Roasted Vegetable, Arugula and Avocado Salad with Mustard Herb Vinaigrette Dressing

(As you can tell from the picture, I couldn't find the white cheddar when I was shopping 

so I decided to just use regular cheddar.)

I hated salads when I was growing up. Mind you, I lived in a household where a meal was prepared, set in front of you, and then you were expected to eat it. No specialized diets in the Beckett household - we were the true embodiment of that catchy little kitchen plaque stating, "You have two choices for dinner - take it or leave it." We didn't have fancy, schmanzy salads with upscale lettuce and exotic veggies included but when that mixed salad appeared on the dinner table the expectation was that you'd eat it without a fuss.

I think the thing that really turned me off to the idea of a salad was actually the dressing. In our household you got one kind and it was already slathered on the lettuce and tomato before the bowl ever left the kitchen. And by "slathered" I mean doled out in such large quantities that you could barely see lettuce poking under a sea of oddly tinted slime laughably called "french" on the bottle. I doubt folks in France were downing that horrible mixture on their salads.

There might have been a dinner one time when I actually managed to grab my plate, thrust it out an open window in the dining room, and heave one of our infamous salads right out onto the front yard before anyone was the wiser.

Obviously I've evolved since my salad chucking days because I now love lots of variations of greens, veggies, fruits, and whatever else can be creatively placed into a bowl and labeled salad. The one I made today was absolutely wonderful. One of those kinds of meals where you're just thankful you've got enough left for another sitting because now you can spend the whole day looking forward to dinner and another chance to eat more of what you start craving the minute you've finished your lunch portion.

This was actually supposed to be a salad I'd make for the Stoops late Christmas celebration on Saturday. However, by the time everyone ate all the appetizers I'd prepared and then pizza came for an early dinner, it just seemed ridiculous to go to the trouble of making a salad that everyone was clearly too stuffed to care much about. So, I laid out a green salad instead (my mom would've been proud!) and  then didn't have to feel so put out when very few people bothered to take a helping amidst the pizza, spinach dip, queso blanco with chips, cheese cubes with pretzel sticks, varied fruit and fruit dip and whatever else I'm forgetting right now.

I'll admit there was a period of worry about how today's salad would end up tasting. As I was putting it together, I began absent-mindedly chewing on some of the arugula, thereby making the surprising discovery that, by itself, arugula is bitter and not very good tasting. With that in mind, when I prepared the dressing I decided it was a little too much on the sour side so I ended up adding some sugar. How much sugar? Don't ask me - I just put in enough so I could taste a hint of sweetness next to the tang of all the other ingredients. Really, this is all quite amazing to think about - the recipe itself had no specific amounts (though the website where it was featured had very clear pictures that I followed) and then, even in my adaptation, I didn't bother to measure. Look for me on Master Chef next season!

Roasted Vegetable, Arugula, and Avocado Salad
from whatsgabycooking.com

Ingredients

3 cups arugula
1 cup chopped butternut squash, cut into bite sized pieces
2 cups cauliflower florets, broken into bite sized pieces
1 cup mushrooms, cleaned and stems removed
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 avocados, skin removed and cut into wedges
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
handful of dried cranberries
handful chopped white cheddar cheese
Mustard Herb Vinaigrette ** Recipe below
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Arrange the arugula in a large salad bowl.
Place the chopped butternut squash, cauliflower and mushroom heads on a baking sheet in an even layer and drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Place the baking sheet into the oven and roast for 30-35 minutes until the vegetables are slightly golden brown and tender to touch.
Remove the vegetables from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes before tossing them with the arugula.
Add the avocado, cherry tomatoes, cranberries and white cheddar cheese and toss to combine.
Drizzle 2-3 tablespoons of the vinaigrette on top and toss. Taste and add more vinaigrette or salt and pepper if needed.
Serve immediately.

Mustard Herb Vinaigrette Dressing
Start with an empty jar with a lid. Add some freshly chopped garlic, a few chopped shallots, a dollop or two of whole grain Dijon mustard, some dried oregano, and dried parsley. Throw in some freshly cracked black pepper and a sprinkle of flaky salt. Next pour in some red wine vinegar. Add a healthy pour of olive oil. Tightly put the lid back on the jar and shake, shake, shake! This dressing will store well in the refrigerator for about a week. Just let it come to room temp. before using. You can also use it on spinach salads. 

Cherry Pie Squares

It's a funny thing when you cook for people for the first time - it makes you hyper-aware of everything you're preparing and how it is likely to be received. This Thanksgiving I had the opportunity to feed my daughter-in-law's parents. I love these two but they do present a challenge in that they don't usually eat American food. And I don't know anything about preparing Asian foods.

