Day 119: Boo Humbug

Halloween used to be MY holiday.  I threw some legendary parties and if you doubt such a thing, I can provide references.

BUT...I must admit that there's something about Halloween these days that just seems like way too much work.  Maybe it's because it was on a Friday this year - at the end of a long work week.  Really, I just do not have the energy for dressing up and partying.  So, we did what we always do on Friday night - came home from work, had a glass of wine, went out to dinner, and came home to watch something off the DVR.  

The Bay Area experienced a major change of seasons this week.  All of the sudden it's fall here - and the farmer's market reflects that, as do many of our local restaurants' menus.  That includes Isa, one of our favorite neighborhood restaurants.  

Isa is a small plate restaurant, so we always share a number of different dishes.  Tonight's included:

- Arugula salad with persimmons, pear, and parmesan cheese (YUM!!)

- Salmon tartar with avocado, egg, and some other things (Not my fave)

- Warm goat cheese with tomato, basil, and pine nuts (My absolute fave)

- Tiny lamb and pork meatballs with sliced radishes (A new special - yum)

- Scallops with brussels sprouts, bacon, and mashed potatoe (ridiculously yum)

- Grilled steak with scalloped potatoes (yum yum)

Isa rarely surprises us anymore, since we have been visiting them at least once a month for the past couple of years.  The food is always great, the service is always super friendly, and it is always an A+ experience.  But who needs to be surprised?  I'll take a hands down predictably amazing experience anytime!

Day 118: Happy Birthday, Julie!

"Umami" has been quite a big buzz word this year. It's a difficult word to define so click here to see what Wikipedia has to say.

Tonight, to celebrate her birthday, our friend Julie arranged a group dinner at a Japanese restaurant in our neighborhood called - you guessed it - Umami! Despite the fact that Umami is just 3 blocks from our house, we had never been there before, but we will definitely be back.

My husband and I arrived early, so we sat at the bar and had a cocktail. Off to a good start.

Once the group had arrived, we sat down and perused the menu. The only strike against Umami the whole night is that they are part of that tired SF trend of "family style". Where I come from, family style means that the portions are huge and meant for sharing by whole table. Here, it basically means that the kitchen is too lazy to organize themselves appropriately to ensure that right order is delivered to the right diner at the right time. I'm kind of over it.

We decided to forego the whole table shares thing and my husband and I shared, as we usually do. Our first item to arrive was the mini tuna tartar tacos, which came three to a plate. We each had one and the third was eaten by the birthday girl. These little guys were totally adorable and yummy. What a great idea!

Next, we had albacore tuna sashimi, which arrived with some greens and seaweed salad on top. In the bottom of the very hot bowl was some ginger over which the waiter poured some ponzu sauce. It sizzled and slightly cooked the tuna - hard to describe, but a visually lovely dish and very tasty, too.

After these appetizers, we got rolling. Not out the door - there was too much good food left to eat! We got our sushi rolls on. The Three Samurai had tuna, yellowtail, and salmon with avocado inside. It tasted fresh but was a bit bland - nothing special there. The Geki-Kara roll, however, was divine: tempura shrimp, avocado, and cucumber inside with spicy tuna, tobiko, jalapeno, and eel sauce on top. That was a real winner.

And of course - because this was a celebration - there had to be dessert! We ordered two items for the table: pineapple crumble, which was far too sweet and a dessert roll. There was gelato wrapped in chocolate cookie dough, sliced like a sushi roll, with a chocolate dipping sauce and wasabi whipped cream. The reaction around the table to the whipped cream was quite negative so I didn't even try that - but the roll itself was delicious and such a creative and fun idea.

All in all - this was a great dinner and a fun night. It had been awhile since we tried a new place in our neighborhood. Welcome to our restaurant rotation, Umami!

Day 117: Leaning Tower of Leftovers

I have touted my love of leftovers before and I will do it again.  Tonight we did a real sweep of the fridge and finished a whole bunch of stuff we had leftover:

• Turkey/chicken sausage
• Grilled steak
• Spaghetti with roasted tomatoes
• Farmer's market veggies

The fridge was empty afterwards but our tummies were full.  And, because most of it was already cooked (veggies being the only exception), it was all ready super quick so we were full AND happy.

