With the Super Bowl just around the corner, I’ve got a plethora of recipes floating around in my head.  From a new recipe for wings, to more dips to these scrumptious, crispy wontons. I’ve had these wontons in my head for quite some time and yesterday, when my little man went down for a nap, I finally got the chance to try them out. They were easy, delicious and gone in a split second. Everything a good Super Bowl snack should be.

I originally was going to simply make guacamole wontons sans bacon but when I opened the refrigerator to get the wonton wrappers I saw the bacon. EUREKA! Guacamole and bacon is like a match made in heaven. Guacamole Bacon burgers anyone? But to take the guacamole and the bacon and put that inside a wonton wrapper and fry until crispy and golden, man oh man. It was like a little pocket of heaven.

Makes about 12 wontons

You will need:

• 4 slices bacon
• 2 medium avocados
• 2 teaspoons lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 red onion, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 12 wonton wrappers
• oil for frying

1. Cook bacon in a skillet over medium heat. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate and allow to cool. Once cool crumble into pieces.
2. Cut the avocados in half lengthwise and remove the pit. Scoop the flesh of the avocado into a bowl. Mash the avocado with a fork, until mostly smooth.
3. Mix in lime juice, cumin, chili powder, red onion and salt. Stir in bacon. Chill for at least 30 minutes to give the flavors a chance to meld.
4. When you are ready to cook the wontons, place 1 heaping teaspoon of the guacamole in the center of the wonton wrapper. Dip your finger into a bowl of water and run your finger along the edges of the wrapper. Fold bottom corner of the wrapper over the filling  and press all edges to close the wrapper, you’ll have a triangle. For presentation purposes, with the top of the triangle facing away from me, I folded up the left and right corners, but it is not necessary.
5. Heat 1 inch of oil in a pan to 350 degrees. Fry wontons, in batches if necessary, until golden brown. About 1 minute. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate and sprinkle with kosher salt. Allow to cool several minutes. Serve.

Enjoy!

We had our first snowfall of the year on Sunday. I had been waiting for snow for quite some time. I love snow days. I love how cozy they are. I love how the world gets silent when the snow falls. I love sipping hot chocolate and making snow angels. However, I must say there is one thing I do not like about snow days. I do not like when snow days happen to fall on the day that I scheduled a massage. So instead of relaxing and spending the day in the spa, I spent the afternoon in the kitchen making these comforting meatballs. After eating them I almost forgot about the massage. Almost.

Anything with roasted garlic is bound to be a favorite in our home. And these meatballs are no exception. The garlic is sweet and fragrant. The herbs add a lovely earthy flavor. And the turkey that the recipe calls for makes a meatball that is much lighter than the traditional beef meatball. While I served these meatballs for dinner with mashed potatoes, gravy and green beans, I think that with some toothpicks stuck in them these would make the perfect addition to any cocktail party or say… the perfect snack after a rescheduled massage.

Makes about 15 meatballs

You will need:

• 1 bulb (or head) of garlic
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• sprinkle kosher salt
• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1/2 cup chopped shallots
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1 teaspoon dried sage
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/4 cup olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Cut 1/4 inch off the top of the bulb of garlic to expose the cloves beneath, but do not peel the garlic, you want to roast it in the skin. Place bulb on a piece of aluminum foil, place butter on top, pour lemon juice over the garlic and sprinkle with kosher salt. Bring up all sides of aluminum foil and twist together to close. Cook for 60 minutes or until garlic cloves are soft and golden in color. Allow to cool.
3. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.
4. Combine turkey, shallots, egg, rosemary, sage, thyme, kosher salt and pepper in a bowl. Use a fork to remove garlic cloves from the skin and add to the mixture. Mix well. Roll into approximately 15 meatballs.
5. Place meatballs in a baking dish. Drizzle olive oil over the top. Bake in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Turn on the broiler for 5 minutes to brown. Serve.

Enjoy!

Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you had a great pre-Halloween weekend. Ours was relaxing, we finished the nursery, carved pumpkins, watched horror movies and ate comfort food. What was even better than the fantastic weekend was that I had a bit of an energy burst yesterday. I spent the day cooking in the kitchen. It felt great. I made chili that I let simmer all day. And then I decided to make these cupcakes. These vanilla flavored, chocolate loaded, cute as a button cupcakes.

I’ve always been a bit shy about making any kind of super decorative cupcakes. I usually just stick to piping on the frosting. But this year, I decided to let my inner artist take over. And as you can see by the masterpiece like quality of my jack-o-lantern face, you don’t need to be particularly artistic to make these. It’s really just more about having fun because regardless of what the final product looks like, trust me, they taste amazing.

