Easy Hummus Dip Appetizer

You know the feeling when you need to bring an appetizer somewhere but you don't know what to bring? I promise you that this appetizer will be a repeat offender on your list of recipes. I wish I could take credit for it but it is my dear friend Kerri's creation. We have been noshing on this goodness for years and I am so happy to share it with all of you!

c/o Rifle Paper Co. notepad

c/o Rifle Paper Co. Folk assorted writing pencils

Ingredients

20oz. of hummus (I always go for the Sabra Roasted Pine Nut!)
green onions
cherry tomatoes
garlic & herb Boursin cheese
feta cheese
sliced black olives
avocado
cucumber (both for rimming the plate and adding into the dip)

You can use any bowl really but this quiche plate makes for a really nice presentation. First place all the hummus into the bowl. Make sure to push it out to the edges of the plate so your cucumber slices can stick into it. Next peel the skin off in sections around the cucumber, then slice the cucumbers into thin slices to rim around the bowl.

c/o Rifle Paper Co. Herb Garden Recipe Box

Once all the cucumber rounds are placed around the bowl simply start adding your ingredients! Dice up the tomatoes, any extra cucumber, black olives, green onions and sprinkle feta cheese and Boursin cheese on top. Boursin is more like a spread so just pluck it off with your fingers and crumble it. You can add as much or as little of each ingredient as you like. We usually add avocado to this as well but since I was prepping it ahead of time it was the last to go on.

Serve along side with pita chips. I promise people will gobble it right up!

4

Apple Crisp

 On the first day of fall in the bay area we were greeted with a rainstorm. It was so welcome after some really hot days and it made me want to bake something yummy. So I turned to my Nom Nom board on Pinterest and scrolled through my recipes. I also wanted whatever I would be baking to fill the house with a delicious smell. So when I came across this recipe from Beantown Baker I knew it was the one. I made some slight modifications (I skipped the pie crust entirely!) but it was just as delicious as it looked!

Ingredients:

for the filling:

 6 cups apple chunks (I used 5 pink lady apples)

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 Tbsp flour

2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp allspice

1 tsp vanilla

1 Tbsp lemon juice

For the topping:

1 1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare dry ingredients in a large bowl, set aside. Core, peel, and slice apples. Transfer into large bowl with dry ingredients. Top off with vanilla and lemon juice. Toss to coat apples well.



In a medium bowl, combine the dry topping ingredients. Pour cooled melted butter into bowl. Toss and cut until small to medium sized chunks form. Break up large chunks as needed.

 Using your fingers, sprinkle crumb topping over entire pie.

Cover pie loosely with foil. Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 375 and continue baking for an additional 35 minutes. Cool and enjoy.

Warm or cold it's a hit!



13

Sesame Chicken

Lately the only way I want to cook is via the crock pot. It's easy, cleanup is easy (says the girl who still has the crock pot bowl soaking in water) and I can throw it all in and do something else while it cooks. Brilliant!

Without further adieu I give you Sesame Chicken

recipe adapted from here

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs. thawed chicken thighs (you can use breasts as well)

salt & pepper

1 cup honey

1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce

1/4 cup ketchup

2 tbsp. vegetable oil or olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

4 tsp. cornstarch dissolved in 6 tbsp. of water

1/2 tbsp. sesame seeds

3 scallions, chopped

Lightly season both sides of the chicken with salt & pepper and put into crock pot.

In a medium bowl, combine honey, soy sauce, onion, ketchup, oil, garlic and pepper flakes. Pour over the chicken and cook on high for four hours.

Remove the chicken from the crock pot, leaving the sauce. Stir to combine with the sauce. Replace the lid and cook sauce on high for ten more minutes or until slightly thickened.

Serve the chicken over brown rice and spoon sauce on top. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and chopped scallions.

Enjoy!

18

Slow Cooker Thai Chicken

I made this a couple of weekends ago when my sister in law was in town. I wish I would have known I was going to blog about it because I would have snapped some photos. #bloggerfail

 However I promise this is something worth making.

