Turkey Sliders with Apple & Swiss

Every once in a while there is a Thursday night college football game that we all RACE home from work to watch, and this meal was perfect for one of those nights! The game started at 6pm and we were having 8 people over, so since I get off work at 5 and have a 30 minute drive, this needed to be something easy, yummy and that would count as dinner for everyone.
These Turkey Burgers combined with the mini-baked taters (coming soon) were perfect, and totally reasonable budget-wise!

Makes 8 Mini Burgers

Kings Hawaiian wheat buns
1 lb lean or extra lean ground turkey
1 Apple, cored and chopped
1/4 sweet white onion chopped
1/3 cups Bread crumbs
1 T. Worstecire sauce
pepper, salt, garlic powder to taste
Swiss cheese

In a medium bowl, using your hands, combine the turkey, apple, onion, bread crumbs, worstecire sauce, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Form 8 small patties.
Grill over medium-high heat for about 7 minutes per side, flipping once or twice.
Add Swiss & turn off heat, put buns on the grill to toast close grill and let cheese melt & buns toast.

Pillsbury Recipe Creations~ Taco Bites

As part of the PILLSBURY PACKAGE we received I had the good fortune of trying the NEW Pillsbury Recipe Creations, that is basically sheets of the Crescent Roll dough, but with out the triangle perforations.

This is a variation of one of my favorite recipes using the Pillsbury Crescent Rolls, Nate's mom's TACO RING, which if you've not tried it- put this on the menu ASAP because it rocks the heezie.

1 package Pillsbury Recipe Creations
about 1/2 a pound taco seasoned browned ground beef
refried beans
shredded cheddar or pepper jack cheese
hot sauce or salsa
chopped onion

Grease a mini muffin tin and pre heat the oven to 350.
Cut the Recipe Creations dough into squares and lightly press into the muffin tin. Add about 1 T of beans then 1 T of taco meat, then a pinch of onions, dollop of salsa or hot sauce, and top with shredded cheese.
Cook for about 20 minutes or until dough is golden brown and cheese is melted.

Super Sunday Jalapeno Poppers

Ok, I think you can tell I've got a big ole crush on appetizers. I think that's my official favorite thing to make, apps, tapas, snacks and bites, I love 'em. Cocktail munchies, foot ball nosh, it's all good in this hood~ and these are a perfect testament to the finest of snacky-tapasy-bites; breaded, fried jalapeno poppers! This is a combo of two recipes that I've had written down so long ago I'm not so sure where they came from...the bacon was a last minute addition since I still had some left from the previous week's CHEESY BACON DIP, and think these were fabulous, but would be awesome with out the bacon too!



makes about 50 poppers

12 med-large jalapeno peppers, with seeds and most of membrane removed, cut lengthwise in half, then cross-wise in half so each pepper makes 4 bite-sized bites.

filling~
1 8 oz brick of cream cheese softened to room temp
1/2 cup shredded jalapeno jack cheese
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
black pepper
pinch of kosher salt
4-8 pieces of bacon, cooked, most grease removed, cooled, and chopped up.

Bread crumbs
Flour
Cayenne pepper* optional
milk
hot sauce* optional...

*(only if you want these to be SPICY)

oil for frying

In a large bowl mix together all the "filling" ingredients. Using a butter knife (or your fingers, which is what I did) add about 1 Tablespoon of filling to the inside of each jalapeno 1/4. Fill a small bowl with bread crumbs and cayenne pepper (about 1/8 tsp). Put about 1/3 cup of flour in another small bowl, and in a 3rd bowl, pour about 1/3 cup milk, add a few dashes of hot sauce for spicy-factor!

Cover a cookie sheet with wax paper. Take the stuffed jalapenos and dip them first in the milk, then the flour, then set on the cookie sheet. Let them "set" for about 7-10 minutes. Then give em another super quick dip in the milk, then coat with bread crumbs, place the bread-crumbed poppers back on the cookie sheet to chill out again for about 7 minutes. (I did not do this next step, but will next time after doing some searching online and reading more recipes like this one...)Repeat the milk & bread crumb step a second time to REALLY coat these puppies, meanwhile heating about 1-2 inches of frying oil in a large pot or pan (deep enough for the oil and so you don't get burned!)
Using a slotted spoon or one of those cool wire-basket-on-a-stick things that is made for stuff like this (that of course I do not have) gently lower the poppers into the hot oil and fry for about 3 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to a plate or cookie sheet covered in paper towel to let cool and to sop up excess oil.

Grown-Up-Pigs-In-A-Blanket (Pillsbury Recipe Creations)

It is football season again, and we headed down to the Coliseum on a cloudy drizzly Saturday determined to get in some pre-game tailgating, a few Saturdays ago. I am sure some of you living in other areas, outside of Southern California may not realize what the big deal about a little drizzle would be, but here people can get a little freaky over some mist. Thankfully, it turned out to be a great day- the air got a little damp in the third quarter, but it was all good.
I made these with the Pillsbury Recipe creations~ super, super easy and a great tailgating snack!



1 package Pillsbury Recipe Creations
1 package fully cooked chicken apple sausage (should be at the regular grocery store or Trader Joes)
Herb'd goat cheese, at room temp
toothpicks (wooden)

Pre heat the oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with foil.
Chop the sausage into bite-sized bits. Roll out the recipe creations and cut into 4-5 strips long-ways, then cut across to make about 30 + little squares. Using a butter knife, add a bit of goat cheese to a piece of sausage and wrap the dough around it using the toothpick to hold it sealed in place.
place the wrapped sausages on the baking sheet and bake 25-25 minutes or until crescent dough is golden.
Cool and serve~

Tuesdays with Dorie ~ Pumpkin Muffins

Well, we now know Nate loves a muffin with raisins in it...and we know that because I went right ahead and left the raisins OUT of these puppies. I really do not like raisins. Now, I could have subbed crazins, or dried tart cherries or some other chopped up dried fruit like figs or something...and honestly when I set out to bake these I meant to put something like that in there, and nuts too, but I got distracted and was doing too many things at once (that's new) and totally spaced out on adding anything but the pumpkin and yummy spices.

Other than that, I pretty much stuck to to the recipe on this weeks TUESDAYS WITH DORIE, chosen by KELLY of SOUNDING MY BARBARIC GULP . I was excited to see the Pumpkin Muffins as this really kicked off the fall-baking around here... they smelled AMAZING while they baked! Check out this awesome recipe on Kelly's blog and the stunning variations of all the TWD bakers this week over on the blogroll.

I decided to share this recipe with a friend for her bridal shower...which was fun, the hostess requested each guest bring a recipe- so I brought this one and also brought the muffins. I baked them in my muffin tin, then after they cooled, I placed them in lil'foil muffin cups and set them in a new tin that was part of the shower gift & wrapped that with a bow! It was a fun idea that I will definitely repeat.

Tuesdays With Dorie~Lenox Almond Biscotti

WOOOOHOOOO! I super-giant-puffy-heart BISCOTTI!! This makes a fabulous baked gift item, and it is something that you can get creative with in a zillion ways!

We are heading off to Napa for a long weekend - YAY!! - so this is a VERY short post, my apologies! Please head on over to theTUESDAYS WITH DORIE page and scope out everyone's beautiful Biscotti!
BIG HUGE THANKS TO
Gretchen of CANELA AND COMINO for an excellent choice this week! Have a great week everyone!!

Our Fabulous Ginger Wings

These are my go-to un-buffalo-wing. They are fabulous for football watching afternoons, tailgates and any kind of party, really. They are baked, not fried and could not be easier to make.

I made these for a tailgate before a USC game- I baked them in a disposable roasting pan, then transferred them to a cool clean roasting pan- covered in foil to transport to the game!



Wings~
About 3-4 lbs Chicken Wings, cut in half~ tips cut off

Marinade/ Sauce~
1/2 C low sodium soy sauce
1/2 C water
1/2 C sugar
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 C rice vinegar
3 T grated fresh ginger
3 T Garlic Chili Paste
3 T chopped green onion
2 T toasted sesame seeds

Place prepared wings in Ziploc bag and pour half of sauce into bag, reserve other 1/2(about 1 cup) Marinate 2 hours or more in the refrigerator.
Spray a foil lined roasting pan with non-stick spray. Lay wings in the pan pour the sauce from Ziploc into pan. Cook at 350 for 40 - 45 minutes on one side basting frequently, flip over and bake/ baste an additional 25 minutes. Turn off oven let sit 10 minutes. Boil remaining sauce 6-8 minutes on high and reduce heat to thicken… pour thickened sauce and sprinkle toasted sesame seeds & serve.