Baked Figs with Bacon, Cheese, and Roasted Nuts - MAKE THIS!

This is NOT a recipe blog.  I think that is quite apparent in that, of the 445 entries I have written here, there are only a couple of recipes that appear…  But guys, I have one that I have to share!  You are going to thank me for it (if you make the dish that is).

  

The baked FIGS in the foreground is what you need to make!

But first, a little bit of background.

I like to call David and I “Urban Farmers”.  We live in an urban area, but have a coveted corner lot, meaning YARD SPACE!!  We choose to fill that yard space with STUFF TO EAT – that is, growing fruit and veggies.  We grow these items at our Virginia home:

·         Pears

Pear "in the wild" on our tree!

      ·         Peaches (on a tree named Peachy, naturally!)

Sometimes it is temping to eat peaches right off the tree, but it is best to wait until they are full grown and ripe...

·         Blueberries (this is not true anymore, because we let the bushes get taken over by weeds and strangled, but we WILL grow blueberries again, I swear…)

Don't tell the neighbors, but one year I picked the 1st blueberries of the season on my
birthday before I even had a shower and got dressed!

·         Strawberries (in an old pallet I turned into a strawberry patch!)

This was taken the first year I put in the "strawberry pallet garden" - it is more lush now

·         Figs (on a tree given to us by a stranger who came to our yard sale one year and complimented our peach tree, then went home and came back with the gift of a small fig tree he grew!  We have named it Pudding and it is thriving in our yard!)

PUDDING!  She is loaded with figs this year.  They turn brown when they are ripe.

·         Tomatoes

This is the tomato we had for dinner the night we made the fig recipe, deeelicious

·         Eggplant (pretty striped ones this year, from a plant gifted to us by a kind neighbor)

Produce from the garden, including an eggplant, from last year.  I don't have a
picture of the pretty striped one yet!

·         Hot Peppers

·         Green peppers

·         Lettuce

·         Basil (which did not make it this year…  We were not in town to tend the garden, and the automatic watering system we set up took care of a great crop of WEEDS where it should have been nurturing basil…)

Our annual PESTO MAKING DAY a few years ago - loads and loads of basil!  

·         Parsley (which, sadly, suffered the same fate as the aforementioned basil)

And at our “get-away” beach house in Florida, we grow:

·         Myer Lemons*

·         Persian Limes*

·         Tangerines*

·         Honeybells*

·         Grapefruit*

Farmer Dave with TRIXIE, the magical fruit cocktail tree

·         Papaya (The tree, named Shania, was grown from a SEED!  Our neighbor Carol sprouted several and gave us one.  It has grown really well, but sadly, hers all died…  Awkward…)

Farmer Dave with Shania

Papayas on the tree

·         Bananas (these are actually on a tree that is between our house and our neighbor’s.  We didn’t plant it, but I am not sure they did either…  It maybe just magically sprung up.  And the house is  rental, and just got rehabbed and flipped, so let’s face it, whoever ends up renting it is not gonna know if those bananas are theirs or ours, so I think it is fair that we try and eat a few, don’t you?)

Don't bananas on the tree look BIZARRE??

*All the tropical fruits listed above with an *ASTERISK* grow on ONE TREE – a magical tree we have named Trixie the Fruit Cocktail Tree!  She is a “hybrid”, growers grafted branches of different fruit trees onto one trunk.  The end results is, voila, TRIXIE!!!

The reason I have given you all of this background on our “farms” comes down to this:  FOOD TASTES BETTER WHEN YOU GROW IT YOURSELF!!!  No lie.  That’s not “fake news”, it is true, man!!!  An heirloom tomato picked, washed, sliced, and gobbled up is the best part of summer really.

