In our small town of Pendleton there are so many get-togethers where everyone pitches in with food and even decorating, so  a great time can be had without host and/or hostess stress.  It also makes getting ready for a party as much fun as the party.  I have to bring an appetizer to one of those parties and leave for out of town early the next morning.  I am thinking really easy to make, really tasty, and really appetizing to look at.  Savory Smoked Salmon Spread fits the bill and I will still have lots of time to pack.

Savory Smoked Salmon Spread

2 - 8 ounce packages cream cheese
8 ounces smoked salmon, flaked (reserve about 2 tablespoons for garnish)
1-1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon Saucy Mama Horseradish
2 tablespoon minced chives (reserve 1 tablespoon for garnish)
1 teaspoon Saucy Mama Hot Wing Sauce

Beat cream cheese until smooth.  Add remaining ingredients except for garnish and blend thoroughly.  At this point you can place the spread in a serving bowl or form into ball and wrap with plastic wrap.  Either way chill for at least 1 hour up to 1 day.  Place on serving platter topped with the reserved flaked salmon and minced chives, and surrounded with a sliced baguette or crackers.

I love to have this left over smeared on my morning whole wheat bagel and topped with thinly sliced sweet onion.

We just celebrated Mike’s birthday.  His three sons Luke, 8 years, Ian, 6 years and Ben, 3 years, got to plan the party.  I got to be the driver, for shopping, and assistant in the kitchen.  The boys decided what their Dad liked doing best was playing games with them, so the perfect gift was SORRY! Sliders.  I do believe from Dad’s reaction that they made a good choice.
Dinner couldn’t have been easier.  We had rib steaks, that I had marinated for about 6 hours in Saucy Mama Cracked Pepper Marinade and then barbecued and topped with blue cheese.  Along with the steaks we had roasted carrots, and French fries.  I did all the prep before I went to pick up the boys after school, so we could spend lots of time browsing the store, picking out the perfect gift and birthday cards.  My Waring Pro Deep Fryer really helps the easy factor on meals like this.  It heats a gallon of canola oil to 325 in under 10 minutes and doesn’t drop a great deal in temperature when the potatoes are added for perfect crispy fries.

DAD’S CRACKED PEPPER STEAKS

4-1 inch thick rib steaks
Saucy Mama Cracked Pepper Marinade
Crumbled Blue Cheese

Place 2 steaks each in 1 gallon zip lock bags along with enough marinade to thoroughly coat.  Marinate for at least 1 hour up to 24 hours.  Allow steaks to sit at room temperature for 15 to 30 minutes before grilling.

Place steaks over medium-high heat for a minute or two, you just want to get good grill marks.  Turn steaks and repeat on other side.  If using a gas grill reduce temperature to medium, if over coals move the steaks away from hottest part of grill and cook for about 7 minutes more for medium rare.

Remove steaks from grill, top with crumbled blue cheese and allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.

ROASTED CARROTS

2 pounds carrots cut into 3 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch strips Food and Wine Three Herb Spice Marinade

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Place carrots on a rimmed baking sheet toss with enough marinade to coat.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until tender and golden.
Keep warm in oven until ready to serve.

FRENCH FRIES

4 Russet Potatoes into 1/4 inch sticks
Vegetable oil
Kosher salt to taste

Rinse potato sticks in cold water until the water runs clear.  Place potatoes in large bowl of ice water and let stand at least 1 hour.  This can be done a day ahead and kept in the refrigerator.

If not using a deep fat fryer pour 3 inches of oil into a deep, heavy cast iron skillet.  If using a deep fat fryer follow fryer instructions.

Bring oil to a temperature of 325 degrees

While oil is heating drain potatoes and thoroughly dry.  I keep a large bath towel that is only used in the kitchen for this purpose.

Fry potatoes in small batches.  Cook for about 3 minutes,  remove and drain on layers of paper towels.

When all of the potatoes have gone through their first cooking increase temperature of the oil to 375 degrees.

In small batches, again, fry the potatoes to a golden brown, about 4 minutes.

Drain on paper towels and season with kosher salt.

The kids did help with this recipe, but I did keep myself between the deep fat fryer and them.  You also have to be careful that they don’t sneak all the fries off the serving plate before they get to the table.  Those little guys are really good at stealthily opening the warming drawer.

If there is a time pinch you can fry the potatoes only once.  Bring the temperature of the oil to 365 degrees and cook the potatoes until golden, about 7 minutes.

Yippee!!  ‘Beyond the Bull’ The Round-Up Centennial Cookbook is finally finished and hot off the presses.  We got the books just in time for Round-up, our annual rodeo here in Pendleton www.pendletonroundup.com and the sales are going great.  We were even able to get Reba McEntire to do our forward.  I and my good friends and fellow cookbook planners Mary Alice and Raphael were able to present Reba with a cookbook at the Oregon State Fair.
We had so much fun meeting her.  She is very charming and just plain gorgeous in person.  If anyone out there would like to order a cookbook they can contact me and I will make sure they get one.  I do believe we really captured the flavor and personality of The Pendleton Round-up.  The price is
$28.95 plus $6.05 shipping and handling.  All the proceeds go to renovating the plaza and entrance to our historic rodeo in time for it’s 100th year.

We have to admit that it’s always great to see a recipe in which the author says, “This is one of those recipes where it’s almost insulting how good it is when it was made with so little effort.”  Yet that is exactly the kind of quick, easy and delicious recipe we were looking for when we sent a call out for our Saucy Mama’s Extraordinary Condiment Contest. If you’re looking for a simple and quick side dish for supper tonight, this tangy offering is a fantastic solution.  Thanks to Coconut & Lime for offering up such a beautiful creation.

More to follow later this week!  Enjoy!

