This month for the Secret Recipe Club I was assigned Lindsay’s blog, Life and Kitchen. Lindsay has a host of recipes on her blog that range from sweet to savory and from simple to more complex. She shares stories about her family throughout her blog posts and the pictures of her daughter are adorable! It took me a bit to decide what to make this month, but when I saw these onion rings I knew they would be a winner. Any Cook’s Illustrated recipe repeated on Annie’s Eats is guaranteed to be a real winner, and these crunchy onion rings were no exception! I love that these onion rings aren’t quite baked and aren’t quite fried. The oils from the chips that are used in the crumb mixture combined with a thin veneer of oil in the bottom of a rimmed baking sheet are all that’s necessary to make a perfectly crunchy onion ring, without the hassle of deep frying.

Continue reading: oven fried onion rings (secret recipe club)

Don’t tell anyone, but sometimes, I like spying on people. 

Not in a dirty way! I promise! Sheesh….

Anywho, this is a story about one of my spy missions. Â

Continue reading: spicy stuffed mushrooms

If it’s good enough for Annie, it’s good enough for me. Annie’s Eats is one of  my favorite food blogs and I love almost everything she makes. She wrote in a recent post that she had put off trying these corn cakes for a loooooong time (something we food bloggers are wont to do given that we have so many recipe ideas flying at us every day!) and that her only regret was not making them sooner. I decided at the last minute to add this recipe to my appetizer list for my birthday dinner. They were an absolute hit (everyone especially loved the salsa that went on top) and the leftovers reheated nicely in the toaster oven for my lunch the following day. I highly recommend serving these as an appetizer or side dish. They’re delicious!

These are awesome. It took me a while to perfect the recipe, but now that I’ve done so, I want to serve them at every gathering we host. What better way to eat veggies than wrapped in bacon!?

The first time I made these, I followed the directions exactly and immediately could see room for improvement. The original recipe called for cooking the bundles on a jelly roll pan, which was fine until you served them and realized that the bacon tops were crisp but the bottoms were soggy and floating in grease. Gross. Additionally, the green beans were dried out from 40 minutes in the oven, making them overly chewy and difficult to eat.

The next time I baked these, I cooked them on a cookie rack to keep the bundles from floating in grease, and I turned and basted them half way through cooking to allow the bacon to brown evenly on all sides. And to solve the problem of the bacon and green beans cooking at different rates, I blanched the green beans for 4 minutes in boiling water and pre-cooked the bacon for a couple of minutes on the stove until it was just beginning to cook and yet still very pliable. This halved the cooking time and resulted in much more evenly cooked bundles. My only problem was the sauce; I had doubled it, which was a great decision, but the brown sugar kept caramelizing into a solid mass. That would not work very well for basting! I decided that the brown sugar should be added to the sauce last, off the heat, and simply stirred until dissolved. The result? Green bean bacon bundle perfection.

green bean bacon bundles
recipe adapted from How Sweet It Is and cooking methods developed by Dishing the Divine

1 pound fresh green beans
10-12 slices of thick-cut bacon (I used applewood smoked bacon and loved it)
4 tablespoons butter
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar

Preheat oven to 400F. Place a cookie rack on top of a large baking sheet.

Boil a large pot of water. While the water is boiling, cut the ends off the green beans. Blanch in the boiling water for 3-4 minutes, until the beans are bright green and tender crisp. Drain in a colander and rinse immediately with cold water. Set aside.

Cook bacon in batches on the stove for 2-3 minutes or until the meat is just starting to cook but is still very pliable. (It should not be crisp or else you won’t be able to wrap it around the green beans!)

Gather the green beans in bunches of 6-8 beans, wrap with a piece of bacon, and place on the cookie rack. Secure with a toothpick if you desire. Repeat the process for the remaining green beans and bacon.

On the stove over medium high heat, heat the butter until melted. Add the garlic, salt and pepper and cook until garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Remove the pan from the heat, add the brown sugar, and stir until dissolved. Baste the tops of the bundles with half of this mixture.

Cook for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and carefully rotate all the bundles so that the tops become the bottoms. Baste again with the remaining sauce. Cook for another 10 minutes or until the bacon is crispy brown. Serve immediately, adding more salt to taste.

These adorable pizza puffs are fun party appetizers and also make a great lunch for kids. Much like making any other muffin recipe, you simply combine all the ingredients in a bowl, spoon into muffin cups and bake. Serve with warmed pizza sauce (I used this one and omitted the Parmesan cheese).

pizza puffs

from www.thesweetslife.com

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups shredded mozarella cheese
• 1 cup diced pepperoni (optional)
• 1 cup diced mushrooms
• 1 cup diced black olives
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• pizza sauce for serving

Preheat oven to 375. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan.

