Appetizers
As the fourth of July is quickly approaching, I wanted share some quick and easy, but most of all delicious, treats with you. Tthe first and my favorite is a trifle made with angel food cake and lemon curd that is just delicious. Just ask the men and woman of the Dover Fire Department. Jim, Mr. MCYM called to say the bowl is empty!
INGREDIENTS
1 store bought angel food cake (depending on the size of your bowl you might need two)
2 (8 ounce) blocks of cream cheese (you can use low fat)
2 (10 ounce) jars of store bought lemon curd
Blueberries
Strawberries
Blackberries
1 (8 ounce) container of low-fat cool whip
DIRECTIONS
Wash your berries, slice strawberries and mix all fruits together in a bowl, set aside.
Cube the angel food cake into 1 inch pieces.
Combine lemon curd and cream cheese together, mix with a blender until smooth.
To assemble layer using your trifle bowl with the angel food cake covering the bottom of the bowl, next spoon the lemon curd mixture over the cake and spreading to cover all of the cake, add a layer of the mixed berries, repeat layer, cake, curd, berries. For the last layer top with remaining cake, spread all of the cool whip over the cake and finish with the last of your berries!
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My next treat for you that I think is just adorable and is so simple. Simply melt the white chocolate, dunk your strawberries three quarters of the way and sprinkle with blue sugar crystals.
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My last, but not least, is a delicious crunchy, sweet treat and it is done the same way as the berries. Dip the pretzels rods three quarters of the way, let the excess chocolate drip off and sprinkle with red, white and blue candy decorations.
I hope everyone has a wonderful, flavorful and, most of all, safe Fourth of July !
Enjoy,
No matter how much I cook my favorite things to cook are always appetizers. I especially love when they are super simple and everyone loves it! This is one of those recipes. I made this on a very rainy, windy Sunday afternoon and both Jim and Robby really enjoyed these. These would be great for any get-together.
INGREDIENTS
1 package of kielbasa
1/2 cup of Hot Red Pepper Jelly (I used Stonewall Kitchen)
1/4 cup of packed brown sugar
DIRECTIONS
Slice your kielbasa into half inch rings and place in a large skillet that is heated to medium to medium high heat. Let the kielbasa brown up a little bit on each side. This took me about 15 minutes depending on how brown you like the kielbasa. Add the hot red pepper jelly and mix well, letting the jelly melt into the kielbasa. Add the brown sugar and mix well also letting this melt in making a sauce with the jelly. Continue to cook for five more minutes stirring often. Remove from heat. Serve warm.
Enjoy!
I LOVE this dish! I have already made it five times this grilling season, it gets high reviews from everyone that has had it! Did I mention it comes from Taste of Home magazine? But wait, that’s not all. BIG NEWS! I am also a Volunteer Taste of Home field editor!! Yup, it’s true!! How cool is that?! I feel like one of the cool kids! Now…back to the recipe. This shrimp is great as a side dish and would also be great on a salad ! I also added a light pinch of red pepper flakes… but that is optional! You will not be disappointed with this quick and easy recipe!
INGREDIENTS
1 bottle (8 ounces) Italian salad dressing. ( I use the robusto dressing)
1 cup of honey
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
2 pounds raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
Red pepper flakes (optional)
8 wooden skewers, soaked
DIRECTIONS
In a small bowl combine Italian dressing, honey and garlic. Mix well and pour into a resealable bag and add the shrimp and let marinate for at least 30 minutes in the fridge. When you are ready to grill remove shrimp from fridge, discard marinade and thread shrimp onto soaked skewers. Preheat grill to medium heat. Grill skewers for two minutes per side or until shrimp turns pink. Add red pepper flakes, if desired. Serve warm.
Enjoy!
I am so thrilled to have a guest post today from my friend Sean. Sean and I met when he started working at the same high school as I do. Sean is a police officer for the City of Dover, NH and is currently assigned to the high school as the school resource officer. Sean and I became fast friends with our love for good food. Sean is not only a great cook, (he makes a killer pulled pork, among many other things!) but also an avid hiker, tough mudder competitor and a fun loving Dad! I hope you enjoy Sean’s post and have the chance to try some of the great products we taste tested! Thanks for the tasty wings and the guest post Sean! I am looking forward to many more of your creations!
Let me start this off by saying I am no BBQ master or anything of the like. I am simply a guy who loves to grill and smoke food. Again, I am no expert in the field, but I know what I like, and that’s a good jerk seasoning and I’ve been on a mission for years to find that perfect one that suits me. I also have a soft spot for exotic and non-traditional BBQ sauces, and have found that usually the locally made ones have been the best by any mass produced ones I have tried over the years.
So a week ago or so I was asked by my friend Anne to try out this local jerk seasoning she came across. I have been privileged to be on the receiving end of some of her cooking. Trusting her judgment, I would often bring her some of the fruits of my labor from the weekend and usually the following day I would get some of her cooking in return and I have never been disappointed. She and I have been trading our weekend creations for several months now and some of the folks around us at work often roll their eyes when we get deep in conversations about food!