So now that we are back in Virginia and settling back into “real life”, we are reaping what we sowed.  And boy is it yummy!!!  So, for dinner the other night, we cooked:  couscous (we did not grow this…) topped with mushrooms and garlic (we also did not grow those), eggplant (from the garden, sliced and cooked in the George Foreman grill), an amazing tomato (from the garden of course) sliced and served with salt, baby broccoli (broccolini) (from Trader Joe’s – reviewed here: Baby Broccoli Review and cooked with olive oil, juice from a Meyer Lemon from our tree, and TJ's Umami Sauce (not yet reviewed) ) and an AMAZING FIG RECIPE David found online!  And that finally brings me to the point of this piece:  YOU NEED TO MAKE THIS RECIPE!

Our dinner plate - the figs were the STARS!

David found the recipe on a website called whiteonricecouple.com. 

Baked Figs with Bacon, Blue Cheese, Roasted Nuts

Serves 4   Total time 30 minutes

Ingredients:

·         About 8 fresh figs, cut lengthwise in half (ours were from our fig tree, of course!)

·         4 slices cooked bacon, cut into small pieces (3 slices was enough for us, and we used the world’s most amazing bacon, from TJ’s of course, reviewed here: Black Forest Ham Review  )

·         3 – 4 ounces blue cheese or goat cheese, softened and crumbled (we used our favorite feta we have found outside of Greece, TJ’s feta in brine, reviewed here:  Feta in Brine Review )

·         2 Tablespoons finely chopped roasted nuts (pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, etc) (we used some amazing praline pecan bit we scored at “Peach World” in Georgia recently)

·         2 Tablespoons honey

Directions:

·         Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

·         Place cut figs on the lined sheet pan.  If any of the figs do not sit level, make a small flat cut across the bottom of the fit so that it sits flat when you add the toppings. 

·         Top the figs with the crumbled cheese and bacon.  Press the nuts into the cheese to help keep them from falling off.  (Note from Chef David – also try pressing the BACON into the cheese to keep it from falling off.)

·         Bake the figs for 10 -15 minutes or until they are soft, or to your desired texture, and the cheese is melted.  After removing from the oven, drizzle with honey.

·         Enjoy the figs warm or at room temperature.  Serve as an appetizer or spread them on toasted bread.  Serve with your favorite glass of wine (we served them with a lovely Trader Joe’s white wine, Monique (not yet reviewed).

You guys – MAKE THIS.  It is fast and simple, but amazing!!  So delicious!!!  It tastes (and looks) like something you would pay $40 for at some fancy schmancy restaurant, only you make it in your own kitchen and then watch crap reality tv while eating it!!  Perfect!

Enjoy these last few days of summer.  The seasons are changing far too quickly for my liking, but I will keep eating garden tomatoes and pretending it is still summer for as long as I can. 

TO SUMMER!!!

Day 314 - English Peas

The package for these English Peas said to boil water and put peas in for no longer than 90 seconds.  I confess, I left them in a bit longer, because once I put them in the water stopped boiling and didn’t resume boiling until after the 90 seconds was up…  I gave them an extra 25 seconds.  I followed the package instructions for “English Peas” – mince an onion, cook it in olive oil, boil peas, then mix together.

Find them in the fresh veggie department in a little bag

But before cooking them I ate a few peas raw and they were DELICIOUS.  They were super tasty and just screamed “PEA!!!!!”.  They tasted so fresh!  After this first meal that included English Peas I bought them again and ate many of them raw – I put them in salads, plus just ate them out of a little bowl as if I were snacking on nuts.  They are really yummy that way.

Raw, in a salad.  Very tasty.

As for the cooked version – these are much bigger than the peas I am used to, and that is cool.  Even after cooking they are still a bit hard.  I liked that – they are not mushy at all.  (My experience with peas in England was that they were mushy which was a strange pea texture.)  I like these!  They are something different.  It is not often that you happen across a new vegetable (though we have found two other excellent ones (both got 5 star reviews!) this year at Trader Joe’s – kale sprouts and baby honeynut squash, but neither are available right now L.  Still, you can see the reviews of them here: Kale Sprouts and Honeynut Squash (miniature) ).  I like these English Peas and will be serving them as our green veggie with dinner now that we have discovered them at TJ’s.

Here they are cooked, also really good.  Served with an omelet (dijon and fresh pesto for dipping!) and rice.

David agrees – he also liked them.  He thought they had more “snap” when eaten fresh (agreed!) and that the raw version was a bit more fun to eat.  He says he prefers a little French Petite Pois (damn doesn’t that comment sound uppity???).  But he likes these English Peas and says, “They are nice”.

Here David makes an honest mistake in Trader Joe's, confusing PEA for PEE...  I mean, who hasn't done that?

David in London - NOT a mushy pea fan...

Fish, chips, and MUSHY PEAS in London

We do not often have a side dish of just peas (snow peas are the exception).  When I was a student at good old Pawnee Elementary School in Omaha, Nebraska I had a “pea incident”.   A mean lunch lady forced me to eat some of the disgusting, mushy, wrong-shade-of-green peas on my plate.  Being a rule following little girl, I did as I was told.  Then I promptly JUMPED UP and rushed out of the cafeteria (which was also the gym…) to head for the toilets to throw up.  I didn’t make it.  Sorry Mr. Janitor, he had to haul out the infamous bucket of saw dust to cover my green pile of vomit.

Anyway, after that “incident”, peas were never high up on my list of vegetables.  But I can say that I have grown up and they do not make me gag anymore.  We eat TJ’s bagged frozen peas and will now add these delightful English Peas to our menus, too.  You can find them in the fresh veggie department (not frozen).  We like that these are a bit different than your normal run of the mill pea.

Price – $3.49

Rating – 4.25

Day 275 - Snow Peas

I LOVE FRESH VEGETABLES.  Love ‘em so much I am kind of picky about them.  Like, don’t try and sell me asparagus that is starting to go off, know what I mean??

In the past, that pickiness about veggies meant only buying them at stores where they were not pre-packaged.  I like to touch them.  To SMELL them.  To see the actual produce – not see it through packaging.  But when I started this blog it meant shifting the vast majority of our grocery shopping to you-know-where, and most of TJ’s produce is in packages.

That worried me.  But not for long. 

Cuz one of the coolest (in my opinion) things about Trader Joe’s is that they really seem to care about freshness.  You know how in MOST STORES they put the soonest to expire stuff in the front, and stack the fresher stuff behind it?  It makes perfect business sense – sell the stuff that is going to go off first, then sell the newer things.  But to me, a customer, it makes the least sense – I end up buying an item that has less “shelf life” when I get it home than if I dug to the back of the stack at the store and grabbed one from there.  Know what I mean?

This photo is unrelated to Snow Peas.  It was taken in January in the Raleigh, NC Trader Joe's.  This is me talking
to the QUESTION GUY, who walked around with that sign so he was easily found to ask any questions to!
I SHOULD have asked him if he knew about the whole expiration date thing with bagged produce and dairy...  

But Trader Joe’s doesn’t pull that stunt!  Trader Joe’s (at least most of the locations I have been to) puts the FRESHEST stuff in the FRONT for you to grab and the stuff that is set to expire SOONER goes in the back.  Isn’t that the most awesome thing???  I have noticed it at lots of the TJ’s we have gone into.  Tonight I was explaining the concept to David, who had not noticed it before (he doesn’t pay as much attention to expiration dates as I do, hence his ability to drink milk after the expiration date I guess…).  I showed him the Half and Half we were buying, and sure enough, the one I picked up in the FRONT had an expiration date of October 15^th, and the one behind it was October 14^th!  Isn’t that cool?  In most stores it would be the exact opposite – push the older stuff onto customers.  I don’t know if Trader Joe’s has a policy about this, if they do it on purpose, if they care so much about freshness that they sacrifice a bit of profit, or if the people who stock the shelves just don’t pay attention and shove the new stuff in the front because it is easier, but WHATEVER THE REASON, I love it.  (It’s the little things…)

Which leads me to:  Snow Peas! 

