Cucumber Cool

My niece Carrie and her husband Al are hosting a Fourth of July wing-ding at their house tomorrow. Carrie is blessedly calm, cool and collected when it comes to her role as hostess. I want to study her, learn her secrets and find a way to be as relaxed as she is when hordes of relatives come pouring over the threshold!

I spent today dicing, slicing, chopping, simmering and baking. Now the cooking is done! Al and Carrie will be grilling the hot dogs and hamburgers and Carrie left the rest of the menu up to her guests’ discretion. See what I mean? Cool as a cucumber she is! Speaking of cucumbers, I made a big pot of my Gazpacho this afternoon. I played with it a bit by adding some fire roasted tomatoes and a dash of chipotle powder.

I also made some Southwestern influenced appetizers. I used Wendy in Scotland’s recipe for Black Bean and Sweet Potato Burritos as the springboard. But instead of full sized burritos, I used wonton wrappers to create tiny two bite portions. I’ve used the same technique for mini-quiches. I took the square wonton wrappers and gently pushed them into the greased wells of a mini-muffin tin. Then I added a heaping teaspoonful of the burrito filling into the wrapper. Lastly, I put a little piece of sharp cheddar cheese on top of the filling. I popped them into the oven at 350-375 degrees Fahrenheit (175-190 Celsius) for about ten to fifteen minutes or until they look bubbly and golden.

I hope that all of you celebrating Independence Day tomorrow have a storm free, blue sky day. Most importantly, I hope you have a safe and happy holiday weekend!

Here's one batch cooling on the rack.