Tag Archives: Wine

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Crouton Cups gone awry, sorta – HaliPawz

I am not one of those beautiful hostess types. You know, the ones whom, when you walk in their house, you ooh and ahh over the splendor of everything? Yeah, I’m lucky if I get the house cleaned and food prepared before the guests arrive.  I love to host gatherings in my home though.  My friends know the house might not be picture perfect but they will get enough to eat and drink…isn’t that all that really matters?

I was having a wine tasting in my home this past Saturday.  I’ve never been much of a wine drinker, but went to a wine tasting at a friend’s house a few years ago and fell in love with a couple of PRP International wines! I went from not drinking wine EVER to ordering a case of red wine.  I still can’t go to a restaurant and order a glass, I won’t like it, but I do love some of theirs.  I will have friends and family say they aren’t much of a wine drinker, I tell them my story, they try it, like it, and we laugh about it.  I should probably start selling it as it is the only wine I buy.

As I was planning my menu, I decided I wanted cheese of course, but I wanted appetizer type food.  I had considered meatballs, but decided I wanted cooler foods. It is June after all! Pasta Salad!

Italian Dressing, Rotini, Colby Jack

Simple, Fresh, Pasta Salad with Bacon, Cucumber, and Cheese

I really wanted pasta salad.  Wait, pasta salad isn’t exactly “finger food”. My thoughts start spinning.  I know! What if I made an edible cup to put them in? I had made Parmesan cups for Caesar Salad before but they were pretty time consuming. They were good. I was thinking about putting in the recipe I used, went to look for it, and came across this one! I HAVE NOT tried this, but it makes sense and is a LOT easier than the ones I made, so try it. Let me know if you like it or not.  If I try it, I’ll update this post.

Back to my edible cup dilemma.  I’m racking my brain and it comes to me, crouton cups! What a great idea.  Except I have no idea how to even make regular croutons, let alone a cup.  Would it be big enough? Would it even work? I’m patting myself on the back for such a great idea.  Off to Google to look for crouton recipes.  I put in “crouton cups” and site after site pops up. I realize I’m not so inventive after all.  Cooks, real cooks, have already thought of them.  I decided to not to reinvent the wheel, so I read through a few to find one I think I can manage.  This is the one I chose to work make, never planning on making any changes. Now I had no expectation of mine turning out as pretty as hers did in the photo. She recommended to use a firm bread, nothing airy.  Off to Google again to find out which bread is densest. The problem with that search is I kept finding out how to make bread less dense instead of which bread would be the densest.  I wasn’t going to bake my bread, so I had to make do with what I picked up.

I settled on Sara Lee Honey Wheat Bread. I wish I could tell you why, but no clue.  It just sounded the best for my pasta salad.

I get home and as I’m about to start making it, I’m trying to think of what seasonings to use to complement my pasta salad…and then it hits me.  The olive oil or butter from the recipe are both liquids.  The Italian dressing is a liquid. Why not change the recipe a little! It made sense to me until I put the pan in the oven.  Then I panicked as I started smelling the Italian dressing.  Can you cook dressing? Will it start on fire?!?! Am I ruining my oven?!?? All these thoughts! Now you see why I say I’m a messy cook, I normally follow recipes to avoid scares like this!

They were done!

Italian Dressing

Baked Italian Dressing Crouton Cups

And they looked croutonish! Success! Well, at least in appearance.

They didn’t look anything like the beautiful picture In the original recipe I used for a base. They looked edible, which is a start.

I let them cool while I finished preparing my other items.

I ended up serving gourmet cheese,

Gourmet Cheeses on Michigan Chalkboard Serving Tray

my pasta salad with crouton cups, deli spiral sandwiches, assorted melons, strawberries, and for my chocolate; brownie bites with cream cheese frosting available and peanut butter / Hershey kiss cookies.  As you can see, I rely on Sam’s Club for many of my hostessing items! It’s easier and less time consuming.

