Category: Appetizers
Steamed Mussels w/ Chickpea Chorizo Butter Broth
Working in a fine dining restaurant has been amazing. In only a month, I have already learned so many things that I never knew before. I have learned how to shuck oysters, how to make an immulsion, seasoning techniques, flavor concepts, how to prepare mussels and much more. After watching all of the mussels that go out to guests at SALT, I really began to crave them. I went home a little bit ago to have dinner with my family and ended up spending the entire day learning about and working on my food photography with my mom (aren’t I lucky to have a mom who can show me that!?).
Lemon-Artichoke Hummus
I know that I have told you that most of my new roommates are vegetarians, but I don’t think I have told you that I finally am living with a fellow foodie! Kelcey is my good friend from high school; I can’t even go into all the stories that we have from the past seven years. She is a nutrition major, works at whole foods and does personal chef work for people around Boulder- can’t get much better than that right? I have never lived with someone who has a passion for cooking too, so obviously I am excited about this! I am also excited to see her vegetarian recipe ideas, since I mainly focus my meals around meat. I know that some more veggie recipes will make some of you very happy, so stay tuned! Either way, Kelcey and I wanted to make hummus for our other roommate’s 21st birthday, yes another 21st.
Foodbuzz 24×24: Hot Summer Daze Party
The day has finally come! I have been waiting to throw my Foodbuzz 24×24 party all month and it finally happened. The 24×24 is a special event where Foodbuzz picks 24 featured publishers to throw 24 over-the-top dinner parties in the same 24 hour period. My themed party was called Hot Summer Daze.
Beer Battered Vegetables Tempura
Along with the chips and salsa for my Foodbuzz 24×24, I made beer battered veggies tempura as an appetizer. Beer batters are great because the carbonation in the beer makes the batter puff up more when frying, which gives the veggies a fuller crunch. For these, I chose to use Modelo beer to keep the Mexican-type theme for the party. I fried asparagus, green beans, poblano peppers and zucchini (one of the first from our garden!). These are great served with guacamole or ranch dressing to dip.
Tequila-Lime Salsa & Homemade Tortilla Chips
For one of my appetizers at my Foodbuzz 24×24 party I made homemade tequila-lime salsa and tortilla chips. This salsa has a beautiful array of colors and a nice spicy kick at the end. I baked homemade tortilla chips seasoned with garlic, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper; such a simple thing to make and so much healthier than fried chips from the store. I also like these homemade flour tortilla chips because they are softer and kind of crumble away in your mouth with the salsa. Usually salsa is hardly touched at parties, but this one got devoured by my guests along with every last chip. I think they might have liked it?
A Pairing Party w/ Swiss Maid Fudge
When I first began blogging, I didn’t really know what I would put on my blog or where it would take me. Actually, I was forced (well maybe required is a better word) to make a blog for my advertising media class last fall and figured I love food, music, photos, etc. so why not focus on my senses. Almost a year later I am at a point that I would have never imagined. I am completely submerged in the blogging universe and loving it! When I tell people that I am a blogger they are always a little uneasy, but then when I tell them I am a FOOD blogger they always seem so intrigued. I am so excited about all of the opportunities I have been given because of my blog, although I must say that the next few weeks are kind of filled with different blogging opportunites, I hope you enjoy them too!
Zucchini & Yellow Tomato Fritters
Fritters had been on my list of things to make for a while before this, but I just never seemed to be able to find the time to make them. When I was invited to my first stage at SALT, the restaurant I now work at!, I was freaking out about it. I had never done a stage before; for those of you who do not know what that is, it is a working interview in a kitchen. The day before my stage, I looked over the SALT lunch menu and decided I would make anything that I hadn’t made before or thought I could use work on. I ended up making fritters and risotto and decided I could cook the rest of the things on the menu without practice. The funny part about this was that my stage did not involve hardly any cooking! I just made salads, made po’ boys and prepped food. I was so nervous for nothing!
Baked Tex-Mex Egg Rolls
I recently saw the idea for Southwestern egg rolls on Mel’s Kitchen Cafe and was instantly interested. For one, I have never made egg rolls; they are still on my list to make. Secondly, I love Mexican food. I was surprised to see that they were inside tortillas instead, but figured that is probably a better idea anyway. I decided to make my own combination of ingredients for the filling, because I wasn’t a huge fan of the black beans in the recipe I saw.
Spicy Adobo Shrimp Cocktail
This spring I worked at Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage for a few months before heading to Africa. After being in restaurants for so long, this job seemed unbearably slow at times. In order to pass the time, I would read through all of the cooking magazines at the registers for recipe ideas; probably not what I was supposed to be doing in my down time, but nobody ever said anything. Over these few months I accumulated a giant stack of torn out magazine pages and recipe notes. I am still trying to work my way through them without adding too much to the stack.
Spicy Cheddar Pecan Dip
I know the title of this post may sound like a handful, but the recipe is actually really simple. My mom recently had a little get together for all of the women she used to work at IBM with. Lucky for me I was crashing at her house this night, which meant all the Sangria and appetizers I could ask for in exchange for playing with an adorable three-month year old puppy all night (rough I know).
