jumped at the chance to indulge without him. This is so easy that it’s hardly a recipe. It’s essentially caprese salad or bruschetta without the bread. But anyway, I thought I would share my yummy meal with you all.

Cut up the tomatoes into little wedges, place them into a bowl. (I used two tomatoes for just me.) Add a splash or two of olive oil and balsalmic vinegar, mozzarella cheese (I only had shredded, but it worked fine) and lightly mix together. Add to a plate and sprinkle fresh cut basil on top.

It was divine I tell you! It makes a great appetizer and took about two minutes to do.

Crostini, as you may know, is a thin slice of toasted baguette. It’s also the last installment of our Abundant Crop Recipe for the month, which was bite-sized party food. You can put pretty much anything on it and it’s easy to make. I made the chive cream sauce in advance, which made for easy assembly once the meat and crostini were done.

Steak Crostini with Chive Cream Sauce
(From The Pampered Chef)

• 1 loaf French baguette
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 T chopped fresh chives, plus more for garnish if desired
• 1 garlic clove
• 3/4 t salt, divided
• 1 T olive oil
• 2 beef tenderloin filets (4-5 oz each), cut 1 inch thick
• 1 T coarsely ground peppercorn

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cut baguette on a bias into 24 one-inch thick slices. Arrange bread on a large sheet pan and spray with olive oil. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and cool completely on a rack. Meanwhile, for sauce, combine sour cream, chives, pressed garlic and 1/4 t of the salt. Mix well.

2. For filets, add oil to 10-inch skillet. Heat over medium high heat 1 to 3 minutes or until shimmering. Season filets with ground peppercorn and remaining salt. Reduce heat to medium and cook 6 to 10 minutes, or until a thermometer registers 140 degrees. Let rest, and thinly slice filets. Top baguettes with filet slices and top with a small dollop of cream sauce. Top with additional chives if desired.

Makes 24 servings.

Well, now I’m craving steak crostini! How about you?

Today’s recipes comes from a family friend of both Emily and I.  We went to a Christmas party at her house in 2008 and could not stop eating this dip.  We both asked for the recipe and she laughed, explaining that it was on an old school recipe card and we could copy it, if we would like.  This started a love of hand-written recipes, for me.  I still have the card, but the words are a little blurry (water has spilled on it).  This recipe is both easy and fantastic.  Pair this dip with some sliced sourdough and your friends will be in heaven!

Artichoke Dip
from Julie Nicholas (who found it in a magazine many years ago)

• 1 can (14 ounces) Artichoke Hearts, drained
• 1 cup Parmesean Cheese
• 1/2 cup Mayonnaise
• 1/4 teaspoon minced Garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon dried Dill
• 8 ounces (1 package) Cream Cheese, softened

Chop hearts coursely in food processor.  Add rest of ingredients and process until smooth.  Place in a 10″ pie plate and bake in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes, or until hot and bubbly.  Can be served cold, room temperature or warm.

It disappears just like that!

If you do not have a food processor, don’t worry — I do not either!  I use my mini-prep food processer (or a blender) to chop the hearts, then I just blend everything in my Stand Mixer until smooth. What are some of your go-to appetizer recipes?

Brie en Croute

1 can crescent rolls
1 wheel of brie cheese, about 6 inches in diameter
3 T apricot preserves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Unroll cresent rolls and don’t separate the dough into two squares. Place the brie on top of the dough square, spread apricot preserves on top of the brie. Top that with another square of dough and wrap the cheese like a tasty present. Bake for about 10-15 minutes, or until the dough is golden brown. Serve with crackers and enjoy!

Turkey Peach Wontons

• 8 oz. ground raw Turkey (can substitute chicken)
• 1/4 cup Pineapple Juice
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped Green Onions
• 1 tablespoon Soy Sauce
• 1 teaspoon ground Ginger
• 1/2 cup finely chopped, peeled fresh or frozen Peaches, thawed
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed Red Pepper
• 36 Wonton Wrappers
• Cooking oil for deep-fat frying

For the filling, heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Cook and stir turkey until no longer pink; drain fat.  Add pineapple juice, green onion, soy sauce, and ginger to the meat in the skillet. Bring just to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 4 minutes or until liquid evaporates. Stir in peaches and pepper. Cool mixture slightly.

To fill, spoon 1 rounded teaspoon of the turkey mixture into center of each wonton wrapper. Brush edges lightly with water. Fold the four sides together toward center; pinch corners and seams closed.  I had fun experimenting with the folding methods.  I like to fold the sides to the center, and then press them on their sides, you can see the ones that look flatter in the picture — it’s those, you just press down the top parts.  When I got tired, I just started folding in half, still cute!

Here you can see the filling in the skillet, wontons being fried, and finished wontons. Yummy!

Meanwhile, heat 2 inches of oil in a heavy saucepan or deep fryer to 365F. Fry wontons, 4 at a time, for 1-1/2 to 2 minutes or until golden, turning once. Remove wontons from oil; drain on paper towels. Place fried wontons in a single layer on a baking sheet. Keep warm in a 300F oven while frying remaining wontons. Serve warm. Makes 36 wontons.

