Blue Cheese-Apricot Bites

Photo by Rachel's Bite, Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 3.0 US licensed.

Sweet, savory, and crunchy! You do have to be a fan of blue cheese to enjoy these, but I think there's nothing better than a pungent cheese with a bit of sweet. I found this recipe for Blue Cheese-Apricot Bites in a 2010 Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publications for Appetizers. It's the perfect party food! And these candied walnuts you end up with, you'll want to make a whole batch of just those. But be careful, they can get soggy.

I have made this recipe several times. I usually make a double batch because you only end up with 16 and I always eat 3 or 4 while I'm putting them together because they are so yummy. I have tried these with organic apricots which is a bit better for you, but the organic apricots are darker and might look strange to some. Being an appetizer people just think they are dark because they are cooked, but I wanted to warn you of the discoloration in case you try those out.

Blue Cheese-Apricot Bites
Makes 16 appetizers

2 tsp. butter
2 Tbsp. finely chopped walnuts
2 tsp. sugar
½ tsp. snipped fresh rosemary or ¼ tsp dried rosemary, finely crushed
¼ cup crumbled Gorgonzola,Roquefort, or other blue cheese (1 ounce)
1 ounce cream cheese
16 dried apricots
Snipped fresh rosemary (optional)

In a small skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add wlnuts and sugar; cook and stir 2 to 3 minutes or until walnuts are lightly toasted. Stir in ½ teaspoon fresh or ¼ teaspoon dried rosemary; cook and stir for 30 seconds more. Transfer nuts to a foil-lined baking sheet; cool.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine Gorgonzola cheese and cream cheese. Beat with an electric mixer until smooth.

Spoon about ¾ teaspoon of the cheese mixture on top of each dried apricot. Sprinkle with nuts. If desired, garnish with additional fresh rosemary.

Per appetizer: 33 cal., 2 g total fat (1 g sat. fat), 5 mg. chol., 24 mg sodium, 3 g carb., 0.3g fiber, 1 g pro.


Love is all around you... Enjoy!

- Rachel

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Potato, Greens and Goat Cheese Quesadillas

While I was flipping through my stack of foodie magazines I came across this recipe for Potato, Greens and Goat Cheese Quesadillas in the March, 2008 issue of Bon Appetit Magazine. I was looking for something simple and tasty and what is a more perfect fit for that than quesadillas?

This recipe claims to take 35 minutes to prepare but I'm sure I spent more than an hour on it. I might be a bit rusty as I have been out of the kitchen for a bit, but preparing the potatoes and shredding the cheese seemed to take a half hour all in itself.

These quesadillas came out good but hot. They definitely have an interesting taste combination - the mustard greens and jalapeno cheese are spicy and the potatoes and goat cheese are to cool things down. I think I made a mistake though because I used some habanero cheese from Costco and it really flared up the taste of the mustard greens making it all pretty hot. I have never had mustard greens before and they remind me of horseradish! I ended up with alot more of the potato mixture and greens than I could fill the quesadillas with. I think I could have made 8 instead of 4 with this recipe. But it was a nice snack and definitely interesting. I may make them again for a dinner party, but this time I will use jalapeno cheese as suggested!

Mom's Grilled Cheese

A few weeks ago Meeta at What's For Lunch Honey? posted the next Monthly Mingle challenge of Comfort Food on her blog. I have been thinking about it all month. I realized that "comfort food" for me is food that was made by my mom when I was growing up. My mom has these amazing recipes for homemade spaghetti and gravy, homemade bread, and even the most amazing Roast Beef and Pot Roast. I don't know any of the recipes and it is kind of hard for her to convey them to me because it is almost like they are in her blood.

Today my mom made me the most simplest of sandwiches: grilled cheese. Now, everyone knows how to make grilled cheese, right? Not me. I only eat grilled cheese that was prepared by my mother, my grandmother or my ex-husband. I have tried if a few times and just ended up burning it. So I decided that the ultimate comfort food, for me, is something that I don't even make myself!


The secret to my mom's grilled cheese is the bread. She almost always uses an artisan bread. I never grew up with "wonder bread" or anything like it in the house. So the bread gets buttered and then fried in the pan. It ends up being a bit crispy on the outside but still chewy. It doesn't matter what cheese is used, the buttery fried bread gives it the amazing comforting feel that should be. As it happens, today my mom used a combination of Kraft singles and a few slices of some habenaro cheese. It was nice and spicy which balanced the richness of the other cheese and the buttery bread. For me, it is pure heaven.

#83: Feta Cheesecake

This Feta Cheesecake always seemed to be one of the most interesting items on Food and Wine's 100 tastes to try in 2007. Coming in at #83, for deserts using pungent cheese, I went so far as to order French feta online while I lived in Florida. Something happened - maybe that was when my back went out - that caused me to not be able to make the cake.

It all worked out for the best though because I got to make it for a family dinner. It really did take about 5 hours from start to finish as I spent most of the day on it. This time I was lucky to find FRESH French Feta at my local Whole Foods Market. It is such a fabulous cheese I will buy it in the future just to munch on.

As you can see by the online recipe, it is not a traditional cheesecake. Instead, you stack a 3-inch square of cheese cake in between two layers of baked phyllo dough. It adds a wonderful flavor and crunch. Top it off with your desired amount of wine-poached date sauce and you are in for a fabulous dessert.

#54: Jasper Hill's Bayley Hazen Blue

I love blue cheese so I was excited to see Jasper Hill's Bayley Hazen Blue listed one of the suggestions for #54 American Raw-milk Cheeses on Food & Wine's 100 Tastes to Try in 2007. I don't know much about cheese tasting. I either like them or I don't. I have read that this Jasper Hill cheese is supposed to be one of the best blue cheeses. I liked it well enough. It's got a strong taste and isn't as creamy as the blue cheese I am used to. But I ate it quite often with slices of tomatoes. It made a great snack.