Caramelized Onion Greek Yogurt Dip

I found this recipe online the other day when I was trying to find a quick dip to bring to my husbands birthday dinner that my sister-in-law Katie prepared. I really did not want to run to the store again that day so I found a recipe that included all the ingredients I already had on hand.

If there is one thing I always have in my refrigerator it is plain Greek yogurt. I decided to try a caramelized onion yogurt dip to go along with Katie's appetizers of roasted potatoes, spicy sausage and chips. Everyone really enjoyed this dip and I was really happy with how it came out.  I can see this being a new favorite recipe for parties and entertaining.. A major plus is that it is healthy and easy to make. This is definitely a recipe worth trying.

** A tip for this recipe: Make sure your onions are nicely caramelized and do not burn. My onions took less time than the 45 minutes the recipe call for. Use you judgement, they should be really soft, and golden brown and very sweet.

Caramelized Onion Greek Yogurt Dip (Original recipe from How Sweet It Is)
Makes 2 cups

Ingredients:
1 medium red onion, chopped
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tbsp salted butter
16 oz plain green yogurt (0% or 2% works)
1 tsp salt
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley-optional

1. In a large pot, add olive oil and butter and melt over low heat. Once melted, add in chopped onions with 1/4 tsp salt, and stir until onions are all coated in oil. Cover pot and cook for approx. 45 minutes, stirring every 5-10 minutes (I found this step to go a little fasted than 45 minutes) After 45 minutes or when the onions are very soft and nicely golden brown, add in 1 tsp brown sugar and cook 5 minutes more. Remove onions from heat (as long as they are caramelized) and stir in remaining brown sugar. 

In a large bowl, mix together yogurt and onions, stirring in salt, pepper, fresh parsley and garlic powder. Taste and add more seasoning if desired. Serve with chips, pretzels or veggies. 

Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms

I came up with this recipe the other day when I was trying to use my abundance of spinach. These mushrooms have a lot of flavor and work great as an appetizer or side dish. I love how the spinach and Parmesan cheese became crispy on top and the Greek Cream Cheese made the center nice and creamy. If the tops start to brown too much before the mushrooms are soft, tent loosely with tin foil and remove the last few minutes of cooking. This recipe would also be great stuffed inside a Portobello mushroom cap for a vegetarian entree. Enjoy!!!

Check out the Greek Cream Cheese Below:
http://www.franklinfoods.com/greek-cream-cheese

Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms 
Makes 12 Large Mushrooms 

Ingredients:
12 large stuffing button mushrooms-stems removed
Olive oil
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese or Romano cheese
2 handfuls of chopped fresh spinach
1 oz Greek Cream Cheese (or regular cream cheese)

1. In a non stick skillet over medium heat add 1 tbsp of olive oil and 1 cup of fresh bread crumbs (pulse day old bread in food processor to create fresh bread crumbs, I used frozen gluten free bread and it worked great). Cook bread crumbs, stirring frequently until golden brown; about 7 minutes. Place in a bowl and set aside to cool.

2. Meanwhile, using the same skillet, coat pan with oil and saute 2 large handfuls of chopped spinach until wilted. Add to bread crumbs, along with Parmesan cheese, and cream cheese. Mix together well.

3. On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil sprayed with non-stick spray, arrange mushrooms stem side facing up. Brush mushrooms with olive oil and fill with stuffing.

Bake at 400 degrees F until mushrooms are soft and the topping is crispy; this can take anywhere from 30-45 minutes depending on size of mushrooms and your oven. If they are browning too quickly, loosely tent with foil. Remove from oven and serve warm.

Portobello Mushrooms with Melted Gorgonzola Cheese

Every once in a while, my husband and I have what we call "Cheese Night". Instead of cooking a big meal for dinner we get a few good quality cheeses, crackers, and I make some other appetizers or salads to go along. This past "Cheese Night" I decided to try and recreate a dish I had at Maroni's in Northport. The original dish was Portobello Mushroom with Gorgonzola, balsamic reduction and a basil oil. The only difference with my version is I opted to use fresh basil instead of the basil oil. The dish was very similar and tasted great. I would definitely make this again, especially for company. It would make a great appetizer on top of a bed of  mixed greens.

