Category Archives: Appetizer

July 18, 2013 · 11:45 am

Whipped Feta

What do you do when your mother gives you a giant Costco-sized block of Feta?

Whip it good.

It doesn’t get easier than this.

ingredients

Three ingredients (unless you’re feeling fancy), no oven required.

On your mark, get set, go.

mountfeta

First you put Mount Feta (you have one of those right?)  in a food processor with Greek yogurt and a squeeze of lemon.

greek

Then…you whip it.

whipped

That’s it.

You barely did anything and now you have delicious, spreadable feta cheese!  This is the life.  I can’t just leave things alone, though.  I added green onion and chopped fresh basil.

green onion

Because yum.  Highly recommended.

addins2Then I chopped some veg

cucpeptom

Schmeared a pita with my handy dandy spreadable feta and added a corn fritter! (a favorite of ours)

pita

Daniel made tacos.

taco2

Daniel wins this round.

tacoNow, I’m aware that this whipped feta situation is nothing new.  I’ve seen it everywhere.  That just proves it’s good!  The trick is in how you use it…there’s so much more you could do!

-Dip veggies or pita chips or really any chips

-Make a strawberry basil feta grilled cheese that I can’t get out of my head…there’s balsamic reduction involved. Just stop it.

-Use it as a sandwich spread! For basically any sandwich…it’s awesome on an egg sandwich just saying

-Make a pizza with a feta layer UNDER the sauce! Or in place of sauce

Don’t hold back! Let your creativity flow! (Then let me know what you did =))

Enjoy!

❤ Ellen

Whipped Feta

Recipe based mainly on this recipe from How Sweet Eats

*A note about salt: I didn’t feel the need to add any.  Feta is pretty salty anyway.  Feel free to add to taste!  Just make sure you taste without first.
**Also this makes quite a lot of spread.  Definitely feel free to cut the recipe in half!
  • 1 pound feta cheese
  • 6 ounces plain Greek yogurt
  • A squeeze of fresh lemon juice (maybe a teaspoon or two) or to taste
  • Optional
  • sliced green onions
  • chopped fresh basil
  • a couple of grinds of black pepper
  1. Place the feta, yogurt and lemon juice in a food processor fitted with the s-blade (or maybe a blender but I haven’t tried!) and pulse to combine.  Run the processor until you reach a mostly smooth, spreadable consistency.  If you want it chunky stop it sooner!
  2. Pour the spread into a large bowl and taste.  Add salt and pepper as needed (you may not need any salt!) and stir in any additions (green onions, basil, etc)
  3. Serve it up!  Get creative!  Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

Leave a comment

Filed under Appetizer, Dips, Sides, Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

May 24, 2013 · 11:35 am

“Grilled” Corn Salad

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Who’s grilling!? Not me.  I don’t own a grill.

I DO, however, have a gas stove which makes this grill-less life a little sweeter….because I can fake it.

flame

Guys! Corn is back!  It’s sweet.  It’s juicy.  It’s dirt cheap.  I’m all over it.

cob

Honestly, I love corn best raw, cut straight off the cob, vibrant and sweet in all its juicy glory.

corn

But hey, it’s a holiday weekend.  Let’s take things up a notch.

char

See what I did there? Who needs a grill!

grillin

Look at that char!

grilled

Tastes like summer.

charredbits

Now let’s make salad.

ingredients

This is a simple, sturdy salad for a (hopefully) sunny barbecue.

ready

The char on the corn steals the show.  You really don’t need much else..

cutchardone

just a few fresh bites.

pepper pepcut peptoss

There’s no lettuce involved to get wilty and sad.

tomato tomtoss

Just some bright summer produce at it’s finest.

onion

That’s all you really need.  Don’t mess with it too much.  Some salt and pepper, a touch of olive oil and a squeeze of lime or balsamic vinegar will finish it off perfectly.

You could add walnuts or sunflower seeds or basil or cilantro or feta or goat cheese or avocado or anything, really.

(erm…not all at once)

I leave it at this.  Whatever you do, make sure you let that corn shine.

cornshine

Enjoy!

❤ Ellen

4 Comments

Filed under Appetizer, Sides, Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , ,

March 10, 2013 · 11:12 am

Basil Hummus

I’m accidentally jumping on this green food for St. Patrick’s day bandwagon.  We’ll pretend I meant to do that.

basil

Seriously though…have you seen the amount of basil you need to make any significant amount of pesto?  What’s up with that?  Not an option.

basilprep

I’ll stick to the occasional package o’ pesto splurge and in the meantime…

hummus2

I’m making hummus.

Heck yeah cheater pesto!  This is much easier on my wallet.  Plus…there’s protein in there! Health!

chickpea

I know it seems plain but do not underestimate the deliciousness of basil pesto.  Daniel loved it.  That’s all you need to know.

pointy

Oh yeah..I peeled my chickpeas. a la Smitten Kitchen.

peel

Peeling the peas made the hummus sooo smooooth. The peeling process wasn’t as bad as it sounds.  The skins come off quickly and easily with a satisfying pop of your fingers. Don’t worry.  Peeling not required.

swirl

Do not feel pressured to peel your chickpeas like a crazy person.  That’s what crazy people with snow days and a blog do for fun.

090

I even support simply smashing chickpeas with a potato masher and enjoying chunky hummus.  Call it “rustic.”  I’m just trying to tell you that it’s ok to roll your eyes at that step and move on.

(It’s worth trying at least once, though.)

pouch

That is roasted garlic.

garlic

If you have roasted garlic on hand USE IT!  If you have extra time on your hands and feel like roasting some garlic for your hummus DO IT!  Just wrap it in foil and roast it until it gets soft, sweet and delicious.

roasted2

Raw garlic or garlic powder work just fine but the rich, sweet flavor of roasted garlic is. the. bomb.

humnveg

There’s no oil in my hummus.  I don’t think you need it.  You may certainly add some if you want.  I DID stir some whole toasted pinenuts into my hummus.  For crunch! Also for maximum pesto experience.

pine

Prepare your veg.

veggie

…aaaaaaand dunk.

carrot

Or go make a sandwich.

spread

Hummus is yummus!

glob

(Bet you’ve never heard that one before…clever, right?)

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

Enjoy!

❤ Ellen

Basil Hummus

Recipe a conglomeration of my taste and things from the interweb

1 cup loosely packed fresh basil
1 1/4 cup chickpeas (reserve either cooking water or the water from the can)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (or a clove or two of fresh garlic OR roasted garlic…highly recommended.)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2-1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (to taste)
1 tablespoon tahini
1/4 cup reserved chickpea water
1 handful of pinenuts (optional)

  1. If you want to, peel your chickpeas.  Just pick them up one at a time and slide the skin off.
  2. This is really complicated. Ready?  Put everything (except the pinenuts) in the food processor fitted with the blade attachment.  Let it run until everything is as smooth as your heart desires.  Be patient.  The longer it runs, the smoother the final product will be.
  3. Stir in pinenuts and drizzle with olive oil (if you want).  Serve as a dip for veggies or crackers or use as a spread for a sandwich.  Store in the refrigerator in a sealed container.  It will keep at least a week.

5 Comments

Filed under Appetizer, Dips, Snacks, Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , ,