This is an appetizer where you can't eat just one.  It's one of my favorite holiday appetizers using dates and manchego cheese.  It's easy and a fabulous combination of sweet and savory. Fontina cheese would be a good substitute if you can't find manchego. 

Manchego Cheese is from the La Mancha region of Spain. I was first introduced to it on a trip there decades ago. It's made from the Manchega breed of Sheep.  It's a semi-soft cheese with a mild, nutty, fruity, sweet, and tangy flavor. For me, that just translates into delicious.  Medjool dates are soft dates also known to have health benefits for your heart, brain and gut. You usually find them in the produce section of your grocery store, especially this time of year. I also like to purchase them locally at specialty stores such as Sassool in Cary or Neomonde in Raleigh.  Fontina Cheese is an alpine-style cheese more readily available in most markets. 

Dates Stuffed with Manchego and Topped with Pistachios and Honey

Ingredients:

1 pound of Medjool Dates (approximately 30 dates)
6 ounces of Manchego cheese, cut into  1" X  1/2" strips
3-4 ounces of pistachios, salted and roasted
Drizzle of honey

Instructions:

Toast pistachios for 10-15 minutes in the oven at 325 degrees. Pull them out when they smell "toasty."

Use a paring knife, and make a slit down the center of one date.

Tuck a cheese strip inside the date, and repeat the same process for all 30 dates. Increase the to 350 degrees.

Place in a baking dish and warm in a 350-degree oven.

Remove from oven after cheese melts. Approximately 10 minutes.

Let it cool for 5 minutes, then drizzle it with honey and pistachios.

Dates are higher in calories so this is certainly not a low-calorie appetizer, but so worth it when you indulge. 

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You can also create a cheese board with grapes, olives, extra pistachios, and crackers. And don't worry about a fancy cracker---Ritz-Crackers work fine and pair well with this cheese.  Multigrain crackers are also a good choice. 

Manchego also pairs with certain jams, which can be another appetizer using this cheese. Red Pepper,  Hot Pepper jelly, or gourmet fig jam on a cracker topped with a piece of fontina cheese is delicious. 

Updated November 7, 2023

If you are looking for an easy, southern holiday side, then I have the perfect recipe for you. It's not different from a casserole, but it is without marshmallows, which causes it to have the souffle name.  It will work great for any time of the year, but it screams the holidays because sweet potatoes are in season in North Carolina. This dish pairs well with the traditional holiday turkey or ham.  However, it is also divine with pork tenderloin. 

I'm going to be cooking with friends this holiday weekend. My friends are Ross, Rachel, Phoebe, Monica, Chandler, and Joey. You may know them, too. They came into my home every week for years, and now I see them in syndication when I flip through channels occasionally. I adored them. We were all the same age, and even though I didn't live in NYC above a coffee shop, I somehow managed to relate to their wacky lives weekly.   I will confess that when I drive through downtown Raleigh now and see all these new condominiums with shops and restaurants below them, I get a little nostalgic about my past TV life with my "friends" and say to Will, "I think it would be so neat to have a bar or coffee shop below your residence."  Don't you?


In 1995, my Mom, who had probably never watched an episode of Friends, found a cookbook called "Cooking with Friends" and gave it to me for Christmas. The cookbook is 20 years old and a little worn from use. The photos in the book are from the show's early days, with a few pictures during the period when Rachel unveiled her iconic haircut.

I use a lot of recipes out of this book. They have cute and catchy names for food, such as mashed potatoes for the broken-hearted or Chandler's "Could This Be Any More Fattening? Cheesecake. You all remember how Chandler talked, right? Brings back some memories! What about "How You Doin'?"  I admit I go around the house and use a little "Joey" to speak to my children when they wake up.

According to the cookbook, Joey might not be much of a cook, but he does know how to make a burger. That is true, my friends! I've used "his" burger recipe now for years. It's the most delicious and straightforward burger recipe, and I'm sharing it with you, my friends, because it will be perfect for any weekend cookout.



Joey's Best Grilled Burgers from The TV Show "Friends"

2 pounds of ground beef
1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
(I have added some Italian seasoning to the recipe because, after all, Joey is Italian).
6 buns, split

Gently mix the meat with the ingredients, and form into six patties (about an inch thick)
Grill for about 8 minutes for medium-rare, turning them once. For medium, grill for about 10 minutes.

























 

Updated August 2023

Before summer is over, I will give you a list of five of my favorite recipes that are perfect for those summer days that are still left in North Carolina when it's still a little hot and humid. We're transitioning into football season, but it's still hot. I have already featured these recipes on the blog at some point in my twelve years of owning this website.  

A friend messaged me this week and said she made my spaghetti pie recipe, and it was the dish I took to her fourteen years ago when her son was born. Reading that one message took me down my kitchen rabbit hole of finding all the recipes in my archives. 

As my kids have aged, meals are a constant struggle in my home due to our schedules. There are days that I count the days until no one depends on me to make nightly dinners. I will regret even making those remarks when those days are gone, but my afternoons were not busy when I started this blog in 2011. The kids played, watched TV, and I prepped dinner. My busy times were from 7 am to 4 pm, whereas the hours between 3 pm and 9 pm are when I'm at my absolute busiest at this stage of life. 

But throughout my 11 years of writing, my goal has always been the same: I like to prepare easy meals with few ingredients. The following collection of recipes is easy and can be used in various ways. 

Italian pasta salad with no mayo