Chopped Salad with Bacon and Blue Cheese #BrunchWeek

This delicious chopped salad with homemade creamy herb dressing is the perfect start to a meal or addition to a brunch buffet.  You can serve the bacon and blue cheese separately so people can add them according to their tastes.

Today is the final day of Brunch Week, 2026 edition......

Roast Beef and Stilton Melt inspired by A Fatal Grace

Thinly sliced roast beef, horseradish and stilton blue cheese spread, and peppery arugula snuggled between slices of buttered French bread and grilled to perfection.

Chicken Buffalo Dip #FoodieHoliday

This dip has all the flavors of your favorite wings without the sticky fingers.  I served this up with scoopable corn chips but it would be delicious with celery sticks too.  This is perfect game day fare.

Today is Hot and Spicy Food Day and we have some recipes to help you beat the Winter chill.......

Pecan, Pear, and Blue Cheese Madeleines #CakeSliceBakers

Tender, savory, little cakes studded with pears, pecans, and blue cheese. Perfect as an appetizer on their own or as part of a charcuterie board with a glass of wine or cocktail while awaiting a holiday dinner this season.  

We are nearing the end of our bakes for this year's Cake Slice Bakers selection, Gateau; The Surprising Simplicity of French Cakes.  

Blue Cheese Sauce to put on that Steak you are Grilling Up to Pair with a Malbec Wine #WorldWineTravel

This sauce is sooooo good that I had to stop myself from eating it with a spoon so that there was enough left for guests to enjoy with their steaks.  Sweet Vidalia onion caramelized in butter and then combined with Blue Cheese and Cream for a decadent, savory sauce.

A sauce this creamy and delicious demands a strong wine and this Malbec from Argentina was up to the task.......

Olive and Blue Cheese Straws inspired by Mistress of Rome

These easily made little pastries stuffed with Blue Cheese and Kalamata Olives are a perfect addition to a charcuterie board or served all by themselves with a cocktail or glass of wine.

I was inspired to make them after reading Mistress of Rome.......

A Perfect Start to a Perfect Evening #ItalianFWT

Start your next gathering with a Cheese and Wine platter.  I am featuring Italian Wines with my cheeseboard today.  I opened 3 of these bottles to serve as guests arrived and saved the Cecchi Riserva to pour with my main course.

It's time for the Holiday Edition of Italian Food Wine and Travel.......

Difficult? Yes....Impossible? No #WinePW

Cheese and wine is a natural pairing, right?  Well, not always.  Sometimes those stinky cheeses that I love so much, Blue, Gorgonzola, Roquefort, etc. do not play well with wine.  They are too strong.  Don't get me wrong I still put at least one on my cheese platters when serving wine. I would just ignore that it wasn't wonderful.

So when Linda of My Full Wine Glass invited the members of Wine Pairing Weekend to join her in sharing Wine Pairings for Hard to Pair Foods my mind went immediately to this pairing.

Tomato and Blue Cheese Salad #SundayFunday

 

What is umami? 

Taking its name from Japanese, umami is a pleasant savory taste imparted by glutamate, a type of amino acid, and ribonucleotides, including inosinate and guanylate, which occur naturally in many foods including meat, fish, vegetables and dairy products. As the taste of umami itself is subtle and blends well with other tastes to expand and round out flavors, most people don’t recognize umami when they encounter it, but it plays an important role making food taste delicious.  (source: Umami Information Center)

Welcome.  The Sunday Funday Bloggers are sharing recipes with Umami today..............

Grilled Blue Cheese and Onion Sandwich #OurFamilyTable

Sauteed Sweet Red Onion and Tangy Blue Cheese Crumbles melted together onto slices of Onion Rye bread and grilled to perfection.

The From Our Dinner Table Group are sharing Grilled Cheese Sandwiches today......

Broccoli and Blue Cheese Gratin #EasterRecipes

Christie, of a Kitchen Hoor's Adventures , invited members of our Festive Foodies group to join her on Monday, Wednesday and Friday this week posting recipes to help our readers get ready for Easter.

I will be joining in the fun for all three days, starting with a vegetable side that is sure to be a hit for your Easter Banquet.

I don't know about you but I like to go all out on Holidays and Easter is my favorite Holiday of all.  We will have a sit down dinner that will start with a first course, normally some sort of seafood.  This is followed by soup and then a salad.  The entrée will contain 3 or 4 meats.  There is always Ham, always Kielbasa, usually lamb and then a beef or chicken dish of some sort.  Sides always include some sort of potato dish and usually a sweet potato dish of some sort, as well.  Baked pineapple and baked beans to go with the ham. Several vegetables are also served.  Fresh asparagus and buttered corn for sure and then one or two more. There is always a butter lamb and fresh baked bread.  We gorge and then eat leftovers all week long.

