Hello, everyone!
It is cold, dark and unforgiving out, so it is time to experiment inside. Today, I decided to celebrate my day off with a "party" lunch. I toasted thinly sliced French bread, and prepared a few new recipes for appetizers. The first appetizer was easy deviled eggs, and the second - a chickpea-avocado spread.
I happened to have all the ingredients in my refrigerator or the pantry. The toast was delicious with the avocado spread and a piece of roasted red pepper on top (I had a few peppers frozen from a jar). The eggs were spicy and a bit salty (due to the feta cheese). It was great to be inside on a frozen January day and enjoy a slow lunch.
Here are the two recipes:
Easy deviled eggs
Ingredients:
hard boiled eggs
crumbled feta cheese
chicken wing sauce (mine was from the dollar store)
Directions:
Peel the eggs; slice into two halves each egg. Carefully take out the yolks and mix with crumbled feta cheese and the spicy chicken wing sauce. Use any proportions that please you. Place the yolk mixture back into the egg whites, enjoy!
Garbanzo-avocado spread
Ingredients:
one can of garbanzo beans (15 oz)
two ripe avocados
the juice from 1/2 lemon
olive oil
salt
crushed garlic
Directions:
Mash the avocado and the garbanzo beans with a fork, add the salt, garlic, lemon juice and oil to taste. Mix and enjoy!
What is an appetizer cake? It is a cake that is served as an appetizer or as a snack at a party.
I love appetizers. I would forgo the main dish for the appetizers. When I was little, my parents left me alone at the Holiday table for a couple of minutes, and when they came back, they found me unable to talk since my mouth was full with olives and salami. I do not remember this humiliating episode, and anyway, my parents and I survived the crisis. The food was somehow pried out of my clenched jaws.
Today, since processed meats are out of our diet (they increase the risk of colon cancer), I try to find healthy, and yet delicious, substitutes.
In the past, my mom had made a pancake stack for an appetizer. It consisted of layers of pancakes with various cheeses, mayo and pickles in between.
For this past New Years Eve, I decided to experiment and make my own healthy appetizer cake. The "cake" would be well-received at any party. This year, break the tradition of celebrating every occasion with sugar. Try something new. Try the appetizer cake!
Appetizer cake
You need:
Four pocket thins (with high fiber contents or any other type you may like). Two packages of cream cheese (I use the reduced fat). 3 - 4 Tbsp of plain yogurt (I use non-fat), 2 cloves of garlic (crushed), 1 medium size sweet onion (diced), 5 - 6 baked and peeled red peppers (I buy the ready to use peppers in jars), 1 - 2 Tbsp olive oil, 1 can of pitted olives, 1 or more cups of shredded Cheddar cheese or any other cheese you like, a cucumber and/or tomatoes for decoration.
Instructions:
Soften the cream cheese in the microwave (for 30 seconds or less) and mix with the yogurt and crushed garlic. Soften the onion in a pan with olive oil until caramelized. Crush and drain well the pitted olives. Drain well the peppers and dice. Mix separately the olives, the peppers and the onions each with 2 Tbsp of the cream cheese-yogurt mixture. Assemble the cake by layering the thins and the fillings. I arranged my cake in the following order: one thin as a foundation of the cake, onion layer, another thin, pepper layer, thin, olive layer, and a final thin. Cover the cake on all sides with the remaining cream cheese-yogurt mix and sprinkle the shredded Cheddar cheese on top and on the sides. Decorate with sliced cucumber or tomatoes.
My tweaks for the "next edition" of the appetizer cake:
- Next time, I will use the half (one layer) of each doubled-layered pocket thin.
- Instead of onion, I will use mushrooms softened in oil. The onions were too sweet and clashed with the salty taste of the cake.
- The double-layered thins were a bit tough but the taste and texture improved after I kept the cake for 24 hours in the refrigerator, and then a couple of hours at room temperature (before serving).
- I may also try to make the same cake with pancakes
