Persimmon & Brie Crostini

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appetizer, brie, crostini, food, foodie, hors d'oeuvres, persimmon, recipe, snack

I love when persimmons begin to arrive at my grocery store in autumn. This underused fruit is perfect for autumn and winter snacking.

Ingredients: 
1 persimmon, 1 baguette, 1 wedge of brie, fresh basil leaves, olive oil, balsamic glaze, fresh ground pink Himalayan salt

Directions:
Slice the baguette into small pieces. Drizzle both sides with olive oil and toast. Thinly slice brie and layer onto the baguette slices. Slice the persimmon and then cut into thirds or fourths (depending on the size of your persimmon) and layer on top of the brie. Use your baker’s torch to lightly brown the edges and top of the persimmon and melt the edges of the brie. Sprinkle with fresh ground pink Himalayan salt and drizzle with balsamic glaze. Garnish with freshly slice basils leaves.

XOXO,
Young Wifey

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Feta Dill Dip

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appetizer, dill, dip, feta, food, foodie, pot luck, recipe, snack

We’re 2/3 the way through 2014, and I have yet to post a recipe! Yikes! Since it’s quick and easy, I often make this tasty dip. Last weekend, I made it for a party, but went a little too crazy when adding the dill. 

Ingredients:
1 c. Feta, 1/2 c. milk (or 1/2 c. Greek yogurt), 1 Tbsp. dill weed, 1 clove garlic (minced), 1 lemon, fresh cracked black pepper, parsley

Directions:
Zest and juice lemon and set aside. If you like your dip to be chunky, mix all remaining ingredients together. Blend it for a smooth dip. Mix in zest and lemon juice (to taste). Garnish & serve.

Garnishes:
kalamata olives, roasted red peppers, parsley, dill, capers, etc…

Serve With:
pita chips, pita wedges, cucumber slice, bell peppers, carrot sticks

DIP TIP: When taking the dip to a party, I transfer the dip into the original plastic feta container for easy transport.

XOXO,
Young Wifey

Frozen Grapes

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appetizer, clean eating, dessert, food, foodie, frozen, fruit, healthy, snack, treat

We’re amidst another heat wave. Between the heat waves, there’s rain that lasts for weeks, it’s like Mother Nature doesn’t want us to spend much time outdoors this summer. On hot summer days, there’s nothing more refreshing than frozen grapes. In my house, they’re actually preferred over ice-cream (yes, Hubster too!).

Delicious Snack of Frozen Grapes

15 Reasons Why I Love Frozen Grapes…
1) Two summers ago, Pumpkin wanted me to write down my frozen grape “recipe” so he could ensure that others could make it too.

2) Grapes are the only fruit I like to eat frozen (unless in a smoothie).

3) Frozen grapes are incredibly kid friendly. The preparation is easy enough for little hands and short attention spans.

4) We had frozen grapes on skewers served on silver trays at our wedding (perfect for a hot July outdoor wedding). Each skewer had 2 black, 2 red, and 2 green grapes.

5) Frozen grapes are perfect for keeping wine, champagne, or sparkling water chilled.

6) Even if you don’t like grapes, you will probably like frozen grapes.

7) Frozen grapes make a fantastic healthy snack or dessert, so you don’t have to feel guilty for feeding them to your kid (or eating them yourself) everyday!

8) Almost anyone who visits us during the summer, knows they will find and help themselves to frozen grapes.

9) When you have a bowl full of two or three varieties, they’re just as appeasing to the eye as the mouth.

10) Eating them helps keep you hydrated.

11) Frozen grapes make a fantastic spa day snack!

12) Grapes have amazing health benefits, good for curing indigestion, lowering cholesterol, anti-cancer properties, etc…

13) They are an incredibly satisfying post-workout snack.

14) Frozen grapes are a fairly inexpensive snack as long as you buy the grapes in season. Since grapes freeze and last well, you can much on them well past season.

15) There is almost no prep!

Directions (if you really need them):
Use only seedless grapes. Wash grapes and pull off stem. Blot grapes dry with paper towel. Pour into a gallon size freezer bag and place in freezer. Allow to freeze for a few hours before eating.

Some people like to sprinkle with sugar or unprepared flavored gelatin. This is a big no-no in my household, but try it if it appeals to you.

What’s your favorite cool-down treat?

XOXO,
Young Wifey

Dipping Sauce for Dumplings

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appetizer, dipping sauce, food, foodie, pot stickers, recipe, rice vinegar, sauce, snack, soy sauce

Pumpkin and I love steamed vegetable and chicken dumplings (or pot stickers) . Hubster isn’t a fan, but oh well… more for us! One of our favorite Chinese restaurants even has the word dumpling in their name…

I don’t like to dip mine in plain soy sauce (Pumpkin likes to pour the sauce over his), so this is what I quickly whisk together.

Dipping Sauce for Dumplings

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. light soy sauce, 2 Tbsp. rice vinegar, 1 tsp. minced garlic, 1/2 tsp. fresh grated ginger, 1/2 crushed red pepper flakes

Directions:
Mix ingredients together and keep at room temperature until ready to serve.

