Feta Stuffed Figs Wrapped in Bacon

So...if you haven't caught on yet, out annual Valentine's Meal was a showcase of appetizers which we ate in various courses starting with the Apple Brie Bread and Feta Stuffed Peppers.

Next, we started on some meaty, bacon-wrapped dishes such as these delicious morsels.

Figs, stuffed with Feta, wrapped in Bacon - easy as it sounds.

Bake at 425 until the bacon is fully cooked.

Feta Stuffed Cherry Peppers

For one of our first "Valentine Dinner Extravaganza's" we made these spicy, flavorful little morsels and were not, at all, bummed to make them a second time.

They're vinegary, pickly, not-to-spicy, refreshing and creamy.

They are easy.

The original recipe suggests Peppadews, but our lack of grocer options have lead to our using Cherry Peppers.

Once you have your pickled peppers there are just a few steps:

Step 1: Remove seeds from peppers.
Step 2: Remove seeds from one cucumber and dice.
Step 3: Place 2-3 cucumber cubes in the shell of each pepper.
Step 4: Stuff remaining space of the pepper with Feta cheese.
Step 5: Place in mouth, bite down and enjoy!

Apple and Brie Toasts

One of our all time favorite food combinations is Apples + Brie.

Occassionally, we'll buy a round of brie, dice up some apples, sprinkle the apples with cinnamon and nutmeg, surround the brie by the seasoned apples - bake and dig in with a baguette.

Want something that required an ounce less chopping but held the same flavors - we put this together for annual "Valentine's Dinner Cooking Extravaganza".

Sliced bread.
Topped with sliced apples.
Sprinkled with Cinnamon.
Topped with sliced brie.
Baked for 10-ish minutes until cheese is melty.

Easy Peasy and Absolutely delicious!

Refried Chili

Extended Shelf Life: Avocado

Because sometimes, even when you take crappy photos, the dish was worth documenting and making a little reminder to yourself that quick meals can be delicious and can even incorporate canned foods you'd rather not admit are in your pantry ;)

So, if you find yourself hungry with a pile of tomatoes, a few ripe avocados, a can of refried beans, a block of bream cheese, a can of tomato sauce and a ice cube of roasted jalapenos, rest assured that cooked together, served on top of Fritos with cheese and fresh avocado - it will yield a meal that you can easily enjoy.

Orange Liquor

Extended Shelf Life: Oranges (peels specifically)

Remember how we dived a bunch of oranges?

It's lead to exciting creations such as Orange Marmalade and Tangerine Salsa.

But this round of dumpster diving and experimenting has lead me to explore the art of using the entire fruit or vegetable. To find ways to use peels and scraps, pulp and cores. 

Vinegar has been a life saver for this.

So is making home-made stock.

But, obviously, in our house, we also enjoy a good Alcohol experiment or two what with the brewing and all.

So, with more peels than I could handle, I figured it was time to soak some in Vodka and see what I could create.

Based on this recipe, I went forth with a simple experiment which basically involved soaking a large handful of tangerine peels in the Vodka from one 750 ml bottle for a couple of weeks. I think made a simple syrup with water and sugar, added it to the tangerine Vodka and we ended up with a sickly sweet bottle of Orange Liquor which turns out makes a fabulous drink when poured over lime ice cubes.

So there you have it! Just another way to use up things you'd otherwise trash, candy or compost!

Pizza Experiment #6: Kimchi Pizza with Bacon on a Beer Bread Crust

This is a dearly beloved brain-child of mine which I believe will have only a handful of lovers, yet for me, it is worth it!

I've lived in South Korea. I've mastered the art of making and fermenting Kimchi. And now I'm bringing the two worlds - East and West - together in a truly delectable fashion.

I was pleased with this pizza experiment. And truth be told, so were our guests (all family...who did visit us in South Korea). Definitely something that has potential to be a 'signature' dish.

And, I tried out another Beer Crust, with much success!

Raised Beer Bread Pizza Crust:

You can either throw these ingredients into your bread machine per bread machine directions (our machine requires wet ingredients on bottom). Or you can follow these simple directions:

Mix together 4 cups Flour, 2 1/2 tsp. Active Yeast, 1 tsp. Baking Powder, and 1 1/2 tsp. Salt. Add to these dry ingredients 2 Tbsp. Olive Oil and 1 1/2 cups Beer, mix together.

Turn out onto a floured surface and knead about 10-15 minutes.

Place in lightly greased bowl, cover and let rise until about doubled 2-3 hours. Proceed as with other crusts.

For the 'sauce', I heated up a bit of Sesame Oil before tossing in some fermented Kimchi, Soy Sauce and Go-ju-chang (Korean red pepper paste). This was then spread on the crust, topped with Mozzarella Cheese and Green Onions.

Definitely unique and ultimately, delicious!

Pizza Experiment #7: Bacon, Mushroom and Green Onion on a Quick Beer Bread Crust

Extended Shelf Life for: Bacon, Tomato, Mushrooms

Interesting piece of information: On Facebook I follow a few different Pizzeria's. On the day I set out to create this pizza, one of these pizzeria's posted that the daily special was...you guessed it! A Bacon, Mushroom and Green Onion Pizza - with RED SAUCE! Unbelievable!

Anyway, I made the sauce from scratch, using the same recipe as did for Pizza Experiment #2.

I placed that sauce on top a new crust:

Quick Beer Bread Crust:

Preheat oven to 450.

Mix together 3 cups Flour, 1 Tbsp. Baking Powder and 1/2 tsp. Salt.

Slowly mix in 12 oz. Flat Beer, dough will be sticky.

Knead the dough on a floured surface. Split dough for thin crust or use as one thick crust pizza, roll out, top and bake!

From there, all I had to do was add the Toppings:

Bacon, Mushrooms, Green Onion and Mozzarella Cheese!

Easy-peasy and delicious to boot!