Pear and Brie Crostini
By Andrea | Sunday, December 7th, 2008
Cranberry Sauce
I am a lover of cheese, but I’m not a lover of all cheese. Blue cheese or anything that has a mold as an ingredient is not something I really want to eat. Stinky cheeses and sheep’s milk cheese are also not cheeses I care for much.
This may surprise you, but brie is also not a cheese I care for too much. I know people love it but for me, brie basically tastes like what an old musty basement would taste like if you could spread it on a cracker and serve it during cocktail hour.
However I can appreciate the creamy perfection of this cheese and how when melted, it envelops everything it touches. I have discovered that I like and enjoy brie when something sweet is accompanying it.
Because brie is a cheese that almost everyone else on the planet loves and it shows up often during the holidays, I wanted to create a recipe that could be served as an appetizer. Something other than brie en croute because let’s face it, that is an old worn out technique. I also wanted something where the color would stand out and incorporated classic fall/winter flavors. Pear and Brie Crostini is the answer.
Andrea’s Pear and Brie Crostini
- French Baguette
- Red Pear
- Brie slices
- Cranberry sauce
- Chopped or crushed walnuts
- Olive oil
This is a recipe where you determine how much you want to make, that’s why I didn’t provide specific amounts. You can make this for a crowd or for a couple of friends, or just for you!
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Slice the baguette into 1/2 inch or slightly thicker slices. You want it thick enough to hold the ingredients but not so thick it becomes difficult to take a bite. Place slices on a cookie sheet that is lined or sprayed with nonstick spray. With a pastry brush, brush a bit of olive oil on the slices and place in the oven till golden brown, about 3-5 minutes. Remove from oven. Slice the red pear into thin slices. Use a pear that is ripe but not too soft. Place slices of pear on the baguette slices, about 2-3 per piece. Top that with brie slices and place back in the oven until the brie is melted, about 2-3 minutes. Remove from oven, drizzle with cranberry sauce and top with walnuts. Serve warm and enjoy!
About to be served
This recipe exceeded all of my expectations and that makes me drunk with happiness. I love when an idea I have swirling around comes together more perfectly than I could have imagined. This little appetizer is amazing and as my husband put it, “This is really smooth. Everything flows together.”
The pear gives the dish a little more umph and the brie provides a nice creamy warm cheesy goodness. The cranberry sauce creates a nice sweet-tart contrast to the smooth pear and cheese while the walnuts bring crunch and added texture. The brie slices make it feel very indulgent while the nuts and pear provide the protein and fruit boost.
Pear and Brie Crostini
I used red pears because they are my favorite and I wanted to stick with the red and white colors. However a green pear would be fine as well. You could probably even use apple slices here if you prefer. Serve this up on a pretty serving dish, maybe garnish with some whole cranberries and you’ve got a very fancy appetizer that only took a few minutes to make!
Enjoy guys! And remember, always play with your food!
Happy Holidays from OHC!
Topics: Side Dish, Snackies | 4 Comments »
Tags: Breads, Cheese, Fruit, Holiday, Nuts
Leftover Idea: Stuffing Frittata
By Andrea | Sunday, November 30th, 2008
The cast
Still plowing your way through leftovers? This is one of my very favorite leftover recipes. I look forward to this all year long! I started doing this a few years back with leftover stuffing and have made it every year since. It’s so easy and so yummy! Perfect if you are hosting guests at your house and they are threatening bodily harm if you feed them another leftover. Disguise it!
Andrea’s Stuffing Frittata
- 1 C overloaded with stuffing
- 1 C of leftover chopped turkey
- 4 eggs
- 1 TBSP of olive oil
- Shredded Cheddar for topping
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium sized skillet, drizzle in the olive oil and heat over medium heat. Then add in the turkey and stuffing. Whisk the four eggs and pour that mixture over the turkey and stuffing. Making sure the egg mixture covers the whole thing. Turn off heat and plop in the oven for about 5 minutes until just slightly shy of being set. Turn off oven and remove frittata. Sprinkle top with as much shredded cheddar as you like. Put back in the oven for about 3 minutes until the cheese is melted and frittata is fully set.
Remove from oven, cut into four slices and serve!