As you know, if you are a regular reader of this blog, we rarely cook on Friday or Saturday, so an empty fridge this late in the week is a-okay.  We'll stock up again this weekend and start all over again!

Day 116: Surprise! It's Vegetarian!

I normally do not feel satisfied if my dinner doesn't include some kind of animal protein.  Thus, the surprise that I made something totally vegetarian tonight - and it was hearty, filling, and delicious!

This dish was inspired by The Balboa Cafe, one of my favorite neighborhood restaurants.  The Bal has a pasta special each day.  Every day is different, but they often include roasted tomatoes.

This weekend I picked up a pint of "micro tomatoes" at Whole Foods.  I sampled one in the store and just couldn't resist the sweet juicy pop between my teeth.  The dish I made tonight featured those yummy tomatoes.

I pre-heated the oven to 375 and set a pot of water on the stove to boil.

Then, I laid the tomatoes out in a single layer in rectangular glass baking dish.  I drizzled them with a healthy dose of olive oil, sprinkled salt, ground pepper, and dried oregano over the top, and then tossed it together to make sure every tomato had been touched with the oil and seasonings.  Then I returned them to an even single layer and slipped the dish into the oven.  They baked until they started to burst - about 15 minutes for these little guys - but it will depend on how large the tomatoes are.

While the tomatoes are roasting and the pasta is cooking, I sauteed 4 cloves of finely minced garlic in olive oil over low heat.  If you like spicy food like I do, try this tip - while the oil is heating up, shake some red pepper flakes into the oil and allow their heat and flavor to infuse the oil.

Drain the pasta, reserving 3-4 tablespoons of the water it cooked in.  Return the pasta and the reserved water to the pot and gently mix in the tomatoes (and all of the juices/oil from the baking dish) and sauteed garlic.

Before serving, grate some parmesan and finely slice up some fresh basil leaves and sprinkle both over the top.  Delish!!!

It may sound involved, but this dish took less than 30 minutes from start to eating.  Add in the fact that it included yummy fresh produce and healthy whole wheat pasta and you have a dinner that you can be really proud of.  Enjoy!

Day 115: Cupboard Scavenger Hunt

Every so often, it's a good idea to rummage through your pantry or cabinets.  Chances are, there are some items in there that you bought on a whim and then never used.  If you're in a bit of a rut as far as cooking dinner goes, go on a little cupboard scavenger hunt sometime soon.  You just may be inspired to make something new that requires minimal additional grocery shopping.

I rummaged through my own cabinets this weekend and stumbled upon a jar of red curry paste.  No idea when or where I purchased it - for all I know, this little jar has moved with me to my past 3 or 4 apartments - so tonight I decided to follow the recipe on the label and wound up with a new and very easy mid-week dinner idea.

Thai Red Curry Shrimp (serves 2):

14 oz can coconut milk (we used light)

1 T red curry paste

1 T fish sauce

2 T brown sugar

1 cup frozen peas

1/3 cup water

1/2 lb shrimp (shelled)

Place the coconut milk and curry paste in a large saucepan and simmer for 5 minutes on medium heat.

Add fish sauce, sugar, peas, and water and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Stir in shrimp and continue cooking for about 5 minutes, or until shrimp are cooked through.

Garnish with fresh basil or cilantro, if you desire.  Serve over rice (I used brown rice).

The dish was okay.  I would like to try it again, but substituting chicken for shrimp and adding some thinly sliced red bell pepper.   If you like things extra spicy, add a bit more curry paste - but remember, you can always add more, but you can't take it away!

Rummage through your cabinets soon - let me know if you find anything interesting and what you do with it!

Day 114: Got Apples?

It seems that everyone I know has been apple picking in the past couple of weeks.  A trip to Masker's Orchards was an annual trek that my parents, sister, and I took every year so I totally understand the appeal.  But what do you do with all of those damn apples afterwards?

You may recall Peter Brady's pork chops and applesauce catch phrase.  The kid knew what he was talking about - pork and apples are a delish pairing!

Tonight's dinner was coriander crusted roasted pork tenderloin with sauteed apples.  Our side dish was sauteed fresh sugar snap peas.

To make the apples, I peeled and then chopped a Rome apple.  You could use other kinds of apples - you want to choose one that's more on the firm side so it doesn't turn to complete mush.

