Baked Cheese Appetizer Recipe

Posted by Roxanne on June 4, 2012

The sizzle of summer has arrived in a flash. All the activities that accompany summer fun have arrived too. It seems each year once school is out the summer takes off in jet propelled fashion and before you know it we are attending Back to School night.

We entertain more as it is so easy to fire up the grill and enjoy good friends. Recently we got together for a bittersweet dinner party. While the evening was great fun and filled with laughs, it was marking the occasion of some dear friends and neighbors who will be moving away to another state. We shared carpool trips to and from elementary school, spent many fun days at the swimming pool and shared more “play dates” than I can count. Our entire family is going to miss these great friends!

I wanted our time together to be fun and a time to catch up one last time before they pack up and move. The kitchen tasks and food needed to be simple.

To kick off the evening, we served a baked cheese appetizer. This fantastic appetizer was served at last month’s culinary book club. Kathy Smith shared her secret to this dish and we enjoyed it–really devoured it– along with a glass of wine. You can keep the ingredients on hand and it goes together in no time. Our daughter even loves this one so it will be served quite a lot this summer. Well let me restate that, it was going to be served quite a lot until we learned she is allergic to milk and all milk products. More on that I am sure in future blogs.

Anyway, keep it simple and try this appetizer. It would even count as dinner at our house on certain crazed summer evenings.

Baked Cheese Appetizer

Marinated mozzarella, cut into 1/2-inch cubes*
Fontina, rind removed and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 or 3 minced garlic cloves
1/4 to 1/2 tsp dried red pepper flakes
1 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
Toasted baguette slices or whole wheat crackers

Preheat the broiler and position the rack 5 to 6-inches from the heat.

Place the cheese cubes in a small cast iron skillet or broiler-proof container. Toss with the garlic and red pepper flakes. Drizzle with olive oil.

Place the skillet under the broiler for 5 to 7 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbling and beginning to brown.

Serve immediately with plenty of toasted baguette slices.

*Kathy Smith introduced me to this product from Trader Joe’s. I love it and have found so many great uses for this marinated cheese in many of my recipes.

Arugula Pasta

Posted by Roxanne on May 7, 2012

Our family is trying to embrace the concept of Meatless Mondays. Alas, most weeks it becomes Meatless Tuesday, or Wednesday or Thursday, but at least we are trying to trim the amount of meat in our diets.

It seems the only success I have selling this concept to my family is to serve pasta on the meatless day. We come from a long line of pasta lovers, so it is easier to serve pasta and then, for the most part, none of us miss the meat or at least, I don’t hear a whimper about the missing meat. [Read more…]

Lemon Merinque Pie

Posted by Roxanne on April 9, 2012

We recently attended the International Association of Culinary Professionals annual conference in New York City. This is always a stellar conference jam packed with information about food and trends. Not to mention, we get to meet so many food professionals, famous and not so famous.

We went in a day early to participate in a Chocolate and Pastry tour. What can I say? We had a fantastic culinary adventure through the streets of New York. Here are some pictures of our pastry and chocolate filled day. My all time favorite was the Kouign Amann from Dominque Ansel’s Bakery. Dominque’s DKA, as he calls them, are croissant like pastries with a caramelized crust and a soft, almost pudding-like center. Oh, how I have dreamed of a bakery like this in Kansas City. Dominque shared his DKA and a salted caramel eclair with us. I am still thinking about how decadently wonderful they were.

With all the pastry treasures close to mind, I wanted to enjoy a Lemon Meringue Pie. After researching many new recipes, I settled upon one that I thought would be very easy. Easy was important because I am really suppose to be testing more cake pop recipes in order to meet a pending cookbook manuscript deadline. While this was developed to be a tart similar to what is found in many Paris patisseries, I wanted to make a pie. I made my favorite pastry crust and added Ina Garten’s lemon filling and meringue. Perfection! Here is the link to Ina’s recipe. I hope you will give this a try and let me know your results.

Can I share one New York laugh with you all? We were in Times Square one day and happened upon Minnie Mouse. I begged Kathy to stand with Minnie for a picture so that I might send it to my daughter, who would be so excited. She is madly in love with all things Disney.

Notice Minnie coming down the street swinging her purse.

See the perfect pic of Kathy with Minnie? What you don’t see is Minnie hitting Kathy with her purse until she paid her $1.00 for the picture! I exclaimed to Minnie that Walt Disney would not be impressed. After we got over the shock and awe of the event, I must admit, we giggled about it the rest of our trip. So be forewarned, no pictures in Time Square without payment!

May your week be filled with lemon tart moments and photo snapshots (if only in your mind). The kind that you can giggle and smile about.

Housewares Show 2012

Posted by Roxanne on March 14, 2012

Whew! What a week we have enjoyed. We just returned from the International Housewares Show in Chicago, working with Select Brands, Inc., the company that introduced the Babycakes Cupcake Maker and ultimately the entire Babycakes treat line. We had many days filled with grocery shopping, prepping and preparing for this huge event. We even carried 400 premade cake pops with us on the plane, not to mention the display cake pops that piggy backed along in the overhead compartment. We have enjoyed the Housewares show for decades and each time we attend and work the demonstration counter we have a great time!

Not only were our days filled with excitement, enthusiasm, smiles and giggles galore, we got to enjoy some fabulous dinners with our friends from Select Brands. It is so difficult to capture our experiences in words, so we thought a picture would represent 1,000 words.

This is a picture of the new booth introduced this year. It was beautiful….two stories tall, with products, our demo counter and our new, improved large back kitchen! The second floor is expansive and takes your breath away with the meeting rooms and new product ideas.

Here we are with Bill Endres, the President of Select Brands. We have worked with Bill for 3 decades! Did we really reveal that bit of trivia? He is a gem, an entrepreneur and the best salesman in the business. We are so humbled and honored to be able to continue our relationship with Bill after all these years. The three of us worked together at Rival (the Crock Pot Company) and that relationship has continued for many, many years. It would be a Guinness book of records entry if we had only counted how many laughs and great times we have enjoyed with Bill.

Our big news at this show was the introduction of two more books we are writing that will be available in the fall. We have had so much creative time in the test kitchen and truly, had more than 200 recipes that wouldn’t fit. That’s how versatile the Babycakes Cupcake Maker and Cake Pop Maker can be.

Don’t you love these creations? Many of the directions are found in our current book, 175 Best Babycakes Cake Pops Recipes and here’s a sneak peak of the second cake pop book….Goldilocks and The Three Bears!

As the lights dimmed on the show and we returned to Kansas, once again we are pinching ourselves. Thank you Select Brands for your confidence in us and for counting us as part of your team. Thank you, our friends, family, colleagues and loyal followers, for your support, for believing in us and for making Babycakes appliances part of your lives. We are humbled and in awe beyond belief.

Chocolate Cream Pie

Posted by Roxanne on February 27, 2012

2012 has gotten off to a rocky start in our home. Tough times call for tough measures, most importantly hope, faith, love and prayer. A close second would be food. In order to show my love and devotion, I do the best thing I know……get in the kitchen and cook. Comfort food has been in order these past several weeks. My #1 go to comfort food is Chocolate Cream Pie. This recipe is so very easy to stir together and there are no worries about tempering the hot mixture with the eggs. This is as easy a “one saucepan method” as you can find. [Read more…]