Greek Yogurt Marinated Smoked Chicken Lollipops

I'll be the first to admit that I don't spend a lot of my time watching football but that definitely doesn't mean I can't eat all the food that's associated with traditional tail-gating and game days. I'm the type of person that can make an entire meal from appetizers and be perfectly happy.

I'll also admit right off the bat that I love the look of these chicken "lollipops" but they definitely take some work and I'd only do them for special occasions where people can actually admire my hard work. Yeah, I'm that vain. I love making food for my family but they don't fully appreciate the intricacies of creating these things and ate them all in about 10 seconds flat without even a second glance.

Tostadas with Smashed Orca Beans

I'm not sure how we got to November already but I don't think I'm quite ready for it yet. We cleaned out our gardens finally though except for the sweet onions and the rosemary which seem to be just fine. I like leaving the onions in as long as possible and then grab them as I need them, except there's no way I'm digging through the snow to get them now. There were only a few left though. We've had gardens on and off for the last few years but this has been the first year we really focused on it and we really enjoyed some great food from our own backyard this year.

Apple and Rosemary Stuffed Pork Chops

I was walking through Costco yesterday trying to decide what I wanted to make for our Sunday dinner this week when I came across these beautiful pork chops. We haven't had pork chops in a long time and I'm not usually a big fan because all I can typically find are the thin little pork chops in the grocery store. These ones were about two inches thick and even though they were boneless, which is usually another strike, they looked perfect.

Roast Beef, Blue Cheese and Onion Jam Panini

 

 

There's something so satisfying about a well made sandwich. Not a sandwich where you just throw on some deli meat and condiments and call it good, but one where you layer the flavors and combine ingredients and textures to create something that's more than its individual parts.  

Baked Apple Dumplings

Let's do Fall right this year. That means lots of apples and pumpkins. So let's start with apples this week and then I'm going to have an awesome pumpkin recipe coming up next.

We're going to take an apple and make it anything but healthy. As in, even though there's still some fruit in this, there's no way it can be described as anything but, hide in your closet and eat two of them and love every second of it, indulgence.

Homemade Hummus Flour Tortillas

Here's a fun and simple recipe that pretty much anyone can make; Flour tortillas! These are so simple and you'll end up with tortillas that taste so much better than anything you can get at the store. And by using Sabra hummus, you can essentially make them any flavor you want. I used their Chipotle variety in this batch but I can't think of any of their flavors that wouldn't make an excellent tortilla.

Dinner in the Garden 2014

For the last couple years, each summer we have hosted a dinner in the garden where we set up a formal dinner outside and celebrate the wonderful foods that we are growing in our own and local farmers gardens. We missed last year with all of our remodeling so we were excited to get back on our normal routine.  I love creating the menu and cooking some fun new foods and sharing them with our friends.