Out of the oven
This dish is so easy to make and takes leftover stuffing to that next level of awesomeness. Stuffing is my favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner, so I’ll look for any excuse to keep eating it! I have made this with just stuffing and no turkey. This year I had a few bites of turkey still in the fridge so I dumped it in. But omitted, the frittata is still just as yummy.
If you have leftover cranberry sauce, some of that warmed and drizzled over top would make a really nice sauce for the frittata. You could also use egg whites in this as well. It’s up to you! Even playing around with the cheese and maybe using a pepper jack for some kick would be great! Get creative with those leftovers!
Stuffing Frittata
Have fun guys! And remember, always play with your food!
Topics: Breakfast, Main Dish, Side Dish | 7 Comments »
Tags: Breads, Cheese, Eggs, Holiday, Turkey
Leftover Idea: Potato Puffs
By Andrea | Friday, November 28th, 2008
Thanksgiving OHC Style
Hi guys! I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving full of yummy food, laughs, and naps! Over at OHC HQ we had a beautiful day, the skies were clear with a very mild temperature outside. Perfect for an afternoon stroll to help digest the big meal.
Here we are the day after and while some of you may be shopping and scoring deals, others of you may be wondering how to handle all those leftovers in your fridge. My suggestion is to turn them into something else!
For example, if you have leftover mashed potatoes and the last thing you want is another scoop of them, try my little Potato Puff recipe!
This is a recipe you can play around with and discover new combinations! Possible mix-in ideas can include:
- Leftover greenbean casserole
- Leftover corn or corn pudding
- Turkey and cranberry sauce
- Corn and stuffing
Or you can even make a sweet potato puff! Don’t get in a leftover rut, use your imagination and get creative with leftovers!
Happy Holidays from OHC!
Topics: Side Dish, Snackies, Tips | 6 Comments »
Tags: Cheese, Holiday, Veggies
Sage Sausage Biscuits
By Andrea | Sunday, November 23rd, 2008
Right out of the oven
One of the things I love making are handheld food stuffs. Especially if it’s for a party, potluck, or just something simple to have on hand for holiday gatherings.
Another thing I love is sausage. I grew up eating all kinds and being Polish, you know you have to eat kielbasa as required by law. Back in the day on the rare occasions that I had a McDonald’s breakfast (I know, totally ew, but hey who hasn’t had one? Uh huh.) naturally it was all about the egg sandwiches right? I took off the egg and tossed it because it was icky. I only ate the muffin and sausage. That’s where it was at for me because it was all about the sausage.
I still like that combination but worked on making it a little more healthy. Yes, the dish has sausage but that doesn’t mean the dish has to be a total unhealthy fest. I worked on looking at it from a different perspective and presenting in a different form. Sage Sausage Biscuits are the result!
Andrea’s Sage Sausage Biscuits
- 1pound of bulk sage breakfast sausage, cooked, drained and cooled
- 1 C self-rising cornmeal
- 1 C of all-purpose flour
- 1 C of shredded cheddar
- 1 C of half & half
- 1 egg
- Garlic powder to taste
Preheat oven to 350. With nonstick spray, spray a 12 count muffin tin. In a medium sized mixing bowl combine the cornmeal, flour, half & half, egg, and garlic powder. Then add in the sausage and cheese and mix until well blended. Spoon into the muffin tin and fill about 3/4 of the way full. Bake for around 15-20 minutes until the biscuits are brown and start to pull away at the sides of the tin. A toothpick inserted should come out clean.
Remove from oven and allow to cool for about 2 minutes then remove from the muffin tin. Serve warm. Makes 12 biscuits. If it seems like you have more mixture, make more biscuits!
Sage Sausage Biscuit
I prefer using self-rising cornmeal because it makes life easier. But if you can’t find it or don’t use it, you will need to add 2 tsp of baking powder to the recipe so the biscuits will fluff up.
I love this little biscuit. The muffin tin makes them the perfect sized portion. They are a great dish to serve at brunch and can be made the day ahead. Just gently rewarm before serving. They can even be frozen and reheated right before serving. Or freeze and pull out one (or two) when needed.
They are also a great little treat to have during the holidays. Heat up and serve as an easy breakfast on Thanksgiving day. Since they can be made ahead, it’s one less thing to worry about on the big day.
Feel free to play around with it too! Maybe use spicy breakfast sausage and add some chopped jalapeno. Or shredded pepper jack instead of cheddar. Or both! It can be adapted to your personal tastes.
