Roasted Tomatoes

My favorite tomato of them all is the Roma Tomato. I like that they are firm fleshed and strong skinned and are amenable to whatever cooking is required without losing thier shape or colour. When roasted they retain thier shape and become sweeter as they cook.
One of my favorite things to do with Roma Tomatoes is to roast them. I like to put spices and before roasting is finished sprinkle a bit of cheese on top that I have on hand. Here I have roasted tomatoes along with my bacon cooking in the oven. The little bit of bacon fat that the tomato sits on adds another layer of flavor to the tomato.

Cut Roma Tomatoes in half, lay out each half on a baking sheet and drizzle with good Olive Oil. Sprinkle with salt and ground pepper and whatever herbs strike your fancy. Here I used a bit of basil and oregano. About ten minutes before roasting is complete, I sprinkled a good pinch of crumbled Blue Cheese over each tomato and finished cooking. The blue cheese retained some of its firmness and a bit of melted creamy cheese as well on each tomato. Serve these with Bacon for a wonderful Sunday breakfast!!

Chicken Wings - Tex-Mex style

About once a week or so, my hubby and I enjoy having Chicken Wings for dinner. Its a very casual dinner, one where its okay to eat with your fingers, get all sticky and gooey and for sure its okay to lick your fingers during eating!! I have a lot of different recipes for Chicken Wings so we don't have to eat the same old kind each time we cook wings. I think we would not enjoy them so much if we weren't adventurous and trying different things with them.

I often thought about putting recipes here for everyone to share and finally have jumped in and taken the plunge!!

These wings are called Tex-Mex Wings. I found this recipe in a local paper so had to try them. Not too many ingredients, just oil, spices and hot sauce.
In a large bowl, combine Olive Oil, Ground Cumin, Paprika, Ground Oregano, Chili Powder, and hot sauce to taste. Add salt to taste as well.

Stir all ingredients to make a paste.

Add Chicken wings to the bowl and stir to coat the wings.

You probably should get right in there and make sure the coating is evenly distributed over all the wings.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and arrange the wings over top. Bake in oven preset to 425 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes.

The recipe also calls for Avacado Dip to go with the wings, but I didn't have some of those ingredients here, so did not make it.

Tex-Mex Wings with Avacado Dip.

1 ripe, medium avacado, peeled and cubed

1/3 cup light sour cream

3 TBSP. Fresh Lime Juice

1 TBSP. Honey

Place all these four ingredients in a food processor and pulse until smooth. Transfer to a serving bowl, cover and refridgerate until ready to serve.

12 Chicken Wingettes

12 Chicken Drumettes

2 TBSP. Olive Oil

2 tsp. Ground Cumin

2 tsp. Chili Powder

1 tsp. Ground Oregano

1/2 tsp. Paprika

2 to 3 tsp. Hot Sauce, such as Tabasco, or to taste

Salt to taste.

Lime wedges for garnish.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the chicken and remaining ingredients in a bowl, toss to combine, and then arrange on the baking sheet. Bake 30 to 35 minutes, turning once or until cooked through. Arrange wings on a platter with the avacado dip alongside. Garnish with lime slices and serve.

I served carrot and celery sticks and sugar peas along side as well. It goes great with a glass of wine as well!!

Hope you enjoy!!

Survivor Appy's

Every Thursday evening we all congregate next door to watch Survivor at my friend Sally's place. We bring appetizers and a bottle of wine to share with everyone who comes. It is a lively evening and if you don't arrive early you can't get the coveted couch spots to sit and watch. There is always lots of good food to try and wine to drink and company to visit with and catch up each of our weeks activities with. I think watching Survivor is really an excuse to all get together once a week and see everyone.

For Survivor night tonight, I am making toothpick skewers. These are dill pickles, pickled onions, gourmet olives, jalepeno cheddar cheese and hot pepperoni cut up into bit size pieces and threaded onto toothpicks in whatever combos you like!! The Cast of Characters
Everything cut up and ready to skewer onto toothpicks!!

And here they are!! The combinations of different flavours make this a tasty snack!!

I have my toothpick skewers and my bottle of Shiraz and so off I go next door to watch Survivor!!

Anyone here watch it as well? Who is your favorite to win???

Layered Black Bean and Lime Sour Cream Dip!!

Layered Balck Bean and Lime Sour Cream Dip.

The cast of characters!!! Peel garlic for grating, the more the merrier!! Chop Roma Tomatoes to ready for the processor.

Add rinsed black beans, lime zest and juice and a couple cloves of garlic to processor and puree.

Spread the black bean mixture into the bottom of nine inch pie plate.

Mix sour cream, lime juice, cilantro and green onions all chopped up together.

Spread sour cream layer on top of the black bean layer.

Chop Roma Tomatoes and some more garlic in processor. Chop more green onions.

Spread tomatoes on top of sour cream layer.

Sprinkle chopped green onions over the Tomato layer.

Cover with three cheese shredded cheese. And its done.

Chill the whole thing in the fridge until ready to serve. Serve with Tortilla Scoops. Delicious!!!


Layered Black Bean and Lime Sour Cream Dip.

3 Plum Tomatoes, seeded

2 Limes

19 oz. can Black Beans

3 or more Garlic Cloves

2 tsp. finely chopped Chipotle in Adobo sauce or chipotle Tabasco

1/2 cup light or regular Sour Cream

1/2 cup finely chopped fresh coriander

3 chopped green onions

1 cup grated cheese

1) Finely chop tomatoes. Finely grate peel from limes. Set aside. Drain beans, rinse and drain again. Place beans, garlic and chipotle in a food processor. Squeeze in 1 tbsp. Lime juice from 1 lime. Whirl until beans are pureed. Add 1 to 2 tbsp. water if puree is too thick. Scrape into a serving bowl or pie plate.

2) Place sour cream in a small bowl. Squeeze in 2 tbsp. lime juice from remaining lime. Stir in coriander and lime peel and green onions chopped, about 1 1/2 onions. Dollop over bean puree and smooth top as best you can. If making ahead, cover and refrigerate overnight.

3) Before serving, bring to room temperature and scatter tomatoes overtop. Sprinkle with cheese, then top with onions. Excellent served with blue corn or regular tortilla chips or with pita crisps for scooping.