Italian Pinwheels

We attended our first 'neighborhood' party this evening, and had a lot of fun meeting neighbors. I was requested to bring a side dish, appetizer, or dessert, and since I'm still riding the cookie high from Christmas, I went with an appetizer.

And an easy one, to boot!

Italian Pinwheels

(Pillsbury)

Makes 24 appetizers

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella

1/2 cup sliced pepperoni, finely chopped

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

1 egg yolk

1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury refrigerated crescent rolls or 'recipe creations' dough sheet

1 egg white, beaten

Directions

- Heat oven to 375 degrees F

- In a small bowl, mix cheese, pepperoni, oregano and egg yolk

- If using crescent rolls: unroll dough, separate dough into 4 rectangles and firmly press preforations to seal. If using dough sheets: unroll dough; cut into 4 rectangles

- Spread each rectangle with about 3 tablespoons pepperoni mixture

- Starting at the short side, roll up each rectangle, pinching the edges to seal

- Cut each roll into 6 slices and place, cut side down, about 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet

- Brush with the beaten egg white

- Bake 12-15 minutes or until golden brown

- Serve warm

Buffalo Chicken Dip

If you're a hot wings fan, then you'll adore this dip.

It's been passed around -- fondly discussed as "crack dip" -- with my friends for many years. However, I don't like hot sauce, so I never made it.

DH andI had a "reunion" to go to last weekend (basically, it was DH's 10-year high school reunion, but he and a bunch of his buddies didn't want to go to the REAL event -- so they held their own!) and I knew it would go over well with the boys.

Plus -- we had just moved in the week before...so my crockpot was about the only thing unpacked I could cook in!

You could also heat this dip up on the stovetop, or even toss it in the oven until it's bubbly, but if you leave it in the crockpot, it stays warm and ready to serve all day long.

Oh, and P.S. -- I've discovered it isn't nearly as spicy when it's cold...and I really like it cold!

Buffalo Chicken Dip

(Kelly's Recipe)

2-8oz. cream cheese, room temperature

2-10oz. cans of chicken, shredded

1 cup ranch dressing (You can also use bleu cheese dressing if you prefer. It does change the flavor of the dip)

3/4 cup hot sauce (I used Frank's)

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

- Toss all of the above into a crockpot; keep on low for your party, stirring occasionally.

- Serve with tortilla chips (or some people serve with celery as well)

Admittedly, it doesn't exactly photograph well...

Corn Fritters

DH loves corn fritters. Personally, I'd never had or even heard of one until I met him -- and I am still kind of take-it-or-leave-it on them.

But, we had 4 ears of corn that needed to be used up, and DH was out fishing -- so I got creative with it.

I used the recipe on A Taste of Home Cooking's blog -- it seemed pretty standard, and the addition of a little heavy cream was sure to make it yummy!

All-in-all, these were good. I rebelled against the rules for frying, using Canola oil instead of a corn or vegetable oil, and DH said he could tell. He told me I need to use veggie or corn oil next time!

Farmstand Corn Fritters

(Makes 12 fritters)

1 1/2 lbs. fresh corn (2 large or 3-4 medium ears), husks and silks removed

1 large egg, lightly beaten

3 tbsp. all-purpose flour

3 tbsp. cornmeal

2 tbsp. heavy cream

1 small shallot, minced (I never keep shallot -- I used some regular onion)

1/2 tsp. salt

pinch of cayenne

1/2 cup corn or vegetable oil, as needed

Directions

-Cut kernels from 1-2 ears of corn (depending on size) and place in a large bowl (you should have about 1 cup of kernels)

- Grate the remaining ears of corn on the large holes on a box grater (you should have a generous 1/2 cup of grated kernels)

- Add the grated kernels to the bowl with the whole kernels

- Using a butter knife, scrape any remaining pulp from all ears of corn into the bowl

- Stir in the egg, flour, cornmeal, cream, shallot, salt and cayenne

- Heat oil in a large, heavy-bottomed non-stick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering

- Drop 6 heaping tablespoons of batter into the pan, and fry until golden brown (took me about 4-5 minutes per side)

- Transfer fritters to a plate lined with paper towels to drain

- If necessary, add more oil to the skillet and reheat; fry remaining batter

- Serve immediately

Mine look a little dark -- bad lighting!

Turning Failure into Deliciousness

Ladies and gentlemen, I've had my first bread failure.

Seems like everyone's been making pita bread lately -- I saw it here, and here, and here, and here -- and a dozen other places, it seems!

So I dove in. Things progressed nicely -- I felt the dough was a little sticky, but nothing to make a fuss about. I let it rise. Rose beautifully. I rolled it out -- worked fine.

But when I covered it and let it proof, nothing happened. The recipe I was using said 20 minutes of proofing should produce a slight "puff" -- and I had no puff.

A few hours into the process at that point, I wasn't turning back. It rose, everything worked, except the proof...and I still have no idea why.

So I tossed it in the oven, and hoped for the best.

The end result was flatbread. Since I didn't get "puff" in my proofing stage, I didn't get "pockets" in my pita. But I did make a mighty tasty flatbread!

Admittedly, I'm still irritated at it -- mostly because I don't know what was wrong. I may try again, but not until my hatred for pita settles down.

