Penguins!!!

These little babies are the CUTEST EVER!!!!!!!

In my hiatus from blogging I also stopped looking at food blogs because a lot of foods did not appeal to me. Quite honestly I was too tired by the time I came home from work to do much more than eat and go straight to bed. It is so nice to be in my second trimester!

This week when I got up the effort to start looking at blogs again, Megan's Cooking caught my eye. She made the cutest little penguin appetizers. We are having a couple of friends over for dinner so I thought I would try this recipe out. I was worried it would be really time consuming so I didn't have high expectations. WRONG! These babies are EASY to make and so damn cute!!!!! When they are all bunched up they look like they are keeping their eggs warm.

Penguins:
18 jumbo ripe Black olives
18 small ripe Black olives1
(8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 carrot (about 6 inches long and 1 inch wide)
18 long fresh chives
18 toothpicks

Cut a slit lengthwise from top to bottom in each jumbo olive. Fill each cavity of the jumbo olives with about a teaspoon of cream cheese (I used a knife and pushed the cream cheese in a little at a time through the top hole). This makes the the white stripe in penguins chest.

Cut carrot into 1/4 inch slices, then out of each slice cut a small pie shaped piece. This makes the feet, save the piece you cut out, this will be the beak. In the x slit in the center of each small olive (where the pit was removed) press the small piece of carrot into the hole with the pointed end out. Using a toothpick, stack head ( small olive ), body (large olive) and feet (carrot slice), adjusting so that beak, cream cheese breast and notch in carrot line up. Tie chive around neck for the scarf.

Not only are these little guys cute, they are TASTY! The chive is a requirement. If you don't use it as a scarf, you should chop them up in the cream cheese. Thanks for the idea Megan!!!

Seriously! This is so easy. You have to make these for your next cocktail party.

Greek Salsa

These salsa books I bought in San Antonio ROCK!!!!! I love salsa. I could eat it all day, every day. I bought these two books at the Alamo and *hoped* they were going to yield a couple of good recipes. All three recipes I have made from these books so far are phenomenal. I am going to be the hit of every appetizer party I attend for the rest of my life!

I wouldn't consider this a salsa exactly...it is lacking the spiciness of a chile...but it certainly is yummy! Alex thinks this would be awesome on a pizza. I whole heartedly agree!

Grecian Island Salsa:

4 oz. feta cheese, crumbled - I made sure the feta was pasteurized so I can eat it in my 'condition'

1/2 cup white onion, minced

1 medium tomato, finely diced

4 0z. black olives, chopped - we used kalmata olives, much tastier

Juice of 1 lime

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup fresh parsley, minced - I only used 1/3 cup because we only had curly parsley

2 tablespoons fresh dill, minced - our silly grocery store didn't have fresh dill so we used a teaspoon of dried dill

Freshly ground black pepper to taste - NOTE: it does not say to add salt...don't do it. The feta and olive are salty enough. I added salt :)

Combine all ingredients and stir gently. Serve immediately with toasted baguette slices or pita crisps. We had it with crackers and it was GREAT!

Despite the fact that I added salt at the end, this was a wonderful salsa! But seriously, don't add salt. I'm not sure what I was thinking. It wasn't miserable by any stretch of the imagination, but it doesn't need it.

Wow. I have missed sharing recipes online. I am glad I am feeling better. When my belly gets bigger I will post a picture.

GREAT SALSA!

I have apologies to make...it has been nearly 2 whole months since my last post. That kind of sounds like I am confessing sins to a priest. I have been feeling under the weather as a result of a parasite...a self inflicted parasite. I am pregnant!!!! I have not felt like cooking for months. It has been kind of heart breaking. I think I am on the rebound, so you should be seeing more posts in the coming weeks...but be patient...this little parasite of mine is sucking the life out of me.

Alex and I went to San Antonio to celebrate the holiday with his sister. We a GREAT city! We encountered the BEST STORE in the world! City Market is a high end grocery store similar to Wild Oats, but not so vegan. The deli serves gourmet dishes worthy of a fancy-schmancy dinner party, a cheese section so freaking fabulous I thought I had died and gone to heaven, and a wine selection better than the wine stores I am used to...not that it matter much on this trip since I can't drink.

While in Texas I scored two SWEET salsa cook books. Both books have a lot of recipes for fruit salsas. I dig mango salsa, but there is a recipe for strawberry salsa that is to DIE for. We made it in San Antonio with Alex's sister...sorry, no pics, but I have included the recipe if you'd like to try it out.

Corn and Black Bean Salsa:

1 cup drained canned corn

1 cup canned black beans, rinsed

1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced - I used red and it was fantastic!

2 tomatoes, seeded and diced

1 avocado, seeded, peeled and diced

2 Jalapeno chiles, seeded and finely diced

2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro

1/4 cup diced red onion

1 tablespoon lime juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine all ingredients. Cover and chill.

This salsa is so easy and PURE yummy! We cooked up some salmon with yam potato pancakes and topped it with the salsa and a dollop of chipotle sour cream. This salsa is awesome with chips too. You should make this for your New Years football parties...you'll be the ROCKSTAR of the party.

Summer Salsa:

2 cups diced strawberries

1/2 cup chopped red onion

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 jalapeno chile, finely chopped

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh mint

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

salt and white pepper

Combine all ingredients. Cover and chill.