Crab Vodka Salsa

Were someone to ask me what animal I would be, which, as an aside, I can't actually imagine someone asking me, but I guess if I were to ask myself what animal I'd be, I'd have to say "hyena."  Hyenas are quite clever.  Scavenging for scraps, but possessing the ability to hunt when needed.  They only exert the energy to hunt when it is actually necessary.

I too, can hunt.  If by hunt, you mean obtain food from a market, bring it home, and turn it into dinner.  But just because I possess this ability, it doesn't mean I need to expend the energy all the time.  Rather I can circle around my offspring's meal, and retrieve the leftovers after he has finished. Having a child who makes a lot of requests for certain foods, but doesn't actually go through the whole part of eating it,  means this is an effective food gathering strategy for me. Sometimes I have been known to scavenge while he is still eating, like taking the remains of a cookie after he has placed it down on the table and has turned his head.

However, like the hyena, I too can occasionally put a damper on my scavenging ways and move on to some actual cooking.  Like this salsa.

This month's Creative Cooking Crew challenge, hosted by Laz of Lazaro Cooks, is "cooking with spirits." Check back here at the end of the month - I'll post a link to the roundup of all the CCC dishes for the month!

We chose to go with vodka, giving this crab-filled salsa a bit of a kick as it slides down your throat.  Gypsy and jalapeno peppers, garlic, cilantro, red onion fill each bite with vegetal goodness, while using smoked sea salt and smoked paprika leaves a little something behind to linger on your taste buds.  The kind of food that is worth giving up my hyena ways and becoming human again.

Ingredients
1/4 cup olive oil
2 celery stalks, diced
half a large onion, diced
5 gypsy peppers, divided, diced
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
6 ounces lump crab meat
smoked sea salt, to taste
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/4 cup vodka
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon lemon juice, plus more to taste
minced jalapeno, optional
tortilla chips, for serving

Instructions
In a large saute pan, heat oil over medium low heat.  Add celery, onion, and three of the gypsy peppers. Once the vegetables are soft, about 15 minutes, add the garlic and red pepper flakes.  Cook for a minute, until garlic is fragrant, but not burned.  Add the crushed tomatoes.  In a bowl, stir together the crab meat, a hearty pinch of smoked salt, smoked paprika, and a sprinkle of freshly ground black pepper.  Add the crab to salsa.  Stir.  Add the vodka.  Turn heat to medium high.  Once the vodka has cooked down (it will leave a spiciness in your throat but no longer screams VODKA), about 8-10 minutes, let the mixture cool down a bit and add lemon zest, lemon juice, salt and pepper, as well as the remaining gypsy peppers, red onion, and cilantro.  If you want more heat in the salsa, add some minced jalapeno.

Hot Crab Dip with Chives, Scallion, and Horseradish

I am pretty sure you can never trust a toddler. Or at least the toddler that lives here.
Recent examples of his lack of trustworthiness include:

1) Created a book titled, "Eat Green Eggs and Ham Book."  Said book includes only pictures of butterflies, cars, a bicycle, a moon, and a caterpillar that were clipped from magazines.  No eggs.  No ham.

2) Insisted that he did not poo. Evidence suggested otherwise. Actually, evidence was actually quite clear on this.

3) Claimed to want to eat crab.  I had talked up eating crab in a dip.  He seemed super excited by the prospect.  Not surprisingly, he wanted no part in this once made.

But I did...  Creamy dip filled with green onions and chives and crab meat and horseradish.  Simple but so luxuriously delicious.  And much more trustworthy than the toddler.

Ingredients
6 ounces lump crab meat, sprinkled with a bit of Old Bay seasoning
about 1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
1/3 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup snipped chives
1/4 cup mayo
1/4 cup sour cream
4-5 ounces cream cheese
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
baguette, crackers, or whatever you want for serving
snipped chives, for serving

Instructions
Heat oven to 400. Mix everything together.  Bake in ovenproof dish for 15-20 minutes until bubbly. Serve with baguette or crackers.  Sprinkle chives on top.

