In the span of seven days, I had people, mostly family, over for appetizers or dinner on four separate occasions. If it’s not the same people each time, I tend to repeat at least one or two of the dishes, over and over.

This time around, one of the easy appetizers I put out was a mix of two of my favorite frozen items from Trader Joe’s.

I like TJ’s frozen Creamy Spinach & Artichoke Dip and I love their frozen Mexican-Style Roasted Corn with Cotija Cheese.

I thought that they would be great mixed together and served warm with chips. I was correct!

First cook the corn according to the package directions. It has yummy frozen sauce chunks just as their risotto and some of their other frozen products do … yummy!

Next, microwave the spinach-artichoke dip according to the package directions, then add as much corn as you would like. I added about 1 cup of corn.

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The first appetizer from the 2016 Holiday Appetizer Pot-Luck was made by my cousin (and friend!) Michelle. They are super easy and colorful little skewers.

As you know, most of the recipes from the party are ones I found online and sent out to the guest to choose from. If you would like to see the original post for this recipe, with many more photos, go HERE.

Antipasto Skewers

• Bamboo skewers
• 24 mini fresh mozzarella balls
• 24 small basil leaves
• 12 slices of salami, cut in half
• 1/2 pound fresh tortellini, cooked
• 1 jar roasted red peppers, sliced
• 1 jar of artichoke hearts
• 24 olives

Using bamboo skewers layer your ingredients in the order shown, starting with the mozzarella balls and ending with the olives.

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Do you remember your first artichoke?

I do!

I was about 10 years old. There was an Italian family who lived across the street, three doors down from us. The family consisted of a very handsome dad, a seriously gorgeous mom, and an only child daughter who was a year or two older than me. I idealized the girl. She was pretty and nice and very well-mannered. Their home was calm and quiet and they were polite.

At my house, we were loud and there was always at least one of the four of us kids crying, screaming, yelling, or getting in trouble at any given moment of any given day.

Their family and home were like a perfect rose among a bunch of thorns. They only lived in our neighborhood for a year or two. No wonder with all that crying, yelling, and screaming going on!

Anyhow, one summer afternoon, the girl invited me to have dinner at her house. I was so excited. I remember being on my very best behavior and minding my manners. When the mom brought dinner to the table, there were the strangest looking, yet somehow intriguing, green thorny-looking things on one of the platters.

All three of them could see by the perplexed look on my face, that I had never seen an artichoke before. Of course, they were very kind and helpful in teaching me how to pull off one leaf at a time, dip it in the melted butter and scrape it with my teeth. I remember that when I had finished all the leaves, the mom expertly cut out the artichoke heart for me. I was hooked, I was enamored, I was in love with artichokes!

We lived a block away from the intersection of Chaparral and Pima, just down from Scottsdale Community College. A year or two after my introduction to the artichoke, Artie the Artichoke was adopted as SCC’s mascot to express a difference of opinion between the students and the administration concerning budget priorities. I remember that even as an 11 or 12-year-old, I felt a special kinship with those students and was thrilled by their mascot choice.

Strange what you cling to as a kid!

I use bouquet garni for my steamed artichokes. You may recall that we made bouquet garni at last winter’s craft party. If you don’t have any one hand, just throw in a few sprigs of fresh parsley instead.

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Our soup at the European Dinner Party uses one of my favorite vegetables – the artichoke.

Fresh artichokes are not the easiest vegetable to work with, but when you use canned (or frozen) artichoke hearts, they are a snap to use.

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Have I ever told you how much I completely and totally L–O–V–E it when someone cooks for me? Actually, they don’t even have to cook for me.

What I meant to say is “how much I love it when someone feeds me.” It can be a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or an elaborate 5-course meal. Honestly, either one is a huge treat!

Just about the worst thing you can say to any cooking professional is, “I could never cook for you, I’d be so intimidated.”

What!?!?

We, of all people, know the love and work that goes into preparing food for another. Don’t leave us out – we need love too!

One of my friends who understands this is Peggy. She never hesitates to cook for me. As a matter of fact, Peggy invited her sister Terrie, Anne, and me over for dinner the weekend before last. Well, we thought it would be dinner, instead, it turned out to be tapas – even better!

As always, we had fun catching up, laughing up a storm, and just being together. And the food? Fantastic, of course!

Peggy made all four of the dishes from one cookbook: Tapas – Tantalizing Small Plates from the Mediterranean by Pamela Clark. Funny thing is, she thinks she may have gotten the book from me when I had THIS party.

I’ll share the recipe for each dish over the coming week. Today, I’m sharing my favorite of the four.

Oh yes, all the recipes are altered slightly from the original version. For instance, I doubled the relish and more flour as needed for a better consistency fritter batter. Plus, salt was added, the fritters really needed SALT! There wasn’t any in the original recipe.

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Guess what I got to do on Friday morning?!?  I got to go on a private farm tour! So how did this lucky event come along for me?  As usual, it’s all in who you know. 

I met Jennifer Woods back in October 2011, when Peggy and I attended that super cool dinner at The Accidental Yard – CLICK HERE to read all about it. Jennifer is a full-time mom to Patrick who is 5 and two-year-old Gretchen (pictured above), a contributor to Chow Bella (CLICK HERE to read just one of the nice articles Jennifer has written about me), and the Marketing Manager for Crooked Sky Farms. Yeah, Jennifer has a full plate!

Anyhow, Jennifer emailed me a week or so ago and asked if I’d like to tour the farm. Would I? Heck, YES!!  There was supposed to be a group of us but the others rescheduled (maybe because they looked at the forecast and noticed that Friday’s high was supposed to be 112 degrees!).  So I met Jennifer and her two adorable, outgoing, well-mannered, articulate, farm-enthusiast kids at the farm at 8:00 AM.

We jumped in the Gator, which looked something like this, but without the hay in the back, and headed out into the fields.

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Yesterday was my dear friend and mentor, Barbara Fenzl’s, birthday. Our tradition is to take each other out for a birthday lunch. I’m taking Barb to Modern Steak today for her celebratory lunch. So while we’re enjoying that, here is a couscous salad for you to enjoy. The picture above of my sister, Sloane, Mark Tarbell, me, and Barb was taken at a party a couple of years ago at Tarbell’s restaurant. The party was a fundraising event to celebrate after Mark won “Iron Chef America” on Food Network.

Happy Birthday, Barb. I love you and love all our time cooking together! xoxo

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A week from today, on Monday the 28th, I’ll be on Channel 12 NBC Valley Dish with Tram Mai, making this pasta for a 4th of July menu. Let me just tell you, it’s the smoked Gouda that makes this salad! Do not leave it out or substitute another cheese.

Just wish I could have thought of something blue to add to make it a true “red, white, and blue” independence salad. Let me know if you think of something (I will let you know that blueberries don’t cut it!). Until then, I suppose you can just serve it on a blue plate.

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Boneless skinless chicken breasts – convenient, practical, readily available from your freezer… and boring! Seriously, sometimes I’m so sick of trying to think of new and exciting things to do with chicken breast, I nearly swear them off. But when I am honest with myself, I know that I really do like the convenience, availability, and practicality of the staple known as boneless, skinless chicken breasts. So instead of swearing them off, I decided to “fancy” them up a bit, after getting some inspiration from this lovely recipe: instant pot frozen chicken breast.

Enjoy.

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