Trader Joe's Snow Peas - all washed for you!

Snow Pea signage from Washington DC
(I will explain about their signage in a later post)

Pre-blog I would have bought these at a grocery store where I could touch them and choose which ones I wanted.  But now that I shop so much at TJ’s and I know I can TRUST them, I have no problem whatsoever grabbing a sealed bag of these puppies! 

Here is what I thought of them:

Color – perfect

Taste – great

Value – good

Cooking instructions – DECEIVING

I cannot single out Trader Joe’s for this, because all brands of bagged “convenience” snow peas seem like they do this now.  Look what the package says, right on the front:

It SHOULD say, "Microwave in this bag if you enjoy pulling pea strings out of your mouth during dinner"

But IF I followed that direction and just nuked and ate these things, LOOK HOW MUCH PEA STRING I WOULD BE EATING!

That pile you see closest to you is the pile of yucky bits.  If we just zapped them in the
microwave IMAGINE eating all the pea string.  Ewwww.

Gross!

You need to rip those stringy bit OUT OF THERE before you eat these things, man.  They are not meant to be eaten.  Snow peas are delicious but not if you have to reach into your mouth after every bite and pull out thick bits of pea string.  Not tasty and definitely unattractive.

See how delicious snow peas can be when you take time to prepare them properly?
We served them with pasta, mushrooms, shrimp, garlic, and parmesan.  

I recommend taking the strings out, then eating some snow peas raw as you are prepping your other ingredients for dinner.  Then cook these up and ENJOY (sans strings, of course)!

Price – $2.29

Rating – 4 (would be higher if the package didn’t tell you to cook them without removing the pea strings)

Day 260 - Brussels Sprouts Roasted

We are Brussels sprouts fans.  We normally buy them “raw” (like, what I would call “regular Brussels sprouts” – individual little cabbage-head like sprouts that you have to clean and cook).  But since I need to try a new Trader Joe’s product every single day of 2015 for this blog, and since I am only day 260 and there are 365 days in a year, sometimes we have to buy things we wouldn’t “normally buy” – like these pre-roasted Brussels sprouts!  (If you would like to read my glowing review of TJ’s Brussels sprouts (raw) from day 68, check here:  http://traderjoes365.blogspot.com/2015/03/day-68-brussels-sprouts.html )

But back to these pre-roasted ones.  My first thought after I read the package was, “4 servings!  Haha – clearly you do not know how much I love veggies!  This is 1 serving for our household, 2 at the max!”.  More on that later in the review, but suffice it to say, I was wrong on that estimation.

These come in a little pack in the fresh veggie produce section

I cooked these for 3 minutes in the microwave as the package instructed (with one resting minute after cooking). PEEE-EWWW did they stink!  It really smelled gross in our kitchen!  When I roast Brussels sprouts in the oven they do not stink up the house, so I am not sure what was up with that. 

They are good.  They for sure needed salt and pepper to season them but they tasted good.  David agreed with me.  He pointed out that the texture was also good (though not quite as good as when I roast them at home).  These TJ’s pre-roasted ones are not mushy.  He liked the flavor, too.  He thinks they are “pretty close” to what you get if you roast them yourselves but a little less “crisp” and pointed out that each of the flavors is a bit less of its own note, they kind of all go together a bit more but not in an unpleasant way.

Here they are in action!  Chicken (bought at BJ's, not Costco), brown basmati rice  (to be reviewed soon), and pre-roasted Brussels Sprouts

I feared these would be mushy like pre-cooked veggies in a can.  I guess I am a fresh vegetable snob, I love a green veggie with every meal, and I was nervous about these.  But they were a pleasant surprise. 