For Crock Pot:
2 1/2 pounds chicken pieces
1 cup hot salsa
1/4 cup peanut butter
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger

In addition (not for the crock pot)
 Hot cooked rice - I used quinoa
1/2 cup of peanuts chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Place chicken in slow cooker. Combine salsa, peanut butter, lime juice, soy sauce & ginger. Pour over chicken.

Cover, cook on low 8 to 9 hours or on high for 3 to 4 hours.

Serve chicken and sauce over rice/quinoa; sprinkle with peanuts and cilantro.


I promise it won't make you do this

11

Homemade Dog Biscuits

It's no secret that Finn is the apple of my eye. So when it comes to finding new ways to spoil him I am all for it. When we first rescued Finn he was three months old and while we thought he was just a really mellow pup, turns out he had all sorts of parasites in his tummy.

Giardia

Coccidia

&

Tapeworm

all in the span of about 2 months. We were told by our vet that his GI tract would never really be 100% again. It also wasn't until about a year ago that we figured out Finn is allergic to chicken! Which in reality turned out to be the problem! So after eliminating chicken from his diet, he has been a happy go lucky pup.

Turns out Finn is a pretty picky eater. Unless it's cheese cause boy is that pup like his mama - there is no cheese we will say no to. So I usually supplement Greek God's Vanilla Honey Greek Yogurt into his kibble because I think this brand is the tastiest - no I have not been paid to say that. Finn approves and it helps me to ensure he is eating every night.

So when I saw a recipe for Homemade Biscuits on A Cozy Kitchen and saw I already had everything in my pantry I decided to whip my boy up some sweet treats. Without further adieu:

Homemade Dog Biscuits

*recipe adapted from A Cozy Kitchen

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of creamy peanut butter

1/4 cup of honey

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 cup water

1 cup rolled oats

2 cups flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together peanut butter, honey, oil & water.

In a separate bowl. combine flour and oatmeal. Mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients.

Place dough on flour dusted surface. Roll or press dough out to about 1/4" thick.

(Edit: After posting the recipe I realized I forgot to put the water in! Oops! So your dough will be much more dough-like. I made them again this past weekend 12/20/13 and they came out perfect. Unlike the dry dough you see below!)

Use a small bone cookie cutter to cut out biscuits.



Bake biscuits for 14-16 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack.

Best part...Finn loves them!



12

Arugula, Watermelon & Feta Salad

During the summer I cannot get my fill of watermelon. I want to eat it on the daily! And while the salad I made on Sunday evening was nice and basic I decided to step up my game a little on Monday evening. Thanks to this recipe by Ina Garten I was able to incorporate this amazing salad into a delicious meal!
 

Ingredients:

For the vinaigrette:

1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (2 oranges when using a real juicer)

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)

1/4 cup minced shallots (1 large)

1 tablespoon honey

1/2 cup good olive oil

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

6 cups baby arugula, washed and spun dry

1/8th seedless watermelon, rind removed and cut into 1-inch cubes

12 ounces of good feta cheese

1 cup whole fresh mint leaves, julienned 

 

Directions:

Whisk together the orange juice, lemon juice, shallots, honey, salt & pepper. Slowly pour in the olive oil, whisking constantly, to form an emulsion. If not using within the hour, store the vinaigrette covered in the refrigerator. 

Place the arugula, watermelon, feta and mint in a large bowl. Drizzle with enough vinaigrette to coat the greens lightly and toss well. Taste for seasoning and serve immediately. 

 

Bon Appetit! 

 

 

6

Cucumber, Tomato & Onion Salad

Hey guys! Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! I'm getting in a little too late from late night summer swimming to put together a proper Scenes from the Weekend post. So I thought I would share a recipe we made for a BBQ we went to this evening. We used all fresh ingredients from the garden and gosh our tomatoes are SO good!! We found this recipe from the controversial Paula Deen but it was so great for summer. Light and super easy to make!

