Carrot-Leek Baked Appetizers and 50 years to deal with...

I loathe Daylight Saving Time, yesterday was a complete blur.  I really needed to curl up in a ball and crash out somewhere about 5, but instead downed excess caffeine and stayed up till after midnight working on my parents 50+ year photo hoard.  When my head finally hit the pillow I yearned to pass out into a coma like state, but of course why would anything happen the way I want it to?  Hot Dog Dude came to bed at the same time as me and started talking and then just lapsed into a snore induced coma with no warning, leaving me lying there wide awake.  (For the love of God I have no idea how my parents' stayed married 50 years sleeping in the same room?)  Then again I'm still unsure if I actually fell asleep when I was awoken by a dream of me trying to help deliver Azmina's baby in a Target store.  

In my dream I told her I had done this plenty of times before and that everything would be fine, they had all the supplies we needed for the job in the baby isle and that she needed to make herself comfy on a blow-up mattress in the camping isle.  Just to clarify here Azmina I have absolutely zero baby delivery skills and if you are in my company and you suddenly feel compelled to give birth, for goodness sakes call 911.  CALL 911!  Also, I think we should stay at least 100 feet from any Target until we know the coast is clear.

Much less stressful than dream delivering a baby in Target was making these tasty carrot, leek, and goat cheese appetizers the other day.  I was thinking back to Christmas when the lovely Lisa invited a group of us to her home for a cookie swap.  I made a carrot, leek, and goat cheese tart to share with the group and while I was craving another one, I decided to lighten the recipe.  Looking over all those old photos was incentive enough to never eat again, but I have a better chance of actually delivering a baby than that happening.  

Carrot, Leek, and Goat Cheese Baked Appetizers

1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch pieces 

2 teaspoons olive oil 

2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves

Salt

Pepper 

2 ounces leek, white part only 

2 teaspoons olive oil 

1 clove finely minced garlic 

3 tablespoons water 

1/4 cup kalamata olives, roughly chopped 

2 ounces soft chevre goat cheese 

1 package square won-ton wrappers 

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. 

Combine carrots, olive oil, thyme, and salt and pepper in a bowl and toss to combine. Spread on a baking sheet lined with parchment and cook for 25-30 minutes until carrots are tender. 

Add leeks, oil, and garlic to a pan and sauté on medium heat for 3-5 minutes until limp. Add water and cover and cook on low for 10 minutes until the leeks are soft. Set aside.

In a bowl combine, cooked carrots, leeks, and olives and toss to combine. 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 

Spray a mini-muffin pan with olive-oil spray or brush it with olive oil. Fill cups with won-ton wrappers and fill with the carrot mixture.  Top each one with a little crumbled goat cheese.

Bake for 12-15 minutes.

Serve warm or room temperature.

I almost forgot to give you the update on my brother's Volkswagen Bus; he wasn't able to make a deal with Rick.  I'm sure he will find the right buyer for the car eventually.  I am also leaving the offer on the table to broker the deal with you myself for a small commission.

Hope your week goes much better than my feeble attempt at sleep did.

Gina

Halloween "Infected" Finger Sandwiches

It's funny how when things go wrong they seem to spin a web that is out of control.  I had to run to the store at least a dozen times before I got all the items I needed for the Halloween recipes I was working on.  I'd forget something and have to run back, pull something out of the pantry and realize it was expired, or something much worse.

I decided I needed a little me time and treated myself to a spa mani and pedi at the nail shop in town that I visited a few weeks ago.  Sat down in one of their luxurious massage chairs and was doted on by a petite woman who kept asking me, "What color?"  Okay fine, "How about French", I replied.  She removed my finger nail polish with the finesse of a Hump Back Whale and then told me in her shrill voice, "I think you should pick green."  "I don't want green, I want French", I said. "Fine, but you already have green", she reported as she showed me my fingernails complete with inflamed cuticles and a raging fungal infection.  I knew I shouldn't have gone to a place just because they had free chips and salsa with each service.  Live and learn people, live and learn.

I figured well that has to be the worst thing that can happen to me this month.  I can work with green at least it matches my eyes. When I got home I decided to work on some appetizers for the Halloween party and when I was cutting open a spaghetti squash a swarm of angry spiders that had been building a nest inside came spewing out.  After I quit running around the house screaming, "God, take me now", I figured why not go with it as a centerpiece.

As for my fingers, one was so bad it had to be cut off but the remaining fingers were spread with a little peanut butter and pumpkin butter, crusts cut off, cut in three "fingers", topped with a small piece of romaine lettuce that was glued on with peanut butter, topped with infected (toasted almond) nails (with more p.b. glue), and given ragged, inflamed peanut butter cuticles.

If you don't add the cuticle inflammation until serving you can make the sandwiches the night before and cover them with plastic wrap and store in the fridge.

You know what, I didn't think I was going to enjoy ingesting "Infected" Finger Sandwiches, but actually they were pretty tasty and those crunchy infected nails added that little something-something to them.  I think maybe the only thing that could make them better would be to add some dried cockroaches to the sandwiches and I know just the nail salon that had plenty of them running loose.

Gina