Party Snacks

My friends are having a New Year's party tonight and I offered to make a few treats for the event. I love to cook and it helps take pressure off the hosts to make sure there is enough food.

I offered up meatballs, chicken enchilada dip and breafast, because we will all need something to absorb the booze :). And of course I can't attend a party without bringing jello shots.

I shopped at Woodman's (my new favorite store) and figured out that I can make homemade meatballs for less than buying a few bags of the premade kind. Plus, with homemade, you know what you are eating. I sometimes question what frozen prepackaged foods really have in them.

A few years back, my former boss' wife had us all over and made these to-die-for meatballs and cherry jalepeno sauce. I have made those a few times since, but I couldn't find the ground veal, so I decided to live on the edge and figure out a new recipe for meatballs.

I know the basics that go in - bread crumbs, milk, eggs, onion, meat and seasonings. So I had a little fun and added some new flavors. I bought a blue cheese dip mix a few months back and decided to add some of that mix to the meatballs.

Then I threw in some fresh parsley, pepper, salt, paprika, chili powder (for a kick) and a few other things. These meatballs won't be replicated because I just sort of did a dash of this and a pinch of that. And for meat, I used a combo of ground beef and ground pork and about 2.5 lbs. of it.

When you roll the meatballs yoruself, you really get to control the size and shape of them. I typically go for smaller ones so you can have a few more and not feel so guilty.

I cook my meatballs in the oven at 400 degrees for 10, then flip them all and cook for another 10 or until they are browned on both sides.

They turned out great, but I wish I added a bit more of the blue cheese mix as you taste it, but I wish the flavor was a little stronger. Next time :)

Then it was time for the sauce. Sure you can grab grape jelly and chili sauce and make an easy sauce, but I can't leave things simple. Here again is where I won't be able to repeat the sauce. I minced some onion up in my processor and then sauteed it in a pan with a little salt and pepper.

I then added some WildTree FraDiavola mix, chili pepper, raspberry vinagrette dressing, garlic powder, paprika, chili sauce and a scoop of grape jelly. That wasn't enough so I added a 1/3 cup of zinfandel wine to cut the sweet. I think after it will now sit for almost 24 hours before being added to the meatballs, it will be marvelous.

The other items I made for the party is my chicken enchilada dip and my breakfast casserole from Halloween.

And for the jello shots, Woodman's has a spectacular selection of gelatin and I picked Jolly Rancher Green Apple to mix with Apple Pucker, Fruit Punch with citrus vodka and peach with Champagne for a bellini. I can't wait to try all of these.

Here is my ratio for jello shots.

1 small box gelatin
1 cup boiling water
3/4 cup cold booze
1/4 cup cold white soda or water

Mix hot water and gelatin for 2 minutes or until thoroughly mixed and no chunks. Then add the booze and water and mix for 30 seconds. Pour into shot cups and leave uncovered until chilled and hardened. Then add lids. I use the Diamond condiment cups because they are the perfect size, aren't too expensive and have nice lids. 

Hope these treats spark your creativity in the kitchen. These definitely did it for me and I hope to experiment more in the kitchen in 2014! Cheers and Happy Eating!

Eating Las Vegas: Part 1

My company is celebrating 30 years in business in 2013 and back in January at our company Christmas party, my boss surprised us with a trip to Vegas! We were even invited to bring a guest!

I brought my friend Carolyn on the trip and we had a blast eating our way thru Vegas while site-seeing, relaxing and exploring.

Day 1:
We left on a Saturday morning and arrived in Vegas around noon their time, 2 pm our time. We were definitely hungry already!!!!!

We took the long-way to the Red Rock Casino and did a touristy trip down the strip with a great comical shuttle driver that entertained us on the not-so-well known history of Vegas as well as the new things being built. Our room wasn't ready when we got to the hotel, so what else do we do on vacation, but drink some beers and eat some yummy food! First stop - The Yard House.

I had stopped here with my dad on my trip to Vegas three years ago and loved the place. They have well over 100 beers on tap that run from the cooler room through yards of tubing around the restaurant and are poured at the perfect temperature for you to enjoy.

I started myself with a Rogue Hazelnut beer and stuck to just the pint size, though they did have larger (and smaller) options. Vacation was just starting - not time to get wasted!I found the Rogue Hazelnut at Woodman's today and added it to my "must-buy" list.  We decided to split a few appetizers instead of get a real meal. The menu had snacks and appetizers on it, so we chose from those areas as well as suggestions from our server.

Gouda Chicken Flatbread - The gouda was nice and melty and the peppers and chicken were good. I wished there was more cheese, but what Wisconsinite wouldn't?

Crab, Lobster & Artichoke Dip - Can you really go wrong with a dip? I think not - this was perfect on my palette. I preferred it spread on the pita pieces over the chips, but I'm pretty sure we cleaned the plate completely on this.

