Cheddar Sage Thumbprints with Pepper Jelly, AND a Giveaway!

Today’s post honors The Lives and Loves of Grumpy’s HoneyBunch by Shelby, who is celebrating her four year blog anniversary. Shelby is a very sweet and generous person that I have known since before she started blogging, and I am so honored to be included in her celebration. Shelby’s blog reflects her love of family, food, and life. At the heart of her adventures is her husband, “Grumpy”, whose name hides a warm soul and a love and pride for his wife that shines through the grumpiness. My favorite posts are those that describe how Shelby has won Grumpy over with a recipe that he didn’t think he would like!

Shelby has inspired me many times - to keep blogging when I thought I wanted to quit, to focus on what I love instead of what I think others might love, to have fun, and to let kindness guide my thoughts when blogging. She is giving away a $50 Gift card to celebrate her four years in the blogging world! Here are the details on how to enter the giveaway, which is open to US & Canadian residents only:

1. Leave a comment on this blog post about the person who is your inspiration in life and what special part that person plays in your life.
2. Visit the additional blog links and leave a comment on their post. Each comment will count as one entry.
3. Giveaway will end on January 7th at 5 PM EST.
4. Winner will be announced on January 8th via blog post on The Life & Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch.
5. Winner will be chosen via random drawing - drawing to be done by none other than Grumpy himself.
6. Value of giftcard will be $50 and can be ONE of the choices listed below:
* Sears
* Kohls
* Amazon
* Target
* Wal-mart
* Chili's
* Uno's
* Marshalls/TJMax
* Bed, Bath & Beyond
* Macaroni Grill
* Olive Garden
* Starbucks
* Barnes & Noble

Shelby’s recipe archives are full of dishes that reflect her affinity for healthful and delicious food. She is very creative and recently became enamored with small bites, small plates, and appetizers, and her post today is for Brie Popover Bites. My offering for Shelby's cyber-party, flaky thumbprint "cookies" complemented by sweet, hot pepper jelly, may not be the healthiest snack around, but they are delicious. They are also very good "plain", pressed into disks, and sprinkled with a few grains of kosher salt, which is how my hubby loves them.

Cheddar Sage Thumbprints with Pepper Jelly
adapted from Thanksgiving 101

2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
6 tbs salted butter, softened
1 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon ground sage
1/3 cup pepper jelly

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare baking sheet with parchment paper.

Thoroughly mix cheese, butter, flour, and sage to form cohesive dough. Pinching off dough, form into one inch balls and place on prepared pan, 2 inches apart. Bake 5 minutes. Remove from oven and press indentation into dough, using end of wooden spoon. Fill with 1/4 teaspoon jelly and return to oven; bake additional 10 minutes, or until tops are lightly browned. Remove to wire rack and cool completely. May be stored in airtight containers up to 2 days.

I got about 30 "cookies" out of this recipe.

Click on the links below to see what others made for Shelby's party!

Sweet and Salty Popcorn Mixes

I have recently become a fan of Tastefully Simple products. Sold by independent consultants such as Kourtney Aller, the young mother in my church who introduced me to their awesomeness, these direct-sale foods were developed by Jill Blashack Strahan and have a reputation for exceptional flavor. I considered joining their sales force, but I really have no interest in selling; I just want to buy and enjoy their products. Their Pomegranate Chipotle Sauce is my preferred condiment, and I use it on everything, from nachos (yes, really!) to sandwiches.

These popcorn mixes are a result of recipes from Tastefully Simple's website and my favorite go-to recipe spot, Allrecipes.com. The beauty of snack mix recipes is that you can be creative and incorporate items from your pantry. The Zesty Popcorn Mix is just that - it is spicy and crunchy and very addictive. The caramel corn recipe is my favorite, crispy and buttery, and I always add molasses which gives the caramel glaze a dark allure. Twisty Grahams, pretzel-shaped graham crackers, added a toffee-like crunch, and the addition of Goldfish and toasted, salted pecans was a nice contrast to the sweetness.