Onto this jerk seasoning… Anne had procured some Marcia’s Jamaican Jerk Sauce and had asked me to smoke some chicken and try out the sauce. Marcia’s Jerk Sauce is locally made next door to me in Portsmouth, NH. Well how can I say no to this? It’s a win win for me and I was excited for this jerk. So I set some time aside for the following Sunday. I went to a local high end market in Portsmouth NH near where I live called McKinnon’s. Anyone who has ever been there can attest that this place has anything a person can want for cuts of meat. McKinnon’s has a lot more than just meats, but that’s what I was there to get. I selected some meaty looking wings and two other sauces I’ll mention later.
So on Sunday afternoon I set up my smoker which is a Weber 18.5″ Smokey Mountain. I can’t say enough about this smoker, but that’s not what this review is for. I decided to go with a combination of apple wood and pecan wood for the chicken wings. I purposely didn’t use any salt or rubs on the wings as I wanted the true flavor of the wood and the sauces I was about to use. So while the smoker was setting up, I laid out the three sauces I was going to use. While I was at McKinnon’s, I decided to grab a few more sauces to have a variety of wings because I probably bought about six pounds of them!
The other two sauces I went with was another jerk sauce and a BBQ sauce. The jerk sauce is Helen’s Tropical-Exotics Island Jerk, which I think is out of Florida. I have used this before in the “hot’ version on some smoked pulled pork and really liked it. McKinnon’s was out of the hot one so I went with the regular one. The BBQ sauce was a gamble, but the fact it was local (Maine) and it was called Beast Feast Maine Apple Bourbon BBQ Sauce, I had to try it.
So the wings were smoked for a little over an hour at around 220 degrees and they were divided up and given a bath in each respective sauce and left to sit for about ten minutes. I’m not submerging them for ten minutes.
What can I say about Marcia’s Jerk Sauce? This has been some of the best jerk I have had in years, if not ever. I found it to have a great kick and loaded with flavor. I found the consistency a little thicker than others I have tried, but I liked this better as more of the sauce sticks to the wings better! Also, I added about two ounces of water to the sauce just to loosen it up a little. Even looking at the ingredients, there are no preservatives, no added sugar, or high fructose corn syrup. This is a major plus to me. Anyone who likes jerk should really give this stuff the time of day.
Helen’s Tropical-Exotic Jerk Sauce is also very good. A little watery, but still full of flavor. The ingredients say things like “tropical spices” like it’s some huge secret. Personally, I don’t like when things are labeled like this and it has some added things like caramel color. All in all, a solid sauce and I would still use it again, but my new “go to” will be Marcia’s.
Okay, the Beast Feast Maine Apple Bourbon BBQ Sauce. All I can say is wow! If you are not a bourbon fan, you probably won’t like this stuff, but luckily for me…I do. The ingredients list is a plus as well. No added junk and they even use a local (to where it’s made in Maine) coffee-apple bourbon. I will certainly be using this again and was very impressed with the distinct apple bourbon flavor.
One other thing I started doing when I use the smoker is, I’ll smoke three to four bulbs of garlic for about an hour and a half. I prep the bulb by simply exposing the the tops of the cloves and putting them on the top rack of the smoker. I then store the garlic and add to just about anything like pizza, eggs, quinoa, or whatever you add garlic to. You can easily pick up the smokiness in what you add it to. Just a little spin off of the typical roasted garlic.
I’ll wrap this up by thanking Anne for allowing me the opportunity to write on her blog. This was a great experience and like I said…it’s a win win for me! Thanks again Anne!
Sean
Thanks again Sean! I look forward to tasting many more dishes!! If you want to buy some of Marcia’s Jerk Sauce you can find her at the Portsmouth NH farmers market or on line at www.jamaicanjerkshack.com
NOTE- if you like crispy wings you can put them in a deep fryer for a couple minutes and you will have the most moist, smoked and crispy wings!!
Enjoy!
My entire family really enjoys Mexican flavors. I use Mexican flavors in a lot of ways and this recipe just might be one of my favorites! This would be great for any party and certainly great for a Mexican holiday celebration! You can also make this with a lot of heat or just a little! We like heat, so mine packed a punch!
INGREDIENTS
1 pound ground beef
1 envelope of taco seasoning (low sodium)
1 can of Ro-Tel tomatoes with green chili’s ( you can get original, mild or hot)
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
12-15 Wonton wrappers
Toppings
Sour cream
Jalepeno’s (I like the ones you find in the jar, but you can certainly use thinly sliced fresh jalepeno’s)
Salsa
DIRECTIONS
Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Spray muffin tins with non stick spray and take one wonton wrapper and place one wrapper in each muffin cup with the wonton wrapper coming up the sides of the tin. When you have all of your wontons in the cups lightly spray the wrappers with the non stick spray. Place in your preheated oven and bake until the tips of the wrappers are a light golden brown. (Mine took about ten minutes) remove from the oven and set aside.
Brown your ground beef in a medium size skillet and drain extra liquid when cooked through. Add the taco seasoning and the can of diced tomatoes (not drained) to the skillet and stir until combined. Add the American cheese and the Monterey Jack cheese and stir until the cheese is mixed through and melted. Remove the beef mixture from the heat and fill each won ton wrapper with some of your beef mixture. When the won tons are all filled you can put them back into the oven for just a few minutes to warm everything through. When warmed through remove from the oven and add your toppings. A little dollop of sour cream and or salsa and a ring of jalapeño .
Serve warm.
Enjoy!
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