Battle of the Bloggers - Za'atar and Sesame Zucchini Bites with a Sesame Lemon Dipping Sauce

Here we are posting another zucchini recipe this week, acting as though we have a garden and an abundance of zucchini that we are desperately trying to use up.  This is not the case.  No such garden exists.  Between all the bugs, dirt, allergies, and bugs, I can safely say that gardening is not my thing. 

My reason for posting zucchini again - these thick slices of zucchini are coated and baked in a mixture of panko, za’atar, and sesame seeds, and served with a lemon-sesame dipping sauce - comes from a very non-altruistic place.  

I have such a huge favor to ask of you.  If you like this recipe, I would love for you to to vote for it!

Smart Balance is running a Battle of the Bloggers competition.  The blogger whose recipe receives the most votes at the end of the contest will win a yearlong contract with Smart Balance to develop recipes!  

To vote for the entry (it's super quick):
 •  CLICK HERE to head to the Battle of the Bloggers Facebook app!  Then vote!

You will even have a chance to win prizes, including Calphalon products and a year's supply of Smart Balance products!  The contest runs now through August 11th.  

Ingredients

For the bites:

2 medium zucchini, cut into slices (about 1/4-inch to 1/2-inch thick)

1 cup buttermilk

2 cups panko

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon za'atar

2 tablespoons roasted sesame seeds

ground sumac, for sprinkling

paprika, for sprinkling

Smart Balance Cooking Spray

For the dip:

1/4 cup Smart Balance Omega Plus Mayonnaise

1/4 cup Greek yogurt

1 tablespoon tahini

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon honey

pinch ground sumac

1/2 teaspoon za'atar

kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 tablespoon roasted sesame seeds, plus more for serving

Instructions

To make the zucchini bites:

Heat oven to 400.  Place buttermilk in a shallow bowl.  Mix together panko, salt, pepper, za'atar, and sesame seeds.  Place in a second shallow bowl.  Dip each zucchini slice first in buttermilk and then in the panko mixture.  Repeat for each slice.  Place on lined baking sheet.  Sprinkle each bite with just a pinch of sumac and paprika.  Spray the zucchini bites with cooking spray.  Bake for about 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

To make the dipping sauce:

Stir all ingredients together.  Adjust salt and pepper to taste.  Sprinkle sesame seeds on top before serving. 

Kettle Chips with a Cheesy, Caramelized Onion, Malt Vinegar Dip

Max and I recently had a dispute.

A handful of toys were lying on the bedroom floor.  I told the tot that we could go to the park, but only after he picked up his toys.

He refused.  Seriously, if I showed you the picture of the toys you would be like wow, that would take all of 5 seconds to clean up.  But nonetheless, it was the principle…toys get cleaned up and then we can go to the park.

I decided to relax a bit and sprawled out on the bed with a book, hoping to force Max to be in continuous confrontation with the “mess” and, subsequently, clean it up.   And then afterwards, we could head out to bask in the sunshine and blue skies and climb the big toy.

I sat.  Max sat.  After a long while, Max asked to use the potty, which was downstairs.  So I said of course!  We went down the stairs and he bolted… right for the front door.  Not the bathroom.  But the front door.  And he frantically tried to open it and kept making the ASL sign for "swing" and saying park.

He tricked me!  Or at least tried to.  I mean, it is hard to imagine that he thought that by just getting me to go down the stairs would be enough for me to say of course, of course we can go to the park.  But you know, he is still at the toddler stage in life, so I’m guessing his analytic and reasoning skills have yet to really come together.

Unlike my offspring, kettle chips are not here to deceive us.

Kettle chips are made with all-natural, non-GMO products.  No weird ingredients.  They take unpeeled potatoes, cook in small batches, and season with delicious flavors.  That's it.

And you can taste the amazingness.  So crunchy and potato-y.  Everything a potato chip should be.

We made a dip to go along with our chips.  We liked both the Backyard Barbecue and the Sea Salt and Pepper chips with our Cheesy Caramelized Onion Dip, with Malt Vinegar.  Even our deceptive tot was captivated by the wonderful, real Kettle Chips.  Perhaps he can learn something from them.

