Saturday, January 1, 2011

Happy New Year: Chili, Tomato-Mozzarella Mini-Skewers, and Champagne!

Welcome to 2011!  Did you know today is 1-1-11?  How cool!

How did you ring in the new year?  We spent time with friends.  We started with a quick dinner with Kati, Lucas, and Eric.  Katie made  some delish chili. 

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I brought these yummy tomato-mozzarella mini-skewers. 

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More on these in a minute.

We all had a quick toast together before hitting the village.  Baxter Village, that is.

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We had a blast and only spent $11!  How great is that?

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Now, on to those mini-skewers:

I first got the ideas for these from Liv Life, another blog I read.  I decided that I wanted to do a twist on her original.  The only problem was… I couldn’t find fresh basil at any of the grocery stores yesterday.  What’s up with that?  I guess I really do need to have my own herb garden.  If I’d had time, I would have headed to Charlotte and hit up the Fresh Market, but I just didn’t have time yesterday.  In hindsight, maybe I should have tried Earth Fare.  So, I had no choice… I had to use dried.  :(  Fresh would have been SO much better.

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I halved grape tomatoes and used Perlini Mozzarella.  I just used regular toothpicks to make the mini-skewers.  I slid on 1/2 of the tomato, then a mozzarella “pearl”, and then the other half of the tomato.  When all the skewers were make, I drizzled olive oil and balasmic vinegar over all the skewers, and sprinkled them with salt, pepper, and dried basil. 

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They actually ended up being really tasty… but I will definitely use fresh basil next time (assuming I can find it!)

Finally, Ryan and I have decided to join my friend Diana and other bloggers for “Eat-In Month.” 

We’re going to try and hang in there for the entire month.  Eat in month means that we will prepare all our meals at home (or ourselves) for January.  That includes breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  This will help us eat healthier and save money.  We will have ONE pass.  So we’ll have to be selective about when we decide to use that.

If you’d like to learn more about Eat-In Month, click here to visit Diana’s blog, “The Chic Life,” and read all about it.

3 comments:

  1. Yum! I make skewers similar to this too, and they're always a hit... Good ol' fresh mozzarella, right?! :) Anyway, happy, happy new year to you!!!

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  2. I love your skewer version! I like how you used the two pieces of tomato and then had them "lying down". Getting our to stand up was a bit of an issue if you ever need to shift the plate. We have a big Super Bowl Party planned, and I think I will use your version for that! I'm so happy that you like them... Nicely done!!! =)

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  3. YAY! So glad you're both joining Eat in Month! Thanks girlie!! :)

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