This Broccoli and Blue Cheese Gratin is so good and I promise that if you leave off the blue cheese in the title even blue cheese haters will eat it, love it and be none the wiser.  And as a bonus, the leftovers can be turned into a kick butt soup.

This recipe is adapted from one I found in a Williams Sonoma cookbook.  I used gorgonzola cheese to keep it mild, as my husband and some of the kids don't care for blue cheese.  I didn't mention to them that there was blue cheese in the dish.  They loved it and a couple of them went back for seconds.

This dish can be made ahead of time but wait to add the bread crumbs right before it goes into the oven so it doesn't get soggy.

This is a great side for Easter because many enjoy ham for dinner. I think that nothing is better with ham than broccoli and cheese. YUM

Stop by and visit all the other Easter Recipes.  You will find links at the bottom of this post.

Broccoli and Blue Cheese Gratin

adapted from William Sonoma

2 - 3 lbs. broccoli florets

1/4 stick butter

4 T. flour

2 1/2 c. milk, full fat

salt and pepper to taste

3 oz. crumbled gorgonzola cheese

3/4 c. dried bread crumbs

Place the broccoli florets in a steamer and cook for about 15 minutes, until tender.  

While broccoli is steaming, melt the butter in a saucepan over med high heat.  Add the flour and whisk in.  Reduce the heat to low and add the milk, whisking constantly until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.  Cook, stirring occasionally, over low heat for 10-15 minutes until thickened.  Stir in blue cheese just until melted and remove from heat.

Add the broccoli to the blue cheese sauce and gently fold in until coated. Pour mixture into a casserole that has been treated with butter or cooking spray.  Don't worry if it is soupy, it will continue to thicken as it bakes.  Sprinkle with the bread crumbs and bake in a preheated 350* oven for about half an hour, until hot and bubbly and the bread crumbs are toasty brown.  Print Recipe

Monday Easter Week Recipes

• Broccoli and Blue Cheese Gratin by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Bunny Cinnamon Rolls by Family Around the Table
• Bunny Mary by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Carrot Roll Cake by Cookaholic Wife
• Chocolate Dipped Robin's Egg Cookies by Amy’s Cooking Adventures
• Crunchy Easter Bird Nest Granola Bites by Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Deviled eggs with creme Fraiche and herbs by Simple and Savory
• Easter M&M Blondies by Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
• Easter Mini Chocolate Rum Cupcakes by Daily Dish Recipes
• Egg Benedict Quiche by A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures
• Orange Ricotta Pancakes by Jolene's Recipe Journal
• Puff Pastry Eggs with Ham and Cheese by All that's Jas
• Sausage and Spinach Pie by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Tsoureki - Greek Easter Bread by Caroline's Cooking
• Whipped Ricotta Salad by Sew You Think You Can Cook

Ham. Broccoli and Cheese Corn Muffins #MuffinMonday

Here's a great way for you to use up some of those Christmas leftovers.  These muffins go together quickly and make a quick nutritious breakfast.

It is nice to be able to just sit and relax with one of these muffins and a cup of coffee now that there is a slight lull in the Holiday activities.

These muffins also freeze well so that when everyone goes back to work and school they can be taken out the night before and grabbed as people are running out the door, getting accustomed to real life once again.

Welcome to a late edition of Muffin Monday.  Since Christmas fell on our normally scheduled posting date, our leader, Stacy of Food Lust People Love, took a vote to see if we wanted to change  the date or skip this month.

I voted for changing it to today because I knew I would have leftovers and making muffins is a great foil for so many items.  I love repurposing leftovers into new dishes.

We had Ham for Christmas Dinner and a Broccoli Gratin. There was a lot of leftover ham and a small bit of the Gratin that contained blue cheese.  It was the perfect combination for these muffins.

Ham, Broccoli and Cheese Corn Muffins

1/2 c. cornmeal
1/2 c. flour
1 T. sugar
pinch of salt
2 t. baking powder
1/2 c. milk
2 T. olive oil
1 egg, beaten
1/2 c. diced ham
1/2 c. broccoli/blue cheese gratin,chopped (or 1/2 c. steamed broccoli and 1 oz. blue cheese crumbles)

Combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in a bowl.  Make a well in the dry ingredients.  Add egg, milk and olive oil into the hole.  Stir just until combined.  Fold in ham and broccoli gratin.  Divide between a six cup muffin tin that has been treated with cooking spray.  Bake in a preheated 450* oven for 15 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted removes cleanly.  Print Recipe

More Magnificent Muffins

• Black-Eyed Pea Bacon Cocktail Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Bloody Mary Muffins from Palatable Pastime
• Chicken and Corn Muffins from Passion Kneaded
• Ham, Broccoli and Cheese Corn Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Shallot and Gruyère Cheese Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories