New Salon every Friday – and you’re invited
C’mon in and help yourself to tasty resources
Hosted by Barbara J Nosek
Cocktail Hour Buzz 
sundowner snacks, drinks, chat, and . . .
whenever I can, related resources & goodies on Amazon
whether for a crew, or for two, or just for you
{links within my items go to the sources shown in red – any links underneath items take you to Amazon unless otherwise indicated, and then only ones with the lock icon}
♦♦♦ Well who wouldn’t be giving this a woohoo upon finding it on the snack table. Crispy Twisty Bacon. Sunny Anderson made this tempter on a recent episode of The Kitchen, seasoning the tight spirals with brown sugar, thyme, and spices. All you creative CS-ers will likely come up with your own variations. When I saw this I immediately thought of it as perfect for one of our special brunch editions. But then Katie Lee noted it would be great for cocktail hour. Yes! Food Network
The episode is called, The Kitchen’s Take on Trends
Youtube demo with a flip tip ♦ Youtube demo for air fryer
Other Twisted Bacon recipes on google
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In her own words, “As I have redefined my relationship with food over the past decade – first with my trip to Italy, then by writing a cookbook, and then with the tv series – I have redefined my life and reconnected with values I consider important.” Btw, recipes too, and we’ll be making her famous chocolate cake when baking season returns. Amazon
Valerie’s DVDs – fitness, movies, tv
Valerie’s show page on Food Network
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♦♦♦ In our 05.27.22 Salon we featured Ocean Spray’s crab, cranberry and cream cheese
appetizers, served in mini phyllo shells. Those snacks use such bitsy amounts of ingredients that I had leftover shells, cream cheese, and cranberry too, and decided to put them to use in an easy and pretty dessert plate. For some I beat cranberry and cream cheese till smooth, topped with reserved cranberry. For others I beat the cream cheese with a little juice from mandarin oranges, finished with halves of the mandarins. One important thing to note is that for cream fillings, or similar, you really want to do this as close to service as possible, as the shells can eventually go soft. CS
Athens, who makes the shells I use has literally a whole book of recipes on their site
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♦♦♦ Ever have an upside down martini {spilled ones don’t count}? The Who and the What came out in a chat with Bobby Flay on CNN in advance of the network’s special on Julia Child. He was recalling having lunch with Ms Child when she ordered that libation 🍸 and he learned it’s an inversion of the classic ingredients, meaning reversing the measures for gin and vermouth. Now I could be wrong but I’m pretty sure while the next question was being asked he said almost under his breath, 4 or 5 of them. Cheers Julia, hope you’re enjoying a heavenly golden fountain of endless upside down tinis. Julia Child
It looks like you can watch a rerun of the documentary here
Bobby Flay’s page on Food Network
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cream cheese layer and the flavor bombs that are cherries,
and it’s destined to be a crowd pleaser. And, yep, it’s big enough to serve a crowd too. As you can see, I used a rectangular pan instead of the springform, though. Great for breakfast of course, but add a big scoop of ice cream and it transforms right into dessert. You really do want to let it cool completely before removing it from the pan. 
fame. But here they’re joined by more good stuff – bacon, chives, parm and seasonings, cheese stuffing, sour cream topping. And it’s an easy prep. Ingredients that are few, familiar, likely already at hand. No complicated techniques. And a pan probably pretty much all of us already own. And by varying its platemates it can move from breakfast/brunch to lunch to dinner. Btw, also a great opp to use up leftover mashed. 
three pieces, each blended with food color, then formed into “balls” that are slightly flattened and baked. The finishing 
touch is a sprinkling of sanding sugar. “Fessing up, I did use refrigerated dough. Then, this Painted White Chocolate Bark comes not surprisingly from Trisha Yearwood who just excels at making food fun. The chocolate mingles with different colors of candy melting wafers, all merrily swirled together into these edible works of art. 
Loaded Vegetarian Nachos
like little snow balls, quick freeze, dip in melted chocolate, refrigerate, done. They are so, so, easy to make and that might be the bad news because, mercy, they are rich and even luxurious. And they’re fun, the round shape ready to become sports balls, funny heads, bling, and in fact star pastry chef Buddy Valastro turned them into pretty eyeballs. As an alternative, you can just pat the mixture into a pan and use the chocolate chips to make a ganache frosting, as seen here. Like the richest ever brownie. 
served cups of this chili gratis to their patrons. I don’t know the dates of operation for those establishments. The family was sort of vague about that. So, this was passed down to me by my Aunty Peggy who actually won a recipe contest with it conducted by the Chicago Tribune. I do like a bit more chili powder and a couple of tablespoons of cumin. And depending on the heat level in the chili beans, I may add some hot sauce. It’s even better with such toppings as cheddar, sour cream and a bit of green onion. 
