Fresh Spinach Salad with Warm Balsamic Vinegar Dressing

1/3 c balsamic vinegar bring to boil reduce to 1/4 c
Add:
2 T red wine/chicken broth
2 T whole cranberry sauce
2 T Olive oil
salt
Cook together and use as dressing on:

Washed Spinach leaves
Red onions
Dried Cranberries
Cut Squash
Goat cheese crumbles (optional)

Orange Scented Green Beans

Peel of 1 Orange
2 pounds trimmed green beans
2 T butter
salt
3 T fresh chives,snipped
Cook beans, orange peel in water 5-6 minutes. Drain, remove peel, toss with butter, salt add chives.

Apples with Goat Cheese-Hazelnut Mousse

Serves 6     Start to finish: 20 minutes  from Edible Seattle September/October 2010

When it comes to appetizers, think beyond the baguette—for these little bites, slices of crisp, tart apple are topped with a mixture of goat cheese and toasted hazelnuts.

1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts

4 ounces chevre, room temperature

3 tablespoons heavy cream

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

1 large tart apple

Finely chop nuts in the work bowl of a small food processor. Crumble the cheese into the bowl and add the cream and salt and pepper to taste, and process until smooth, scraping sides when necessary.

Just before serving, slice apples into small pieces and pipe or spoon a small amount of the cheese mixture onto each apple piece. Serve immediately.

Bacon-Wrapped Root Vegetable Gratins

Makes 24 mini gratins | Prep time: 35 minutes   from Edible Seattle January/February 2009 

Stack fingerling potato, carrot, and parsnip pennies between pinches of Parmesan cheese, wrap them in bacon, and bake them into bite-sized vegetable gratins--the result will turn someone into a root vegetable enthusiast in one mouthful. You'll need to cut rounds of roughly the same diameter out of the vegetables, so look for specimens similar in shape.

8 parsnips, peeled

3 carrots, peeled

1/2 pound fingerling potatoes

2 1/4 t flour
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 cups finely grated Parmesan cheese
24 (3-inch) segments bacon (from twelve 6" slices)

 Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 24-cup mini muffin tin with vegetable oil and set aside.

 Cut 24 pieces each from the parsnips, carrots, and fingerling potatoes; each piece should be about 1" around and 1/4" thick. Reserve remaining vegetables for another use.

 Arrange 24 parsnip slices close together on a cutting board. Sprinkle with 3/4 teaspoon flour, salt, and pepper, then add a pinch of Parmesan cheese (about 2 tablespoons total) to each piece. Top with carrots, making little towers, and repeat with another 3/4 teaspoon flour, salt, pepper and cheese. Add potatoes, flour, salt, and pepper, and end with cheese.

 Press each bacon slice into the bottom of each muffin cup, so the ends hang over the edges slightly. Add a scant 1/2 teaspoon cheese to the bottom of each cup. Place one vegetable stack in each cup, and press down slightly.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until bacon is browned and crisp. As soon as you can handle them, use a knife to loosen the gratins from the pan and transfer to an ovenproof plate. Repeat with remaining ingredients and serve immediately, or rewarm for 10 minutes at 350 degrees before serving.

Berry Brownie Cobbler

1 c semi sweet chocolate chips, plus one square of Bakers dark chocolate
1/2 c butter, cut in several pieces
4 cups fresh blueberries or raspberry
1 c sugar
1/2 c pecans, chopped
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 c flour

Creamy Raspberry Vinegarette

2 T raspberry puree (1/4 c raspberries)
2 T lemon juice
2 T red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp sugar
6 T olive oil
salt/pepper
Add mayonnaise to taste

Banana Nut Bread

2 c sugar
1/2 c margarine/butter
2 eggs
3 c flour
pinch salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2/3 c buttermilk
3 mashed banana's
1/2 c chopped nuts
Mix first six ingredients; separately add soda to buttermilk, mix all ingredients together. pour mixture into 2 loaf pans or make muffins. Bake 350 1 hour for loaves or 30 minutes for muffins.