Ingredients:

1 pound of cucumbers (about two cucumbers peeled and thinly sliced) - I used one Armenian and one burpless from the garden

1 pint of cherry tomatoes, halved -I used sweet one millions and black cherry tomatoes from the garden

1/2 Vidalia onion, very thinly sliced - I couldn't find the at the supermarket so I substituted a white store bought onion

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar 

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions:

In a large salad bowl, toss together the cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, onion, parsley, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Let the salad stand for 10 minutes before serving. 

Cutting up the burpless cucumber. These are great cucumbers for pickling as well but they grow huge if you don't cut them from the vine right away!

Super easy!! Would be great with some feta too!!

Bon appetite!!

 

10

Non Canning Pepperoncini Recipe

This spring David planted a peppers plant and while I wasn't too sure what to do with them, he had the good idea to make pepperoncini's! I am not a spice person but I do like pepperoncini's so this seemed like a win for everyone.

I didn't necessarily want to can the peppers, mostly because I am impatient. So after some web searching I found a great recipe, found here.

If you have a pepper plant I highly recommend it!

Ingredients:

1 lb. fresh pepperoncini peppers

2.5 cups water

3 cups vinegar

3 tablespoons sugar

4 tablespoons pickling salt

2 bay leaves

2 tablespoons whole coriander seeds 

2 tablespoons black peppercorns

4 garlic cloves

For a list of directions on how to proceed with canning please go to the original recipe which can be found here

8

Macaroni Salad

I found this recipe on Pinterest and decided to make it to accompany our Father's Day BBQ. I doubled the recipe because I was serving a lot of people but this is the recipe for serving 8.

 

Ingredients:

1/2 pound elbow macaroni (I used this)

2 large eggs

3/4 cups of mayonnaise

2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

kosher salt and black pepper

2 scallions, thinly sliced

4 stalks celery, chopped

1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley

Directions:

 

Cook macaroni according to package directions. Once cooked run under cold water to cool.

Meanwhile, place the eggs in a small saucepan and add enough cold water to cover them by one inch. Bring to a boil (it's important to place the eggs in cold water and let them come to a boil). Once the water boils remove from heat, cover and let stand for 15 minutes. Drain and run the eggs under cold water to cool. Peel the eggs and coarsely chop.

 

In a large bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, lemon juice, 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper.

Even though I doubled the recipe I kept the 3/4 cup of mayonnaise the same - so if I were making a this recipe non-doubled I would probably reduce this amount as well.

 

Add macaroni, chopped eggs, scallions, celery, and parsley and toss gently to combine.

Usually macaroni salad is loaded with mayonnaise but since I cut the mayo in half it turned out nice and light. When I make it in the future I will add in sliced black olives to add a little more saltiness. The celery added a nice texture to the salad as well.

 

Bon Appetit!

9

Triple Berry Scones

Scones are one of those things I think are so much better homemade than store bought. So I decided to whip up a two berry scone version - blueberries and raspberries to be exact! I was going to go for a medley but all I had were Costco Frozen Berries and I wasn't about to eat those after their recall!

 

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour

3 tbsp. sugar

1 tbsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tbsp. regular butter, chilled and cut into small pieces

1 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 cups frozen berries

2 sprays butter flavor cooking spray

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with wax paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Mix in butter until mixture is that of fine crumbs. Stir in buttermilk and berries.

 

Shape dough into two 7-inch circles on prepared baking sheet. Cut each circle into six wedges and coat with cooking spray.

edit: Mine were more like 5-inch circles so I cut them into four slices a piece. I also used fresh raspberries since I realized I shouldn't use my frozen ones. So they got more than a bit squished!

 

Bake until cooked through and golden, about 25 minutes.



Last night it served as dessert, this morning as breakfast!

Oh and did I mention...this is a Weight Watchers recipe?!

 

Could have fooled me!

 

Bon Appetit!

 

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