In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. Add the milk and eggs and mix well. Add the additional toppings and spices and stir to combine. Let rest for 10 minutes.

Pour the batter into the prepared muffins cups. Bake until puffed and golden, 27-30 minutes. Let cool and remove from the pan.

Serve the pizza puffs warm with heated pizza sauce for dipping.

The story of these raviolis begins once upon a time in Italy. (Don’t all great stories begin once upon a time in Italy? I do think so…) I was traveling with my husband and we went to a tiny region called Cinque Terra. Cinque Terra is Italian for Five Lands, named after the five adjacent and gorgeous towns built into the hillsides overlooking the ocean.

This region is not just renowned for its beauty. It’s also the birthplace of pesto, and believe me… their pesto is amazing. I made it my goal to eat pesto for every meal except breakfast. In one of the towns I ordered ravioli with pesto at the recommendation of the person seated next to me and it was the best meal I ate during my entire three weeks in Europe. I have always served ravioli with tomato sauce. Why had I not thought to try it with pesto?

As I served ravioli with pesto for dinner the other night, I thought it needed a little something extra to brighten the flavors. Our garden is overflowing with tomatoes, so I chopped up some cherry tomatoes and added that. And then it hit me: party appetizer perfection! Simply serve raviolis with a little dollop of pesto and a half of a cherry tomato on top! Easy to make, easy to serve, easy to eat. Perfect.

I served a hundred dishes at my husband’s birthday party including mojito watermelon, garbanzo bean salad, and dilled cucumbers, and yet everyone’s absolute favorite was these little ravioli appetizers. One of my friends exclaimed, “Even I could make this!” Yes, it’s true. Even *you* can make this!

ravioli bites
a Dishing the Divine original

*note: usually I add Parmesan cheese as the last step in making my pesto. Since these are being served on cheese ravioli, you could omit this extra cheese.

to serve 8 people:

32 cheese raviolis
2 batches of pesto
16 cherry tomatoes

Cook the raviolis according to package directions. Place one teaspoon of pesto on each ravioli. Top with a cherry tomato. Serve.

**By the way, if you haven’t entered our contest yet for the 12″ Cast Iron Pan, please do so!**

parmesan crusted goat cheese in basil infused olive oil
www.annies-eats.net

for the goat cheese:
½ oz. Parmesan cheese
¼ cup panko (available near the bread crumbs in your grocery store)
Freshly ground pepper
4 oz. semi-firm plain goat cheese
1 clove garlic
¼ tsp. coarse salt, plus more to taste

for the basil oil:
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
2 clove garlic
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Place the Parmesan in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until finely ground. Add the panko to the bowl and pulse a few more times so the cheese and crumbs have an even, fine texture. Season with freshly ground pepper to taste. Transfer to a shallow plate or bowl. Wipe out the bowl of the food processor.

Place the goat cheese in a small bowl. Finely mince the garlic. Sprinkle the salt over the minced garlic and smash the mixture together with a fork or the side of a chef’s knife until it forms a paste. Add the garlic paste to the bowl with the goat cheese and season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir the mixture together until smooth and well blended. Form the goat cheese mixture into a round ball. Roll the ball in the Parmesan-panko mixture until well coated. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate.

To make the basil oil, bring a small saucepan of water to a boil.  Add the basil leaves to the pot and boil for 30 seconds.  Drain and rinse immediately with cold water.  Blot the basil leaves with a towel to remove all of the excess water.  Add the basil leaves and the garlic to the bowl of the food processor.  Pulse until finely minced.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl.  With the food processor running, add the oil through the feed tube in a steady stream.  Continue processing until the mixture is well blended and the oil takes on a green hue.  Strain the oil mixture through a fine mesh sieve onto a serving plate.  Place the ball of goat cheese in the center of the basil oil.  Garnish with additional fresh basil if desired.  Serve with baguette or ciabatta slices.

out of this world bruschetta
loosely inspired by www.annies-eats.net

12 oz tomatoes, heirloom preferred
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp good quality balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp packed chopped basil leaves
1/4 tsp salt
a couple grinds of fresh pepper

Dice the tomatoes and place in a strainer while you prep your other ingredients. In a medium sized bowl, add the garlic, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, basil, salt, and pepper. After the tomatoes have released some of their juices, add them to the bowl and mix thoroughly. Let sit for 10 minutes for flavors to combine. Meanwhile, toast small slices of french bread until just starting to turn golden. Brush some of the juices from the bruschetta mixture onto the toasts. Top with bruschetta. Serve immediately.