Appetizers, Artists, and Assembly Lines

I've been quiet for the past couple of days ((well, here at least, I'm actually never *that* quiet)) because I was getting ready for the event at the gallery last night.  It went really well-  I suspect there were upwards of 200 people who came through the show.  Here is the menu: fruit platter with a cream cheese/marshmallow dip, veggie platter with a dill dip, bourbon-soaked grapes with walnut goat cheese, salted cucumber slices with a Mediterranean feta spread, Caprese salad skewers, a brie platter with baby heirloom tomatoes and kalamata olives, and garlicky parmesan spinach and artichoke dip with baguette slices and crackers.

I enlisted the help of one of my dear friends the day prior because this project entailed a LOT of chopping and assembly.  The word "lot" in all capital letters doesn't even begin to cover it.  This was definitely labor-intensive, but it turned out awesome.  Here's the full array:

To the far right of those pictures is the bourbon grapes.  This actually a fairly easy project ((in most regards)) and was probably the most popular item.  I got this idea off of Pinterest ((be my friend there!  User name is Julia Steele.))

As I was assembling these, I renamed them Jules' effed up cake pops...

Ingredients:

Bourbon ((as cheap as you can get))
Grapes
Goat cheese
Walnuts

((I haven't included proportions, because this really varies...  Get one package of each and keep going until the goat cheese is gone.  If you have leftovers of the others, you can use them for something else.))

All you do is wash and remove the grapes from the stems and place them in a good sized piece of tupperware.  Pour the bourbon over until all of them are submerged.  Use the cheapest, and likely most disgusting, bottle you can find.  It had better be plastic and it should probably be dusty.  I bought a handle for something like four dollars!  ((I'm going to use the leftovers to strip some paint later.))  Be sure to seal it tightly and then let them marinate for at least six hours, but as long as two days.  ((You may want to use red grapes for this.  I used green and I was afraid they were going to turn color with the alcohol.  There was just a tinge at the point where the stem had been removed.  Totally fine, but red/purple might be prettier.  Just saying.))

To make the cheese balls, first deal with the walnuts.  You can crush them by putting them in a baggie and then taking a rolling pin to it or in my personal favorite way, by stomping on them and maybe re-enacting a dance routine you made up to a Tiffany song in the 6th grade.  You can then toast them lightly by placing them in a small pan over a medium-high heat for 4-5 minutes.  ((You can also buy them pre-toasted at Trader Joe's and probably other places too.))

Start rolling up the goat cheese.  Roll it between you palms to make small balls.  ((Ours were pretty small, mainly because we were trying to stretch the cheese and get as many skewers as possible.))  Then roll the ball in your crushed up walnuts and smash them in a little bit so they don't all fall right back off.  This is going to be messy, consider yourself warned.

If you attempt to skewer them right now, you will discover that goat cheese does NOT cooperate with skewering.  It falls right apart.  I ended up putting them in the freezer for about 3 hours to get them skewerable ((<---not a word.))  If you attempt to skewer them immediately after removing them from the freezer, you will also find them to not be skewerable and you might stab yourself with the skewer.  However, they soften up FAST.  Within ten minutes they should be a decent consistency where you can insert the top of the skewer into them.  As pictured, I layered two of the grapes with one cheese ball.  Keep them refrigerated until you are ready to serve them.  I actually put the entire tray back in the freezer for about two hours.  The grapes didn't freeze due to the booze in them, but they were nice and cold when I put them out.

The extra grapes were immensely popular.  I'm pretty sure a few people had the equivalent of a full drink in grapes.  I'm not judging.  I might have been encouraging it.  They also went really well with the fruit dip.

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Here are some other pictures from the show:

Naked Caprese Salad Skewers

Caprese Salad Skewers Dressed with Balsamic and Parmesan

Brie with Baby Heirlooms and Kalamatas

Salted Cucumbers with Mediterranean Feta Spread

Fruit Platter with Dip in a Mini-Watermelon

Spinach-Artichoke Dip with Parmesan

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I'll go over some of the other items later, but for now, I am going to finally go finish drying and putting away all the serving pieces and then take an evening off!  It is so close to being Pool Time in AZ that I can smell it.

Happy Weekend!

Work-Work, Not Work-Work, and a Turkey-Spinach Wrap with Cucumber Salad

I have had a busy morning of a little bit of work-work ((meaning my current "real" job)) and a little bit more of my not work-work ((all things foooood.))  Honestly, I hope my not work-work becomes my work-work but not-work real job soon because I am loving every minute of it.  So far today I've made deliveries of the brown butter banana bread brunch cookies from the give-away on Facebook yesterday, planned a menu for an event I'm a part of this Friday evening, and am planning a menu for an event in a couple of weeks.  My name is Jules and I'm obsessed with menu-planning.  It's almost as good as actually cooking and eating.  Almost.

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Consequently, lunch had to be fast, but not a diet-killer, because I'm going to a meeting tonight where I know there will be lots of temptations.  I opted for a turkey and spinach wrap with a super-easy cucumber salad.

Healthy, no?

Making this is really simple and takes less time than it does to nuke something that came out of a box in your freezer.  Plus, it tastes a gzillion times better.  Just take one tortilla ((I've been using whole-grain, low-carb lately, but I don't really mean it)) and pile on 2 ounces of shaved turkey breast.  Throw a paper towel over it and microwave it for 30 seconds.  Pile on some fresh spinach, some diced cucumber, a tablespoon of balsamic vinaigrette ((I like Paul Newman's lite version when I don't make my own,)) and a few crumbles of fat-free feta.  A crack or two of black pepper couldn't hurt either.  I would have added diced tomato but the 24 that I have are still ripening which means they will all hit at once and I'll be up to my neck in marinara in a few days.

Ratio of green stuff to non-green stuff?  8:1.

For the side cucumber salad, I just sliced up some more of the cukes, added a couple of cracks of sea salt, drizzled it with 1/2 a tablespoon of the dressing, and added a little more feta, just because I can.

Cuke Salad

And just to make you jealous, here is one in the Arizona sun where the projected highs for the rest of the week are in the mid to upper 70's.  

Nutritional Info:  Halo status.  Both combined are a whopping 175 calories and 5 grams of fat.

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I'm off to continue my plans of world domination which for today include booking more events ((I've added four more today--)) and finalizing my registration ((not as a sex offender, thanks though)) for the certifications I am pursuing!

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One more thing...  If you "like" the page "Cooking Is Alchemy" on FB, I give stuff away occasionally!  Sarah and Colleen each got a dozen cookies and a special surprise for their Fido's today for being my testers.  I suggest joining up.  I don't want to hear any whining if you don't.