Pricing wise – the larger package (I am not sure how big it is, sorry) of raw Brussels sprouts at Trader Joe’s is bigger and cheaper – only $2.49.  However, it does require you to cook them.  So if you value convenience more than price, grab a pack of these pre-roasted ones.

Serving wise – the pack was vacuum sealed so after cooked and opened it was more than I originally thought.  It is 3 – 4 servings.

If you want a quick veggie this is a good option.  It would be nice to have on hand for nights when you don’t have another fresh vegetable around.

Here is an article that TJ’s wrote about this product - http://m.traderjoes.com/fearless-flyer/article/2247

  

Price – $3.29

Rating – 4.25

Day 181 - Cruciferous Crunch Collection

When I first saw this bag of veggies at Trader Joe’s, I thought, “Hmm, I am surprised they did not go the cutesy route and spell that name with letter “K”s,”.  Then I thought about it again…  3 words.  Ohhh no – best to stick with the correct spelling for the alliteration in this one…  

  

This is quite a CRUNCHY COLLECTION man.

Anyway, this mix has kale, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, green cabbage, and red cabbage.  The bag lists these as possible cooking methods:  “This blend is delicious steamed, sautéed, roasted, creamed with some cheesy sauce, raw, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera,”.  I chose the sautéed route and cooked them with olive oil in our wok.

I was tempted to add some lemon juice, garlic, or soy sauce, but I decided that since this was our first time trying this mix, I should cook it “au naturel” so we would see exactly what it tastes like.

I liked it.  It was, as the name suggests, crunchy.  The Brussels sprouts were cut very thin to allow them to cook in the same amount of time as the other things in the blend.  I didn’t taste much broccoli.  The main taste (to me) was green cabbage.  It did taste “healthy” – in a good way. 

Here is what it looks like on a plate

I liked this better than David did.  We served it with steak (to be reviewed soon) and a baked potato (also to be reviewed) but I noticed that at the end of our (admittedly rushed) dinner the thing left on his plate was Cruciferous Crunch Collection.  He normally eats every bite of everything on his plate, so that is not a good sign.  Oh my, I just asked him what number HE would give that veggie mix and he said, “A 2.  In fact, a 1.5.  I didn’t eat it…”.  OH my!  He normally likes eveeeeerything.

Ok, so if I get this one again it’ll have to be for a meal that he is not sharing. 

P.S. – I just used the power of Google to see if any other folks were having this stuff for dinner.  It turns out that eating it raw as a salad is something loads of people dig…  Ok.  Now I think I will try it THAT way next time and see how it goes.  I shall post a comment on this entry when I do. 

Speaking of comments – post yours here and let me know what you think of this stuff.

Price - $2.29

Rating (my rating, you saw David’s dismal one above…) - 3

Day 142 - Teeny Tiny Potatoes

These Teeny Tiny Potatoes, served at our Trader Joe’s dinner party a while back, lived up to their name.  They were indeed teeny and yes, they were tiny.  Maybe, since potato starts with a letter “p”, they should do the alliteration with “p”s instead of “t”s and call them “Petite Puny Potatoes”.  But I guess “puny” has a sort of negative connotation, and these were not really negative.

They are pretty cheap for such delicate little items

They are adorable little potatoes – so delicate and sweet.  Not really Barbie sized, but maybe Cabbage Patch sized potatoes. 

They are SMALL I tell you, teeny!

 As far as taste goes, they were fine.  Nothing “wooooow” like extra special potato-ey, but I mean, they did taste like potatoes. 

Bowl of teeny tiny dinner party potatoes

If I were to rate them on my own, I would give them a 4.  But since they were part of the infamous Trader Joe’s dinner party, I must take into account the opinions of the guests and then average our ratings together.  Let me peek at the guest comments now:

-          “Tasty, fun, nice texture”

-          “ksfkdl;akdlfj” (this guest had bad handwriting and I cannot read their comment)

-          “Fun, tasty”

-          “Okay for what they are.  But who needs potatoes to be that small?”