Make Ahead: Fry wontons, drain, and cool. Wrap gently in foil. Freeze for up to 1 month. To serve, place unwrapped frozen wontons on a baking sheet. Bake, uncovered, in a 400F oven for 5 to 7 minutes or until heated through.

Thanks to Better Homes and Gardens for this recipe.  What do you think?  Are you going to give it a shot?  Or will you be more “normal” and make it with ground chicken?

As for me, I will sit back and eat these little babies as he creates a culinary masterpiece.  These appetizers have phyllo dough, butter and wine.  What more could a girl ask for?

Phyllo Mushroom Bundles
from Ree Drummond a.k.a. Pioneer Woman

• 1 package (1 Roll) Phyllo Dough (I used a bit more than  half of a package).  Make sure you unfreeze it the night before, I know from experience there is nothing worse than realizing your frozen phyllo dough is useless — it must be defrosted!
• 1 stick Unsalted Butter
• 4 cups Chopped Mushrooms (I used white buttons and a portobello)
• 4 cloves Garlic, Minced
• ½ cup Dry White Wine (I used Chardonnay)
• Salt To Taste
• Grated Parmesan Cheese

Instructions

Melt 1/2 stick butter (or a few globs of margarine spread) in a bowl.  Set aside (or feel free to just leave in the microwave while you do the next step — does the beeping annoy you?  I do not even hear it anymore!).  Melt 1/2 stick butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and mushrooms and cook for about a minute. Pour in wine, stir, and cook for five minutes, or until all liquid is cooked off (this took much longer than 5 minutes for me). Turn off heat and set aside.

Unroll phyllo dough. Cut stack in half. Working quickly, place 1 sheet on a flat surface and brush lightly with melted butter. Place another sheet on top and brush with butter. Repeat this until you have four sheets of phyllo. Do not brush top layer with butter.  Cut into four equal squares. Place a spoonful of mushroom mixture in the middle of each square. Sprinkle Parmesan over the top of each mushroom.  Gather each square into a neat little bundle, pinching the neck so that it remains as closed as possible when it bakes. Place bundles on a greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet, pressing lightly so that they’re flat on the bottom.

Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve immediately.

How do you mix mushrooms and weddings?  It’s not like you are going to make mushroom earrings or anything … or decorate with them, although, I guess you could!  I just had a friend decorate a wedding with limes and cilantro (they served Mexican food) and it looked fantastic.  But I went with a more traditional approach — appetizers.  These would be perfect at a bridal shower, or during a cocktail hour after the wedding ceremony.  These recipes are both from The Pioneer Woman, and are pretty similar.  The first is much easier,  but the second is definitely my favorite.

Mushrooms Stuffed with Brie

• 1 package White Button Mushrooms, Washed And Stems Removed
• 4 cloves Garlic, Minced
• ¼ cups Flat-leaf Parsley, Chopped
• 4 – 5 whole Green Onions,  Chopped
• Splash of White Wine
• 1 slice of Brie Cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Melt butter in large saucepan, add mushroom caps and toss to coat in butter. Sprinkle lightly with salt and cook for 1 minute. Remove mushrooms from pan and place upside down in a baking dish.

In the same saucepan, throw in garlic, parsley, and green onions. Sprinkle very lightly with salt and splash in wine. Stir around until wine evaporates, about 1 minute. Remove from heat.

Cut rind off of brie wedge, then cut pieces of brie to fit each mushroom cap. Place inside, lightly pressing to anchor each piece of brie.  Then pour the garlic / parsley mixture on top.  Cook for 15 minutes, or until brie is melted.  Let them cool just a bit before serving.

We served these at a little homecoming party for a Marine friend, and at our Monday Night Worship, they are always a hit!  Butif you have more time, try to make our second recipe…

Stuffed Mushrooms

• 24 ounces White Button Mushrooms
• ⅓ pounds Hot Pork Sausage (I  usedSpicy Italian)
• ½ Medium Onion, Finely Diced
• 4 cloves Garlic, Finely Minced
• 8 ounces, fluid Cream Cheese
• 1 whole Egg Yolk
• ¾ cups Parmesan Cheese, Grated
• ⅓ cups dry White Wine
• Salt And Pepper

Brown and crumble sausage. Set aside to cool.  Add onions and garlic to the same skillet; cook for 2 minutes over medium low heat.  Pour in wine and allow liquid to evaporate.  Add chopped mushroom stems, stir to cook for 2 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set mixture aside on a plate to cool.

In a bowl, combine cream cheese and egg yolk. Stir together with Parmesan cheese.  Add cooled sausage and cooled mushroom stems (usually mine are still warm). Stir mixture together and refrigerate for a short time to firm up (I usually skip this step because by this time my guests have arrived — remember that post on time management?  yeah, planning is not my high point).  Smear mixture into the cavity of each mushroom, creating a sizable mound over the top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow to cool at least ten minutes before serving; the stuffed mushrooms taste better when not piping hot — so says Ree!

One final picture of those brie stuffed mushrooms, and a big thank you to Ree for her delicious recipes that keep our kitchens tasting and smelling wonderful!