Sometimes you just need a little crunch.

Try Trader Joes for their always fresh veggies and spinach dip!

And try stopping by my office for some of PS260's daily snacks!

I'm kind of embarrassed about how these baked mozzarella sticks turned out.

They tasted delicious (we ate them all) but as you can see they left quite a bit to the imagination.

I froze the cheese sticks for about 36 hours, then did all the prep work, put them back in the fridge and then into the oven they went.

In the future, I will batter them and return them to the FREEZER for a few hours before baking them in the oven. Maybe that will help...

Note: To see how good these COULD look, check out the link above.

One of my favorite appetizers to serve are cheese puffs. Not only because they are delicious, but because they taste great served hot, and even better served room temperature.

A low maintenance appetizer? Why yes please.

For this particular batch I did not have Gruyere, so I used Jarlsberg.

Still delicious!

We had two veggies in the group, and although I wanted to wrap everything in bacon I held back and just roasted some asparagus.

Roasted Asparagus with Olive Vinaigrette

It was a huge success among herbivores and carnivores alike.

My friend Kerry was nice enough to head over early and help me prep some of the appetizers,

(it had nothing to do with the fact that she needed to shower and had no hot water)

Not only did she bring her best prep skills she also made some amazing stuffed mushrooms!

The perfect addition to our appetizer shmorgishborg.

Sausage Mushrooms

- Take off the stems from the crimini mushrooms

- In a sautee pan add hot and sweet sausage crumbles and cook fully

- Add chopped garlic, olive oil, salt & pepper and the mushroom stems and cook for aboiut 5 more minutes

- Take off of heat and let it cool

- When cooled to around room temperature add the following to a food processor - italian bread crumbs, shredded mozzarella cheese, shredded parm cheese, parsley, and cooled sausage mixture. When blended together, spoon the mixture into the mushroom and top with more shredded mozzarella cheese. Drizzle a little EVOO over complete mushrooms and put in oven for about 30 minutes at 350.

- Take out and enjoy!

Thanks Ker!

My friend Alicia was in town visiting this weekend, and to celebrate her arrival we planned to spend our Friday evening eating appetizers, drinking wine and catching up.

The grand spread:

Roasted Asparagus

Cheese Puffs

Parmesan Pinwheels

Sausage Pinwheels

Baked Mozzarella sticks

Stuffed mushrooms

Bacon wrapped jalapenos

Spinach Artichoke Dip

And what is a reunion without a horse head?

What a weekend. xoxo

I went home sick the other day from work and couldn't quite sit still, couldn't quite stand still, and most definitely could not figure out if I was hot or cold.

In a moment like this the best place to go is the grocery store.

Oh you're hot? Head to the freezer section

Cold? Stand by the deli's rotisserie chickens

Easy enough.

In my fever induced shopping coma I decided what I really needed was a home cooked meal.

Roasted Chicken

Roasted red potatoes with thyme

Bacon and onion brussel sprouts

It was delicious and exactly what I needed.

I woke up last Sunday morning craving a Spinach Strawberry Salad

So I did what any rational person would do,

I went to the grocery store at 8 AM and made it.

By no means is this salad healthy, but it's delicious, simple, and a real crowd pleaser

Especially when you can get the really fresh spinach

Nom Nom Nom.