Portobello Mushrooms with Melted Gorgonzola Cheese balsamic reduction and basil
Serves 4

Side Salad, Fresh Tomato with Basil, Pecorino Romano in Balsamic, Crostini and Portobello
Mushrooms 

Ingredients:
4 Portobello Mushroom caps- stems and grills removed gently
Good Quality Gorgonzola cheese (enough for about 2 tbsp per mushroom)
Olive Oil
1 cup balsamic vinegar
Fresh Basil-chopped (reserve some for garnish)

1. To make the balsamic reduction: add 1 cup of vinegar into a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10-15 minutes (sometimes it can take up to 20 minutes) and reduce liquid by half. Remove from the heat and let cool (vinegar will thicken even more as is cools, make sure to keep your eye on the vinegar to prevent it from over reducing and burning)

2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Brush mushrooms with olive oil on both sides and place onto  a baking sheet stem side facing up. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until mushrooms as soft. Remove from oven and soak up any liquid with a paper towel.

3. Crumble as much or as little of the Gorgonzola cheese as desired onto the mushroom and sprinkle with some fresh basil. Brush a little more olive oil on the outside rim of the mushrooms to prevent them from drying out. Place back in the oven for 10 minutes or until Gorgonzola cheese has melted. You can also place the mushrooms under the broiler to melt cheese.

4. Remove mushrooms from oven and transfer them to serving dish or plate. Drizzle with balsamic reduction and fresh basil and serve immediately.

Artichoke Crostini

A great appetizer to make for the holidays. Each component can be made ahead of time and assembled right before serving. This recipe comes from a new cookbook I recently purchased Rocco Dispirito Now Eat This Italian. The recipes are classic Italian dishes "lightened" up for a healthier alternative. If you are on a gluten free diet this cookbook has many GF recipes, including pasta dishes that work better with GF pasta.

A "fun" fact (written in the book): In 16th century, eating an artichoke was reserved only for men. Women were denied the pleasure because artichokes were considered an aphrodisiac and were thought to enhance sexual power....we sure have come a long way, so ladies eat as many artichokes as you want.

Using artichokes packed in water versus oil will save you around 120 calories and 10 grams of fat. Making two of these crostini (good size) 111 calories.


Artichoke Crostini
Makes 10-15 slices depending on size of bread

Ingredients:
1 (10oz) jar whole baby artichokes, packed in water, drained
2 tbsp minced celery, leaves removed, chopped and set aside
4 tbsp jarred green peperoncini. sliced thin
4 tbsp roughly chopped fresh parsley
1/2 ounce parmesan cheese, grated
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Fresh ground pepper
8-10 slices from a baguette

Preheat broiler

Cut artichokes into 1/8 and place in medium bowl with celrey, peperoncini, parley, parmesan cheese and olive oil. Toss together and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Place baguette slices on a baking sheet and toast under broiler until crisp and lightly brown on both sides; about 1 minute per side.

Place crostini on platter and top each with equal amounts of salad mixture. Scatter celery leaves on top .

Teri-Glazed Turkey Meatballs

Here is a great healthy recipe for a party appetizer. My husband, who usually won't touch anything with ground turkey likes these meatballs and ate 10 or more of them the other night. I lost count. These turkey meatballs are very moist and have a great balance of salty from the soy sauce and sweet from the honey.

You can either make these as regular meatballs or turn them into yakitori by shaping them into football shapes and inserting a 6" bamboo skewer to each mealball. This is a nice idea for serving a crowd.

This recipe freezes well, so it is a good make ahead appetizer. To freeze, shape the raw meatballs and place them into ziplock bags and freeze. When you are ready to cook them, defrost them in the refrigerator and proceed with cooking instructions.

You can easily make these gluten free by just using gluten free soy sauce in place of regular soy sauce and gluten free bread crumbs. I find the best bread crumbs come from using the ends of frozen gluten free sandwich bread (such as Udi's), just pulse in a food processor to create crumbs.


Teri-Glazed Turkey Meatballs (Recipe from Pretty Delicious by Candice Kumai)
Makes 24 meatballs

Ingredients:
Glaze: 
1/4 cup honey
2 tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp garlic powder

Meatballs/Yakitori:
1 1/2 tbsp sesame seeds
1 large egg
1 pound of lean ground turkey
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
16 scallions-finely chopped (I used closer to 10 scallions)
4 garlic cloves-finely minced (I did not add garlic)
2 tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce
1 tbsp dark sesame oil
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp freshly ground pepper

1. Make the glaze by whisking together honey, soy sauce, ginger and garlic in a small bowl. Set aside a few tablespoons of glaze to drizzle at the end.

