Quick Lunchtime Appetizer Snack

Today I was perusing a newly purchased book on appetizers and saw that a lot of them seem quite tasty. After that, I picked up my previous book on appetizers and decided to quickly throw something together for a snack.







Ingredients:
Wheat Thins Crackers: Tuscan Herb
Tomato Sauce (recipe from this blog!)
Italian Herb Mix
Shredded Cheese

In making this, the recipe is very simple. Cracker, some Tomato Sauce on top, then choose what cheese to put on top, and finally topping it with a light dusting of Italian Herb Mix. The cheeses I chose were Gruyere, Asiago, and a Quattro Fromagio mix. I then put them in the microwave for 25 seconds, took off and ready to eat. Enjoy.

Summertime Appetizer Snack

So as mentioned in my previous post, I made couscous. I also decided that I should make a snack for my girlfriend. I don't think that just couscous alone is enough, so I decided that those Cremini Mushrooms in the fridge needed to be dealt with...as a sauce!

Ingredients:
Mushroom Sauce:
12 Cremini Mushrooms
1 bottle Dark Beer
Orange Juice
Lemon Juice

Green Onions/Scallions

Couscous:
2 cups Pearl Couscous
4 cups Water
dash of Sea Salt
Italian Herb Mix (few pinches)

The couscous was cooked in my rice cooker according to the instructions that it came with, and of course with some herb mix added in. You start this up and let it be since it doesn't need any more attention.

The Mushroom Sauce began with a small saucepot on the stove, where I put in about 3/4 worth of standard beer bottle's beer. Set the heat to medium, any higher and it looks like a cloud is emerging from the pot, trust me...I found this out.

I grabbed my trusty food processor and proceeded to slice up the Cremini Mushrooms and then dice up quite finely. Then pour/dump the mushrooms into the saucepot with the beer. You'll probably have to scoop it out since it is quite sticky at this point, not sure why. Stir.

Let it go for a few minutes, but make sure to watch it in case you have to turn down the heat a little bit or stir. Add in the Orange Juice, maybe 1/2 a cup's worth. As for the lemon juice, I want to say like 10 drops worth were added, barely anything at all. Stir.

At this point your couscous should be done and the rice cooker on 'warm'. So now grab some Green Onions/Scallions and cut them up about halfway down into small chunks. Your mushroom sauce can go for as long as you want it to, but I turned off the heat at this point and dished everything up. Enjoy.

Amazing Cheesy Mac & Cheese

Everyone has their take on Mac & Cheese, and many others just buy it by the box with simple instructions. That stuff is crap compared to making your own. I love my cheese, so I went a little overboard on that part.

Ingredients:
1 box of Elbow Macaroni
1 Block of Meunster Cheese
1 Block of White Cheddar Cheese
Handful of shredded Gruyere Cheese
1/2 Block of Smoked Gouda Cheese
1/4 cup shredded Asiago Cheese
1/4 stick of Herbed Butter
1 cup or so of 2% Milk

In one saucepan, fill with water and dash of salt. Once boiling, add in the Elbox Macaroni. All of it. Pay attention to this on the side since cooking pasta is very simplistic.

In a second saucepan, throw the butter in there and allow it to melt. Once melted, either shred or dice up your blocks of cheese and add them in. Stir a lot. A lot.

Once pasta is done, drain it out and put back in same saucepan. Add your cheese mixture, stir it in a little bit. Add Milk a little bit at a time until it's a nice cheesy soup mixture with the pasta. I had the burner on here to speed up the blending of everything together, but it is not necessary. Once this was going on, I added the shredded cheeses in and stirred them in. It is done pretty much at this point, just take out and serve.

Sourdough Pizza Snackers 2.0

So in my way of improving on recipes, I decided some snacks were needed yesterday for I was quite famished. What do all red blooded men like besides steak, sports, booze? PIZZA!
I recalled that the snackers before were prone to a little sogginess if not done perfectly in the Microwave, so I made sure my oven was ready for some use.

Over is ready and eager.

I took out a cooking tin and turned the oven to BROIL at 450 degrees. Then I placed several slices of sourdough bread on the tin.

I grabbed my jar of tomato sauce, and proceeded to spoon out the sauce onto the bread slices and spread it evenly.

Now, I love cheese. Who doesn't other than lactose intolerant people? Well I mixed shredded asiago, quattro fromagio(4 cheese blend), gruyere, and monterey jack on top.

On top of all that, I added a healthy dose of garlic salt and crushed basil.

By this time the oven is ready, it will probably DING!!! at you. Make sure you have your proper oven mits to handle the oven/hot tray after the food is done cooking.

Place the sheet on the middle or top rack and pay careful attention after they've been on for a few minutes so you can pull them out when they are cooked to your specific standards. I think mine took between 5 and 10 minutes to be done. Then just use a spatula to take the snackers off the HOT metal tin and place on a plate to serve.

Sourdough Pizza Snackers

Alright, so in addition to the previous post of Capresi Skewers, I decided that Pizza would be a great snack as well. So I searched through my kitchen and found several things that could make this happen. Ingredients: Sourdough Bread Loaf (pre-sliced) Shredded Cheese Tomato Sauce Spice mix of basil, sage, oregano, & thyme With this you can choose any sauce/cheese you would like, so I went with Asiago shredded cheese and generic heart smart tomato sauce. This recipe is a simple one anyone could do, and it is so tasty! Take a plate, put three slices of the Sourdough Bread on there. Cover the bread slices with Tomato Sauce, but not so much as to touch the edges of it since that can result in one big tasty mess. On top of that I sprinkled the spice mix on, which in turn was covered by the shredded Asiago cheese. At this stage you could choose to put it in the oven or even cook it up on a skillet, however I went with the device known as a Microwave. Yes, I love microwaves. They make some recipes so much easier. I put the plate in there for approximately 3 minutes, or until the cheese melts thoroughly. Then take out, let sit for about a minute so it's not too hot, then enjoy!