Sweet and salty — Who doesn’t like that combination?

I’m always looking for new tapas recipes or quick bites of food that will be easy to make yet very tasty to the palate. This would be a great little Thanksgiving appetizer to tease everyone’s taste buds before sitting down to your fantastic Thanksgiving dinner.

I love eating tapas. What is a tapas you say? Well, it isn’t a particular kind of food. Anything can be a tapas as long as it is a small serving of just about anything served with a drink. While in Spain last year we had Pork in Whiskey Sauce which could have been a meal but it was served as a very small course with our drinks — so tapas.  Or, like some cheese and breads served with a little paté  – tapas. A tapas is just a small dish of a snack, appetizer or food.

I think I first had bacon wrapped dates at Mercat, a tapas restaurant, in Chicago. We ordered several tapas that night and what I remember about their dates is that they bought them out on a long skinny white tray. They also bought out a tiny little white porcelain pitcher that had my interest; now what was in that pitcher and what were they going to do with it’s contents. As it turned out, it was full of the smoothest, cheesiest Stilton sauce I have tasted and they proceeded to pour the sauce over the plate of dates.

This tapas was so wonderful, the sweetest of dates pared with the almond and blue cheese that it was stuffed with, then wrapped in a salty bacon to boot, was great. And then if that wasn’t enough to put a person over the edge, it was drizzled with a sauce that just made you want more than the one bite you knew you were going to get because you were sharing this tapas course with three other people and one of those people was your husband and the other your son and daughter-in-law. So, this was no time to be hoggish and ask for more.

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What a wonderful Fall dessert.

This is a recipe that anyone can throw together for any type of party; casual get-together, dinner party, fall brunch, you name it, this recipe will hit the spot on any cold (or chilly) Fall day. And what makes this recipe super easy is that you can use a purchased loaf of pumpkin bread or make your own. I usually choose homemade over anything store bought but if you are in a crunch for time, just buy some ready made bread.

I made this for my garden club last week and everyone loved it and I promised to post the recipe, so here it is. I’m giving you my pumpkin bread recipe also, but you can use your own if it’s your favorite.

I’ve never been a fan of bread pudding. I guess I just didn’t get all those crunchy little bread cubes sticking up out of the dish and the dryness of the bread puddings I have tried. But I changed my mind when I first made this recipe several years ago. Maybe it’s the spiciness of the pumpkin bread OR it could be the sweet and gooey caramel sauce that I drench my bread pudding in, or the fact that someone who acclaimed herself an expert on bread pudding said this was the best she had ever tasted. Whatever the reason I changed my mind, this has made me an lover bread pudding.

For our 40th anniversary party a couple of years ago, my son, Paul, made a banana bread pudding with banana bread with a chocolate sauce.  Everyone loved it along with his homemade vanilla bean ice cream and I may be making his recipe during the holidays. So, if you decide to try my version of a bread pudding, please leave a comment of what you think. I’m always open to trying different versions.

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A very delicious pasta dish! So good, I’m making it again this week — tonight.

Cauliflower is one of those vegetables that I frequently pass up in the produce section. I don’t know why, but I have never been a huge cauliflower fan. I love it fried, but what isn’t good breaded and fried and dipped in a decadent sauce? I have used it in my Winter White Vegetable Soup and it’s fantastic, but even on a crudité platter, I will pass it up in favor of other vegetables.

When I saw this recipe in a recent Food Network magazine I knew I was going to have to give this vegetable another try. Pasta is good with practically any kind of sauce or with any type of vegetable mixed with it. I have even made a pumpkin pasta with a browned butter walnut sage sauce that is so delectable. With or without meat, pasta is a very satisfying entree. Sometimes on “girl’s night out” my husband will have me to just make him some plain pasta with either some pesto or nothing more than olive oil and a little Parmesan. He’s not that hard to please and he has been know to open a few boxes of mac and cheese for himself.

So, I say let’s give this vegetable another try you may just have a new favorite vegetable. Continue reading »

Nothing says Fall more than something made with apples!

What Fall has meant to me all this year was that my daughter was getting married. The wedding was last weekend and it was the most beautiful, special weekend any mother could imagine. The bride and groom were so happy and the venue (Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center) was wonderful. Lots of fall flowers and grasses still in bloom and looking gorgeous. But not nearly as gorgeous as my daughter walking down the isle to meet her future husband with family and friends there to celebrate. All the planning and decision making is over so I guess it’s time to get on to other things. I’m thinking about going back to culinary school and finishing what I started years ago. Or, enrolling in some camera classes at our local college. So until then, I guess I will start cooking a little more. I think my husband is ready for some good comfort food.

When I think of Fall I think of apple picking time and one of my kid’s field trips when we lived in Iowa and how we went to pick apples with a whole bus load of screaming kids. The crisp morning air was wonderful and the smell of apples just made you want to run all the way home and make an apple pie.

I love the signs of Fall like apple picking, pumpkins growing in the fields (another field trip) and the crunch of beautiful colored leaves below your feet, the maple trees starting to show some color on your long drives through the countryside or just that leafy autumn smell filling the air was enough to have me in my kitchen wanting to cook something comforting. And, I just love it when I actually need to grab a jacket before going out (normally doesn’t happen in Texas until maybe December, but it happened this morning).

This particular recipe came from a dinner group we belonged to while living in Iowa back in the late 70′s/80′s. We made some of the best friends while living there through church and Welcome Wagon. There wasn’t a lot to do in the winter there, so to get together with friends for a great meal and enjoy all the snow from inside in front of a crackling fire was just so comforting.

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“A kiss is just a kiss” ♫♫♫♫♫

You must remember this
A kiss is still a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh ♫♫♫♫♫
The fundamental things apply
As time goes by
And when two lovers woo
They still say, “I love you”
On that you can rely
No matter what the future brings
As time goes by  ♫♫♫♫♫

So, the wedding is over and how time did go by. Seems like just yesterday that my daughter was on her way to kindergarten and I remember the tears and saying goodbye and what it felt like to have all three kids out of the house — sad, but in a good way.

Oh, how times flies. A new baby, diapers, school, lots of sporting events like swim team, tennis, volleyball, college and then marriage. I made these little “kisses” for treat bags for hotel guest at the wedding last weekend. Purple M&M’s, of course, and I was surprised when I found bags of colored ones at our local Party City store.

So this little treat was something I saw at Pinterest. One can find the most interesting little tidbits there.

These are are as easy as they look and would look just as cute with mixed colored M&M’s. Pretzel, topped with a chocolate kiss, 3 minutes in the oven, and press in an M&M, chill a little, and you are ready to go.

Hope you will try these soon. Orange and brown for Thanksgiving or red and green for Christmas. Cute and yummy little treats.

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