2. If you are making yakitori: soak twenty four 6" bamboo skewers in warm water for 20 minutes.

3. Toast the sesame seeds in a small skillet over medium heat, shaking the pan often, until fragrant and nutty; 1-2 minutes. Transfer seeds to a small plate to cool and set aside.

4. Lightly beat egg in a large bowl. Add in turkey meat, bread crumbs, scallions, garlic, soy sauce, sesame oil, toasted sesame seeds, salt and pepper, mix together well.

5. Form mixture into 24 meatballs or for yakitori: football shaped torpedoes with skewers inserted into each ball.

6. Heat a large non-stick pan to medium-high and spray pan with cooking spray or coat with canola oil. Add the meatballs in batches making sure not to over crowd the pan. Cook on one side about 3-4 minutes, turn the meatballs and brush with glaze on the cooked side. Cook the second side 3-4 minutes and continue to brush each side with glaze until the meat is cooked through. Continue until all the meatballs are cooked. (I like to put my meatballs in a 350 degree oven to keep warm and finish cooking while you finish the batches of meatballs)

7. To serve, drizzle with reserved glaze.

Spicy Stuffed Peppers

A new cookbook for my collection: Michael Symon's Live to Cook. I was excited to get this book after visiting his restaurant in Cleveland, Ohio last year. He has two restaurants Lola and Lolita, we went to Lola, and so far in my lifetime it was one of the best restaurants I have had the pleasure of eating in.

His book includes recipes from his restaurants, as well as, family recipes easy to cook at home. The first recipe I tried from the book was an appetizer of spicy stuffed peppers. I believe my husbands comment about this dish was "finally something with some spice!" This recipe uses his "Yia Yia's" sunday tomato sauce and his recipe for homemade pork sausage. To simplify, I used my recipe for tomato sauce and a high quality spicy sausage from the butcher.

I found this part of his book amusing so I thought I would share it with you. Although I don't agree 100%  this is Michael Symon's Five Things You Should Never Buy:

1. Boneless, skinless chicken breast halves: Eating chicken without skin is like riding a bike without wheels: it's no fun, and it leaves your dish at a flavor standstill.

2. Lean turkey bacon: There is NO substitute for the magic that is smoky, fatty, delicious bacon, and the word lean should never be used when describing it.

3. I can't believe It's Not Butter and other butter substitutes: Believe me, it ain't butter, not even close. I'm certain the people who invented this have never really tasted butter and never tried to make a sauce with it. Stay away from margarine too. The only thing to use to replace butter is more butter.

4. Beef Tenderloin/filet mignon: Can we please get over our love affair with the most expensive and least flavorful part of the entire animal? Buy a beautifully marbled rib eye: it'll cost you less and make you happier.

5. Peeled, chopped garlic: The only thing that this has in common with fresh garlic is the breath it may produce. It certainly lacks the actual flavor of garlic. Are we really so lazy that we have to buy our garlic already cut for us?

Spicy Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients: 
8 Hungarian hot peppers
1 1/2 pounds sausage-spicy or Italian
2 cups of tomato sauce-homemade or jarred
8 fresh basil leaves

1. Preheat broiler and char the peppers underneath the broiler on a baking sheet. Remove them from oven and reduce temperature to 375 degrees F.

2. Butter a 8 x 11 inch baking dish. Cut off the tops of the peppers and spoon out any seeds.

3. Divide sausage into 8 equal portions and spoon it into peppers to fill them.

4. Pour sauce into prepared baking dish and add the peppers on top.

5. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the sausage reaches 150 degrees F.

6. Divide among plates and spoon sauce on top. Garnish with basil leaf.

**The other way you can make these peppers is to grill the already stuffed peppers for 2 minutes per side and then place them in the oven with sauce and bake at 375 for 10 minutes.

Appetizer Puff Sandwiches and Chicken Salad Recipe

I am always looking for appetizers to bring to a party that do not have to be heated or remain hot for the party. These bite sized sandwiches are made from cream puff shells and you can fill them with whatever sandwich ingredients you desire. My favorite filling is my chicken salad. You can find both the recipe for the cream puff shells and the chicken salad below.

The recipe for the cream puffs comes from my mother-in-law who is most recently known as Grandma Chrissy :) The chicken salad recipe is one I made up because I am not a fan of mayo so I substitute most of the mayo for Greek yogurt and mustard.