-          “Kind of ordinary, good crisp bite of skin, tender potato”

Price - $2.29

Rating (average of 6 raters) – 3.75

Day 116 - Baby Zucchini

We have eaten this vegetable from Trader Joe’s several times, so I was surprised when I looked at the blog and realized I had not yet reviewed it!  But now that I made it again and served it at our recent Trader Joe’s dinner party, I am glad I hadn’t already reviewed it.  If I had, I am sure it would have gotten a lower rating than it will now.  Let me explain.  J

This zucchini is very small.  In fact, I think they need to change the name and re-market it.  How’s this:  TEENY WEENIE ZUCCHINI.  Isn’t that fabulous??  Better than, “Baby Zucchini”, right??  Teeny Weenie Zucchini is catchy!  Trader Joe’s corporate, if you are reading this, you can send me a check for “naming assistance” at any time. 

This comes in a little package in the fresh produce section

The other times we cooked this, I steamed it.  And the result was PRETTY, but MUSHY, teeny weenie whole zucchinis.  For some reason we decided this was the green vegetable to serve at our recent dinner party, but then we both said, “Wait, isn’t it sort of yucky and mushy??”.  So we decided (thanks to David’s suggestion) to cut each one in half length-wise and SAUTE them.  I used a mix of olive oil, lemon juice, and pumpkin seed oil in the pan (and added freshly ground salt and freshly ground pepper).  The end result was much tastier teeny weenie zucchini than the mushy steaming technique.  These are inexpensive to purchase and pretty on your plate, too.  One cooking suggestion on the package is GRILLING, and I think that would make them tasty, also.  So I guess what I am saying is, don’t steam these suckers.

They are cute lil things

If I rated these on my own, I would give them a 4.0.  Now let me look at the reviews our guests wrote and add their comments here:

-          “Very delicate and tasteful”

-          “Very tasty but slightly mushy.  Goes very well with the filet mignon roast, but I love zucchini.”

-          “Very good size.  Just the way you’d want baby courgettes to be.”

-          “Nice presentation, but more skin and less flesh than normal sized zucchini.”

-          “Simple.  Delish.”

Note – we bought way too many for the dinner party, and last night I cooked more of them by chopping them up into very small chunks and sautéing them with thinly sliced Portobello mushrooms and shrimp.  We put that over pasta and it was really good!  So that is another cooking option for these!

Price - $2.49

Rating (6 ratings averaged together) – 4.5

Day 75 - Persian Cucumbers

I like a good cucumber in the summer time – slice it up, add some sliced onion, soak it in vinegar and water…  Tasty!   Or how about this – slice up a cucumber and toss it in a big green salad – delicious!  I had seen these smaller Persian cucumbers before but had never bought them.  Then recently I was visiting a friend in St. Joseph, MO and her husband brought some home from a local (non Trader Joe’s) grocery store.  He served them like a snack – a healthy appetizer as it were.  Just rinse and EAT.  No need for slicing.  No need for pickling.  No need for dipping or topping with something – just eat! 

Tasty, compact little crunch snacks!

The next time we were at Trader Joe’s I picked some up.  They come in a pack of 6 for $2.49, which equals 42 cents each.  So for less than you would plop down on a Snickers bar, you get a crunchy, tasty, HEALTHY snack!  We liked them so much we threw a few in a Ziploc bag in our carry-on for eating during a recent long flight!  A cool thing about them is that, unlike salty snacks, they don’t make you THIRSTY.  In fact they are quite juicy so help quench your thirst a bit!  Also, unlike snacking on carrot sticks, they are not boring!

Cheaper than a Snickers bar...  Easy to transport, too!  

I will keep some of these in our fridge for munching on. 