Now, full disclosure, my guests opted for putting my Italian Crouton Cups on their plate and then putting the pasta salad over top, they didn’t really use them in the finger food style I had imagined….but they would have worked and they tasted great!

Great food, great wine, great friends….roll it up and you have success!

For the recipe for the Pasta Salad, click here

For the recipe for the Italian Crouton Cups, click here

If you like this and want to stay up to date with my posts, follow me on Twitter @HaliPawz  or Like me on Facebook.com/HaliPawz 

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Product Review; Loredana’s Jalapeno Marinated Asiago & Parmesan Cheese spread from Just Enough Heat – HaliPawz

Every now and then, you stumble upon a new product that is unbelievably good.  I had the great fortune of that happening just recently.  I was at a PRP International sale and they had Just Enough Heat there showcasing some of their products.  I had never seen them there before so we went to look at the products they had.  I am not a “heat” lover.  I don’t really care for spicy food too much.  I want to be able to taste the flavor of the food I’m eating, not burn my mouth.  The first thing I tried was their Savory Saltine Flavoring.   While I did not end up purchasing this, I was impressed.  With this flavoring packet, you change the flavor of basic, saltine crackers and give them a nice pop of flavor.  It is mild, but packed with flavor.  I avoided a lot of their products because of the heat factor, but they recommended I try their Jalapeno Marinated Asiago & Parmesan Cheese spread.  They gave me a little sample with a small piece of bread and I was hooked!  Even though it has “Jalapeno” in the title, it was classified as mild.  I bought a jar of it.

I happened to be having a small gathering later that day at my home so I put the jar on the counter away from all of the other food.  I didn’t want to share it with everyone, I wanted to be able to enjoy it later.  I looked at the jar a little later and saw that it was supposed to be refrigerated.  I was surprised because it wasn’t refrigerated or even kept cold when I purchased it, so I was a little concerned.  I double checked and no where did it say “Refrigerate after opening” it simply said “Keep Refrigerated.”  I put it in the refrigerator and forgot about it for a couple of days.  I hadn’t been feeling all that great so I wasn’t really trying to eat a lot.  I had a couple of Kings Hawaiian Rolls left over from my party  and decided to munch on one.  I remembered my cheese purchase and opened it up.  The first thing I noticed was how oily it was.  I remembered being told you had to stir it up really well before using it.

As you can see, the oil is all at the top.

After stirring it, the cheeses are very evident.

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I scooped out a little bit and put it on the roll.  It was as good as I remembered it!  The combination of the hard cheeses with the olive oil and garlic is amazing.  You do not need a lot because the flavor is so rich.  The mild Jalapeno gives it a bold flavor without the burn.   Over the course of the week, I also tried the spread on pretzel chips and found it to be pretty tasty.

I wanted to get some recipe ideas and since it had a Loredana’s label instead of  Just Enough Heat label, I looked up the company.  They are a small company in Denver.  As I was looking through their site, I saw some great recipe ideas, including putting a small amount into a hamburger patty.  Yes, I will be trying that as soon as I am feeling better!  I also discovered they have additional Asiago & Parmesan Cheese Spreads.  One in particular that caught my eye is their Garlic Marinated Asiago & Parmesan Hard Cheese.  They also have the same recipe but without as much garlic.  It still has garlic in it, but apparently not as much.  Since I like garlic, I think I would like the extra garlic.  They also have a Winter Truffle version I am a little curious about.

At $15 a jar, this is a little expensive for me to have on a regular basis.  I appreciate the cheeses used are not cheap and the quality and flavor is well worth the cost, it just isn’t in my budget right now.  I definetely will be purchasing a few more jars though so I can try some of the recipes.  As I do, I will make sure to share my thoughts on the other flavors.

I am so happy to have discovered this great new company.  They have other products besides spreads, including a vinaigrette section I will keep my eye on to see if they add a raspberry version.

I encourage you to check out Just Enough Heat and Loredana’s….two new companies with some great products, tell them you heard about them from me, maybe they’ll be nice and offer a discount on some of their other cheese spreads!  Hey, a girl can hope!