Ahi Poke - I had just watched an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives that featured this place in Hawaii. The closest I'm going to get to Hawaii for a few years it probably through that show and the Travel Channel, so when I saw this on the menu, I had to try it. It is marinated raw ahi tuna with avocado, carrots, daikon radish, macadamia nuts & crispy wonton to put it on. I am glad I tried it - it was nicely marinated and now I want to try other varieties. Anyone know where there is local Poke in Wisconsin?

 Our favorite was the crab, lobster & artichoke dip by far and all of it was a great start to our trip.

After a few more beers (Tripel Karmeliet, Rose Garden, Abita Purple Haze...and...?) and a few samples, we were full, feeling great and on our way to our room. It was time to get our vacation started! (PS - All of the beers we had were for the first time and I'm glad that I an find them in Wisconsin at Woodman's)

Day 2:
We started the morning with Starbucks (I know - not too exciting) and packed some water and granola bars for our Pink Jeep Tour in the Red Rock Canyon in open-air jeeps. (more on this soon). We were starving when we got back to the hotel at lunchtime and craved large juicy burgers. We were told by my coworkers that we had to check out LBS (pounds) for a good burger and had to have the Buffalo Chicken Dip. 

Of course, drinks were first! I went for a Raspberry Blush wine drink and Carolyn got a jalapeno bloody mary.

The buffalo chicken dip was spectacular. The chips were made in-house and the dip had just enough kick, when I avoided the peppers in it. The blue cheese was barely melted into the dip and cooled down the spicy-ness for me perfectly.

By the time the burgers came, we were pretty full. (scraping the dish completely clean and contemplating licking the plate will do that) . I got the Perfect Burger with Gruyere cheese, smoked bacon, frisee, roasted tomato, onion marmalade, their special sauce and herb mayo. They ask if you want pink or no pink for your meat and I went for pink so it wouldn't border on too dry. The burger was plenty juicy, the herb mayo and special sauce are awesome!
 

Carolyn got the Kansas City BBQ which is a burger topped with BBQ Pork, fire cracker onions, coleslaw and pickles. It was stacked sooooo tall. 

I was getting so full and needed more liquid to wash down the delicious, "hits the spot" burger, so a XXX drink was ordered. Yep - didn't finish my first drink before the second came so I was two-fisting. I ended up eating half of my burger on the bun and the other half, I took the bun away. Carolyn loved her burger as well and we were so glad we found this spot. 

Because we gorged on burgers and had spent a ton of time in the fresh air that morning, we decided to relax by the pool (in the shade because I'm so pale). We got a beer and chillaxed. We also had the evening and large portion of the next day off so some downtime was in order before our venture to The Strip. 

The Strip and the remainder of the trip are "to be continued." Yes we ate and drank more!!!! And I'll tell you now, even though Red Rock is 11 miles off the strip, I highly recommend staying there. The casino had everything that I could have wanted and probably more because I didn't even explore it all in the four days we were there. 

Viva Las Vegas!

Flatbread Copycat

Updated: I didn't have a computer and did my first blog from the Blogger app - worked well, but I couldn't add links or center images. I have now made those updates and feel much better :)

If you haven't figured it out yet, I am a huge fan of Bernie's Tap Room's flatbreads, especially the duck & Brie version. I have introduced so many people to it and everyone loves it. Great place for beer in Waukesha too!

Bernie's Tap Room Duck & Brie Pizza

So this past weekend, I had my first trip to Woodman's and found some great tomato tortillas for a great deal and a bag of spinach for cheaper than I have ever seen. (I love Woodman's!!!)

Ingredients for the pizza (minus the goat cheese, I skipped that)

So I attempted my own crazy flatbread tonight in honor of the one from Bernie's. I preheated the oven to 400 and got to work. I put one tomato tortilla on a pizza pan and then lightly oiled it with EVOO. I would suggest using a flavored grape seed oil or olive oil--maybe garlic or Italian. 

Awesome collapsible strainer!

I washed and sautéed some spinach in a pan with a little salt and then spread that on the tortilla. 

Pre-cooked steak that I heated in the micro for 15 seconds to take out the chill.

Next was some pre-cooked marinated steak (didn't have duck), chopped up and sprinkled over. 

I bought a spreadable Brie cheese and just put dollups all over the pizza. I didn't have an purple onion or any onion at all, so I sprinkled just a little put of onion powder over the whole thing and then a handful of Craisins. 

Pop it in the over for 7 minutes or until the cheese looks gooey and the edge is browned. Let sit a minute or two, slice and serve. 

It was pretty good, but something about Bernie's (probably the duck and the fact I didn't make it) is so much better! But this will work in a pinch.