Makes 12 cupcakes

You will need

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2/3 cups granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 large egg white
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Frosting

• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 – 5 tablespoons milk
• orange, yellow and green food coloring
• 1 (0.75 ounces) tube of black decorating gel

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Beat sugar and butter until well combined. Beat in eggs and egg white one at a time. Beat in vanilla.
3. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Add 1/2 of the flour mixture to the sugar mixture. Stir in milk. Add remaining flour mixture. Beat until smooth. Fold in chocolate chips.
4. Place cupcake liners in a cupcake pan. Fill each liner 2/3 of the way full.
5. Bake cupcakes for 15 – 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out with just a few crumbs on it.
6. Remove cupcakes from the oven, allow to cool a couple of minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
7. While you are waiting for your cupcakes to cool, beat together powdered sugar and butter until fluffy. Stir in vanilla. Stir in milk until the frosting reaches a stiff but spreadable consistency.
8. Divide frosting into bowls. Use the yellow and red food coloring to make the orange for the pumpkin. Use the green to make the color for the stem. Use enough of each color to get your desired color.
9. Frost the cupcakes with the orange frosting. Use the green frosting to make a stem. Use the black decorating frosting to make desired faces on the cupcakes.

Happy Halloween!

Alright, so I know I just said on my last post that I should be eating healthy snacks. But what I didn’t say was that I should be eating healthy snacks all the time. You see, a girl is allowed a splurge every now and then. Although the way that I like to splurge on jalapeno poppers would probably be considered obscene by some. There is just something so good about the spicy jalapeno, the melted cream cheese and the crispy, salty breading. Just typing about them makes me want to go make some more right now. It’s a good thing, or not depending on how you look at it, that these are super easy to make.

With all of my talk about how obsessed I have been with jalapeno poppers throughout this pregnancy, I was surprised when I looked through my recipe index and noticed that I did not post a recipe on the blog for them. Sure I have these bacon filled gems, oh and you cannot forget these ones loaded with chorizo, or my most recent mac n’ cheese but there is far little that compares to the original. Simply put: These. Are. Heaven.

Makes 8

You will need:

• 4 fresh jalapenos, sliced in half lengthwise, seeds and stems removed
• 4 ounces cream cheese softened
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 – 2/3 panko bread crumbs
• 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more as needed
• oil for frying

1. Divide cream cheese evenly and press into jalapenos.
2. Set up an assembly line with flour in one bowl, beat the egg and milk together in another bowl. In a third bowl combine 1/2 cup panko, granulated garlic and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
3. Dredge the the cream cheese stuffed jalapenos in the flour, dip in the egg and then press into the bread crumbs until completely coated. Repeat with all jalapenos adding more bread crumbs if needed. Place on a plate, cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to allow to set.
4. When you are ready to fry the jalapenos, heat 2 inches of oil in a pot over medium-high heat. When it reaches 350 degrees, or when bread crumbs sizzle if dropped into the hot oil, fry the jalapeno peppers until golden brown. About 3 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer them to a paper towel lined plate. Sprinkle with kosher salt. Allow to cool a couple minutes and serve.

Enjoy!

With only 5 or so weeks left of this pregnancy, I’ve reached the point where I can’t eat 3 large meals a day. Instead I need to snack. As much as I want to snack on Oreos, french fries, potato chips and a host of other things that I dreamed of eating day and night while pregnant, the truth of the matter is I should be eating stuff that is a little bit healthier. Something that satisfies my need to snack as well as my tummy. This protein packed, spicy hummus does just that.

Not only is this the perfect food for a snacking pregnant woman, it also happens to be a really good party dip. Whether it be a super bowl party, world series party or a night with the girls. It really is a crowd pleaser, just make sure you keep an eye on the heat. I used two chipotle peppers and it was a tad bit spicy. If you like things a little less spicy use 1 pepper.

While this dip would be great with veggies or pita chips, I actually decided to fry some flour tortillas and sprinkle them with salt and cumin. It was a nice twist, and super easy to do. Just slice the flour tortillas into triangles and fry them until golden, 1 – 2 minutes.

Makes about 1 1/2 cups

You will need:

• 1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, 3 tablespoons of the liquid reserved
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 – 2 chipotle peppers in adobo
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon lime zest

1. Combine garbanzo beans, reserved liquid, olive oil, chipotle peppers, paprika, cumin, lime juice and kosher salt in a food processor. Pulse until smooth.
2. Transfer the hummus to a bowl, sprinkle with lime zest. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.  Serve.

Enjoy!

