A Housewarming Party!

A couple of weeks ago my sister and her husband threw a housewarming party.  They recently moved to New Jersey from Connecticut and wanted all of their friends to come check out their new digs.  I love their apartment, they even have a room just for me :)  It's great to be able to pop out to New Jersey for a weekend here and there and escape the hustle and bustle of the city.  Ash (my sis) and I decided bite sized things would be best as people would be coming and going.  I was able to throw in one of my all time favorite dishes, Buffalo Chicken Bites.  I absolutely adore all things "buffalo chicken" and these are bite sized perfection!

We also threw together some mini pigs in a blanket, home made pesto bruschetta, roasted corn guacamole and some pumpkin gingersnaps!  The party was a great success.  Consider their house warmed.

Buffalo Chicken Bites
adapted from Pennies on a Platter

96 "2 bite" bites

Ingredients
6 cups shredded cooked chicken
3/4 cup hot sauce
8 oz cream cheese, softened
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese (cheddar's best but you can use a 4-cheese blend if you'd like)
1/2 cup sliced green onion
Flour for dredging (about 1 1/2 - 2 cups)
4 eggs, lightly beaten
Crushed Cornflakes (about 3 cups) or Panko

Get your oven to a toasty 350 degrees.  In a very large bowl, combine the chicken, cream cheese and hot sauce.  It's best to get down and dirty, don't be afraid to use your hands.  Then toss in the shredded cheddar  and green onions.  Once you've got everything nice and combined, give your hands a quick rinse and get your baking sheet ready.  I like to cover mine with a sil pat mat or some foil...whatever you fancy.  You'll also want to grab a plate or bowl to put your rolled balls on before coating.

Now gather a bit of the mixture and roll it into a "bite size" ball.  I like to get them a little bigger so they are about 2 bites in one ball.  You can use a scoop if you'd like but your hands work just fine.  Once you've rolled out all of the mixture you are ready to coat!

In three separate dishes, place the flour, eggs and crushed Cornflakes (or Panko).  You'll want to dip each ball in the three dishes starting with the flour, then the egg, and finish it off with the crunchy cornflakes.  Set each coated ball on your baking sheet.  Repeat until all balls are coated or until your first baking sheet is full.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

These are great straight out of the oven once they've cooled a bit.  Feel free to drizzle with blue cheese dressing!

Autumn Pizza

Fall is my all time favorite season.  There’s something about the leaves changing and the brisk weatherthat really gets me excited.  I also have to say I’m a sucker for all things autumn flavored.  By that I guess I mean, apples, squash, pumpkin, soups, ciders…they warm the soul.  A good friend of mine and I recently got together to attempt making a pizza that we felt was “all things fall” My friend and I have been getting together to make pizzas for about four years. We grab a ball of fresh dough from a bakery near by her house in Astoria and do our best to come up with the most delicious pizza possible, though it’s fair to say we’ve failed on more than one occasion.  I don’t know what it is about fresh pizza dough but it sure can be tough.  We’ve tried kneading, pulling, rolling, pushing pretty much everything you can think of and every time it ends up too doughy, undercooked or it shrinks up.  EXCEPT…for our most recent attempt.  The stars aligned and we achieved culinary pizza-making excellence!  Not only did our crust turn out perfectly, the combination of sage pesto, pancetta, leeks, squash, apples and goat cheese made my mouth water and my heart melt!  Check out the recipe here…We added apples to the butternut squash and some cheese and garlic to the sage pesto.  I'd love to try this out as a bruschetta as well!

This was a photo before we threw it in the oven...it was so tasty I didn't get any great photos of it after!

Napa Valley

Well, it's Monday, and Monday's at my apartment are epic.  Every Monday my roomie Lulu and I crack open a bottle of wine, (ok sometimes two) and it's absolutely lovely. We've started calling it Monday Night Wine Night because it's the best way to start the week.  And seeing as its Monday, I felt I should post about my recent visit to a beautiful gorgeous land of wine!  Napa Valley.  You see I was out in San Francisco, for that thing some of us call work.  I was able to sneak away to the quaint town of St. Helena for a day and a half.  Mixing work with a little play, who can argue with that? I'll be posting more about the food and wine a bit later but in the meantime I wanted to share a few photos from the gorgeous house I was able to stay at. The house I was staying at had a vineyard for a backyard, the grapes were just about ready for final harvesting as the leaves were just starting to change colors.  It was so beautiful.

I've got a pickle! I've got a pickle! I've got a pickle hey hey hey hey!

Hi there!

Thanks for stopping by.  I’m KJ the mastermind behind the Toasted Pickle, and by mastermind I mean a gal who likes to cook.  I’ve decided to begin chronicling my culinary forays both in and out of the kitchen.  I’ve realized over the past few years that nothing makes me happier than when I’m sweating it out, frazzled, dropping things and making a mess in my kitchen (or anyone’s kitchen for that matter).  I also enjoy sitting at a nice little restaurant on a brownstone lined street letting others bring me food that they very skillfully and more than likely mess-lessly prepared.  My hope with this blog is to not only cultivate my culinary skills but also my writing.  Hopefully you’ll hop on board this pickle train and help in sharing recipes, swapping restaurant advice or simply offering up words of wisdom.  If you don’t have any wisdom to impart just offering up words will do too!  Now, let’s get cooking!