I recently had the pleasure of creating a recipe for Natasha’s 5 Star Makeover Summer ’10 Special that she just posted this week. For the challenge we received a package of unique ingredients from Marx Foods and were asked to use one to makeover a dish! I chose to use fennel pollen to convert traditional seared salmon into Fennel Pollen and Ginger Salmon with Coconut Lentils, but of course I couldn’t resist playing with some of the other ingredients too! The box also contained Szechuan peppercorns, Madagascar vanilla beans, pasilla negro chiles, marrow beans, tepin chiles, and dried wild mushrooms (candy cap, black trumpet, and porcini!). Apolinaras actually took the mushrooms out and asked me to make a Lithuanian inspired dish with them for him, which was incredibly cute. There are over 400 species of mushrooms in Lithuania so they’re a staple that he grew up with and he especially loves getting his hands on the wild ones.

When we were in Lithuania, we stumbled upon this incredible bar snack that was just genius and served everywhere – fried strips of bread that you dipped in a creamy garlic cheese sauce – yum! So, I decided to make my own lightened up version with the mushrooms. After toasting some dark rye bread, I whipped up a dip with the rehydrated wild mushrooms, cottage cheese, shallots, garlic, and parmesan cheese. We enjoyed it with some ice cold Lithuanian beers and tried to imagine we were back in Vilnius! Thanks Natasha and Marx Foods for hosting such a fun challenge!

Wild Mushroom Dip with Toasted Bread Strips
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 ounce dried wild mushrooms
1 cup boiling water
16 ounces dark rye bread, cut into strips
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 shallots, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cups 2% cottage cheese
1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Place dried mushrooms in a small bowl and pour boiling water on top. Let mushrooms soak for 20 minutes or until rehydrated.

Heat oven to 400˚F. Use a pastry brush to coat bread strips with 3 tablespoons olive oil and place on a large greased cookie sheet. Bake at 400˚F for 15 minutes or until toasted.

Meanwhile, heat remaining tablespoon olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium high heat and sauté shallots for 5 to 7 minutes or until tender; add garlic and sauté 1 additional minute. Add cooked shallots, cottage cheese, parmesan cheese, half the rehydrated mushrooms, and salt to a food processor and pulse until smooth. Coarsely chop the remaining mushrooms and mix into the dip. Return dip to the skillet and heat until warmed through, about 2 minutes over medium heat. Serve with the toasted bread strips. Makes 8 servings.

Nutrition: 269 calories, 10.6g fat, 3.4g fiber, 12.9g protein per serving
Cost: $1.03 per serving

It’s about time for a recipe post around here, huh?  Don’t worry, I actually spent all last weekend in the kitchen getting ready for our Ultimate Recipe Showdown screening party on Sunday, so I’ve got two appetizer recipes ready to share!  It was the first party we’ve thrown where I tackled making everything myself.  I usually get some items from Costco but was feeling extra ambitious when I was designing the menu.  Plus, my secret motivation was that I figured all the extra time in the kitchen would distract me from getting too nervous about watching the show!

I somehow forgot to take pictures of the spread, but it included both desserts I made on the show, along with spinach puff pastry swirls, caprese skewers, sesame lamb meatballs with cucumber cilantro yogurt, chicken satay with peanut sauce, mini crab cakes with tomato ginger jam, and shrimp wrapped with snow peas.  I also threw in a couple of my own recipes for cucumber hummus appetizers, almond and red pepper stuffed mushrooms (which will be up next!), and these eggplant and goat cheese crostinis.  It probably comes as no surprise that the goat cheese made these my favorite app of the night!

I spread a mixture of goat cheese, milk, and parmesan cheese on crispy toasted baguette slices, and topped the goat cheese with roasted eggplant, sun-dried tomatoes, and pine nuts.  They were pretty tasty and I would definitely make them again.  Big thanks to Shannon, who came over early to help, and everyone who loaned me cookie sheets and serving platters!

p.s.  I’ve finally been convinced to give twitter a try and you can follow me here!   And thanks to everyone who entered my Derry Church Artisan Chocolates giveaway.  The lucky winner on random.org was number 2 – congrats to Sharon!  And if you missed URS, it’s airing again this Saturday at 2pm EST (1pm CST) and Sunday at 6pm EST (5pm CST)!

Eggplant and Goat Cheese Crostinis
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 baguette, cut into 1/2 inch thick slices
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium eggplant, chopped into cubes
1/2 red onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces goat cheese
1/3 cup milk
1/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

Directions:
Heat oven to 375˚F.  Arrange the baguette slices in a single layer on a large greased cookie sheet.  Brush baguette slices with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Bake at 375˚F for 12 to 15 minutes or until light golden brown.

Meanwhile, heat remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat in a large nonstick skillet and sauté eggplant for 5 minutes. Add red onion and cook 5 to 7 minutes, or until veggies are soft, stirring occasionally. Add garlic and sauté one additional minute.  Mix in sun-dried tomatoes and salt.

Mix goat cheese, milk, and parmesan cheese in a small bowl until smooth.  Spread goat cheese on toasted baguette slices and top evenly with eggplant mixture and toasted pine nuts.  Makes 16 servings.