One of the things I see a lot of when October rolls around is recipes for pumpkin butter.  After a few years of seeing the recipes, but never actually trying it,  I decided to give it a shot.  You will find many of the traditional ingredients in this recipe that you find in many other pumpkin butter recipes but in the spirit of the belief that “chocolate makes everything better”, I add a bit of dark chocolate for a twist.  The result is a butter with all the tastes of fall that also happens to be perfect for breakfast or dessert.

I want to thank everyone for participating in the Le Creuset Giveaway last week. And thank you for all of your kind words about the anniversary. While I wish I had an “in” with Le Creuset so I could give each of you one of the French ovens unfortunately I could only choose one winner. I’ve contacted the winner via email and once I have confirmed that the email address is valid and I am able to ship to them, I’ll post the winner on the giveaway post.

I really do appreciate each and every one of you and while you might not win the giveaway, this dark chocolate pumpkin butter might help you feel a bit better.

Makes about 2 cups

You will need:

• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup apple juice
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 ounce bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Combine all ingredients together in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a slight boil. Reduce heat to low and continue to cook, stirring occasionally for 30 minutes or until butter thickens.
2. Allow to cool to room temperature, spread on toast, crackers or use as a dip for fruit. Store any leftovers in a covered container for up to a week.

Enjoy!

I am realizing now that I probably shouldn’t have asked what your favorite comfort food was for the Le Creuset Giveaway. Not because it is a bad question. Or an uninteresting question. But because reading all of your responses has made this pregnant lady crave even more comfort food, as if she wasn’t craving it enough. But oh well a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do and this girl just had to make this Shepard’s Pie variation with ground turkey, mushrooms, onions, corn and rosemary mashed potatoes.

There is a bit of work to this dish. I like to think of comfort food as food that might take a bit longer to prepare but is worth every minute spent on it. Dishes that are perfect for those cold, rainy, October Sundays. Dishes that make the house smell amazing. Dishes that warm your tummy and your soul. At least that is what comfort food is to me. And this dish is exactly that. So while you’re making the mashed potatoes and sauteing the vegetables and waiting for it all to bake up to bubbly goodness just know that it’s worth it. And it’s also worth knowing that you’ll want a nap afterward so keep a pillow close by.

Note: I used an stove to oven pan for this recipe and it made things quite easy. With that said if you don’t have a pan that is big enough simply make each component separately and then layer it in a casserole dish.

Serves 4 – 6

You will need:

• 6 medium russet potatoes
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 – 2/3 cup milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more as desired
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, plus more as desired
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary or 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1 yellow onion, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 10 crimini mushrooms, sliced (about 2 1/2 cups)
• 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cups mushroom broth
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 ounces softened cream cheese
• 1 cup frozen corn

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Place potatoes in a large pot of water and bring to a boil. Cook until fork tender and drain.
3. Return the potatoes to the pot add in butter and milk. Whip with a hand held mixer or use a potato masher. Once creamy, stir in salt, pepper and rosemary. Reduce heat to low and cover while you prepare the rest of the dish.
4. In a large skillet heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Cook turkey until cooked through and no longer pink. Drain and set aside.
5. In the same skillet heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil, stir in onions, garlic and mushrooms. Cook until onions are softened and mushrooms have browned slightly, about 7 minutes. Stir in flour. Allow to cook 1 minute and slowly whisk in the mushroom broth. Continue cooking until sauce thickens slightly, about 3 minutes. Stir in cream cheese and Worcestershire. Once the cream cheese has melted return the turkey to the pan and stir in corn. Mix well. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
6. If your pan is oven proof, at this time spread the rosemary potatoes over the top. If you are transferring to a casserole dish, transfer the turkey mixture to a 9 x 13 baking dish. Spoon the mashed potatoes over the top.
7. Bake the Shepard’s Pie in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Turn on the broiler and broil for 3 – 4 minutes or until potatoes brown slightly. Remove from oven and let stand for 10 minutes. Serve.

Enjoy!

Aside from the leaves, the cool weather, the comfort food, the pumpkin patch, my birthday and Halloween, one of my favorite parts of October is that it is finally time for me to start enjoying all things pumpkin. From pumpkin soup to pumpkin cheesecake, to pumpkin martinis, I love it all. And now that I can add these easy, super moist cookies to the list I am pretty sure I have enough recipes to use the bajillion cans of pumpkin puree I stocked up on last time I was at Costco.

In addition to prepping the nursery, I came down with a cold last week and was unable to spend much time in the kitchen. Instead I rested, slept, watched Lifetime movies and thought up all of the wonderful things I could make with pumpkin. These cookies were the first thing I thought of and thus the first thing I made when I felt well enough to get back in the kitchen. They are sweet, moist and topped with cream cheese frosting. It might just be my favorite cookie recipe this far. And no, that is not the pregnancy talking.