Zesty Popcorn Mix
adapted from Tastefully Simple Recipes

1-2 tablespoons Tastefully Simple Fiesta Party Dip Mix or spicy seasoning salt
1/2 cup melted butter
1 tablespoon Pomegranate Chipotle Sauce or a sweet, smoky barbecue sauce
12 oz box baked cheese crackers such as Cheez-Its
5 cups popped popcorn

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Mix crackers and popcorn on a large baking pan. Combine first 3 ingredients and slowly pour over mixture in pan; toss gently. Bake at 300° for 20-30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Cool and place in storage container or plastic Ziplocs.

Caramel Corn Snack Mix
adapted from Allrecipes.com

1 cup salted butter
2 cups brown sugar
1/4 cup corn syrup
1/4 cup molasses
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 quarts popped popcorn
1 cup Twisty Grahams or bite-sized graham crackers
1 cup toasted salted pecans
1 cup Goldfish or bite-sized cheese crackers such as Cheez-Its

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (95 degrees C). Place popcorn, pecans, graham crackers, and Goldfish in a very large bowl or 2 large shallow baking pans. In medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter; stir in brown sugar, corn syrup, molasses, and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil without stirring 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in soda and vanilla. Pour in thin stream over popcorn mixture, stirring to coat. Place in two large shallow baking dishes and bake in preheated oven, stirring every 15 minutes, for about an hour. Remove from oven and let cool completely before breaking into pieces. Place in storage container or plastic Ziplocs.

Warm and Creamy Bacon Dip

While looking for appetizer recipes for my Appetizers and Desserts Buffet Christmas Party, I happened upon this recipe on the Daisy Brand sour cream website and loved the name of it! What is not to love about a dip with bacon and the words "warm and creamy"? Although I used other recipes for my party, I decided to try this one on New Year's Eve.

Test Kitchen

One of the most enjoyable aspects of my business is testing new recipes. In developing menus for catering, much of my inspiration comes from other bloggers' recipes. The finished product must not only be delicious and addictive but also be visually appealing and sound irresistible in its description on my menu. I like new twists on old favorites, and so I tested three appetizer recipes this weekend, with my family serving as the "Chopped" judging panel.

Shelby from The Lives and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch has featured recipes from Blogchef, and since my daughter was craving avocados this week, Blogchef's Guacamole Bruschetta was the perfect experiment.

Adding the fresh taste of cilantro to the usual guacamole ingredients and the twist of serving it on crispy french bread made this a definite addition to my catering menu. One avocado-hating panelist abstained from trying this one, but the other two liked it, and I thought it was a winner. My daughter felt it was a touch too tart, so I might adjust the ingredient proportions a bit. I loved it "as is" and finished it off for breakfast this morning (a really good sign!)

My family loves deviled eggs, and when I saw Deviled Egg Spread on The Cutting Edge of Ordinary, I decided to try it in hollowed out new potatoes. This is a good recipe, but there were major deviled egg purists on the Chopped panel. Reaction varied from "I prefer deviled eggs" to another eating it with a spoon. This one might make it onto my menu but with some tweaks to make it more attractive and piquant.

The final recipe presented to the panel was a very simple, easy-to-prepare recipe from The Food Addicts called Man Dip. With the addition of cream cheese as an alternative to the usual Velveeta, this finished product was deemed "OK" by the panel and sadly will not become a part of the catering menu.

My thanks to the Chopped panel--my husband, my Mom, and my daughter--for patiently trying new recipes when they honestly like the old ones much better.

Sooner Caviar or Black-Eyed Pea Dip

Other versions of this recipe are named Cowboy Caviar and Texas Caviar; instead of following a recipe, I used what I had in the pantry to incorporate the traditional New Year's Eve "good-luck" ingredient - black-eyed peas. Perfect for watching the OU Sooners/Stanford Sun Bowl game this afternoon!

Here are the ingredients with rough guesses as to the measurements:

1 can black-eyed peas, drained
1 can black beans, drained
1/2 jar Clint's medium salsa
1 cup cooked corn
1 red bell pepper, diced
6 green onions, diced
1 teaspoon hot sauce
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar

Mix everything together, add garlic powder or salt to taste. Serve with Tostitos Scoops or Fritos.

I served the dip in a Pfaltzgraff Winterberry dip ramekin that I selfishly bought myself for Christmas.