Nutrition:  190 calories, 9.6g fat, 1.7g fat, 7.6g protein per serving
Cost:  $0.53 per serving

An additional foodie goal of mine this year is to enter more contests. I really enjoy the whole recipe development process and there are some incredible prizes! The Tyson Fantasy League Party Master Contest recently caught my eye on Contest Cook.  I’m an aspiring party master! For my Super Bowl party I would want to serve cute football themed appetizers. Yes, my inner Martha is coming out to play again! I decided my entry would revolve around a twist on my avocado chicken cake recipe, but this time I would shape the cakes to resemble footballs and use a sauce to decorate them!

These football cakes are delicious, come together quickly, and are a great way to use up your leftover rotisserie chicken. I just mixed shredded chicken with roasted red peppers, red onion, garlic, and panko, and used a bit of mayo and an egg to hold everything together. Then I shaped the mixture into footballs and coated them with more panko. I crisped them up in a bit of olive oil and then squeezed some ranch dressing on top to mimic the football details. So cute! I’m biased of course, but I think the recipe is a winner and I entered it in the contest. But, now I need your help!

Only the 10 top recipes with the highest number of votes on February 1 will be considered by the judges for the grand prize, so I would extremely grateful if you could go here and vote for my Football Chicken Cakes! You do have to register, which I know is annoying, but the promotion is also an instant win game, so every time you log in to vote you could win a prize like a grill/cooler combo, MP3 player, football video game, etc. When you register, be sure to follow the requested format for your phone number and birth date, otherwise the page won’t load. You can vote every day until February 1 and I would truly appreciate each and every vote! Thanks everyone!

Football Chicken Cakes
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups shredded leftover Tyson Rotisserie Chicken
1 cup panko
1/3 cup chopped roasted red peppers
3 tablespoon chopped red onions
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 Tbsp light mayonnaise
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon olive oil
1/3 cup ranch dressing

Directions:
In a large bowl, mix together chicken, 1/3 cup panko, roasted red peppers, red onion, garlic, mayo, egg, and salt. Form 8 cakes shaped like footballs; coat cakes in remaining 2/3 cup panko.

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat in a large nonstick skillet; add 4 cakes and cook until light brown, about 3 minutes per side. Repeat with remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and 4 cakes. Place ranch dressing in a squeeze bottle and decorate football cakes. Makes 8 appetizer sized servings.

Nutrition: 193 calories, 9.9g fat, 1.3g fiber, 15.6g protein per serving
Cost: $0.78 per serving

I love stuffed mushrooms and serve them almost every time we have friends over, but I’ve been wanting to lighten them up for awhile now since the usual cream cheese-filled versions are very heavy. When I was making my Truly Outrageous Baked Sweet Potatoes, I was thinking about what else I could stuff with sweet potatoes and mushrooms immediately came to mind. So, this week I stuffed mushrooms with mashed sweet potatoes, turkey bacon, and caramelized shallots, and then topped them with chopped hazelnuts. I thought the flavors really complimented each other well and these little apps are light enough that you can eat as many as you want without spoiling your dinner! This is also a great way to use up any leftover sweet potatoes you may have from Thanksgiving!

I also have to share pictures of the cake I made for my lab mate’s baby shower today! Raffaella is having a little girl, so I made a Sky High pink strawberry cake with chocolate frosting and tackled making marshmallow fondant for the first time. I followed Annie’s awesome instructions for making decorations and was super proud of how well everything turned out, especially the very cute fondant baby sneakers (made with this template) that topped the cake. I think one of the best things about having a blog is that I’m constantly inspired to challenge myself and try new techniques and recipes that are outside of my comfort zone. The cake was a huge hit and several strangers even complimented it on the subway on my way to work! I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

Sweet Potato and Bacon Stuffed Mushrooms Topped with Hazelnuts
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
24 mushrooms, stems removed
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 slices turkey bacon, chopped
1 cup chopped shallots
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 sweet potato, scrubbed
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup chopped hazelnuts

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375˚F. Spray a large cookie sheet with cooking spray and place mushrooms on it, cap side down.

Heat 1/2 tablespoon olive oil over medium high heat in a medium nonstick skillet. Sauté chopped turkey bacon for 5 to 7 minutes or until crispy. Remove and drain.

Add remaining 1/2 tablespoon olive oil to the same skillet; add shallots, reduce heat to medium low, and sauté shallots 15 to 17 minutes, stirring frequently, or until caramelized. Add garlic and sauté one additional minute.

Meanwhile, prick sweet potato several times with a fork and microwave on high for 8 to 10 minutes or until tender. Remove cooked flesh and place in a medium bowl (my yield was 1 cup).

Mix mashed sweet potatoes with bacon, caramelized shallots, apple cider vinegar, and salt; stuff mushrooms with sweet potato mixture and top evenly with chopped hazelnuts. Bake stuffed mushrooms at 375˚F for 20 minutes. Makes 6 servings.

Nutrition: 152 calories, 9.2g fat, 2.4g fiber, 7.1g protein per serving
Cost: $0.92 per serving