Makes about 18 cookies

You will need:

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup pumpkin puree

Cream cheese frosting

• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 – 1 3/4 cup powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie spice.
3. Using a stand or hand held mixer, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Beat in vanilla. Gradually beat in sifted flour mixture until well combined. Fold in pumpkin puree.
4. Drop tablespoonfuls of dough onto prepared baking sheet a couple of inches apart. Baking for 12 – 15 minutes or until cookies start to brown slightly on the edges. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.
5. While cookies are cooling, cream together the cream cheese and butter. Beat in vanilla. Add in 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar and beat until it is a stiff spreadable mixture. Add more powdered sugar if necessary. Frost cookies. Serve.

If you have any leftovers, keep the frosted cookies in the refrigerator. Enjoy!

The other day I posted a tweet on Twitter and Facebook stating that “Sriracha just might be the sauce of the Gods”. Not surprisingly I started to get a lot of responses from people agreeing with me. Apparently the spicy loveliness of Sriracha has cast it’s spell over just about everyone. It’s because of that fact that I set out to create another recipe using the condiment of all condiments. These spicy chicken wings are the result. And in my opinion, proof that Sriracha is in fact the sauce of the Gods.

If you have experience with Sriracha it should not surprise you to learn that these wings are spicy. They are just as spicy, if not a tad bit spicier, than your traditional chicken wing but they aren’t all heat. They have a bit of an Asian twist. In addition to the Sriracha there is rice vinegar, ginger and garlic. The flavor is spicy and tangy, a perfect combination for chicken wings.

Serves 2 – 4

You will need:

• 1.5 to 2 lb chicken wings, tips trimmed and cut at the joint, rinsed and pat dry
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup Sriracha
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Set aside.
2. In a bowl whisk together egg and milk. In a resealable plastic bag combine flour, 1 teaspoon kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. Dip wings in egg mixture then transfer to plastic bag and shake to coat. Transfer to a plate and allow to set for 15 minutes.
3. Place chicken wings on prepared baking sheet. Drizzle with canola oil. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes. Turn and cook for another 15 – 20 minutes or until browned and cooked through.
4. While the wings are cooking combine Sriracha, rice vinegar, garlic powder, ground ginger and remaining kosher salt in a bowl and mix well.
5. Once wings are cooked, place hot wings in a bowl and toss with Sriracha sauce to coat completely. Serve hot.

Enjoy!

One could speculate that, like my other recent Mac N’ Cheese recipe, this recipe is also  the result of a pregnancy craving but the truth of the matter is that I love jalapeno poppers. I loved them before I was pregnant, I love them now that I am pregnant, and I’ll probably continue to love them after I am pregnant. The fact that I crave them at 10am is probably because I am pregnant but that is besides the point.  It is this love affair with jalapeno poppers that prompted me to try my hand at jalapeno popper mac n’ cheese. And as it turns out jalapeno poppers and macaroni and cheese make a beautiful combination.

To get the true taste of jalapeno poppers two ingredients were obvious: jalapenos and cream cheese. Getting the crunch right was a bit more of a challenge. Should I try bread crumbs? Croutons? Ultimately I decided on panko because I tend to like jalapeno poppers that are coated in panko. In this dish, the panko bread crumbs added the perfect bit of crunch to the creaminess of the mac n’ cheese.

While I really enjoyed the baked version, if you are short on time and looking for a stove-top variation, I’d recommend cooking the pasta according to package directions, then follow the instructions up until 4. Instead of baking, place the mac and cheese in a bowl and top with crumbled potato chips. It sounds weird but trust me, it’s quiet delicious as well.

Serves 4 – 6

You will need:

• 1lb dried conchiglie pasta
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 jalapenos, diced
• 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup pepper jack cheese
• 4 ounces cream cheese softened
• 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt
• 2/3 cup panko bread crumbs
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• kosher salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook pasta for 6- 7 minutes or until tender but still has a bite to it. Drain.
3. Melt the butter in the same pot that you cooked the pasta in. Stir in jalapenos and cook just until softened, about 2 minutes. Whisk in flour. Cook 1 minute. Pour in milk. Stir in pepper jack and cream cheese. Cook until melted. Stir in 1/4 teaspoon of seasoning salt. Stir in pasta. Adjust with more seasoning salt if needed.
4. Pour macaroni and cheese into a casserole dish. Sprinkle with panko bread crumbs. Drizzle olive oil over the top. Bake for 15 minutes or until pasta is bubbly. Turn on the broiler and broil for 3 – 4 minutes or until panko bread crumbs have browned. Remove from oven, sprinkle lightly with salt. Serve hot.

Enjoy!