Roasted Veggie Dip

I love this dip/sauce/spread! It goes with just about anything and you can make it as spicy or mild as you want.

4-6 whole tomatoes

2 jalapeños

1 large onion quartered

2 tbsp smoked Tabasco

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp honey

3 garlic cloves

olive oil

juice of 1/2 lime

salt

Place the whole tomatoes,  jalapeños, and onion on a baking tray and broil on high for about 20 minutes or until blackened, flip over and broil and additional 10 minutes or so. remove from tray and place in food processor with all the other ingredients and pulse until it's pureed. If its too thick add a little more olive oil and lemon juice. Taste for salt since the tomatoes and honey are sweet.

Stuffed Grape Leaves

• I love stuffed grape leaves and no one makes them better than my mother-in-law. Here is her recipe, they are easy to make and full of flavor.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  1 jar of grape leaves
• 2 cups arborio/round rice
• juice of 7 lemons
• 5 crushed garlic cloves
• 1 chopped tomato
• 2 stalks of celery finely chopped
• 1 chopped onion
• 2 stalks of celery cut in 3-5 inch pieces (leaves included)
• ⅓ cup chopped green onion
• salt and pepper
• 1½ tbsp chicken powder
• 1½ tbsp curry
• ¼ cup olive oil
  2 tomatoes quartered

• mix the rice, onion, celery, garlic, tomato, green onion, olive oil, and spices in a large bowl. add about half of the lemon juice and mix.
• Set aside a large pot. coat the bottom with olive oil and the put the big pieces of celery in the bottom and lay them flat, place 2 grape leaves on top of them to cover them.
• Take out the grape leaves and rinse them with water. One by one lay out each leaf, cut off the stem and stuff it with about 1 tbsp of the rice mixture. To roll them, fold in the sides and the roll up
• Place the grape leaves tightly together in rows. Once the bottom is filled pile them on top of each other. Add in the quartered tomatoes and spread them over the grape leaves
• Once finished, boil water and fill the pot just enough to cover the grape leaves and add the remaining lemon juice and salt. Cook on high until it reaches a boil. Then lower the heat and cook until most of the water is gone, about 40 minutes.
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Hummus with Mushrooms

Ingredients:

1 pack of mushrooms (washed and dried)

3 tbsp of olive oil

1 chopped shallot

1/4 cup of marsala or burgandy cooking wine 

salt 

scallions for garnish

1 container of  hummus

Heat the olive oil in a nonstick pan ( I use a high one for less mess). Add the chopped shallot and the mushrooms. Let it all brown and caramelize on med-high heat.  Stir occasionally to brown all sides. This should take about 15 minutes. Once it all gets dark in color and starts sticking to the pan, add the cooking wine to deglaze the pan. Let it simmer for about 10 minutes on med low until the juices thicken a little and add the salt. Let it cool and spoon it on top of a hummus plate. Garnish with scallions.