Easy – OMG's DFW Food

Holiday Happy Hour

If you’re anything like me, things are a little nuts right now. It’s the busiest time of the year. Fourth quarter craziness at work. Family, friends, holiday shopping (online or in person), and food preparations have you running non-stop.

So, why not have an impromptu holiday happy hour and volunteer to bring the food!?!?

Because that’s what I did!

Insane? Maybe. Fun? Of course, it was. And, here’s how I survived.

First, don’t cook. That’s right. I said it. You can still put together some elegant snacks without spending hours on end in the kitchen and then trying to figure out how to transfer everything. Plus, you even get to take a shower and get ready!

Smoked Salmon Stuffed Tomatoes with Chive Cream Cheese

1 package of plump cherry tomatoes

1 package of cream cheese

3 TBS chives, chopped

1/2 package of smoked salmon, chopped

2 TBS capers

Slice 1/8 off the vine end and 1/16 off the opposite end of each tomato. Using a paring knife, carefully hollow each tomato from the wider vine end without piercing the bottom.

Soften the cream cheese and mix with the chives. Set aside.

Fill the hollowed tomatoes with smoked salmon, add a few capers, then pipe the chive cream cheese over the top to cover.

Tasty Trio on a Toothpick

1 wedge of Manchego cheese

1 package of Prosciutto di Parma

1 small jar of pitted Castelvetrano Italian olives

Cut Manchego in 1/2 inch bars. Slice prosciutto into 1/2 inch slices and roll up. Remove olives from the brine.

Assemble with the cheese on the bottom, prosciutto in the middle and olive on top, and secure with a toothpick.

Congratulations! You’re a hero! And, if you’re feeling like an overachiever, make some deviled eggs and top with fresh dill and bacon.

Most importantly, have fun at your holiday happy hour!!

Independence Day Salad

Super easy summer salad for a sunny day!

Freedom from complicated recipes and hours in the kitchen is what this super simple summer salad serves up! (alliteration, anyone?)

This is one of the best salads to make using my absolute favorite Greek salad dressing, John the Greek Original Salad Dressing. I first saw it at a Texas specialty grocer, Central Market — a brand close to my heart since I used to work for them years ago. And, I fell in love!

I don’t know what John put in that dressing, but it’s zippy and makes my tastebuds happy. Plus, it’s sugar free — another plus in my book. Here’s the quick and easy recipe to enjoy on any summer day.

12 Petit Cucumbers, 1/4 inch sliced
2 Roma Tomatoes, cubed
1/4 Red Onion, thinly sliced
1 TBS Fresh Dill, chopped
3/4 Btl John the Greek Original Salad Dressing

Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate in a covered bowl for at least one hour. Serve as a side salad or over grilled meats and veggies.

Lemon Rosemary Roast Chicken

Everyone needs a back pocket recipe. It’s that one impressive yet easy meal you can pull from your back pocket anytime you need a pass for dinner. Continue reading “Lemon Rosemary Roast Chicken”

Pollo con Calabaza

By now you’ve figured out that I have a serious love of food.

Grandma Ollie used to hypnotize me with the movement of her wooden spoon, creating intoxicating aromas in the kitchen at the ranch with the simplest of ingredients. And, when I wasn’t at the ranch, my smoking, 500-pound, denture-wearing, narcoleptic, poem-reading babysitter (best. babysitter. ever.) would lovingly knead potato rolls then slather them with jewel-toned homemade jelly once baked, all while I sat on top of the kitchen table, anticipating the very moment she would hand over that pillowy-sweet treasure. Continue reading “Pollo con Calabaza”

Day After Thanksgiving Breakfast Muffins

It’s getting close to Turkey Day, and that means we have some important planning to do.

We have to plan the seating arrangements to ensure all relatives leave unscathed from the annual table conversation (this year should be super fun), and let’s not forget the critical decision regarding which pair of stretchy pants will be worn after the main meal. However, the most important decision you’ll have to make this Thanksgiving is what in the world to do with your leftover stuffing!?!

Have no fear. I’ve got the hookup thanks to my pals over at Empire Baking Company in Dallas, Texas.

Saturday I had the pleasure of hanging out to do a sponsored demo all day at Empire, and I created a recipe specifically for them, featuring some of the ingredients sold at their location. Every Friday from now until Thanksgiving, Tamie, Empire’s manager, is creating different dressings using Empire’s amazing bread and products. This past Friday, Tamie put together her grandmother’s famous traditional Texas dressing to sample (it’s sooooooooo goooood), and just like the day after Thanksgiving, we had some dressing left over on Saturday.

So, our focus was all about creating an easy recipe that utilized the leftover stuffing! And, the coolest part is that this recipe works with any dressing recipe – yours included. (Don’t know if you noticed my alternating “dressing” and “stuffing” – for our purposes, they mean the same thing.)

Let’s get started!

