Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese and Edemame and Corn Salad

Edemame and Corn Salad

Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tsp herb seasoning mix (I used a Mrs. Dash type one)
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 cup frozen edemame beans (the shelled kind)
Handful of cherry/grape tomatoes
Thin slices of red onion
Pinch of salt to taste
2 tsp olive oil

Boil corn and edemame on stove for a couple of minutes until thawed. Dunk in ice water immediately to halt cooking, keep the veggies bright, and to cool them off.

Meanwhile, mix lemon and seasoning in a medium bowl and let reconstitute a few minutes. Throw in onion, tomatoes and cooled corn and beans, season with salt to taste and put in fridge until needed.

Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese

(makes 1 sandwich)

2 jalapenos
2 slices sourdough bread
Couple tblsp cream cheese (room temperature)
Butter
1/4 cup monterey jack cheese, shredded
Crushed up tortilla chips

ETA: If the idea of roasting and skinning the pepper is keeping you from trying this delicious sandwich, just use the canned jalapenos. It's the same basic idea.

(it's tough to give measurements for this...my sourdough slices were from the centre of a circular sourdough loaf, so they were huge...and you might like more of one thing and less of another, so it's up to you how much you use)

Set oven rack to top position and turn on the broiler. Cut the jalapenos in half and scrape out the seeds and ribs (you might want to use a fork to hold the pepper, wear gloves, or put a plastic bag on your hand for this step). Put peppers cut side down on baking sheet and pop under broiler until the skins are blackened (maybe 15 minutes?). Pull them out and place them in a bag or container and seal, allowing steam to help loosen the skins and cool the peppers off.

Once cooled (around 20 minutes) enough to handle, pinch off the skins and discard.

Begin warming a skillet on the stovetop. You could probably also grill this.

Lightly butter one side of the bread. Flip it over and smear on some cream cheese, place the skinned jalapenos on the cream cheese, sprinkle with crushed tortilla chips and top with shredded cheese.

Butter the second piece of bread and put on top of the goodies you've just piled up (butter side out of course...I'm sure you've all made grilled cheese before!). Place in heated skillet and cook on medium-high until bread is toasty and cheese inside is melty.

Chickie Cheeseball

1 8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cup cheese, shredded (I use cheddar)
1 garlic clove
Salt and pepper
Seasonings (I usually match to what we're eating, but this time I used a garlic and herb type seasoning...a couple of shakes, to taste)
Decorations (this time, I used carrot slices to make the feet and beak, and 2 green peppercorns for the eyes)

Using a mixer, blend cream cheese and 1 cup of the shredded cheese. I usually grate in 1/2 a clove of garlic (I like garlic like crazy, but realize that not everyone loves it as much as I do). Season with salt, pepper and whatever seasonings you wish. Keep in mind that it's going to get stronger as it sits in the fridge.

Plop it onto a piece of plastic wrap and, using the wrap (keeps your hands cleaner), mold into a roundish shape (though, for the chick, I made the top and bottom a little flatter), and place in fridge to set. I usually leave it overnight.

I used a pre shredded white cheese, and the shreds were long. That's fine for the inside, because the cheese will soften inside the cheeseball, but would be too long for the outside. I grabbed my little mini chopper food processor and pulsed the remaining shredded cheese to make the shreds smaller. I dumped the cheese "crumbs" into a bowl and rolled the cheeseball in it to coat.

I did this about an hour before everyone was to arrive, so the outside didn't get soggy.

Using the carrots and peppercorns, I decorated my chick. Serve with an assortment of crackers.

Radish Spread

So I went to a party at a friend's place a few weeks ago, and she had this INCREDIBLE radish dip...a recipe of her Mother's. I couldn't stay away from it! I got the recipe from her and immediately set to making it.

And it just didn't taste the same as hers. No matter what I did.

When people have a "signature recipe", I think it's just impossible to replicate it. Stacy must have put some magic in that dip. Seriously.

This recipe has haunted me since. Who would have thought that radish + cream cheese (and a few other things) = wicked good? What else could I do to this combination?

Making up recipes on the fly is easy. It really is. I know, you're probably rolling your eyes (I would have been, a few years ago), but if you know what tastes good with what, you can do it! I believe in you!

Let's see what we already know: nearly everything tastes awesome with cream cheese. It's true. Add a smear of cream cheese to a roast beef sandwich. It's GOOD! But cream cheese is sort of bland...so you have to build it up with flavours.

Garlic, shallots or onions, very finely diced would fit that bill. Garlic might be a little strong with the radish as I want the radish to shine. So shallots it was...I like the sweetness of a shallot. And I'm totally lazy, so rather than chopping it super finely, I just grated it into the cream cheese.

Let's look at the radish - what tastes good with radish? Dill does!

I added a bit of this and a bit of that, and came up with this recipe...and it's pretty awesome.

I love radishes but can only do so much with them raw, you know? I am glad to now have this spread in my repitoire...it would be all sorts of awesome spread atop a toasted sesame seed bagel, or (as I was eating it this afternoon)on a multi grain cracker.

Yummeh!

Radish Spread



1 brick cream cheese, softened
1 med shallot
1 teaspoon dill weed (or more...but keep in mind that the flavour intensifies over time)
splash lemon juice
7 medium sized radishes (or more)
pinch salt

Grate shallot and radishes into cream cheese and mix. Add dill and lemon juice, stir and taste. Add a pinch of salt, mix, and taste again. Adjust any flavours as you see fit (more radish, more dill...keeping in mind that the flavour will get stronger as the dip sits...whatever).

Put dip in fridge to set up a bit and allow the flavours to meld.