Price - $2.49

Rating – 4

Day 68 - Brussels Sprouts

Here’s the deal – I am picky about my fresh vegetables.  Vegetables are basically my favorite food group (maybe tied with cheese…) so I want GOOD vegetables!  I am the type of shopper who touches, examines, and even at times SMELLS the produce.  And yet….  I like Trader Joe’s brussels sprouts, even though they are sold in a sealed BAG so are untouchable, squeezable, or SMELL-ABLE! 

BRUSSELS SPROUTS ARE DELICIOUS!

In other stores I would carefully look through the bin of loose brussels sprouts to choose the ones I want.  At Trader Joe’s, you can peek through the clear parts of the bag and check the “sell by” date, but that is as far as you can go. 

And in my experience that is JUST FIIIINE.  I have never gotten a bad bag of brussels sprouts at TJs (and trust me, I have eaten my share of their sprouts).  I buy and cook them year-round and they are always fresh and tasty.  In fact I made some for dinner just this evening.  The package says it is five servings, but in our experience one bag equals four servings (then again, we like us some brussels  sprouts!).

Price – $2.49

Rating – 5

Day 55 - Baby Broccoli

When we have “regular” (as opposed to “baby”) broccoli, I normally cook it in a steamer.  However, when we have BABY BROCCOLI I sauté it.  And THAT, my friends, may be the reason baby broccoli is tastier than “adult broccoli”!! 

Find it in the fresh vegetable section

This vegetable is a staple in our house (I crave green veggies – I like to have at least one with every dinner).  The 8 oz package is just enough for two people (well, it is enough for two people to each have a serving, then for one person (ME!) to have seconds!). 

Here is how I normally cook it – wash, cut the end tips off, heat up some EVOO and sriracha in a pan, put baby broccoli in, cover, after a minute or two add some fresh lemon, salt, and pepper, cover and cook a few minutes more.  You have to turn them a couple of times while cooking and oh man – are they good!  The sriracha mixed with lemon makes an amazing burnt-like sauce.  Note:  if not everyone in your house likes HOT stuff, do it without sriracha.  Last night I made them without it, I just used EVOO, pumpkin seed oil, and lemon juice.  Still tasty!

Preparing to cook

On a dinner plate!

Baby broccoli is the more tasty child of adult broccoli. 

Price - $2.79

Rating – 4.5

Day 46 - Cauliflower

Cauliflower has never been on the top of my “favorite vegetables” list.  I just prefer my veggies to be GREEN, thank you very much!  But ever since we discovered ROASTED CAULIFLOWER, I have had to re-prioritize my vegetable preferences and cauliflower is sneaking its way up near the top!!

My first experiment with roasted cauliflower was from a recipe that claimed the little florets would “taste like popcorn and even kids would love it!”.  It was true, I loved it (though technically not a kid).  The second recipe was one that had loads of zingy flavors in a Greek yogurt sauce covering the head of cauliflower – oh man it was good!  Then last night I did a much simpler, and equally (perhaps more?) delicious version of a whole roasted cauliflower (ingredients were olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and capers (also fresh parsley, which we didn’t have so I skipped, cuz that’s how I roll).

Leftovers!  Day 2 of roasted cauliflower - it was just as tasty the 2nd day

 The point is:  give cauliflower a try.  Even if you have previously found it to be bland, dull, and yucky.  Try to roast it!  Google – there are loads of roasted cauliflower recipes.  In fact, if you have one you love please put a link in the comments section here so I can try it. 

Note:  I was not sure if the price for a head of cauliflower at Trader Joe’s, $2.49, was good or not.  So I drove RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET, a one minute drive, to Safeway to compare.  Guess what?  The Safeway price was $3.99!!!!  $1.50 more than Trader Joe’s! 

Oh Safeway...  Don't say, "Every Day!" with an exclamation point, unless you mean,
"Charging too much for cauliflower EVERY DAY!"

 Pick up a cauliflower when you are at Trader Joe’s and ENJOY IT.  I sure have!

Price – $2.49

Rating – 4.25