Antipasto Dip or Antipasto Orzo, your call...

Don't fret when you look at this photo. Yes, it may be a longer list of ingredients than I would usually cook with, but I swear that this combination is an Italian explosion in your mouth - I wouldn't lie to you. I first had this dip at a holiday party several years ago and then it reappeared last December at the same holiday party. The Antipasta Dip may have a lot of ingredients but the preparation turned out to be super easy - you just about throw everything into the cuisinart and blend.

You will need:
1 140z can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
2 7oz cans sliced mushrooms, drained and chopped
1 7oz jar roasted peppers, drained and chopped
1 cup pimiento-stuffed olives, drained and chopped
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion or shallot (I used shallots)
1 clove garlic, minced (I used more garlic, surprise surprise)
1/2 cup olive oil
2/3 cup white vinegar
2 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper


Artichoke hearts in the cuisinart, I pulsed until finely chopped.

Mushrooms in the cuisinart, pulse until finely chopped. I wouldn't be using the mushrooms unless they were very finely chopped.

Roasted red peppers, chopped up in the cuisinart.

As I chop each ingredient I add it to a mixing bowl.

Pimiento-stuffed olives, chopped and into the mixing bowl.

Green bell pepper.

Celery.

Mix these first six ingredients in a mixing bowl.

I used the cuisinart to chop the shallots and then added them to a saucepan with the olive oil.

Add the minced garlic to the saucepan with the olive oil and the shallots. Saute until tender, about three minutes.

Now add the white wine vinegar to the saucepan.

Add the Italian seasoning to the saucepan.

Add the salt to the saucepan.

Add the sugar to the saucepan.

Add the pepper to the saucepan; bring to a boil, then remove from heat.

Add the hot saucepan mixture to the raw chopped veggies and mix well. Cover and set aside.


I stopped at this point in the recipe and served the antipasto dip alongside crusty french bread. It is really good with fresh flavors (you can't tell the mushrooms are there), great appetizer.

You could even spoon this on sliced baguettes and serve as prepared bruchetta. Oh, what about shaving some parmesan on top and putting them under the broiler for a minute or two? That sounds like an easy way to "fancy" up this dip.

OR you could cook a package of orzo pasta and mix with the vegetables. Chill this for a day or overnight and you have a very tasty chilled pasta dish. This recipe yields five cups, so you could serve this as a dip and then combine the leftovers with some pasta for another meal.

Awards to Pass Along

Wow, I feel really luck to have been given these blog awards. Thanks to everyone who reads my blog, the comments you leave me and the e-mails I receive are so encouraging. Special thanks to Jenna and Kelley for mentioning me on their web pages, and when you get a chance please visit their blogs- both continue to post really interesting stories and recipes.

The fun part is passing these awards along to other fabulous blogs I love to read. Check these out if you've never visited them before.

• Baking Bites
• Bitchincamero
• In Good Taste
• Annie's Eats
• Hostess with the Mostess
• Evil Chef Mom
• Everybody Likes Sandwiches
• Use Real Butter

But be sure to return back to Home With Mandy, I have some great recipes lined up to post this week.

Now, here are some funny pictures taken by Annie Ray photography. Jim and I attended two events earlier this month and Annie set up a photo booth at each one. You can tell by what we are wearing that coincidentally it was two events on the same NIGHT and Annie was at both.

Jim is a rock star!

This last one was at a bar opening downtown, you can tell it's later in the night than the first three photos. By the way, if you live in Austin... La Condesa is a waste of your time. The food isn't that great and the service is horrible. The atmosphere however is crazy awesome, kudos to Michael Hsu and Joel Mozer­sky for the design. Joel, I will forever adore you for the brave and entertaining karaoke you used to perform at Club Deville 5-6 years ago. Above this restaurant is a new bar/lounge called Malverde which I thought was really cool. It's small, but in a cozy way with great views of downtown all lit up at night.

Man Food: Spicy Garlic Chicken Wings

This is great happy hour food! I call it "Man Food" only because Jim loves this stuff and I don't care for this kind of snack very much - although I'm NOT judging the ladies out there who eat this on occasion or scarf it down at Buffalo Wild Wings. You know who you are...and to each her own.

The weather. Oh gosh is it gorgeous in Austin, TX. We've seen 80 degrees this week, how awesome is that? The temperature is rising so I'm also turning up the heat in the kitchen with these Spicy Garlic Chicken Wings that your MAN or woMAN will really enjoy!

The recipe comes from the back of the Franks Red Hot Sauce bottle, and I found it to be simple and surprisingly CHEAP. I couldn't believe these little chicken drummets were so inexpensive at the grocery store.

I rinsed the chicken and then patted down with a paper towel.

You could use any seasoning you like, I stuck with a simple salt, pepper and onion powder combo.

Give the chicken a moderate sprinkle of each.

I'm a tad grossed out here, I'm not a fan of chicken on the bone and these little guys... uggg. BUT, I'm not making these for me... but for a crowd of men who like this sort of barbaric food.

Next, put a little canola oil in a deep skillet (about an inch to an inch and a half) and heat to medium-high.

Meanwhile, in another sauce pan I dump a bottle of Franks Red Hot Xtra Hot Sauce.

Then throw in a stick of butter and heat over medium heat to melt.

Don't forget the minced garlic.

And add as many shakes of tobasco as you dare. That's why I call them "Spicy Garlic Chicken Wings."

Next, I tossed each chicken piece in some plain flour. I took this picture intentionally capturing the henna tattoo on my arm. Pretty cool huh? Makes me feel hard. (Tattoo wears off in a week)

Roll each one around to get a good coat of flour.

Then (carefully) add each one to the hot oil. You can't tell by this pictures, but I'm using tongs...not my bare hands.

It took me about four batches to cook the entire bag I purchased.

Once they were cooked through, about 10-15 minutes they should be golden and crunchy. I moved them to a paper towel to drain just a bit.

The fun part is dunking them in the spicy-garlic sauce we've created. I just roll them around a bit to cover evenly.

Pictures are awful, sorry I was in a hurry...but after they are "dressed" in sauce I put these in my crock pot so they stay warm.

What goes best with chicken wings? Ranch! I used one packet of Hidden Valley Ranch Salad Dressing mix and combined with 1/2 cup milk.

Then in a bowl I added 1/2 cup sour cream and 1 cup of mayo.

Combined the two, and voila - ranch! A perfect accompaniment for Spicy Garlic Wings. Like blue cheese better? Simply crumble some blue cheese into your ranch and you have blue cheese dressing. Serve with carrots and celery sticks! Man Food!

Giving Up Red Meat for Lent? Try This Tuna Steak.

Yes, Home With Mandy takes requests! I received a sweet e-mail from Benita who has given up red meat for lent and request I post a vegetarian or fish dish. Well here you go Benita, I have this great fish marinade that worked exceptionally well on tuna steak.

Tuna is high in valued omega 3, it has a "steak" like texture and is cooked very similar to red meat. The key here, like many other steaks, is NOT to overcook it. In fact, most people (me included) like tuna steak served rare. That is red on the inside and seared on the outside. But eating healthy doesn't mean we have to give up flavor, so let me show you this (easily customizable) marinade recipe that I tried and REALLY loved.

There is the pink tuna steak at bottom left in a zip top baggie. I also used fresh ginger (that I keep frozen in a zip top bag in the freezer door), sesame oil, olive oil, d'Oni Happy Together, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper and fresh cilantro.

You probably have much of this in your fridge although the d'Oni sauce is a bit unusual. I bought a few of these sauces at my local grocery store after reading a review on hungry-girl.com which shared that d'Oni products are all-natural & preservative-free and healthy-lifestyle & weight management friendly. Happy Together is a blend of sweet mandarin oranges joined together with the perfect amount of chili and garlic. If I didn't have this sauce, I would have added something else with a kick like an asian chili-garlic hot sauce, or a teaspoon of garlic and a dash of soy sauce.

I didn't want it to be too spicy, but this little pinch of red pepper flakes will heat up the marinade just enough.

Adding the marinade to a zip top bag with the fish makes this an easy and clean way to marinade the meat.

Next, I chopped up fresh cilantro and tossed in.

This is two tablespoons of sesame oil (distinctive asian flavor in this oil) and one tablespoon of the Happy Together sauce.

I gave the marinade a good pinch of sea salt and a couple turns of the pepper grinder.

Sliced and diced about a tablespoon and a half of fresh ginger.

Mix everything together by squishing around your bag of marinade with the fish inside. I put this in the fridge and let it sit for an hour before cooking.

In comes the olive oil. Just a little in my non-stick pan, heated to medium-high. Then the tuna steak goes in and I cook just a few minutes on one side before flipping and pouring a couple tablespoons of the marinade on top of the browned side.

We like to eat the tuna on the rare side, so the total cook time for this entree was about eight minutes. Talk about a QUICK meal!

I served this with steamed asparagus for a super healthy week night dinner.

The marinade turned out great, and I was surprised at how mellow it actually was. I added several "spicy" ingredients like red pepper flakes and ginger, but maybe the fish needed longer to absorb those flavors. The orange and garlic flavors in the Happy Together sauce were the most profound, making this a lovely asian inspired tuna steak meal.

There are many ways to cook asparagus. The easiest in my opinion (and what I did here) was snap the bottoms off a handful of asparagus (they snap naturally above the bottom woody area of the stalk), then rinse under cold water. I lay them in a shallow dish, like corning ware and add just enough water to cover the bottom. Give it a lid and pop in the microwave for a couple minutes (2-3 minutes depending on your microwave.) The water gets hot and steams the asparagus perfectly so they are warmed through but still crunchy.

I'm giving up sleep for lent. Well actually I'm going to seriously commit to waking up early every morning to go to the gym, and it's not just a lent thing...I'm doing this for the long haul.

Oh, and I have to tell you about a really cute giveaway at Sweet Tea Diaries. This SWEET giveaway ends Monday (March 2nd) at 11:59 pm Pacific Time, so scoot over there quickly to enter.