Don't forget to show some love for Kettle Chips on social media - here for Twitter (#TheRealKettleChips), and here for Facebook.

Ingredients

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup grated Gruyere cheese, plus 1/4 cup for sprinkling on top
1/2 cup grated smoked Gouda
1 cup caramelized onions
1 tablespoon malt vinegar
1 sprig thyme
salt and pepper, to taste
favorite Kettle Chips (we used Salt and Pepper and Backyard Barbecue)

Instructions
Heat oven to 400.  In mixing bowl, stir together cream cheese, sour cream, Gruyere, smoked Gouda, onions, vinegar, seasonings, and thyme leaves.  Place in ovenproof bowl, sprinkle top with 1/4 cup Gruyere.  Bake for about 20 minutes until bubbly, and brown on top. Serve with Kettle Chips.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Kettle Brand. The opinions and text are all mine.

Quaker Big Chewy Granola Bars, Chocolate Fondue, and a Night of Television

Seth is often found working late nights and weekends.  Sometimes, however, a Saturday bestows on us a bit of serendipity and magnanimously opens itself up with freedom.  When that happens, we run into it and embrace it, in all its weekend glory.

The day quickly fills up.  Some hours are wiled away on errands and chores that had been put off, but others are used for fun - pit stops at the beach, playground time, lunches at a favorite restaurant - to make the most of our time together.

By the time we get home, it is toddler-late, and time to scoop him off to bed.  And toddler bed time means Seth and I get to do “our thing.”

“Our thing” has two components:

            1.  Our television show of the moment

            2.  Food!!

It is our time to watch our shows, or our “stories” as we like to say.  We generally have room in our hearts for one dramatic series at a time.  But there have been so many wonderful love affairs through the years - The Wire, Deadwood, Battlestar Galactica, West Wing, House of Cards, Damages, Breaking Bad, Mad Men... just to name a few.  And in this Netflix era, we can bring up our show of the moment with the click of a Wii remote and binge on back to back episodes.

And while we watch our stories we like a snack.  A snack that doesn’t involve expending a lot of energy, as that attribute has been depleted during the day’s activities.  A snack that will curb our hunger with some whole grain goodness, but a snack that is still delicious.  A snack like Quaker Oat’s Big Chewy Granola Bars.  

We love chocolate chips (seriously, we love them), so we get the Chocolate Chip Big Chewy Granola Bars.  But the snack doesn’t stop there.  We cut the granola bars and put them on a plate with some fruit - bananas (for me, we all know about Seth’s strong aversion to anything banana), strawberries, tangerines.  And a dip.  A chocolate fondue to be exact - one made with coconut milk and a hint of cardamom.  

It has been awhile since we mentioned our love of dipping.  So active! So communal! So fun! And can possibly lead to some intense debates about what the precisely most delicious combination of foods is to combine with the dip.

And while we snack on our granola bar bites and our fruit slices and fondue, we can sit side by side, watching our stories, discussing camera angles and character development, analyzing plot twists and turns, and arguing about the morality of actions that characters have taken.  And life is good.

Quaker is on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest - so follow/like them!

And now that you totally need some of these granola bars in your life right now, you need to know where to find them - look here for product locator and here for more information about the bars.

This post is brought to you by Quaker.  We were financially compensated for this post by Quaker via AOL Media.   

A Chocolate Fondue

Ingredients

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup coconut milk

1/8 teaspoon cardamom

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch fleur de sel

Instructions
In a small pot over low heat, warm the coconut milk.  Take off heat and stir in the chocolate chips.  Once they are melted, stir in the cardamom and vanilla.  Sprinkle fleur de sel on top of the fondue for serving. 

Buffalo Chicken Dip

This is being posted under duress.

I really don't want to give a false impression of myself.  I love decadence.  I love cheese and pasta and bread and all the things that I'm supposed to say that "I love but I can only eat a teeny tiny bit once in a blue moon."

Except I eat the things that I want when I want.

I am not the one who says "Ohhhh I make this for my husband and friends while they watch the game."  I mean, what am I supposed to be eating instead?  Hurriedly stuffing raw carrots or quinoa with Craisins in my mouth, hoping noone will catch me actually eating something?

I am not one of these women.  You won't find me laughing alone while eating a salad.  I stand firmly against the idea that women are supposed to feel bad about what they eat and should be laughing while chomping down on some mixed greens.

I hate that nonsense, the gender-ization of food. Sometimes I want some chicken wings.  Sometimes I want a salad.  The same goes for Seth.

The problem is the buffalo sauce.  The taste and smell just get to me!  Just like my genetic issue preventing me from enjoying stuffing/dressing,  a similar one prevents me from relishing the phenomenon known as buffalo chicken.  I wish there was something I could do to correct this situation.  Dear Big Pharma - please work on this for me!

Seth, of course, adores buffalo chicken anything.  And after pestering me about a dip for months, I caved.  I can't even remember why that happened.  It just did.  Luck happened to rain down on him in torrents that day, apparently.

And don't worry - raw carrots and quinoa with Craisins did not grace my lips.

Ingredients
1 pound thinly sliced chicken breast strips.
garlic powder
cayenne
seasoned salt
cumin
1-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 small bunch scallions, chopped
10 ounces Franks Red Hot Sauce
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
8 ounces cream cheese
1 cup blue cheese dressing
1/2 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
lots of celery

Instructions
Sprinkle the seasonings on top of the chicken breast (both sides).  Heat (medium-high) the olive oil in a cast iron (preferably) skillet.  Place the seasoned chicken in skillet and brown (about 3 minutes).  Flip and brown the other side.  Take off heat once the chicken has cooked through. Shred or chop the chicken pieces so that chicken can be dispersed throughout the dip.

In a saucepan over low heat, melt cream cheese, butter, and blue cheese dressing together.  Stir in the chicken, scallions, and Franks.  Pour into a greased baking dish and top with the cheeses.  Bake at 350 until nice and bubbly and hot, and the cheese is all melted.  Sprinkle some chopped celery on top.  Serve with chips and celery.

Sweet Potato Fries with Blue Cheese and Chives and a Citrus Blue Cheese Dip

Anxiety permeated the air.  While making these, I kept having visions of grabbing the tray without oven mitts.  I have done this before.  And I really do not want to do it again. It didn't happen this time, thankfully.  But it will.  The visions are most definitely a premonition of an upcoming kitchen accident.

There is an episode of Seinfeld where Elaine is at a job interview and gets into a discussion with the interviewer about whether grace is an all or nothing attribute or whether it is something of which you can have varying amounts   Based purely on my own lived experience, I have to say all or nothing.  I have none.  From where I'm sitting everyone else has "all."  I completely lack it.  I get so caught up in my head that I run into doors, into corners, burn myself, drop things (countless dishes have been broken by me), and I have an absurd amount of bruises dotting my arms and legs.  You can play "what constellation do you think these look like" with my bruises.

And this lack of general grace is, not surprisingly, mirrored in athletics.  I am not an athlete.  I lack all sorts of coordination skills.  Watching me attempt to play a sport is like watching a drunken newborn deer just trying to figure out how to work its legs.

Perhaps because of my lack of athletic grace and ability, I don't really enjoy watching sports.  I never know what is going on with them.  Perhaps it is jealousy masquerading as ennui.  Who knows.

But it is that time of year when a certain football game actually comes into our purview.  Most times we watch, sometimes we don't.  But we usually at least know when the Superbowl is being played, and we generally see it as an excuse to eat some fun food.  Like some roasted sweet potatoes sticks.  Dunked in a lemony blue cheese sauce.  Or topped with it.  Whatever floats your boat.

Ingredients
Sweet Potato Fries:
2 sweet potatoes, cut into sixteenths
1-2 tablespoons canola oil
kosher salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/3 cup chopped chives
1-2 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese

Blue Cheese Dip:
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
2 teaspoons lemon juice
kosher salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
cayenne, to taste

Instructions
Sweet Potato Fries:
Heat oven to 425. Place potatoes in large bowl, coat with 1-2 tablespoons oil, then sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Place on baking sheet (I line mine with a Silpat) and into the oven.  Get one side crispy, then flip each fry, for roughly 30 minutes total roasting time. Once cooked, sprinkle with chopped chives and blue cheese.

Blue Cheese Dip:
Mix all together, either serve on top of fries or as a dip.

Pomegranate Banana Dip, Sugar and Spiced Tortilla Chips, and Red Laser App

Today we're reviewing a free app called RedLaser, and pairing this review with another type of app... chips and dip!  When I saw this opportunity through Daily Buzz Moms to use a list making and shopping app for the iPhone (the app also works on the Android and Windows Phone), I thought, maybe, just maybe, now I will become a person living in the year 2012 (almost 2013-where does the time go!).  So I seized the day and all that carpe diem jazz.  I decided to just take the plunge into this new era of life.  One filled with order and ease and apps, to make everything in your life run smoothly.  A whole new Jenn...  To read the full review, hop over to our brand spanking new Review Blog page!  It is an interesting app, and worth a read.

Pomegranate Banana Dip

Ingredients
8 ounces cold mascarpone cheese
3 tablespoons confectioners sugar
1 small, ripe banana
3 tablespoons pomegranate juice
2 tablespoons grapefruit juice
1 teaspoon grapefruit zest
pinch salt
1/4 cup pomegranate seeds (arils), plus more for serving

Instructions
Place mascarpone and sugar in bowl of electric mixer and beat on medium speed. Mix in remaining ingredients.  Sprinkle top with additional pomegranate seeds.  Serve with Sugar and Spiced Tortilla Chips and fruit (I like it with apples).

Sugar and Spiced Tortilla Chips

Ingredients
4 tortillas, each cut into 8 equal size wedges
1 tablespoon canola oil
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons turbinado sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground clove
pinch salt

Instructions
Place tortilla wedges in bowl, toss with oil, cinnamon, sugar, clove, salt.  Use tongs to distribute oil and seasonings as evenly as possible on the tortilla wedges.  Bake at 350 for about 8-10 minutes, until crispy.  Serve with dip.

Smoky Strawberry and Corn Salsa

Jerry Seinfeld once argued that cinnamon should have a rightful spot in the pantheon of tabletop spices, standing right next to salt and pepper.  Yes, once again, I am referencing an episode of Seinfeld.  I am that topical with my pop culture references - Seinfeld, MASH, Alanis Morissette.  This, among other things, I take as evidence that we are old at heart.  

But I am in complete agreement with Jerry about cinnamon.  It definitely deserves to stand proudly next to the salt and pepper on tables everywhere.  Lately, however, I feel like I would add something else to that mix, and it may be a bit surprising... strawberries.  Apparently I've become quite smitten with them, adding them to everything from pate to breakfast sandwiches to black bean wraps to muffins - and now salsa.  This salsa omits tomatoes entirely in favor of strawberries, and when I say salsa, yes, I mean for chip dipping.  Sweet, spicy, smoky, and sour, it's a surprisingly great match, and the fact that it looks a bit like regular salsa is a fun play on the senses.  Just one more example to convince me that strawberries can be used almost anywhere to make something better.

Ingredients  
1 cup corn kernels, either thawed if frozen or fresh
1 1/2 cups chopped strawberries
1 tablespoon minced jalapeno
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
2 tablespoons crumbled cotija cheese

Instructions  
This is super easy.  Just toss the corn, strawberries, and jalapeno in a bowl.  In a small bowl, stir together the liquid smoke, lemon juice, and lemon zest.  Toss with the corn and berries, then stir in the cotija cheese.  Serve with chips.

Clam Dip

I could feel the clams mocking me. Mocking me for my predictability. They were

right. I was going to make linguine with clam sauce. With canned clams. Thats right.  canned clams.  I can feel your disdain seeping through the computer screen. But I will contend that the canned clams actually work better than fresh for sauce or dip purposes. Each bite gets some of that briny clam taste.  And also, my mom would make me linguine with clam sauce every year for my birthday growing up. So there is the nostalgia factor, and as we all know, that nostalgia factor can be quite powerful. But incidentally, while I can make my mom’s linguine with clam sauce… it never is quite the same. So mom, next time I visit, i need you to make me linguine with clam sauce!  So back to the clams. The canned clams. I decided to throw them a curve ball. I decided to turn them into a dip. Naturally!

