Simple Tapas: Spicy Baked Chickpeas

I love tapas for two reasons. One reason I love them is that they remind me of my first date with Chris. He took me to a great tapas restaurant. That was my last first date :) The other reason, which Chris didn’t know on our first date is that I love to taste different things. So I love ordering tapas. Granted there is a lot of work that usually goes into these tasty little dishes even if you’re just getting a taste. I found this quick & easy tapas dish for spicy baked chickpeas that from Claire Robinson’s 5 Ingredient Fix show (sigh I miss that show - so if you’re listening Food Network Gods please bring it back!). It’s a super easy snack to make & have on hand when guests come over for the holidays. Plus, this dish is primarily chickpeas so you can secretly provide some nutrition for your guests too!

Easy Sweet Potato Chips

This post will be short & sweet just like these sweet potato chips. I’ve been trying to incorporate ways for my husband, Chris to actually enjoy eating sweet potatoes (like I did here). These sweet potato chips proved to be a success! Plus, they’re baked, not fried, so you can feel good about eat them. Even better they’re made with only 4 ingredients! I served them with a simple sriracha ketchup but that’s totally optional.

Football Party Foods

Clockwise from the top left corner: Buffalo Popcorn; Wasabi Deviled Eggs; Garlic Parmesan Chicken Wings; Cowboy Caviar.

The 'big game' is this weekend! What kind of snacks are you going to munch on? Here are some of my faves from the past that I might bring back even though I'm not partial to either team. (Grab the links in the caption!)

Wasabi Deviled Eggs

We all have our strengths, evidently making hard boiled eggs is not one of mine. Lucky for me it is one of Chris's. I was pretty excited to try my hand at making making my own after reading this article about the science of the perfect hard-boiled egg. Chris has forever boiled the eggs in our house. I actually told him I wanted to try it all by myself - you know like a big girl. Well this big girl failed with big flying colors.  My whites were mushy & my yolks… let's just say it would be a generous culinary statement to call them soft-boiled. How could I have failed so miserably? I claimed defeat & whined about it a bit. Chris grabbed more eggs (the organic ones I insisted on) at the store & showed me how it was done. In about 20 minutes we had perfectly hard-boiled eggs that I was able to make into my well anticipated (by me only) wasabi deviled eggs for our mini Memorial Day BBQ at our apartment this weekend.

How do you hard boil your eggs? Any tricks?

Tips From a Culinary Agent: Alice

Every single person in my life inspires me in some way. Alice sits high on the list of my inspirational friends.  She knows a thing or two (million) about hospitality & yummy eats.  A couple weeks back when a bunch of us girls gathered at her apt for dinner I couldn't help but snap photos of literally every little  detail that Alice had put into the evening.  Definitely start your dinner party like Alice did (in the photo above) with briny olives, nutty cheeses, fruity olive oils & fresh bread.

Get more tips a la Alice for serving up some snacks for a tasty kickoff to a dinner party after the jump!