In a non-stick pan I heat up a tablespoon or two of olive oil and a cinnamon stick on medium heat.  Once hot, I added the chopped apple, sprinkled a little bit of cinnamon and salt, and stirred.  After a couple of minutes (stirring from time to time), I add about 1/4 cup of apple cider, cover the pan, and turn the heat down to low.

I allow the mixture to cook and soften up for awhile - 15 minutes or so - until the apples are softened but still maintain their shape.  It's important to check on it from time to time to make sure all of the liquid hasn't evaporated.  If it has, add a touch more cider.

I recommend one apple per pound of pork tenderloin.  That will ensure that you get a bit of apple with each bite of pork.  Of course, you could do two apples - even two different kinds - and double your pleasure.

Have another idea about how to use all of those fresh picked apples?  Do tell!

Day 113: Saturday Night Feast

99 times out of 100, we go out for dinner on Saturday night (oddly, this is highly provable now that I am into the second hundred days of this blog!).  Tonight, however, I had a strong desire to stay home so we prepared a feast on the grill.

30 days ago, I wrote an entry called "Farewell Fig Season :-(" but tonight we discovered that late season figs (or those that were picked awhile back and somehow stored) are quite good if cooked on the grill.  Just lightly coat them in olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and cook for a few minutes, turning frequently to prevent them from bursting.  We mixed them into a salad with fresh arugula, blue cheese, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.

The grill also provided us with yummy steaks and veggies tonight.  We marinated some mushrooms, a red bell pepper, half a large zucchini, and an onion in my favorite bottled salad dressing for a couple of hours.

We also peeled a sweet potato and cut it into wedges which we marinated in olive oil, garlic, rosemary, salt, and red pepper flakes for a couple of hours.

The steak marinated for 5 hours in a homemade Chimichurri sauce.  This recipe came from a Williams-Sonoma cookbook called Essentials of Grilling: 

1/4 cup olive oil

2/3 cup sherry vinegar

3/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

3 T chopped fresh oregano

6 large cloves of garlic, chopped

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

3/4 tsp salt

All ingredients were mixed together in a dish just large enough to hold the steaks.  We made one porterhouse and one rib-eye, just to see which was better (I preferred the strip side of the Porterhouse).  The meat should marinate in the fridge and be flipped every hour or so to ensure both sides have a chance to suck up the yummy flavor of the marinade.

Quite a feast indeed!  I'm thinking we should do this more often - like, at least once every 50 days or so!

Day 112: Looks and Taste are Sometimes Inversely Proportional

As far as this blog is concerns, it seems that I just cannot win with Izzy's Steaks & Chops.  Don't get me wrong - I love everything about Izzy's - the service, the atmosphere, the food, and the prices.  But for the life of me, I do not know how to capture that tastiness this place offers.  

My first entry after an Izzy's dinner received a number of horrified comments.  I think that steak is a tough thing to photograph in the first place, but medium rare prime rib - well, there is really no way to make that look pretty.  So, tonight I decided to photograph my husband's sides instead.  Yes - this was cheating, as the photograph captures his dinner, not mine (my sides are always steamed broccoli and more steamed broccoli).  But give a girl a break - it's day 112 of this blog project and the first time I cheated!

Obviously, this strategy didn't work for me either.  The creamed spinach and Izzy's potatoes look totally gross - but I assure you they taste totally amazing.  I think next time I will snap my appetizer - stay tuned and see how that turns out for me!

Day 111: This One is For All the Haters

My heart goes out to Brussels sprouts. Never was a vegetable so misunderstood and so hated. I myself am a recovering sprout hater. Growing up, the bowl of Brussels sprouts couldn’t even be placed near me at the dinner table. The smell alone was enough to drive me from the kitchen.

For some unknown reason, a few years ago, I decided to give them a try again. Much to my surprise, I loved them and I have loved them ever since.

The trick is in the preparation and of course, in the level of freshness. If you throw some 2 week old sprouts in a pot of boiling water and leave them there for too long, you are going to wind up with a heinous, tasteless bowl of mush.

A couple of weeks ago I prepared a Tyler Florence Brussels sprouts recipe that used bacon. Tonight I was craving that dish, but wanted to try to create a healthier version. My creation wasn’t as good as the original, but it was pretty damn tasty and easy to make!

