Cheese Puffs

Nothing but love for these little delights. Perfect for a dinner party or indulge yourself in their scrumptious flavor just for you. The choux pastry can be made ahead and frozen until ready to use. The make ahead quality makes this recipe work for me. I can throw together the pastry, enjoy a few puffs with dinner and freeze the rest for another meal. I think you'll love them.

Here's what you'll need.

1/2 cup all purpose flour (sifted)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs beaten
1/2 cup hard cheese of choice (I used Parmesan)
Beaten egg for glaze
Seeds of your choice ( I used poppy seeds. Sesame is a good choice as well)

* If you are planning to freeze these, do not brush with egg prior to freezing. Instead, take them straight from the freezer, brush with egg, top with seeds and bake them right away.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Place the butter in a heavy bottom saucepan on medium heat. As the butter begins melting add the milk, water, sugar and salt. Bring to a boil. Add all of the flour at one time. Stirring constantly. Cook over low heat for about 1 to 2 minutes or until the dough forms a ball and leaves the sides of the pan.
Congrats! You just started some choux pastry dough.
Place the dough into a bowl and using a mixer, beat until cooled to lukewarm. Add the beaten eggs. Mix well. The dough will look sloppy but it'll come together. Add the cheese. Or also throw in some of your favorite herbs at this point. A tablespoon of chives would do nicely.
On a parchment lined baking sheet, make 8 gorgeous mounds of dough. Brush with the beaten egg and sprinkle with seeds. The seeds give a nice crunch.
Bake for 10 minutes, lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 25 -30 minutes.

Bake just two for you or double the recipe and bake sixteen for a crowd. It's up to you!

Happy New Year! 

Deviled Egg Upgrade

This is my recipe and it works well for my needs. I am slowly creating  healthy upgrades for old unhealthy food choices. This alternative is low fat and has protein, a small amount of fiber with a whole lot flavor.

Deviled Egg Alternative


10 hard boiled egg whites only  (Discard the hard boiled yolks, or feed them to the dogs) 

2 tablespoons reduced fat mayonnaise
3 oz. deli turkey diced fine
1/2 fire roasted red pepper diced fine
1 celery rib finely diced
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 green onion finely diced
1/4 cup finely diced raw cauliflower
finely chopped chives, around 2 tablespoons
salt and pepper to taste

While the eggs are boiling, mix the filling and place in the refrigerator until eggs are peeled and completely cooled. The longer it chills the better it is.

To make the filling. Try to dice everything as fine and uniform as possible. I enjoy the chopping part of this recipe. Sometimes just working with the food is almost as satisfying as actually eating it. Mix all of the ingredients together, except the eggs and chives.

Once everything is completely chilled you can start to fill your eggs. Garnish with chives.

I suppose someone is going to be shocked that the yolks are not utilized in another way. Really, I don't mind to toss them out. You can save them for some other use. For this recipe though, the use of yolks just seems too overpowering. I like the clean flavors without the yolk.

I had some filling left over. I rolled it up in a lettuce leaf and had a nice healthy snack.

If I can ever find a good reliable source for nutritional information, I will update this post with calorie info and the sort. As of right now, I think it's safe to say, this is a nice bite of healthy.

The use of the word upgrade is in no way intended to refer to the infamous Upgrade in the hilarious movie "Idiocracy.

And I quote "Carl's Jr. Computer: Enjoy your EXTRA BIG ASS FRIES! "

On a mission to ... not be a fatty fat!

Backwoods Hummus and Tahini Paste

 It turns out a food processor is sort of a "must have" to make this incredibly thick deliciousness. I used my blender because I don't own a food processor. I now no longer own a blender because the thickness of the hummus fried the motor on my blender. My hope is that after the motor has cooled down the blender will recover. First the waffle maker took a crap and now the blender. It's a good thing garage sale weather is coming because, there are always waffle irons and blenders a plenty, for sale at bargain prices.

If you are a hummus aficionado then you will cringe to learn that I used orange juice and great northern beans. This is my adapted version of the recipe on the back of Bob's Red Mill brown sesame seed bag. Traditional hummus is made with lemon juice and garbanzo beans. Don't knock it until you try it. Here comes my backwoods version of hummus.

Backwoods Hummus

4 cups of canned great northern beans and the liquid
1 cup of Tahini paste (see recipe below)
3/4 cup of orange juice
4 cloves of garlic smashed
4 tsp. cumin
1 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp. fine sea salt
a few dashes of balsamic vinegar
cracked black pepper if you want it. I wanted it.

In a food processor add the first 5 ingredients and pulse until combined. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil until you have a delightfully creamy mass. Add sea salt, and balsamic vinegar to the mixture and pulse a few more times to combine. Chill and eat. Anything and everything is delicious dipped in this stuff.


Tahini Paste

1 package (16 oz) brown sesame seeds
3/4 cup of olive oil

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Pour the entire bag of seeds on a dry cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes, stirring often to make sure they don't burn. Cool the seeds for at least 20 minutes. Once again this is where a food processor would come in handy. Blend up those toasted seeds and slowly drizzle in the olive oil creating a wonderful nutty butter. Makes about 2 cups. Refrigerate and this will keep for about a week.

Next up....I'm baking the Flourless Tahini Cookie recipe on the back of the sesame seed bag. I have all of the ingredients so... no more Backwoods recipes are forth coming.

You didn't really want to see a photo of a bowl of beige stuff hummus did you? Hummus isn't exciting to look at it. Please use your imagination and visualize a lovely bowl filled with tasty hummus.

Crostini

The fireplace is back in full swing here at Columbia Creations. We don't have a wood burning stove, just an old fashioned open fireplace. It warms our family room and makes everything cozy. If time would allow, I could sit there for hours on end. Listening to Nora Jane Struthers and reading my cookbooks.

Recently, I found myself searching the stacks of books, lazily by the fire, hoping for unique appetizer recipes. What's so tough about putting some fruit, cheese and bread on a plate and calling it an appetizer? That's true. I have made basically the same small bits for years. On average, Mister and I entertain a group of 15-40 people 10 times a year. It's time to add a few new ideas into the rotation.

For Anna, I wanted a few new and interesting items on the buffet. She's my creative cooking child. (really they're always our children even if they are no longer a child) Finally, I picked this recipe. I mixed a few little things of my own into the base recipe. This can be made almost entirely the day before.



Bad photo good food.

Crostini

• Buy TWO nice French Baguettes (or make your own)
• 1 cup of mayo
• 2 cup of shredded mozzarella
• 1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan
• 1 can of rotel (well drained)
• 2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• several generous turns of the pepper mill
• butter

The night before the party, I sliced the baguettes into approximately 1/2" thick slices and rebagged them until I needed them the next day. Mix together the remaining ingredients, cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Right before serving, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter the pre-sliced baguettes. Place them on a bake sheet and dollop the cheese mixture, dividing it evenly across the bread slices. Bake until bubbly and lightly golden. Around 8-10 minutes. I ended up with 48 pieces from my bread.

This could be a meal on a weeknight. Add a small salad and dinner is served. It's tastier than take out pizza.

Miss Anna made mini quiche with broccoli in phyllo cups. We also served the usual fruit and fruit dip and ole stand by items. It was nice to mix in a few new things too!

Tomorrow is Monday. I might play hookie. Build a fire, put on my head phones and search a few vintage cookbooks for a rainy Monday hiatus!