I consulted with Joy and decided to go with what I know - a traditional American Thanksgiving meal including turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, green beans, and rolls. Pumpkin pie was on the menu for a dessert but, knowing Martin hates anything with a pumpkin flavor, I decided to add something sure to please his palate. Cherry pie would definitely fill this bill but, here's the deal - I'm not so fond of that kind of pie. This recipe was my compromise dessert.

Thanksgiving turned out to be all about plenty of food to eat (including Joanne's gift of the FRESHEST lobster ever), an evening of fun over the Mexican Train domino game, and everyone eating yummy cherry pie squares with ice-cream.


Cherry Pie Squares
Kinda like what might happen if sweet cherry pie and gooey almond coffee cake meet and fall in love—something beautiful results.

Ingredients
1 cup Margarine
1-¾ cup Sugar
4 whole Eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla
½ teaspoons Almond Extract
3 cups Flour
1-½ teaspoon Baking Powder
½ teaspoons Salt
1 can (21 Oz. Can) Cherry Pie Filling
Powdered Sugar, To Top The Squares


Preparation Instructions
Cream margarine and add sugar. Beat well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla and almond extract. Sift flour, baking powder and salt. Add to creamed mixture and beat until smooth; batter will be thick. Save about one cup of the batter. Spread the remainder in a greased 11 x 15″ jellyroll pan. Spread the cherry pie filling over the batter. Spoon remaining batter in small globs over the pie filling. Bake in a 350ºF oven for 45 minutes, until barely lightly golden. Drizzle powdered sugar frosting over top; indulge!

Paper, Plastic of Fine China?

The tea parties I've given in the past are testament to my love for decorating a beautiful table but, overall, I'd say my entertaining style leans way more toward the casual, bordering on thrown together at the last minute. This didn't really hit me until yesterday when my sister-in-law Jody was showing pictures of her birthday celebration in November. Friends had gone to a lot of trouble to do a fall themed luncheon for her and the results were spectacularly beautiful. Yes, it helps that I was looking at fall mums, warm colors and pumpkins - all components of the autumn season that I dearly love but still, there was no denying the effort taken to present something very pleasing not only to the stomach but also to the eye.

One of my problems is that I have plenty of very fancy serving pieces and, on the other end of the spectrum, a cabinet full of mostly mismatched paper goods for use out by the pool...but not much in between. So yesterday, when I wanted to put all my appetizers out on the serving counter, they went out in a hodge-podge of Tupperware and cheap plastics I could find. This is the same kind of serving arrangement I usually end up doing when small group comes every Tuesday night and when guests come over to eat or socialize. 

After I cleaned up from the late Christmas celebration, I thought back on Jody's pictures and silently resolved to care a little more about presentation of the foods I present to groupings coming into this house. I don't know that I'll take the time and effort for every small group gathering but maybe I can resolve to pull out all the stops for this group once a month. 

As for my family and friends, I'm now looking ahead to Easter and thinking of what I'll serve and how I'll present it.

                                                   (One of my favorite tea tables) 

Ding Dong Cake

Along with the supposed end of the world based on the Mayan calendar, the final weeks of last year also saw another world reaching catastrophe - the end of the Hostess company. Twinkies I could easily live without but what about Ding Dongs, Ho-Hos, and Suzy Q's????? All I have to say is it's a good thing my kids are mostly grown because each of those three Hostess treats saw me through some long days with children who might not have been having their best, most well-behaved moments...or hours. I could put up with a whole lot of whining, temper tantrum throwing, sassing, bickering and whatever else my darlings were dishing out as long as I knew there was a hidden Ho-Ho waiting at the end of the day.

Apparently I wasn't the only person using Hostess products to get through another day, based on the hysteria over the company's demise. No sooner had the dire announcement gone out before desperate folks began snatching up every Hostess product made. Twinkies showed up on Ebay, selling for huge sums of money, and for those not able to afford getting into the rare foods commodity brokering market there were internet sites divulging recipes to duplicate every calorie-laden treat ever produced by the folks at Hostess.

I made this Ding Dong cake because it felt like the closest I could get to a Suzy Q. In this case a really big Suzy Q! While carving out a piece of the finished cake didn't have quite the same decadently delicious feel as opening a Suzy Q packet, taking out one of those sticky little chocolatee cakes, and running my finger around the edges to gather up all that gooey icing running out, the Ding Dong cake makes a passable substitution for my Hostess cravings.

