It's Labor Day Weekend....Strawberry shortcake...

Time to celebrate with food, friends and family. Why not have a strawberry shortcake too?

Gourmet Cheese Platter with Ahi Tuna

This gourmet cheese platter is made up of a selecion of four cheeses that accent one another.

Sage Derby (pronounced "darby") is a green veined, semi-hard cheese. It has a mild sage flavor, which gives the cheese almost a minty flavor.

Sage Derby production began in the 17th century in England and was only made on special occasions, such as, harvests or Christmas but it is readily made available today.

On the platter (top right) is a wedge of Stella Blue Wisconsin cheese that is "nicely balanced and has a nice sweetness about it". This is the best blue cheese to use in salad dressings.Even though this blue is somewhat "wet" in texture I think it still makes for a nice table cheese because the flavor appeals to most people.

Included is also a triangle shaped wedge of goats milk cheese, known as chevre in French, which means goat. This soft cheese melts in your mouth. This is te secret cheese I use inmy quiche to make it smooth and creamy.

Topped off with small triangle pieces of provolone (meaning large Provola). Provolone is an Italian cheese that originated in southern Italy around the end of the 19th century. Today provolone is a whole milk semi-hard cheese with tastes varying from sharp to very mild.

This platter is accompanied by a seared ahi tuna along with wasabi.

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries.....

What can I say but "YUM".

Summer Vegetable Pasta Salad...

This cold penne pasta salad is made up of finely diced yellow and red peppers, snow peas, yellow and green squash, regular peas tossed in a creamy balsamic vinegar dressing topped off with asaigo cheese.

Whole New Twist to a Classic Ham Sandwich...

This croissant sandwich, even though it is served cold, is prepared hot to meld all of the flavors together in harmony.

First the croissant is cut in half. Both sides where spread with a djon mustard mayo combo. Next the ham was layered on top, along withthinly sliced tomatoes and red onion, accented with capers. On top of that a layer of thinly sliced provolone cheese.

On the other half of the croissant, shredded asaigo cheese was sprinkled on.
Bake until the cheese is melted and when cooled, add spring lettuce and sprouts.

What is Crostini?

In Italian it means "little toasts". Normally crostini's are made from thinly sliced white bread, drizzled with olive oil and salt, which is then toasted or grilled until crispy.

The crostini pictured above is sliced a little thicker and is made from a ciabatta bread (Italian Slipper bread). Since this crostini has a topping and served cold, the bread was not toasted prior to adding of the roasted garlic spread, beef, provolone cheese, tomato and green onion, otherwise it would become too chewy upon serving.

Muffins, Muffins here are my Muffins

These in the picture are apple walnut along side with a whipped orange butter.

Other mufins I like to bake are banana nut, a tropical muffin with papaya, coconut, rasin nut. Chocolate chip. Any berries too!

What a great way to start out the morning.

Plum Crumb Cake

When I was a little girl I loved crumb cake of any sort. I loved the two pack of hostess crumb cake.

This crumb cake I added sweet red plums to add a twist to this old time favorite.

Creamy White Vegetable and Chicken Pasta Salad

The chicken was first marinaded in a chipotle mixture for 2 hours and then grilled over high heat quickly to retain it's moistness. The bow tie pasta was cooked el denta tossed warm with diced artichoke hearts, cubed chicken with a creamy artichoke dressing, topped off with grated Parmesan, Romano and Asiago cheeses.

The salad is served on a base of a roasted red pepper and white wine reduction sauce.

Garnished with edible day lily petals.

This chicken pasta salad should be served at room temperature.

Carna Asada...a summer treat...

Ahh, little carna asada with fresh corn with a garlic butter sauce, saute peppers, red onions, grilled mexican onions along side the carna with a fresh salsa, sour cream and chopped green onions to boot. A summer's fare in the heat of the evening.

Every dinner should be like this.

Black bean corn relish...

This is the beginning of my blog. It all starts with a little side dish. It is the side dishes of life that makes the main course worth it.