Brussels Sprouts with Chicken/Turkey Sausage (serves 2):
2 links of pre-cooked chicken and/or turkey sausage
1 lb fresh Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved vertically
1 small shallot, sliced thin
1 cup low sodium chicken broth
¼ tsp red pepper flakes (more or less, depending on how spicy your sausage is)
Olive oil

Coat a stainless steel pan with olive oil and heat on medium-high.

Slice sausage in half lengthwise and then cut across into ½ inch slices. Toss sausage and shallot into the heated oil.

Cook sausage until it’s browned all over. At that point, remove and set aside.

Deglaze the pan with the chicken broth. Add sprouts, cover pan, and leave on a high simmer for 10-12 minutes or under sprouts are cooked through.

Add sausage/shallots back to pan, mix with sprouts, and cook over low heat for a couple of minutes until sausage is reheated.

If you’d like, after you’ve served the sprouts up, you can grate some fresh parmesan cheese over the top.

If this recipe – or Tyler Florence’s original one – does not change your mind about Brussels sprouts, then you truly are a hater. But give them a try before you decide! It may just change your life forever!

Day 110: Who Says Salad is Boring?

I love salad.  I crave it.  But of course, it can be boring if it's always the same old thing.

Tonight I marinated some uncooked shelled shrimp in garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, red pepper flakes, and S&P for about 15 minutes.  Mix the marinade first and taste it to see what you need to tweak - it shouldn't be too oily or too acidic.

While the shrimp were soaking up all those great flavors, I prepared the rest of the salad.  I tend to use whatever is in the fridge - tonight that was a head of romaine, a red bell pepper, a Rome apple, a carrot, and sliced almonds.  I love the nutrition guideline that suggests that you should try to eat a rainbow and always try to incorporate a lot of different color in my meals.

Then I heated up some olive oil in a non-stick pan and sauteed the shrimp for a couple of minutes on each side and laid them over the salad.

If you think a salad can't be a filling enough dinner, you're wrong.  Just make it bigger!  Add some lean protein (shrimp, chicken, or tuna) and some fiber and you will get full and stay full.  Have I mentioned how much I love salad?

Day 109: Tuna, Take 2

It may sounds odd, but I was craving soy sauce tonight so I found a recipe for ginger soy sauce and tweaked it a little.  The original recipe comes from a great book called "Brilliant Food Tips & Cooking Tricks", which has lots of the basics covered.  

Unfortunately, the original recipe was way too oily, but the addition of the juice from half a lemon really balanced it out:

Sauce:

In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, combine 2 tsp sesame oil, 1 T each of soy sauce and dry sherry (I used mirin in place of the sherry), 1 tsp each grated fresh ginger and honey, and a pinch of ground red pepper (cayenne).  Like I said, I added the juice of half a lemon - and two minced cloves of garlic, too.

I let the sauce simmer for about 10 minutes or so, and then drizzled it over the tuna, which I coated in sesame seeds prior to searing in hot olive oil.

If you've been reading this blog awhile, you know that I cook a lot of tuna at home.  Making a sauce is a great way to change it up a little bit.  If you have any favorite sauce recipes, please share!

Day 108: Back in the 'Hood

After a long weekend away with girlfriends and a late flight home, tonight I was really looking forward to some low key bonding time with my husband.  So, we went to dinner at Bistro Aix, one of our favorite neighborhood destinations when we're seeking such a vibe.

The menu is updated daily to allow the restaurant to take advantage of seasonal ingredients.  The dish I chose tonight, however, has been a fairly regular item over the past several months - seared tuna with shitake mushrooms, garlic mashed potatoes and fried spinach.  I've had this dish many times and it never fails to please.  They will even happily replace one off the sides with something else if you ask them to - usually I trade out the potatoes and replace them with green beans or some other healthier option.  Tonight, however, I splurged and enjoyed every bite!

I love to travel but I also love coming home!

Day 107: The Girls Get Grilling

The condo we have been renting in San Diego has not one, but TWO grills, so how could we let the whole trip go by without making good use of at least one of them?