Ingredients 

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

1 shallot, minced

4 garlic cloves, minced

3 tablespoons white wine

6.5 ounce can of chopped or minced clams 

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon lemon zest

8 ounce wedge of brie, chopped

6 ounces cream cheese

generous amount of freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup chopped oregano

Instructions

To prepare the dip: Heat oven to 375.  Heat olive oil and butter over  medium-low and add shallot and garlic.  Saute until shallots are soft.  Add the white wine and increase the heat.  Reduce.  Add the the can of clams, including the juice, as well as the lemon juice and lemon zest.   Add the brie and cream cheese.  Stir in the pepper and oregano.  Bake for about 15-20 minutes, until the top is golden-brown.  Stir and sprinkle more oregano, if desired. 

Green Bean Panko Oven Fries with Wasabi Sour Cream

So it is summertime, and the supermarket and farmers markets are teeming with vibrant and fresh produce.  Oodles of it.  Mounds of it.  Stone fruits and berries.  Musky melons.  Tender leafy greens.  Sweet corn.  Zucchini and summer squash.  And tomatoes.  Oh the tomatoes.  And you get the picture.  And I feel like I’m supposed to be turning this into salads, letting each piece of produce shine with little adornment, reveling in the joy that comes from eating food at its peak of flavor.  I’m pretty sure it has been mandated that salads are supposed to be the thing you eat lots of in the summer.  And I have maybe made maybe one salad so far?  I’m not sure what the problem is.  Perhaps rebellion?  I have been doing the opposite, though, and turning veggies into oven fries!  So here are green bean fries with a wasabi cream dip.  Of course there would be a dip!

Ingredients
1 pound green beans, trimmed
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
1 cup panko
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon cumin

Dip:
8 ounces sour cream
1 teaspoon wasabi paste
1 teaspoon lime juice

Instructions
Heat oven to 425.  Bring a large pot of water to boil.  Boil the green beans for 2 minutes then place in a bowl of ice and water to stop the cooking.  Beat the egg and milk and place in a shallow bowl.  In another shallow bowl, mix together flour, panko, salt, pepper, garlic powder and cumin.  Coat each green bean first in the egg mixture and then the panko mixture.  Place on a greased or lined baking sheet.  Repeat for each green bean.  Bake about 25 minutes, turning them over about halfway through so that they can crisp and brown on all sides. 

To make the dip, stir the sour cream, wasabi paste, and lime juice together and refrigerate until serving.

Roasted Cauliflower Dippers with Smoked Paprika Aioli

I find cauliflower to be a rather deceptive and mendacious vegetable.  Why? A head of cauliflower is a pleasing sight to behold.  All those pretty white florets all bunched together in a nest of green leaves – it looks like a pretty flower! Even the word floret is pleasing, evoking images of tiny flowers. And once this vegetable catches your eye, it is hard to resist.  And then you bring it home and put it in the fridge until you need a veggie side dish.  And then that day comes when you actually need that veggie side dish…and you feel disappointed.  You now have to actually eat the cauliflower, not just look at it.  Cauliflower isn’t horrible, just blandly cabbage-y.  And I seem to fall for this ALL the time.  Finally, I said, how can I make this taste as pleasing to my taste buds as it looks?  So I gave them a vibrant coating of seasonings like smoked paprika, cumin, and coriander, roasted them up, and turned them into dippers. What better dip than a nice from-scratch smoked paprika aioli?  Dipping really does make everything better.

Ingredients 
Spice Mix:
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Cauliflower:
1 small head cauliflower, cut into florets
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons lemon juice, divided
1 ½ teaspoon seasoning mix
¼ teaspoon garlic powder

Aioli:
2 egg yolks
1 cup vegetable oil
2 ½ teaspoons seasoning mix
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
3 cloves garlic, minced
¼ teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 ½ teaspoons lime juice
¼ teaspoon salt

Ingredients
In a small bowl, mix cumin, coriander, smoked paprika, sea salt, and black pepper.  Set aside.