Young Wifey’s Yummy Dipping Sauce

XOXO,
Young Wifey

Colorful Caprese

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appetizer, basil, BBQ, bocconcini, ciliegine, cold food, dinner, entree, food, foodie, fresh mozzarella, fresh tomatoes, grape tomatoes, light fare, light lunch, lighter fare, lunch, mozzarella, mozzarella balls, picnic, postaday2011, pot luck, raw foods, recipe, salad, side dishes, tomatoes, vegetable, yellow tomatoes

Caprese is a summer classic, that’s why it’s my go to recipe. It’s always requested, but never the same. You can serve it sliced and stacked, as a kabob or cut and mixed as salad. At the beginning of the year, I served yellow tomato caprese for the teachers’ back-to-school. It seemed only fitting to use yellow tomatoes in my caprese for the end-of-the-year party today! So since I never serve anything exactly the same way twice, I’ll share my current variation. I halved golden grape tomatoes (first time I’ve found these at the store!!!), red grape tomatoes and the mozzarella balls (ciliegine). Then, I tossed them together with extra virgin olive oil, fresh chopped sweet basil, fresh ground sea salt, and fresh cracked black pepper. Just before serving I will drizzle with some balsamic vinegar.

Colorful Caprese

The hardest part is making sure the caprese is not devoured before leaving the house… with this dish, it’s not just Hubster, it’s also me!

Which summer dish do you prepare multiple variations?

My History With Hummus

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appetizer, dips, food, foodie, hummus, humus, postaday201, recipe, reflection, snack, spread, vegan, vegetarian

This versatile food can be the main course or the starter, a dip or a spread. I made a fresh batch of homemade pitas, cut them into wedges to dip in my hummus.

Hummus & Homemade Pita

Hummus and I? We have a bit of a long history…

My History with Hummus:
Once in elementary school, when I was eating a delicious pita filled with hummus, carrot shreds and alfalfa sprouts the boy across the lunch table sneered at my lunch and told me I had to eat that junk because my family was poor. The first few times I paid no attention to him (as he also picked on the Korean girl, who sometimes sat next to me, eating sushi). The petulant boy continued to badger me during lunch and eventually it began to wear on me (this went on for about 3 years!). I studied his peanut-butter and fluff sandwich on white bread, cut into four equal squares with the edges removed tucked into his brown paper bag. Other times he had potato chips and a candy bar or cookies for his lunch, sans sandwich. Whenever my hummus was on 8 grain bread instead of a pita, I told him it was peanut butter. I talked to my current PREP teacher about it and she suggested he was jealous. How could someone be jealous of food? Besides, what did she know? She was a chef who owned a restaurant and recently became a teacher. Once I was in high school I insisted on not packing hummus any longer, along with the other foods I enjoyed, which weren’t considered “normal” among my peers. It was safer to consume them in the privacy of my home.

The epiphany occurred after my second year of college at a potluck party. A young friend raved about this great new appetizer he had eaten at a boho NYC restaurant, he looked up the recipe online and made it for this party. I was curious what he made and was surprised to find out that he had made hummus. Seriously? To my surprise no one at the party had heard of it before and to my astonishment everyone LOVED IT! It caused me to reflect on the annoying boy from elementary school and it came quite clear that my family was more cultured than his and his family was also a bit pathetic that they weren’t willing to accept new and different things.

Hubster is not exactly in love with hummus, but he’s not a mocker either. Pumpkin loves to dip veggies into it, but doesn’t like it on bread or crackers. While everyone has their own hummus recipe, here’s mine. Once again, I didn’t really measure, these are more of estimates!

Hummus Ingredients:
2 c. garbanzo beans, 2 Tbsp. tahini, 2 Tbsp. lemon juice, 2 Tbsp. olive oil, 1 garlic clove, pinch of cumin, fresh ground sea salt

Hummus Directions:
Combine all ingredients in food processor until creamy.

Serving Suggestions:
When putting together a hummus platter my mother would always create beautiful scenes using paprika, olives, parsley, olive oil, cucumbers, carrots, sesame seeds, pita wedges, etc… I usually keep this in mind with my presentation….

What did you do over the weekend?

Grilled Ginger Sesame Shrimp

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appetizer, food, foodie, ginger, grilled shrimp, grilling, hors d'oeuvres, marinade, postaday2011, recipe, seafood, sesame, shrimp, side dishes

Every year, I prepare a formal coursed meal for our Valentine’s Day dinner. It’s a tradition I love…

Grilled GInger Sesame Shrimp

First Course – Appetizer
Grilled Ginger Sesame Shrimp

Ingredients:
12 fresh shrimp, 3 Tbsp. fresh ground ginger, 1 Tbsp. sesame seed oil, 1 Tbsp. honey, 1 Tbsp. crushed red pepper, 1 tsp. sesame seeds, fresh ground sea salt, fresh cracked black pepper

Directions:
Soak wooden skewers in warm water, add a splash of lime juice.. Peel and devein shrimp. Mix together all ingredients in bowl. Allow shrimp to chill in marinade for an hour. Slip 3 or 4 shrimp on wooden skewers. Heat grill to medium. Add shrimp to grill, cooking 2 minutes on each side. Sprinkle with additional crushed red pepper and sesame seeds if desired.

What type of appetizers do you enjoy?