I am headed off to volunteer at The Meatball Madness, hosted by Giada deLaurentiis tonight – and could not be more excited. Not because of the meatballs (not a fan), but because I love Giada! Her fabulous show on the Food Network is a favorite of mine for sure. It is an event that is a part of the New York Wine and Food Festival line up this year. Morning viewers got a taste of more to come tonight on The Today Show this morning, where Giada put her skills to the test in a meatball (I really cannot stand this word-I almost feel hesitant to post, HA!) challenge. Should be fun. I’d bring you back a load of pictures recapping the night, but photography is NOT allowed. Sad.
*image +
Our lives these days consist of engagement parties, bridal showers, weddings, and more engagement parties. It’s crazy…but a weekend without one of these events is extremely rare. Last night’s occasion, an engagement party. The host are all bringing something different, from us…a vegetable appetizer. The dilemma: nobody every really eats anything from the plain vegetable tray. Why? I dunno. Personally I LOVE fresh vegetables. Yhey usually involve a lot of prep work, and at the end of the night only 1/8th of the veggie tray has even been touched. End result, depressing. All that work and money, and no one even touches it. Haven’t you all ever heard of being healthy?? So what to do, what to do? We’re going to give this made-up adapted recipe a try…
Start with LOTS of asparagus. Snap the end off, leaving just the tips. Bend the end, and where it naturally snaps=the perfect amount of “stalky” end gone! In small batches, blanch the asparagus in a large fry pan filled with about 1/4″ of water – about 6-7 minutes. Remove from pan and season with salt and pepper, set aside.
Spoon four containers of chive and onion flavored cream cheese into a small bowl – let it soften at room temperature.
Add four small (or one large) red pepper, thinly diced.
about 10 slices of crumbled bacon, and a pinch of red pepper to season.
Mix all of those ingredients into the cream cheese until well blended. This mixture in and of itself is tasting worthy…for real!
Next step buy LOTS of crescent rolls. They make seamless sheets now, but the grocery store was out.
Unroll the crescent dough onto a non-stick surface, and spread with the cream cheese mixture. Add A LOT, do not be stingy…this is the good unhealthy stuff that makes people eat the vegetables. Kind of contradicting the idea of making a healthy appetizer, right?
Next, sprinkle with parmesan cheese and cut the dough into thin slices.
roll on asparagus tip per slice of crescent dough.
As you go place the individual appetizers on an un-greased cookies sheet.
and after you’ve rolled all of them up 200 of these babies in my case, bake at 325 degrees for about 8 minutes. Watch them carefully, you want the crescents to just be slightly brown on top.
and TA DA…all toasty and golden brown with a SPARK of deliciousness!
Bon Appetit!