Enjoy guys! And remember, always play with your food!
Happy Holidays from OHC!
Topics: Breakfast | 7 Comments »
Tags: Cheese, Holiday, Pork
Cran-Apple Turkey Burgers
By Andrea | Sunday, November 2nd, 2008
About to be grilled
Happy November guys! Pumpkins, colorful leaves, and turkey are all things that come to mind when we think of November. I thought I would kick things off with a Fall recipe.
Growing up, I was not a fan of burgers. It was too much meat in a condensed form and the taste wasn’t appealing to me. Once I was out on my own cooking for the two of us, I realized that it wasn’t burgers as a whole that I disliked, it was the specific burger I was given. The burgers in restaurants were huge and too messy to handle. All the toppings came out the back ending up on the plate instead of accompanying the burger.
My mom’s burgers didn’t have a lot of seasoning to them and didn’t appeal to me. Cooking for Scott and myself, I realized I could make burgers however I wanted. I could make them with tons of seasonings and I didn’t have to make a mammoth burger that you couldn’t even take a bite out of.
Burgers are now one of my very favorite things to make. You can make a burger out of anything and play around with flavors. You can make them any size and serve them on the vessel of your choice. This is what I adore about cooking, making it your own. No rules, it’s all about you and what you want.
I’m still experimenting with apples and finding new ways to incorporate them into meals. I saw a turkey burger in Rachael Ray’s magazine that had some apple slices on it with a cranberry sauce. I thought that was okay but wondered if I could put the apple and cranberries IN the burger instead of just using them as extras on the bun. That’s how this particular burger came to be.
Andrea’s Cran-Apple Turkey Burgers
- 1lb ground dark meat turkey
- 1 granny smith apple chopped, small pieces
- 1/4 red onion chopped
- 1/2 TBSP of dijon mustard
- 1/2 tsp grill seasoning
- 1/4 tsp of poultry seasoning
- 1/4 tsp of smoked paprika
- 1/4 C of dried cranberries
- Salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste
In a mixing bowl, combine all of the above ingredients. Divide mixture into four equal parts and form into patties. Place patties on a hot grill and grill on each side for 5-7 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to rest for 2 minutes before serving.
You can cook these in a large skillet with about 2 TBSP of olive oil if you don’t want to or cannot grill them. You can also use ground turkey breast if you don’t care for dark meat turkey.
On the grill
Whenever you make burgers out of poultry, they tend to be very delicate until the first side gets cooked. These are burgers of love, you have to handle them with care so they don’t fall apart on you. Ease them onto the grill and do not move them until the first side is cooked. When you flip them, it helps to use two spatulas, one on the bottom and one on top to help keep things in place. They will hold up for you but you have to treat them gently.
Cran-Apple Turkey Burger
I served these burgers topped with cheddar and placed on kaiser roles with some lettuce and dijon mustard. They were moist and so flavorful. The apples were warmed through while still remaining crisp and the cranberries gave nice little bursts of sweetness that paired well with the red onion. This is probably my favorite burger I have made so far. Both of us just loved the way these turned out and even again as leftovers the next day. The apples didn’t get mushy or turn brown. I’ve been dreaming about these burgers ever since!
Enjoy guys, and remember, always play with your food!
Topics: Main Dish | 10 Comments »
Tags: Cheese, Fruit, Grill, Turkey
Ham and Cheddar Potato Puffs
By Andrea | Thursday, September 25th, 2008
Jazz up leftovers
It never fails, whenever I make mashed potatoes I always make way too much. Then I have leftovers and I wonder what I’m going to do with them. Sometimes they get eaten with the next night’s dinner but sometimes they don’t. I hate throwing out food and have since vowed to always try and do something with my leftovers.
Thankfully mashed potatoes are a dish that can be easily and quickly turned into something else. They can go the savory route or, believe it or not, the sweet route. I typically stick with the savory road myself. I love mashed potatoes. A comfort food for me that I often turn to when I need a big comfy sweatshirt and a hug.
This is a recipe I created so that I could use up the small amount of leftover mashed that was sitting in my fridge. The rest of the meal that accompanied the potatoes had been eaten and they were all that remained. I pulled out some other things from the fridge to add to the potatoes and my little potato puffs were born.