Ding-Dong Cake
Recipe from Smitten Kitchen


1 (18 ounce) box Pillsbury Plus Devils Food cake mix
FILLING
1 cup milk
4 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
ICING
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons cocoa
powdered sugar, to desired consistency
Directions:

1
Bake cake according to directions on box, using a 9x13-inch pan. After it cools, slice in half horizontally and set aside until filling is prepared.
2
FILLING: Combine milk and flour. Cook until thick, then cool. Mix butter and shortening for 4 minutes. Add sugar and vanilla and mix 4 more minutes. Add flour mixture and beat 4 minutes more.
3
Spread on bottom layer of cake and replace top layer of cake.
4
ICING:.
5
Combine butter, vanilla, milk, cocoa and mix. Add powdered sugar until quite thick.

Corn Dog Poppers

As long as we're veering off the gourmet, upscale foods route I'll include another Pinterest recipe I made awhile back.

Who didn't love a good ole' corn dog slathered with mustard when they were kids? Well me, for one! I couldn't stomach anything to do with a hot dog throughout most of my childhood. Even now I have rules that govern whether I'm going to actually enjoy eating this great American food. First and foremost, they're always best when eaten on the beach after being toasted to a pretty blackened state over a roaring bonfire. Next, the bun has to be big enough to leave room for plenty of catsup, mustard and DICED ONIONS! And, as long as we're talking about the bun - everyone knows those should be in that steamed warm and covered in tin foil form.

And by the way, I'm excluding West Virginia chili-slaw dogs from this narrative entirely because they are a completely separate food item. One to be lusted after and immediately hunted down the minute you cross the state border into Almost Heaven. I learned that love from my mother who would literally race her car to the nearest folksy hot dog stand close to St. Albans so she could order (at least) two of those babies. It makes my mouth water to even think about eating one. The last time I was in West Virginia it was fall and my cousins hosted a big ole' bonfire one night, complete with s'mores and chili slaw dogs. Do you think a little bit of rain stopped me from huddling by the fire wolfing down those dogs as fast as I could prepare them???? Not hardly.

Have I digressed a bit? Back to corndogs...or, in this case, little bitty corn muffins stuffed with a piece of Hebrew National hot dog poking it's head above the corn meal. These are easy to make and the folks in my small group seemed to like slathering a bit of mustard or catsup in them and eating them by the handful. They might also make a pretty fine Super Bowl snack. Just sayin'.

Corn Dog Poppers

Ingredients:
1/2 cup melted butter (or 1/4 cup butter + 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce)
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
8-10 all-beef hot dogs, cut into 1″ bites

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine butter and sugar in a bowl, and whisk to combine. Add eggs and whisk to incorporate. Add buttermilk and whisk to incorporate.
In a separate bowl, combine baking soda, cornmeal, flour, and salt, and stir to combine. Whisk into wet ingredients in two batches.
Spray a mini muffin tin with non-stick spray, and spoon 1 Tablespoon of batter into each mini muffin cup. Place one hot dog bite into the middle of each cup.

Bake for 8-12 minutes (oven temperatures vary), or until cornbread is golden brown. Cool in mini muffin tin for 5 minutes before serving. Store leftovers in the refrigerator, and re-heat for 20-30 seconds before serving.

                                                  (Chili-slaw dog and West Virginia style green beans - now that's what I'm talkin' bout!)

Queso Blanco Dip

When I tell friends that I didn't know what queso blanco dip was until a few months ago, they're completely astounded and disbelieving. Have I been living in a cave? Do I never eat outside my home? These are the kinds of incredulous questions I get when I admit to being a queso newbie.

This newfound love of white cheese and chips is so intense that I could barely tell you anything else on the menu of the nearby restaurant dishing out all that creamy goodness. And, you know what's most amazing? The waitresses keep refilling your bowl and it's all free of charge. I assume they expect you to order a meal to go along with your free appetizer though I've never had the nerve to test what would happen if you walked into the restaurant, scarfed down the dip, and then took off. 

It never occurred to me to try making a homemade version of queso blanco until I was browsing recipes for the Stoops late Christmas celebration and saw the recipe on Pinterest. Say what???? Whip up a batch of that yummy stuff right at home where I could eat all I wanted without even getting out of my pajamas - have I died and gone to heaven?

When you read this recipe and see a caution about how the dip might seem runny until all the cheese gets fully melted, believe it. Even in it's final form, the queso blanco is fairly loose but oh so good. 