Left with 8 slabs of flatbread, I had to figure out what to do with it. I fed several to DH -- in a variety of forms -- for lunch.

And with spaghetti on Friday, I finished them off as garlic breadsticks. A quick mix of oil and minced garlic (yes, from the jar -- I loves me some pre-minced garlic), brushed on the flatbread, then a sprinkling of italian blend shredded cheese, and some lovin' from the broiler....

And man -- they were JUST as good as Papa John's, or Domino's or whoever!

YUM YUM!

(DH tells me I need to screw up pita more often!)

Ryan's Zucchini Cakes

After a (too brief) visit home to see family and friends, I was rewarded (begged to take?) a couple of zucchini home with me.

Since I like them, but DH does not, I set out to find a recipe juuuust for me.

I settled on Ryan's Zucchini Cakes, from the Pioneer Woman's website.

These were pretty tasty, but I didn't have anything to dip them in (Ryan recommends ranch dressing). I think pasta sauce would have been tasty, as they definitely tasted "italian".

Ingredients

As much zucchini as you need to get rid of - shredded and squeezed of excess juice(I used 2 medium-sized zucchini)

1 tbsp minced garlic (I used the pre-minced stuff - LOVE. IT.)

1/2 - 3/4 cup breadcrumbs

1/2 cup italian blend cheese

1-2 eggs (depending on the consistency of the "batter")

salt and pepper to taste

oil for frying

Directions

- Toss your shredded and squeezed zucchini in a large bowl and throw in the garlic, 1/2 cup breadcrumbs (you can add more if you need to later), the italian cheese, 1 egg, and some salt and pepper

- Mix with a fork -- if your mixture isn't a wet batter, add another egg and mix some more

- Heat 1/4" of oil in a skillet

- When oil is hot, lower globs of the zucchini batter into the oil; press with a fork to make cakes

- Cook 2-3 minutes or until brown, then flip and brown the other side

- Serve warm with ranch dressing for dipping (or pasta sauce! I think it'd be tasty!)

Fruit Salsa and Cinnamon-Sugar Tortilla Chips

This recipe was recently posted on the What's Cooking board that I frequent. Everyone was asked what their "best" item was -- and Robyn said hers was fruit salsa.

We all begged for the recipe, and this was what she told us!

This is AMAZING. Eating the fruit with the chips, it tastes like healthy apple pie! It's deeeeelicious!

Warning: This makes enough to feed an Army. I didn't stop to consider this when chopping the fruit, so now I've got enough fruit salsa for the Armed Forces. If you're making this for 2 people (like I did) you may want to halve everything. If you're making it for company -- make the whole thing. They'll eat every ounce!

Fruit Salsa

(Robyn, on What's Cooking)

2 red apples

2 green apples

2 pears

2 peaches

1 carton raspberries (I used blueberries because DH doesn't like raspberries)

3 tablespoons orange juice

2 teaspoons honey

2 lemons (or equivalent in juice)

Directions

- Dice all fruit very finely and put in a large mixing bowl

- Squeeze 1/2 a lemon's worth of juice after each addition (1/2 lemon after adding all red apple, 1/2 lemon after adding all green apple, etc)

- Whisk together the orange juice and the honey and pour it over the fruit. Carefully mix together

**It's best made the day before, and as long as you use plenty of lemon and orange juice, it won't brown**

Cinnamon-Sugar Tortilla Chips

10-15 10" flour tortillas (I had enourmous burrito tortillas...next time I'll use smaller ones for smaller chips!)

melted butter

cinnamon/sugar mixture

Directions

- Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F

- Brush melted butter on whole tortilla and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mix

- Use a pizza cutter and cut into 8 sections

- Fill up a baking sheet with them

- Bake at 350 degrees for 10-11 minutes, or until crisped up

Pinwheels

I'm astounded at how popular these are at parties. Don't get me wrong -- they're tasty. But everytime I take them somewhere, they're gone in seconds! It's crazy!

And I love them because they're super-easy :-)

You can add a lot of different things to it - I've seen them with salsa, cheese, broccoli, etc -- but the recipe below is my standard.



Pinwheels
(Makes 15-20 "bites")

2 - 8oz. softened cream cheese (I generally use 1 full-fat and 1 reduced-fat. I find fat-free cream cheese to be rather disgusting)
1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup red bell pepper, finely chopped (In these photos, I did 1/4 cup red, and 1/4 cup yellow -- because I had it)
1/4 cup green pepper, finely chopped
1/2 cup celery, finely chopped
1 package (1 oz) Hidden Valley Ranch Salad Dressing Mix (the powdered kind)
4-5 flour tortillas

Directions
- Mix cream cheese until smooth
- Add ranch dressing and mix until well-blended
- Gently stir in the peppers, onions, and celery until well-combined
- Spread 2/3 to 3/4 cup of cream cheese filling on a tortilla (Make sure you don't spread completely to the edge or it will push out when you roll it)
- Roll the tortilla up to make a pinwheel design
- Wrap tightly in plastic wrap, twisting the ends to seal it
-Continue filling all tortillas and rolling and wrapping

- Refrigerate at least 2 hours (preferably overnight)
- After being chilled, remove from plastic wrap, cut off the ends (and eat as you go along if you're me!), then slice each roll into 1" pieces.
-Serve chilled!