All posts in appetizers

dear library: a mini-series for national library week. (and spinach + ricotta turnovers)

by shannon on April 14, 2013 in appetizers, dear library, general information and events with 33 Comments

spinach + ricotta turnovers.

I’ve talked about my love of libraries for some time now. This week (April 14-20) is National Library Week, and I’m going celebrate it by talking about why the library has been important in my own life for over three decades, and why it should be important to you. Hopefully, your library is awesome, and you visit it regularly. You can use it for a multitude of things, from music to movies to, yes, every conceivable type of book. In this little corner of the internet, you’ve seen it used most often for cookbooks; in fact, many of the recipes I’ve researched, toyed with and practiced on over the past few years have come from none other than my lovely library. Continue reading →

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faux bois egg tutorial and a go-anywhere appetizer.

by shannon on April 10, 2013 in appetizers with 22 Comments

faux bois eggs.

Quite a few of you have asked me how to make those little wooden-looking dyed eggs, so I thought I’d do a short post about them so you have it for next year. It was silly, really; just a matter of experimentation and a little bit of time on my hands, but it worked, and I loved the way they turned out.

As I mentioned in the Easter post, this is the first year I’ve done natural dyes on eggs, and I swear I may never go back; it was so easy, and in my opinion, you get a much better color selection from vegetables and spices and things than you do, say, the neon food dye 4-pack at the store. The tones are more earthy and they suit my taste much better than their artificially colored counterparts. No judgement here: if you like the liquid dye for eggs, have at it, because that’s how we have dyed our eggs for years. Continue reading →

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shrimp + water chestnut toast.

by shannon on February 7, 2013 in appetizers with 8 Comments

shrimp + water chestnut toast.

Did you know Chinese New Year is this weekend? It is; the Year of the Snake begins this Sunday, and I am mini-celebrating. Someday I’m going to throw a proper Chinese New Year party, because it seems like a great deal of fun would be had. There would be pot stickers (which i tried to make and completely botched last week), maybe some fireworks (probably illegal in February, but I’ll check) and maybe I’ll learn how to play Mahjong (because I’ve always wanted to ask someone nonchalantly if they’d like to play Mahjong and have them wonder if I’m serious, and then beat the pants off of them.) Continue reading →

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monday bites: everything bagel pizza.

by shannon on January 28, 2013 in appetizers, mains with 20 Comments

everything bagel pizza.

I owe you and ice cream sandwich; more specifically, a buttermilk raspberry ice cream sandwich with homemade graham crackers. Problem: it’s a lengthy post, and I’m still working on it.

But it’s Monday, which means you deserve a Monday Bites post, and you shall have such a post. Luckily, I had a really stellar baking/cooking weekend, and it produced, among other things, this.

An everything bagel pizza. Continue reading →

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monday bites: soft pretzels.

by shannon on January 14, 2013 in appetizers, snacks with 19 Comments

soft pretzels.

Many of you know I’ve been hard at work sporadically at work repairing my relationship with yeast. It’s no one’s fault, really; yeast things and I have just never agreed on much. For instance, I think when I make bread, or bagels, whatever, which involve rising and punching and all that, that they should actually rise; yeast doesn’t feel the same. While I would argue that I’m a decent cook and deserve for my yeast rolls to turn out soft and fluffy, yeast would counter that it would rather see my rolls become oddly shaped and have a density akin to wet sheep. It’s a dysfunctional relationship, to be sure, but lately it seems we’ve had a breakthrough.

People, take note: in the past few months, I’ve made 3 successful yeast-based things, none of which resemble a wet sheep. Continue reading →

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monday bites: roasted beet, arugula, + goat cheese crostini.

by shannon on January 7, 2013 in appetizers with 18 Comments

roasted beet, arugula, + goat cheese crostini.

Toast post!

This one is dedicated to Ashley at Hops because a) I think she’s pretty spectacular, as a person and as a blogger, b) because I know she has a thing for goat cheese the likes of which few can appreciate, and she also loves beets, and c) she’s just recently engaged! And I wanted to give her something of an engagement gift. Here you go, Ashley; a toast to your engagement. Yay! Continue reading →

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bacon candy.

by shannon on December 28, 2012 in appetizers with 17 Comments

I’m not all bacon-freaky; in fact, I almost never eat it. I almost never even eat meat, even. But this is what happens when I’m thumbing through my favorite food magazines (December issues, of course) to find that perfect add-on appetizer for a party I had been invited to.

That’s right; I said add-on. Here’s why: I’m a food blogger. If you ask me to come to your party, I will come, but first I will ask you if there’s anything you would like me to bring. If you answer yes, followed by the genre of food I should bring, it’s game on. Continue reading →

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goat cheese + herb stuffed mushrooms.

by shannon on December 5, 2012 in appetizers with 22 Comments

People: easiest stuffed mushroom recipe ever. No sausage to brown, cheese to shred, nothing. Best of all? They taste super fancy, because they’re made with goat cheese and fresh herbs. Not sold on these yet? Well hang on to your socks, because I used english muffins instead of regular white bread. Thrilling, I know. And I owe you a Monday Bites, so…Wednesday bites today.  Continue reading →

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monday bites: cheddar + pecan crackers.

by shannon on November 26, 2012 in appetizers, snacks with 13 Comments

I gather from your comments and a little blog browsing that all of you had a delightful and delicious Thanksgiving, yes? I, for one, am thrilled we all enjoyed ourselves. Are you sick of leftovers yet, or are you still plowing through them? I officially hit the wall yesterday; right on schedule for me. If I had my way, I’d toss everything which qualifies as a Thanksgiving leftover (except the turkey, which I’m still adding into salads) into the garbage and call it quits. The problem with that? It would make more dishes. I can’t take it. I’m pretty sure we’ve washed every serving platter, utensil, and mixing bowl in this house ten times over by now, and it shows no signs of letting up. In fact, I’m not taking my mom to the airport until she finishes cleaning out the pie pans.  Continue reading →

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monday bites: turkey, bacon + avocado quesadillas.

by shannon on November 19, 2012 in appetizers, mains, snacks with 10 Comments

Mr. Table thinks he invented the Thanksgiving Leftover Bite. He did not. I don’t know where he saw the idea, but last year our house was filled with wonton-wrapper-encased leftovers. There were a staggering amount of combinations, people; the man isn’t normally creative with food, but within the safety net of familiar food favorites, he went wild. It was like watching Jackson Pollack paint. In fact, my kitchen resembled one of his paintings. An egg roll fever carried him to a place where anything was possible, and every exciting combination could be dipped in leftover gravy. I’ll admit it was a wee bit inspired to bake turkey leftovers into egg rolls. It was fun. It was amusing. But I need an alternative that isn’t so “I just made Thanksgiving into smaller portions and stuffed them into a thin dough pocket.”

Continue reading →

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