pretty plate. It all began when I cam across this magnetic headline :
Lasagna Bites
tradition though with pretty much classic lasagna ingredients. It calls for ground turkey, but notes the original used
ground beef, and so did I. As you can see, its versatility carries it all over the hours. A great appetizer for sure. But also, send it morningside with a poached egg, so satisfying for breakfast or brunch. Add some sides and it moves right on in for lunch or dinner. 
with one layer that blends in melted chocolate chips & a second one of sweetened peanut butter, each separately whirled in the food processor till silky smooth. I did add a drizzle of melted chips, also cut the prep in half and used a deep dish pie plate. FYI, Amazon offers a ready-made chocolate peanut butter cheesecake, quite showy but also quite pricey. What you might find surprising though are all the other choc/pb items on the page including even coffee. 
Let’s chat 
Sounds messy but actually quite helpful, 
restaurants nationwide. Now I have no connection to them, but good golly miss molly, just look at this 
This week’s featured CS-designed, Zazzle-crafted items
On the Table 
culinary bounty.
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blondie brownie. Given the cream cheese swirl it’s almost like a stuffed version. 
tasty platemates. You can go big in your side dish choices with 
usability. For bread. For pancakes. For baking. And? They’re called 
Melinda doubles down in this prep with the distinct potential to move the cocktail into incendiary territory. But what makes it all quite manageable is that the pepper’s legendary heat comes up against a counterbalance of cucumber, tomato, pineapple, orange, avocado, and more.
Now, here it is in crispy snack form – brown 1/3 lb ground beef {fine crumble] with 2T minced onion and s&p, then add 2T minced pimento olives, 1T mayo and 1 t ea mustard & 
buffalo ranch. 
the meat mixture evenly, covering the cheese slices.
in a baking pan treated with non-stick spray. Brush very lightly with peanut oil, sprinkle with sesame seeds, and bake at 400 for 10 min or until golden. 
07.26.19
the preps a re just so pretty, so party-ready. And that’s all the more notable because tons of work is definitely not part of the equation here. Both aspects are pretty well covered in the claim that this cookbook is “full of contemporary, stylish, and accessible dishes that will delight and impress with less effort.” By Susan Spungen, 4 1/2 stars on Amazon, hardcover and kindle, Prime eligible. 
What would we do without whisks??? But does your inventory include this French design? Here’s where it shines – anytime you’re prepping say a sauce right in the pan, this is the one that incorporates those ingredients that try to hide all around the bottom edges, often missed by the pointy guys. 
This week’s featured CS-designed, Zazzle-crafted item 
And with that in mind we put the spotlight on a big bunch of decadence. Borrowing a line from Reese’s, not sorry!
newspaper clipping, calls for a cooked filling. This re-do takes a clue from our Bailey’s chocolate pots {
Here’s what I used: 8 oz cream cheese, 1 c milk, 1/4 cup heavy cream, 2 T softened butter, 3.5 pkg chocolate fudge instant pudding mix, 2 T ea cocoa and brown sugar, all in the food processor. Into the baked crust, covered in the fridge for a few hours or till completely set. Easy!
waffle, yep, did the same with this bread. And what was so nice even before the butter and syrup, it had all the good flavors of the ice cream bread. 
07.31.20 Salon
prepping. But lo and behold the emporium’s site has a whole lot of recipes.
raw veggies, corn on the cob, tacos, etc, etc, etc. Now I’ve discovered how perfect it is as the rimmer for a bloody mary. Doesn’t hurt to stir some in too! My market carries Tajin but if yours doesn’t and you want to try it 
c74abc
base topped with smashed avocado, tomato, Mex onions, black olives, jack shreds, sour cream, cilantro and hot sauce {shown}. 
squash with Indian spices, baked butternut squash with cheese polenta, winter squash with gruyere gratin, savory ricotta squash tart, acorn squash saltimbocca. {thanks to 
how many 
another way I like to use that pan, and that’s to freeze {covered} individual portions of various items, in the case here cooked macaroni. Also good for rice, cooked shrimp, stuffing, frozen veggies, cooked veggies, e.g. Just be sure to treat the cups with non-stick spray so the food can be popped out and into a freezer bag. 
And so I was drawn magnet-style to this quesadilla {OK, the bacon helped}. That bacon plus homemade hash browns join onion and peppers and cheese in a tasty tortilla stack, topped with a nice fried egg, fresh tomato salsa, and chopped chives.
Shopping Finds
there. 
baked goods, love it every other way and this joins that collection. How else might you use it? Here’s what 
Step one, brown the ground beef, and then add and cook all the sauce ingredients.
museum, and edible too. But don’t know who could bear to bite into these beauties.