But first, my husband had to save the day – and he wasn’t even there!!  We tried several times to light the grill, with no success.  I called him – asked what we could be missing – and he suggested we make sure the valve on the gas tank was open.  Of course, it hadn’t been – but as soon as we cranked it open, we had no problem lighting the grill!  If this sounds obvious to you, keep in mind that at home, my husband always mans the grill.

Once we got the fire going, we made lots of food out there. First, we grilled up some red peppers that we had brushed with olive oil. We also marinated two big Portobello mushrooms in fresh lemon juice, chopped garlic, olive oil, and S&P and grilled them up. The same marinade was used to make shrimp kabobs. And lastly, we sliced up a big, fresh pineapple and threw the rounds on the grill.

All of this was gobbled up with a big salad and some sweet potatoes – the only thing that was cooked in the oven. We peeled the potatoes and then sliced them into relatively thick rounds. The rounds were placed in a large bowl and tossed with chopped garlic, chopped fresh rosemary, olive oil, and S&P. Ideally, they would have marinated for at least an hour, but we only let them sit for about 20 minutes. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees and lay the rounds out in a single layer on a baking sheet. Be sure to either coat the sheet in olive oil or spray it with non-stick spray first. The potatoes bake for about 30 minutes – turn them over when you see them start to brown.

We were pretty impressed with our meal – and I was even more impressed that we were able to polish off a carton of mint chocolate chip ice cream later that night!

This weekend was a great reunion with my oldest girlfriends. I have no idea when the next one will be, but I will look forward to it!!

Day 106: Girls' Night Out

Today was day #2 of my girls weekend in San Diego and we decided it was high time to go out on the town.

We headed downtown to the Gaslamp District, where restaurants and bars abound. We had made a reservation at an Italian place called Asti Ristorante which had received decent reviews on Yelp (my favorite resource for restaurant recommendations when I travel).

Asti was a cozy place with terrific service. Everyone from the host to our waiter Marko was phenomenal to deal with. The food, however, was fair at best. I should have realized when the Yelp raves focused only on the bread that we should probably have low expectations. I always find that when a restaurant finds it necessary to fancy up their dishes with flowers or carved fruits and vegetables, it is often because the food can’t stand on its own. That was certainly the case here.

The wine list also left much to be desired. I understand that I am in Southern California, but Monterey and Santa Barbara wines far outnumbered those from Sonoma and Napa and we all know that there’s no comparison.

After having walked around the Gaslamp District after dinner, I’m guessing that it probably isn’t easy to find a stellar dining experience there. But we had a fun evening in any case - it’s who you’re with that’s the most important thing anyway.

Day 105: Girls' Night In

People are often amazed when I tell them that I still have four very close friends from my childhood years. These days, we are spread out all over the US and so it usually takes a major life event to get us all in the same place at the same time.

This year we decided to get together just for the heck of it. After many debates about when and where and much planning, here we are in San Diego - all five together for the first time in about three years.

Since two of the girls had flown in from the East Coast - and we are now in our mid 30s (or as one of them pointed out, almost 40) - we spent our first night together in a very low-key fashion. We made a huge salad and had cheese and crackers and of course, some wine.

As you can imagine, five girls reunited for the first time in three years were very busy chit chatting, which explains why my photo features rather empty dishes.

Last time we took a trip like this, it was 2002. We went to Cabo and I seem to recall many, many Jell-O shots. I think this trip will likely be a lot less wild but it’s always fun to hang with “my girls”.

Day 104: Taking The Lazy Way Out

Technically, I am on vacation. From work, anyway - but shouldn’t that extend to household duties? I think yes.

My husband was stopping at Costco on his way home from work tonight anyway, so he made our lives easier and pickup up a rotisserie chicken and a spinach salad kit.

If you read entries #94 (“Best $8 Dinner in Town) or #54 (“So Pretty. Wish I Made That!) then you already know about our fondness of the Costco rotisserie chicken. However, tonight was our first sampling of the spinach salad kit, which was really good. It is a bed of spinach with plum tomatoes, a hard boiled egg, slices of red onion, fresh bacon bits, raw mushrooms, and shredded cheese. It also comes with two cups of poppy salad dressing, which I found too sweet, but which my husband enjoyed.