Cooking for any Stoops is always a bit of a crapshoot as they have different peculiarities in what they'll eat...assuming they eat at all! Happily, everyone got over their initial, "what, someone dared to make/bring a dish that deviates from the (very small) list of accepted foods?" distrust and seemed to enjoy loading tostito bowl shaped chips with the dip.

Queso Blanco Dip

Queso Blanco Dip (White Cheese Dip)
Prep Time: 5 minutes

Recipe from Pennies On A Platter

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Yield: 30 fluid ounces

1 1/4 (1.25) lb block White American Cheese (Land O'Lakes brand preferred), cut into 1-inch cubes
1/4 cup diced green chiles
2 pickled jalapenos, chopped
1 ounce pickled jalapeno juice
2/3 cup whole milk
1/2 cup cold water
pinch of cumin (optional)
Toss all ingredients into a large microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 5 minutes, stopping to stir after every minute. The mixture might seem watery during the first few stirs, but should come together as a nice runny dip after all the cheese is melted.

Serve immediately as a dip with tortilla chips or as a sauce over your favorite Mexican dish.

*Recipe Note: White American cheese is found at most deli counters in your local grocery store.

*Reheat Instructions: Store any leftover cheese dip in the fridge. Reheat in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until creamy and hot.

** Picture note: Can you tell I forgot to take a "posed" photo of the dip as I was making it?

Peppermint Popcorn Cookies

I've been waiting for months to get my hands on the Smitten Kitchen cookbook, after having pre-orderded it way back in the spring. It's now been in my kitchen about a week, begging me to cook all kinds of wonderful Deb approved dishes, if I just had a bit more time! Emily, on the other hand, boasted today that she's already made about 27 of the recipes in the book - is she trying to do a variation of the Julia and Julia script????

I'd been debating about what cookie to bring to our ladies cookie exchange when Emily piped in that I should try one of Deb's recipes. Surprisingly, she doesn't have a ton of cookies in the book but I did find one that interested me, just because it was so different. You know how there are always people who bring chocolate chip, sugar, and snickerdoodle cookies to these events? Well, I love all those types of cookies but...do I want to be one of the crowd, showing up with what people kind of know will be there? Not me! At least not with my daughter waiting to hear of me stepping up my game a bit to come up with a slightly more unique cookie.

Well, you gotta admit; a cookie that includes POPPED popcorn in the batter isn't exactly run-of-the-mill. That's what I chose and that's what I made. I was pleased with the results but something was missing. They tasted great, the consistency was nice, and the finished product looked good, so what was the deal? As silly as it sounds, I realized I wanted something that looked a little more Christmas-y so the only possible solution was to tweak the recipe a bit. SAY WHAT???? ME, PLAYING AROUND WITH A RECIPE?????!!!! That's exactly what I did - throwing in some Andes mint cooking bits with the dough, just to get a red Christmas-y look to the dough. Actually, I experimented with red and green sprinkles for one test cookie, blue snow flakey sprinkles for another and, finally, the red mint chips that looked and tasted best in the finished product.

The cookies are yummy, with a softness combined with slight airy crunch of the popcorn. I loved them and I guess the ladies at my church did too, based on the fact that my popped popcorn cookie won two different categories in the judging part of our exchange evening. One was "most unique" and I don't remember what the other one was...."best use of popcorn"? "one most despised by picky husband but liked by church ladies"?


Popcorn Peppermint Cookies
Yield: 24 cookies
adapted from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook



2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup popcorn kernels
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon butter, melted
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup  granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup Andes peppermint crunch baking chips

Make Popcorn - Pour the oil over the bottom of a large saucepan that has a lid. Add the popcorn kernels, shimmying the pan around so the kernels land in one layer. Cover the pot, heat it over medium-high heat and, once the kernels begin to pop, keep the saucepan moving until all of the kernels have popped, about 5 - 7 minutes total. Toss the table salt and then the melted butter over the popcorn, then transfer it to a bowl so that you can fish out any unpopped kernels. You should have about 4 to 4 1/2 cups popcorn, Let cool.

Mix Dough - Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, cream together the softened butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, egg, and vanilla until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour and baking soda together. Stir the combined dry ingredients into the butter-sugar mixture. Fold in the cooled popcorn so that it is evenly distributed through the batter. There will be lots of popcorn and less batter, but it works! Don’t worry if popcorn breaks up a bit. The mixed size pieces are part of the cookie’s charm. Stir in peppermint crunch baking chips.

Bake Cookies - Scoop heaping tablespoon sized mounds 2 inches apart onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges are light brown. Let them sit on the hot baking sheet for a few minutes to firm up before transferring them to a rack to cool.