Bacon-Wrapped Dates

One of our favorite restaurants, Mesón Sabika in Naperville, serves these with a red pepper sauce.

Pit and stuff 12 dates with blue cheese, a slice garlic or slivers of almond.

Wrap each with a half slice of bacon and fasten with a toothpick.

Bake at 375 for 10 minutes. Turn and bake an additional 10 minutes until bacon is crispy.

Pasties

This is an old family recipe that my German grandmother used to make. My mother wrote down the recipe. I made them for my sister's birthday.

2 recipes pie crust
1 pkg. Round steak, diced
1 pkg. Pork steak, diced
1 onion, chopped
thinly sliced potatoes
thinly sliced carrots (optional)

Mix filling ingredients in large bowl. Salt and pepper to taste. Roll out crust into oblong shapes. Place about 1 ½ C of filling on each. Top with a dollop of butter. Fold over and pinch edges together. Vent top with several slits. Make little balls for top with left-over crust. Bake in preheated 450 oven for 15 minutes. Lower temperature to 350 and bake 45 to 1 hour longer.

Pie Crust
2 C flour
2/3 C shortening (Butter-flavored Crisco)
1 t salt
5-7 T cold water

Mix flour, shortening and salt with a fork, until the consistency of small peas. Add water 1 T at a time to a portion of the flour mixture. Do not over mix.

Garlic and Artichoke Dip

This dip is served warm with pita chips or toasted bread. It satisfies if you have a craving for warm, gooey and cheesy. And it's great for that Fantasy Football Draft Party!

4 cloves garlic, smashed
1 green onion, cut in several pieces
1/3 C Pecorino Romano cheese, grated
1/3 C low fat mayonnaise
1/4 C low fat cream cheese
1 T lemon juice
1/4 t crushed red pepper flakes
1 14 oz can artichoke hearts in water

Chop garlic and onion in food processor. Add cheese (reserving a couple tablespoons for topping), mayonnaise, cream cheese, lemon juice and pepper flakes. Process until nearly smooth. Add artichoke hearts and process until a few chunks remain. Place mixture in 1 quart baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with reserved cheese. Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes until bubbly.

Pasta e Fagioli

This is a traditional meatless Italian soup. Fagioli can be pronounced as it is spelled or even closer to "fazool" depending on the Italian dialect.

4 T extra virgin olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
4 large cloves garlic, minced
1 16 oz. can canellini beans, drained
4 plum tomatoes, chopped
1 sprig fresh rosemary, chopped
1 1/2 C zitti or penne pasta, uncooked
parmesean or romana cheese, grated

Heat pan and add olive oil. Sauté onion, carrot, celery and garlic until tender. Add beans, tomatoes and rosemary, 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

Remove half of the soup mixture to a food processor and process until smooth. Return to pot. Add pasta and 1-2 cups water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until pasta is tender (10-15 minutes).

Spoon into bowls and top with romana or parmesean cheese. Serve with crusty slices of Italian bread.

Blueberry Muffins

Muffin Mixture
2 Eggs
1/4 Cup Vegetable Oil
1/4 Cup Water
8 oz. Yogurt (plain or vanilla)
1 Cup Sugar
3 Cups Flour
1 T Baking Powder
1/2 t Baking Soda
1/2 t Salt
1 1/2 Cups Blueberries

Crumb Topping
3 T Butter, softened
1/4 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Flour
1/2 t Cinnamon

Mix together oil, water, egg, yogurt and sugar. In separate bowl, mix together flour, powder, soda and salt. Stir dry mixture into egg mixture until just moistened. Carefully fold in blueberries.

Mix together ingredients for crumb topping until mixture is the consistency of small peas.

Spoon muffin mixture into greased muffin tins. Top each muffin with a spoonful of crumb mixture. Bake in preheated 375 oven for 20-25 minutes until slightly browned.

Makes 12 muffins.