New (to Me) Blogger on the Block Thursday #21

Had the day off today and spent it doing a few errands and puttering around the house. The Husbands both had off today as well (everybody but The Neighbor Wife!) and managed to put the finishing touches on the swingset this afternoon. Nicholas played for a little while on it, but was dying for The Girlfriend to come over and share in the fun, so she popped over for a few minutes before their bedtime. Safe to say, it’s a big hit with the kids and they’re definitely going to get a lot of mileage out of it. One of the rules of thumb when buying a swingset is to buy one that they’ll grow into, but can use now; that way, they don’t outgrow it too fast (just the tip you thought you’d get from a food website, eh?).

For this week’s edition of Rediscovering My Library, I turned to a book I bought last summer, Cool Kitchen. I was moving my desk in the office and found it underneath it (don’t ask) … as the premise is making dishes that don’t heat up your kitchen in hot Spring and Summer months, I thought it would be perfect to use tonight. I made two recipes from it, and suffice it to say, neither were keepers for me.

The first recipe was a Smoked Salmon Tapas; it was certainly easy to make, but not a wow for us. The second recipe was for a Pecan-Gorgonzola Dressing for a salad. Sounds enticing, right? Yeah, I thought so too, until I tasted it. It called for pecans chopped in a food process and I found that made the dressing’s texture rather odd. The other main ingredient, next to the gorgonzola, is a half-cup of yogurt. It just tasted waaaay too yogurty, and I’m normally not adverse to yogurt-based dressings. It couldn’t be salvaged, and believe me, I tried. I hate wasting ingredients like that.

I had half a package of crumbled gorgonzola left and decided to create my own gorgonzola dressing. While in a very appropriate “necessity is the mother of invention” turn, I ended up with a really great Sweetnicks Original Creamy Gorgonzola Dressing. By altering the amount of olive oil in it, it has the versatility to become either a dip for your crudites or a salad dressing. I’ll share the recipe with you guys tomorrow. I know you’ll love it as much as I do. Needless to say, I loaded the cookbook up for sale on Amazon. I’m sure there are other great recipes in it, but so many cookbooks, so little time…

For tonight’s nod for New (to Me) Blogger on the Block Thursday, I’d like to introduce you to Saffron Trail from India, a rather new blogger. Whether it’s her recent post for Melt in Your Mouth Scones, her Pasta Indian Style or her Baba Ganouj, you’ll find something to whet your appetite. Check out her site when you get a chance.

Alright folks, that’s it for tonight. Tune in tomorrow to see what’s on tap for the weekend. Until then…

P.S. Get confused by the difference between appetizers and hors d’ouevres? Check out my newest piece on Paper Palate’s site.

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