Parmesan-Caper Potato Salad

1 1/2 lb red skin potatoes, diced

for the dressing
1/3 cup Parmesan garlic marinade
1/3 cup diced green onion
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan
1 1/2 tablespoons nonpareil capers
salt
pepper

Directions:
In a large pot, boil the potatoes until fork-tender. Drain. Whisk together the dressing ingredients in a small bowl. Drizzle dressing over still slightly warm potatoes, toss to coat. порно смотреть регистрации без

My good friend Jo Simpson had our monthly Bunco night at her house out in the country last night. Cheryl Doyle, another very good friend and I were co-hostesses.  Jo ordered a Mediterranean Chicken light crust pizza from our local Papa Murphy’s www.papamurphys.com so she could just slip it into the oven after we all arrived.  I made an asparagus salad using Saucy Mama Sesame Ginger Salad Dressing.  For dessert Cheryl brought raspberry sherbet and butter cookies.  It all made for a very tasty very easy meal with no stress and lots of fun.  It was great to sit out on her deck watching the evening colors change on our beautiful Blue Mountains, catching up on each others lives and doing a whole bunch of laughing.

This salad is easy to make and travels well.

Asparagus Orange Salad with Glazed Almonds

Serves 8

1/2 cup whole almonds
3 tablespoons Saucy Mama Sesame Ginger Dressing
2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

4 bunches asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 to 2 inch pieces
2 large oranges
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
1 large avocado cubed
1/3 cup Saucy Mama Sesame Ginger Dressing
2/3 cup fresh cilantro leaves

Place almonds in a heavy skillet set over medium heat.  I use my trusty old cast iron skillet.  Stir until almonds are lightly toasted, about 5 minutes.
Increase heat to medium high and add dressing and soy sauce.  Stir until the liquid has evaporated and the almonds are coated.  About 1 minute.  Transfer the almonds to a cutting board and coarsely chop as soon as they are cool enough to handle.

Cook asparagus in a large pot of rapidly boiling water for about 2 minutes until bright green and just tender.  Immediately plunge the asparagus into ice water to stop the cooking.  Drain well.

Use a sharp knife to remove the peel and pith from the oranges and divide the orange sections removing the membrane.

Toss the asparagus, oranges, onions, avocado and dressing together.

Place into a pretty serving dish and top with cilantro and almonds.

Last spring I got a call from my fabulous daughter-in-law, Irene, saying she wanted to sell me in an auction for Bridgeport Elementary School in Tualatin. Turns out she wasn’t planning on getting rid of me, but on having a Martini and appetizer party at her house. Well, last Thursday was the day. What a good time we had!

I started the evening with a cheese platter out and a Martini bar set up. I had recipes for the different martinis alongside the needed ingredients. I made the first few martinis and then let the guests prepare their own. This freed me up to make the appetizers, and Chris and Irene to mingle with everyone. My first appetizer was a baked brie with apricot pepper jelly, sweet ‘n hot stone ground mustard and Oregon hazelnuts. That was followed by blanched snow peas and asparagus with herb dip. I then made shrimp with our cracked pepper marinade. Everyone ate like crazy, which I love.

I used a little trick to prepare the brie … I found this HUGE wheel of L’Edel de Claron (still in its stapled wood container) and froze it for about two hours.  This gave it just enough firmness for me to cut and then scrape away the top rind with the edge of my knife, leaving the round beautifully prepared for its toppings.

The apricot jelly I used for the brie came from Rose City Pepperheads www.rosecitypepperheads.com . (It’s an Apricot with an Attitude, and I think it is terrific.)  I spread a thick layer of the jelly over the top of the brie, then finished it with a rough-cut cup of Oregon Hazlenuts.

Next, I popped it in the oven (IN its wooden container!) at 350 degrees for about an hour (it was a BIG round, mind you; you’d probably cut the time in half for a smaller round).

I served this with simple sliced baguettes - and when we ran out of that, I added a load of crackers in a basket and watched those disappear at record pace as well!  I thought for sure I’d have leftover brie for a month. How wrong I was!  That appetizer was by far the big hit of the party, and we were left with only the wooden box in which it came.  Yum!

Are you ready for some football?  If you’ve read the Saucy Mama blog, then you know I am!  My Oregon State Beavers kick off their season this weekend, so it seems the perfect time to spotlight this delicious recipe that came to us from Melissa of FromLapToptoStoveTop.com.   This Buffalo Wing Chicken Pizza was one of Melissa’s creative submissions to our Saucy Mama’s Extraordinary Condiment Contest - and just check out her inspired use of our new Saucy Mama Hot Wing Sauce!  I can’t wait to make this myself this weekend …

By the way, if you are indeed a football fan, make sure to check out our branded line of collegiate mustards and hot wing sauces, emblazoned with your school’s logo!

Go Beavs!

UPDATE: Leave a comment for us below, and we’ll select two people at random to receive a couple of bottles of our delicious Saucy Mama Hot Wing Sauce  - and we may just throw in an extra treat for fun.  We’ll announce winners next Tuesday!

Saucy Mama Cafe Buffalo Wing Chicken Pizza порно беспатный

1/2 cup Saucy Mama Cafe Buffalo Wing Sauce
1 refrigerated pizza Crust
2-3 cloved garlic, chopped
1 cup caramelized onions
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup blue cheese, crumbled (optional)
2 cups cooked chicken, rotisserie works best
Sprinkle of thyme

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Press out pizza crust on cookie sheet. Drizzle on the Saucy Mama Cafe Buffalo Wing Sauce. Sprinkle the garlic and top with the carmelized onions. Then sprinkle mozzerella cheese and the blue cheese crumbles (optional). Follow with the cooked chicken on the cheese. Add a sprinkle of dried thyme. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the cheese are melted.