{appetizer essentials}

No dinner party is complete without a great spread of appetizers to get everything going (and cocktails- let's never forget those.)  While I love to try out interesting dishes and greet guests with something truly special (like this or this), many times I would rather spend the time focusing on helping Chris cook or getting our place "party-ready".  In those cases I rely on a tried and true spread of appetizers including a mixture of unique flavored nuts (Trader Joe's has an extensive selection), gourmet olives, a few different cheeses and crackers or bread.  I also love to add a few interesting spreads like the seasonal fig butter from Trader Joe's and artisanal honey alongside the cheese to give guests the option of getting creative with their cheese assembly!  If we are having a bigger group of guests or I anticipate the meal needing more prep time after guests arrive I will add in a tray of charcuterie to make the spread a little more full/filling.

As I have mentioned before, I try to only buy white dinnerware and clear glassware, but with serving pieces I'm willing to branch out a little bit.  One of my favorite materials for appetizer pieces is acacia wood- it has a deep rich color to it and based on my experience it holds up really well to heavy use as well as a variety of foods.  I already have a couple acacia pieces like the paddle ones pictured above from our wedding registry and this vintage one from a recent Palm Springs trip.

Target just released a line up of acacia and other wood serving pieces right in time for the holiday season so I scooped up this olive tray and this bread bowl.  Both pieces are pretty singular in their uses.  Chris would call them "uni-taskers" and he usually won't allow them in our house- I have been unsuccessfully trying to bring this avocado slicer into our lives for years among other silly kitchen gadgets.  Regardless of their singular nature, theese new acacia pieces are something we have desperately needed for our entertaining line-up- especially the bread tray because up until now I have been using random salad bowls to serve sliced bread in!

Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Target via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of  the opinions or positions of Target.

{gourmet grilled cheese}

After watching Anthony Bourdain's Food Porn special and seeing a ridiculous tallegio, braised short rib and pickled onion grilled cheese get made,  I thought it might be fun to re-create that sandwich along with some other variations for a gourmet grilled cheese dinner.  Yesterday after some great finds at the Rose Bowl flea market, we stopped by Trader Joe's to pick up ingredients to make three different grilled cheeses.  The combinatons we decided on were:

#1: blackberry, basil, fontina (recipe here)

#2: bbq beef, pickled red onions, cheddar/gruyere

#3: avocado, sriracha, gouda (similar recipe here)

Every single one of this was great (hard to go wrong with anything that includes melted cheese), but the favorite by far was #3.   The spicy sriracha mixed with creamy avocado and strong gouda flavor turned out to be a very simple but winning combo.  The blackberry/basil one was great, but was definitely lacking a big punch of flavor since Fontina is a relatively mild cheese.  The BBQ beef option was hearty and filled with flavor and crunch from the pickled onions, but this one felt more like the BBQ beef was the center stage of the sandwich rather than a grilled cheese.

Three grilled cheese sandwiches between two people is definitely a decadent dinner option and I can't imagine this will be a new weeknight staple, but a trio of grilled cheeses would make for a great appetizer for guests served sliced into bite size portions!

{mini spinach bread bowls}

I love the variety and quality of Trader Joe's frozen appetizers, many are a fixture on our shopping list (I'm looking at you Carmelized Onion and Gruyere Puff Pastry Bites!),but it is just so much more fun to serve guests something I have actually made.  Which means I am always on the hunt for quick and easy appetizer ideas that wont take much more effort than opening and heating of the Trader Joe's packages. A few months ago I saw this recipe for mini spinach bread bowls on Picky Palate and was intrigued that one of the ingredients was Pilsbury french loaf dough which was cut into squares.  This ingredient interested me not only because it seemed like it cut tons of time off the prep of these appetizers, but I was also curious to think of some other unconventional uses for canned Pilsbury doughs. 

 
You can see the recipe I followed here and note that this recipe uses a regular sized cupcake pan, but I also tried it with my mini cupcake pan as well.  In the end, I would say the mini cupcake pan didn't work so well since it was difficult to not use too much dough inside the tin and the bread to spinach dip filling ratio wasn't as good as it was with the ones that were baked in the regular sized pan.

I served these for a little dinner party we had last week and I was very pleased with how they turned out. Although really how can you not be pleased when half the ingredients are some form of cheese or cream?!  In the midst of all the socializing at dinner (read: drinking wine), I completely forgot to take a photo of the final product so here is a photo of how delicious they look, taken from Picky Palate: