Make Ahead: This dip can be made up to 2 days ahead, keep covered tightly with plastic wrap.

Ingredients

• 3 avocados
• ¼ cup yellow onion, minced
• 2 Tablespoons lime juice
• 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
• ¼ teaspoon cumin
• salt
• 1 ½ cup + 2 Tablespoons light sour cream
• ¼ cup enchilada sauce
• 2 cups re-fried beans, fat free
• 1 ½ cup salsa
• 1 cup 2% cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 3.8 oz can black olives, sliced
• 1 cup corn
• tortilla chips

Directions

1. You will need an 8 cup dish for the dip. Try to find a football shaped dish for a festive SuperBowl presentation.
2. In a small bowl mash together the avocado, onion, lime juice, garlic, cumin and a pinch or two of salt until there are very few lumps, set the guacamole aside.
3. In another small bowl mix together 1 ½ cups of sour cream and enchilada sauce, set aside
4. Begin layering the dip in the dish staring with 1 cup of refried beans on the bottom of the dish, and then spread salsa over the beans, then cheese, sour cream, black olives, corn, guacamole and finally top with the beans.
5. Place the remaining sour cream into the comer of a sandwich zip top bag, cut the very tip off of the corner, twist the top of the bag and pipe on a long horizontal line and 8 vertical lines to make the laces on the dip.

I’ll be serving this to my guests at this year’s Superbowl party, I’d love to hear feedback if you make it for yours!

Makes about 20-24 slices

Make Ahead: Up to 2 days ahead, follow steps 2, 3 and 5. Keep the potatoes and the sauce fridge, take of the fridge about 30 minutes before you want to cook them. Finish the recipe by following steps 4, 6-8.

Ingredients

• 3 Yukon gold potatoes (approx 2#) , about the size of a baseball
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• 2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 2 Tablespoon stone ground mustard
• ¼ cup honey
• ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
• ½ teaspoon granulated garlic
• 1/2 -3/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 3 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup parmesan, grated

Directions

1. Pre-heat your oven to 550 degrees.
2. Wash the potatoes and pierce several times with a fork. Place in the microwave for 8-10 minutes or until tender to the touch, set aside.
3. While the potatoes cool, in a small sauce pot over medium heat melt the butter, stir in the mustards and honey, season with a pinch or two of salt. Bring to a simmer, stir and remove from the heat.
4. Once potatoes are cool, slice into ¼ inch thick even slices and place on a parchment or sil-pat lined baking sheet. (you may need to use 2 pans to bake them all at one time))
5. In a small bowl mix the paprika, garlic, salt and brown sugar together.
6. Sprinkle evenly over the sliced potatoes.
7. Drizzle olive oil evenly over the potatoes and top with parmesan.
8. Bake on the top rack of your oven for 7-9 minutes, or until golden. Serve warm or at room temperature with golden honey mustard dip.

Makes 20-24

Ingredients

• ¼ cup shallots, finely minced
• 1 egg white
• 1 Tablespoon light sour cream
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil mayonnaise
• 1 Tablespoon parley, minced
• 1 ½ teaspoon thyme, minced
• 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
• ½ teaspoon lemon zest
• 3 Tablespoons parmesan cheese, finely shredded
• 2 teaspoon ketchup
• ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 ½ Tablespoons light cream cheese, room temperature
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 2/3 cup Dungeness crab meat, flaked (in a pinch use canned crab meat)
• ½ cup panko bread crumbs
• 24 medium button mushrooms, stems removed
• ¼-3/4 cup champagne or white wine
• 2 teaspoons olive oil

Directions

1. Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, mix together the shallot, egg white, mayonnaise, parsley, thyme, garlic, lemon zest, parmesan cheese, ketchup, Dijon, cream cheese, salt, pepper, panko and crab meat. With a spoon, fill each mushroom cap evenly with the mixture (about 2 teaspoons in each).
3. Pour equal amounts champagne and water into a medium to large baking dish, enough to cover the bottom of the pan. Place the stuffed mushrooms into the dish and drizzle the tops with olive oil.
4. Bake for 25- 30 minutes.

This slim version of the classic artichoke dip will be a hit at your holiday party.
To make things easier, you can make it ahead of time, wrap it with foil and then freeze it (unbaked) for up to 2 months. When ready to serve place in the oven, covered at 400 degrees for 45 minutes or until bubbling.

Ingredients

• ½ cup yellow onion, minced
• 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
• ¾ cup frozen spinach, thawed and drained
• 4 large basil leaves, minced
• 2 cups parmesan cheese
• 2 1/3 cup or 12 oz artichoke heats, roughly chopped (you can use frozen)
• 2 Tablespoons light sour cream
• 1/3 cup light cream cheese
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil mayonnaise
• ½ cup sun dried or fresh tomatoes, diced

Directions

1. Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl mix together onion, garlic, spinach, basil, parmesan cheese, artichokes, sour cream, cream cheese mayo and salt and pepper.
3. Spread mix into a 9″x9″ baking dish and bake for 10 minutes, take out of the oven and top with tomatoes of choice. Place back in the oven and finish baking for 10-15 minutes or until bubbling.

Makes 36 Mini-Quiches
This is great on a brunch menu or accompanying an appetizer tray. You will need 3, 12 cup mini muffin tins or you can work in batches if you only have one.
How to Make Ahead: Up to 1 day ahead, follow steps 2-4, keep the egg mixture covered and wrap the puff pastry lined muffin tins with plastic, keep everything in the fridge.

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 1 Tablespoon mascarpone cheese
• 2 Tablespoons sour cream (light)
• 3 Tablespoons parmesan cheese
• 2 Tablespoons milk
• ¼ cup Pesto (recipe below)
• 1/3 cup cooked ground sausage, minced
• 3 sheets puff pastry, thawed, but chilled

Directions

1. Pre-heat your oven to 400.
2. In a medium mixing bowl whisk together all of the ingredients except the puff pastry. Set-aside.
3. Coat your mini muffin tin with non-stick spray
4. Lay the sheets of puff pastry out on a lightly floured board. Cut 9, 2 ¾ inch circles with a knife or cookie cutter out of each sheet of pastry. Push the circles in to the tin to create the shell of the quiche.
5. Fill each pastry shell ¾ full with the egg mixture. Bake for 10-12 minutes, serve warm.

Click here for my homemade Pesto Recipe or click here for the Make Ahead Meals Homemade Pesto video webisode and follow along with me in your kitchen.

This recipe was featured on Jill’s Father’s Day segment on Fox Q13 Morning News which aired on Friday, June 18th, 2010. Click here to watch the video of Jill preparing this recipe and for the other Kabob recipes that went along with this one.

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup pineapple juice
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon lime juice
• 1 Tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 quarter size slices of ginger root
• pinch or 2 or cayenne pepper
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 24 shrimp 26-30 count, peeled and deveined
• ¾ teaspoon arrowroot (or cornstarch)
• 2-3 green onions, 1 inch pieces
• salt and pepper

Directions

1. Soak 12, 6 inch wooden skewers in water.
2. In a medium bowl whisk together all the ingredients thru the olive oil. Add the shrimp and keep in the fridge for 30-45 minutes.
3. Before you turn your grill on, spray your grill with High Heat Pam and then Pre-heat your grill to 350.
4. Remove the shrimp from the marinade and pour the marinade into a small sauté pan, whisk the arrowroot into the cold marinade. Once the arrowroot is mixed in, turn the heat onto medium and bring to a simmer and reduce for about 3 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, with one skewer, skew through one piece of green onion, then skew the thick top part of the shrimp and then skew the tail (see photo). Repeat with green onion, shrimp and then finish with a green onion. Repeat with remaining skewers.
6. Season shrimp with salt and pepper and place on the grill.
7. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side. They are done when they turn pink and opaque.
8. Plat, pour sauce over cooked shrimp and serve.

Click here for Jill’s Parmesan Toast Points recipe.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 3 slices rye bread, toasted
• 2 oz smoked salmon
• 2 Tablespoons crème fraiche
• 1 Tablespoon Chives, minced

Directions

1. Slice the crust off the bread, then slice the bread into 4 rectangles.
2. Top each rectangle of bread with a large quarter size of salmon, dollop ½ teaspoon crème fraiche on the salmon and sprinkle with chives.