Heat oven to 400 degrees.  In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 1 ½ teaspoons seasoning mix, and garlic powder.  Place florets in large bowl.  Drizzle oil mixture over the cauliflower and toss with tongs.  Place on baking sheet.  Roast for 25-30 minutes. Drizzle remaining lemon juice over the cooked florets.

I like to make mayonnaise by hand, though I know others find the food processor easier to use for this.  I place the egg yolks in a small bowl.  I place a cup of oil next to me and get out a tablespoon.  Whisk the egg yolks to break them up.  Add a tablespoon of oil.  Whisk that into the egg yolks so the yolks absorb it.  Then repeat.  And repeat.  Just be patient.  It will probably take about 10 minutes to get through all the oil.  Then stir in the seasoning mix, white wine vinegar, garlic, mustard, lime juice, and salt, and you are good to go.

Carbonara Dip, with Brie and Pancetta

Once upon a time in a far away land called Dana Point, CA, there lived a Seth and a Jenn and a toddler named Max.  All three of them loved to dip things. One day Seth came home raving about a pizza he had for lunch.  That pizza was called Carbonara Pizza.  He wanted to recreate that amazing dish.  However, they were very far away from making acceptable pizza at home.  So instead, they did what came naturally.  They made a dip.  And that is the story of how Carbonara Dip came to be, and all three dip aficionados munched happily ever after.

Ingredients
Carbonara Dip:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
3 tablespoons cubed pancetta
1 shallot, minced
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons white wine
8 ounce wedge of brie
6 ounces cream cheese
1 ½  teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
generous amount of freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons chopped basil, plus more for garnish
¼ cup Parmesan cheese

Baguette Dippers:
1 baguette, sliced
¼ cup olive oil
freshly ground black pepper
kosher salt
1 tablespoon chopped basil

Instructions
To prepare the dip: Heat oven to 375.  Heat olive oil and butter over medium-high heat and crisp the pancetta cubes, about 3 minutes.  Turn heat down to medium-low and add shallot and garlic.  Saute until shallots are soft.  Deglaze with the white wine, being sure to get any of those crispy brown bits off the pan.  Add the cheeses and melt everything together.  Stir in the Worcestershire sauce and black pepper.  Add the chopped basil and transfer the mixture to an oven-proof pan to bake.  Sprinkle the top with Parmesan cheese.  Bake for about 15-20 minutes, until the top is golden-brown.  Stir and sprinkle more basil, if desired.

To prepare the baguette dippers: Heat oven to 350.  Place slices of baguette on baking sheet.  Brush each slice with olive oil, then sprinkle with black pepper and salt.  Repeat for each slice.  Bake for about 7-10 minutes, until the baguette slices have toasted.  Sprinkle chopped basil over slices.

Smooth and Creamy Carrot Dip with Tahini

The carrots in this house are staging an uprising.  They feel they never get to be the star of the show.  I guess they do have a point (as evidenced by the roasted radish and carrot dish and vegetable dip).  So we are giving into their demands for the royal treatment….their very own dip!  We love how the sweetness of the carrots works with the creamy nuttiness of this tahini dip.  

Ingredients 
3 bunches baby carrots, peeled
½ cup tahini + 1 tablespoon
4 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon canola oil
1 teaspoon honey
1 ½ teaspoons rice vinegar
2 ½ teaspoons Sambal Oelek chile paste
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon chopped chives, for garnish

Instructions
My tahini was pretty separated, with the liquid on top and the paste on the bottom.  I stirred it up as much as I could, but it was still mildly runny, which was actually a good thing, as it made combining the ingredients easier.  After mixing the tahini, add the tahini, soy sauce, sesame oil, canola oil, honey, rice vinegar, sambal oelek, and lemon juice into a medium-sized mixing bowl.  Stir all the ingredients together.  If your dip is too thick, try adding some a little canola oil to thin it out.  Place in serving bowl, and add chopped chives on top for garnish.  Serve with the peeled baby carrots.