Day After Thanksgiving Breakfast Muffins
Yields approximately 8 dozen mini muffins or 2 dozen regular muffins

Base:
16 oz Sage or Spicy Breakfast Sausage (sub 12 oz Applewood Smoked Bacon, diced)
½ Onion, diced
2 TBS Butter
8 Cups Your Refrigerated Thanksgiving Dressing/Stuffing, crumbled
1 Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese
3 TBS Valentina Picante Salsa (sub your favorite hot sauce)

Custard:
2 Whole Eggs
4 Egg Yolks
1 Pint Heavy Whipping Cream
2 tsp Chef Milton Atlantic Sea Salt with Rosemary (Found at Empire Baking Company)

Optional Glaze:
Luscombe Farm Jalapeño Pepper Jelly (Found at Empire Baking Company)

Preheat oven to 375°. Butter muffin tins or use a non-stick baking spray to coat the tins.

In a skillet, sauté breakfast sausage until cooked through and set aside to cool. If subbing bacon, cook until bacon is crisp, drain completely, then set aside to cool. In the same skillet, add butter and onion. Sauté until onions are tender and the fond (brown/caramelized goodies stuck to the bottom of the pan) releases from the pan.

Once the onions are tender, remove from pan and set aside with sausage or bacon to cool.

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, yolks, cream, and Chef Milton Atlantic Sea Salt with Rosemary. Set aside.

In a large bowl, add crumbled dressing, shredded cheddar cheese, and cooled sausage or bacon and onions.

Combine thoroughly.

Pour the custard mixture over the dressing mixture and fold until well incorporated. The mixture will be moist.

Add in the Valentina Salsa Picante or your favorite hot sauce to add another layer of flavor and mix thoroughly.

Using a 1-inch cookie scoop, scoop the mixture into greased mini muffin tins.

Bake at 375° for 17-20 minutes or until crispy on top and golden brown.

For some added sweet heat, add a small dollop of Luscombe Farm Jalapeño Pepper Jelly to the top of each muffin right before the last five minutes of baking is up, and place back into the oven to create that amazing caramelized glaze.

For regular sized muffins, bake for 30-35 minutes or until crispy on top and golden brown. Let cool for 7 minutes to allow the muffins to set before removing from muffin tins.

Saturday’s adventure, recipe ingredients, and post featuring specific products were sponsored by Empire Baking Company.

Boredom = Gooey Chocolate Cherry Cake in a Mug

I’ve been a little bored lately, as seen by the blatant, “Hi – she’s lost it – someone please take her,” expression on Cat’s face in this photo.

Bear’s out of town. (clearly) I had just wrapped up an assignment, missed a family hang by minutes and had already cashed in all my “fine, I’ll humor you” cards with Cat.

As you can imagine, the stale late afternoon only poked at my boredom, teasing it into a whirlwind of creative energy demanding to be utilized. After writing a song, cleaning our place, finishing a painting and walking with a friend, there was only one other thing to do – make chocolate cake.

But, the only problem was I had just cleaned the kitchen. (see earlier energy outlet activities) So, I needed an easy, no frills cake that would not ruin my freshly sanitized Fortress of Solitude. I needed a cake in a mug recipe.

So, I found this quick and easy recipe on the Food Network and molded it into what I needed. Recently, I’ve been trying to eat better so I don’t feel like I’m dying when I’m tying my shoes. So, I had to figure out how to tweak this bad boy without removing any of its decadence and delight, two things absolutely necessary for an enjoyable chocolate cake experience.

Here’s the original as I wrote down from their site – the parenthesis was my scribble-scrabble for myself. I’ll explain in the revised version.

Side note: the day before I’d made an easy cherry almond crumble – seen here:

And, I had some leftover cherry filling I’d made.

Super Easy “Sugar-Free” Cherry Filling

1 Cup – Fresh Pitted Black Cherries

2 tsp – Unsalted Butter

2 tsp – Stevia powder

1 tsp – Cornstarch

Dash of Nutmeg

Dash of Salt

Good Splash of water

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan and heat on medium until thickened.

So, I had about 1/2 cup of refrigerated cherry filling left since my crumble was an individual portion. I knew I could make a killer Gooey Chocolate Cherry Cake in a Mug with what I had left.

Here’s my healthier, cherried-up version of the cake:

Gooey Chocolate Cherry Cake in a Mug

¼ Cup Flour

3 tsp Stevia Powder

2 TBS Cocoa Powder

1 Egg

3 TBS Almond Milk

3 TBS Melted Coconut Oil

1 tsp Mexican Vanilla Extract

Dash of Salt

Dash of Chipotle Chile Powder (substitute or add a dash of cinnamon for more depth)

Super Easy “Sugar-Free” Cherry Filling

Whisk all but the cherry filling together in a medium sized bowl until well combined. Add cherry filling into the bottom of a large mug. Pour combined cake batter over cherries. Microwave on high for 2 minutes. I like mine gooey, but you can microwave for another minute if you want yours without the muddy goodness.

My substitutions are the healthier alternatives and don’t take away any of the decadence or flavor. The addition of the chipotle chile powder is also just another layer of depth that adds to the cake. It’s that extra “something” that tickles the throat without creating a burn. Since the cherries already had nutmeg in them, I didn’t add more cinnamon. If you wanted to remove the cherry filling altogether and just add cinnamon, you’d have a wicked Mexican Chocolate Cake in a Mug! Plus, you probably won’t need that additional minute in the micro to avoid the gooey. And, you could add some sweetened condensed milk or cajeta (caramelized condensed milk) over it to really take it to another level!

Enjoy whatever version you decide to make!

I know I enjoyed mine, especially with my cafecito!

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