Cream Puff Shells:
Makes 2 dozen

Ingredients:
1 cup water
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup flour
4 eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. In a small saucepan, heat water and butter,bring to a boil. Turn heat to low and stir in flour; stir vigorously until mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat and beat in eggs one at a time. Continue beating until mixture is smooth. Drop dough using a spoon onto two ungreased baking sheets (1 dozen per sheet) Bake for 30 mins. If you are baking both baking sheets at the same time, switch half way through the baking time. Remove from oven and let cool completely on cooling rack.

3. Once the puffs are cool you can fill them with your favorite filling by slicing the top 3/4 the way through and filling. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Chicken Salad:
Makes about 4 cups depending on size of chicken
(You can alter the amount of vegetables added to your specific taste)

Ingredients:
4 bone-in skin on chicken breasts
2 celery stalks- diced
2 carrots- peeled and diced
4 scallions-diced
1 tbsp fresh dill
1-2 tbsp basil
1-2 tbsp parsley
2-3 tbsp mayonnaise
6 oz plain Greek yogurt
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1-2 tbsp honey
salt and pepper to taste

1. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and roast at 400 degrees for 45 mins or until fully cooked. Set aside to cool. Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, remove the meat of the bones and discard the skin. Chop up the chicken and place in a large bowl.

2. Add the chopped celery, carrots, scallions, dill, basil and parsley to the chicken and mix together.

3. In another bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, yogurt, mustard and honey. Pour into chicken mixture and mix together. Season with salt and pepper to taste

Vegetarian Stuffed Mushrooms

My husband and I have been doing a "cheese night" for years now. For dinner we just have some good cheese, crackers and salad instead of a big dinner. We seem to be doing this more often now and its turning  into "appetizer night". Along with our cheese and crackers, I will make a bunch of different appetizers, for example, bruschetta, stuffed mushrooms, breaded mozzarella etc...I enjoy doing this very much and experimenting each time.


Here is a recipe for stuffed mushrooms. I have adapted this recipe from Barefoot Contessa's cookbook: How easy is that? The recipe originally called for sausage but I decided to make it vegetarian and was very happy with the results.


P.S: Less than 2 weeks until Layla starts eating solid food :) 


Stuffed Mushrooms:
Makes 30-35 mushrooms (varies depending on size of mushrooms)

Ingredients: 

• 2 (8oz) packages of white mushrooms
• 5 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 2 1/2 tablespoons Marsala wine or sherry
• 6 scallions, white and green parts, minced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2/3 cup panko crumbs
• 5 to 8 ounces of mascarpone cheese
• 1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan
• 2 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees

2. Remove the stems from the mushrooms and chop them finely. Set aside. 

3. Place mushroom caps in a shallow bowl and toss with 3 tbps of olive oil and Marsala wine. Set aside. 

4. Heat the remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add in mushroom stems and cook until soft 3-5 mins. 

5. Stir in scallions and garlic and cook for 2-3 mins more. 

6. Add in the panko bread crumbs, stirring until incorporated. Add in the marscapone cheese and cook until it is melted and creamy. 

7. Off the heat, add in the Parmesan cheese, parsley and season with salt and pepper, to taste. 

8. Fill each mushroom cap with the mixture and arrange caps on a large baking dish in a single layer. 

9. Bake until brown and crusty, around 50 mins. 

Slow Cooker Spinach Artichoke Dip

Talk about a great, easy recipe for any party. This appetizer slow cooks ahead of time and is warm and ready when all your guests arrive...perfect for the holidays! Serve this dip with pita chips or crostini.


Slow Cooker Spinach Artichoke Dip
Makes 4-5 cups

Ingredients:
2 (13.75 oz) cans of artichoke hearts-drained and quartered
1 package frozen chopped spinach-thawed and squeezed dry
1 cup mayonnaise
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese
3/4 cup diced red bell pepper
1 tbsp garlic-optional
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (4 oz)
1/2 cup chopped banana pepper rings
Crostini or Pita Chips for serving

1. Stir together the following ingredients: artichoke hearts, spinach, mayonnaise, cream cheese, bell pepper and garlic in your slow cooker.

2. Cover and cook for 1-2 hours on high heat setting or 3-4 hours on low heat setting.

3.  Right before you are ready to serve, add in the Monterey Jack cheese and banana peppers. Cover and cook until the cheese melts.

4. Set the slow cooker on warm and serve with crostini or pita chips.