So...back to my vacation. Tomorrow morning I am leaving for San Diego to meet up with some girlfriends. I’ve been told I’m in charge of cooking - but I’m looking forward to exploring some new restaurants, too. Stay tuned - I know that Costco chicken and salad isn’t the most exciting thing. Hopefully some more interesting meals will find their way to www.365daysofdinner.com this weekend

Day 103: Almost as Good as Being There

Okay - to be honest, it’s almost almost as good as being there. The food is authentic and as fresh and delicious as any you would find in Athens or Santorini. But without the bright white buildings, the black sand beaches, and the stray dogs and cats, I supposed I can’t say that it is really almost like being there. But I digress...

Tonight’s dinner took place at Mezes, our phenomenal neighborhood Greek outpost. We started with the assorted vegetarian appetizer plate pictured above. Beginning with the pita triangles on the left and going clockwise: melitzanosalata (eggplant dip, sort of like babaganoush), beets & beet greens, dolmathes (grape leaves stuffed with rice), gigantes (baked white beans in tomato), spanakopita (spinach & feta in crispy phyllo dough), feta cheese, zucchini cakes, tzatziki (yogurt cucumber dip).

After that, we shared the Horiatiki (greek salad), which is such a simple thing but it never ceases to amaze me how ridiculously delicious it is: tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, purple onions, feta cheese, dried oregano, oil, and vinegar. It’s magical.

We also shared an order of lamb sausage - seasoned heavily with oregano with fresh lemon juice squeezed over the top - this dish is pure yum.

Finally, we shared dessert. Mezes’ galaktoboureko can bring tears to your eyes it’s so good. Phyllo dough is baked with custard inside and is served on a dish with sweet honey sauce. I’m doing a terrible job of describing it. You just have to try it for yourself next time you see it on a Greek restaurant’s menu.

I love Greek food and have been fortunate enough to have been to Greece twice. I think it’s probably going to be awhile before my third visit, so thank goodness for Mezes!

Day 102: What You See is NOT What You Get

You might think this is a simple bowl of pasta, but no!

If you read last night’s entry, you know that I made meatballs yesterday for dinner. Rather than eat the same dinner tonight, I took last night’s leftovers and made a meat sauce. I just chopped the meatballs up and added some freshly grated parmesan and chopped fresh basil leaves and it was like a brand new meal. Of course, I used whole wheat noodles as usual.

I absolutely love leftovers, but not when I have to eat the same food two days in a row. So, sometimes I try to get creative with my leftovers to make them seem like something different.

What leftover tricks to you have to share?

Day 101: Celebrating Christopher Columbus

What better to eat on Columbus Day than Italian food? It had been awhile since I made meatballs because they are very time consuming so with a whole day off and nothing else planned I went for it.

This recipe has received stellar reviews from everyone who has eaten my meatballs. They are well worth the time and effort. You can make them with 100% beef, but to achieve the best flavor, I highly recommend a mix of meats.

Ingredients:
2 lbs of ground beef, lamb, veal, and/or pork (I always use 1 lb of the leanest ground beef, and then 1/2 each of two more meats, depending on what is available at my butcher shop)
2 eggs
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1/3 cup freshly chopped parsley
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 jars of your favorite sauce (or your homemade sauce if you’re really ambitious!)

Crack eggs into a large bowl and beat gently. Add water and breadcrumbs, mix, and let rest for 5 minutes.

Add all remaining ingredients except for the meat, and mix until blended. Crumble the meat into the bowl and mix everything together with your hands. Form balls - whatever size you like. I’ve made small ones served with toothpicks at cocktail parties and large ones served as entrees or over pasta.

Pour 1/4 inch of olive oil into a saucepan and heat on medium-high temperature. Once the oil is hot, place a batch of meatballs in, being sure not to crowd them. Flip them over as their bottoms brown.

Meanwhile, pour the sauce into a large baking dish and place the dish in an oven pre-heated to 225 degrees. After the meatballs are browned on both sides, place them in the baking dish and tuck them into the sauce.

Once all of the balls are in the sauce, bake for 1.5 hours. I like to place a layer of provolone or mozzarella over the top at that point and then serve once the cheese is melted (3-4 minutes later).

From start to finish, this project will take you more than 2 hours. But like I said, it’s worth it - whether you choose to serve bite-sized ones (add another 1/2 hour to your prep time!) or just serve these “as is” for dinner. you’ll be sure to impress. Christopher Columbus would be proud.