Andrea’s Ham and Cheddar Potato Puffs
- 1 1/4 C of mashed potatoes
- 1 egg
- 3 TBSP of sour cream
- 1/4 C shredded cheddar
- 3 slices of deli ham chopped
- 6 chives chopped
Preheat oven to 375 and with some nonstick spray, grease a mini-muffin pan. In a medium sized mixing bowl combine all of the above ingredients until everything is well mixed. Spoon into the mini-muffin pan, filling the each area to the top. Bake for about 15-20 minutes until the potatoes are puffed, browned, and set. Makes about 15 mini potato puffs.
From the oven
These make perfect little appetizers or a nice side to a meal. You can mix in whatever strikes your fancy. Perhaps doll them up a bit more with some parm and prosciutto. Maybe add some swiss and bacon. The possibilities are endless with these.
You can freeze them and reheat them whenever the mood strikes or as a make ahead dish to a party. Just put the oven on at 350 and heat until they are warmed back through. Enjoy guys! And remember, always play with your food!
Ham and Cheddar Potato Puff
Topics: Side Dish, Snackies | 15 Comments »
Tags: Cheese, Dairy, Veggies
Apple Cheddar Quesadillas
By Andrea | Sunday, September 7th, 2008
Crisp Apples
A big indicator that fall is on the way can be marked by the arrival of apples. Apples become cheaper at the grocery store, there is more of them, and they are huge because they are in season. I love apples. Raw or just warm please, I do not like cooked apples. And yes that means I don’t like apple pie. My favorite combination is peanut butter with an apple. Can be a tart or sweet apple, I’m not picky. I used to not care for the tart apples much but have since gotten over that and now will gladly eat whatever apple comes my way.
I recently saw Paula Deen make this grilled apple sandwich and it had me intrigued. I have recently started mixing fruit in with savory dishes. I didn’t use to be a big fan of that but having apples with cheese fondue converted me. The sweet crispness of the apple combined with salty garlicy cheese sent me to the moon. I loved it! And it caused me to start experimenting by combining fruits with other things I normally would have avoided.
One thing I used to avoid was mixing apples with onions. I know it’s a classic combination but as I mentioned above, I don’t like cooked apples. And most apple and onion dishes involve cooking the apple. Paula’s sandwich was heated enough to make everything toasty warm without cooking the apple. This sold me on the concept. I wanted to take the main ingredients and see if I could come up with a lighter version that would still be full on flavor. Apple Cheddar Quesadillas were born.
Andrea’s Apple Cheddar Quesadillas
- 2 flour burrito sized tortillas
- 1 granny smith apple, thinly sliced
- 12 1/4 inch slices of good sharp cheddar
- 1/4 of a small to medium red onion, thinly sliced
- 2 tsp of unsalted butter or spreadable butter
- Nonstick cooking spray
Heat up a medium sized skillet over medium heat. Spread 1 tsp of butter on one side of each tortilla. Spray the skillet with cooking spray (just to make sure there will be no sticking). Lay one tortilla, butter side down in the skillet. On half of the tortilla, layer it with some sliced onion, then four slices of cheddar, and then a handful of the apple. Then two more slices of cheddar on top of the apple. Fold the remaining half of the tortilla over the side with the fillings. Cook for about 4 minutes. Carefully flip the quesadilla over and cook the other side for 4 minutes or until the cheese is all melted and the tortilla is brown and crispy. Cut into thirds and eat!
I had a block of my favorite cheddar on hand (Helluva Good Extra Extra Sharp Cheddar) so I used that. But you can use whatever cheddar you like or have on hand at the time. I did have leftover apple, which we ate with our dinner, but it could be used to make a third quesadilla. Just slice a little more onion and cheese to stretch the recipe.
About to get more cheese on top
Both Scott and I loved this quesadilla. It had really nice flavor combination to it without the onions overpowering everything. The apples gave the quesadilla a nice crunch and were just warmed through perfectly. It made for a perfect light meal. We were left full and satisfied, without being overfull or weighted down by a heavy main dish.
Perfection
This is definitely something that will move into rotation here at OHC HQ. This is a nice light dish that I can feel good about eating and serving. This would also make a great appetizer or as part of a tapas bar for a party. Make a bunch, cut them up into smaller pieces and keep them warm in your oven or toaster oven.
Enjoy guys! And remember, always play with your food!
Topics: Main Dish, Side Dish, Snackies | 19 Comments »
Tags: Cheese, Fruit