Bamboo server tapas - Jeff and Millie, elder and deaconess at Lake Tapps Community Church

We are excited to have our neighbors Jeff and Millie over for dinner!

When I was preparing the food for the Rijsttafel, I made extra and froze it. Tomorrow, Wed. Feb 26, I will pull the stuffed peppers, chicken paprika balls, rice cakes, and fish and vegetable cake out of the freezer and into the meat drawer to thaw.

Here are the remaining planned dishes. I will make the pizza tomorrow. Then on Thursday I will complete the rest.

Flax seed/Cornmeal Pizza

Chopped some vegetables, pepper, carrot, celery finely, added some corn meal, ground flax seed, corn oil, egg white a pinch of black sea salt and a touch of paprika and thyme. Put it all in a non-stick skillet, and put on the range on low. After about three or four minutes, put in the broiler. When the crust is done, I put some San Marzano pizza sauce on top and put it back in the broiler. For the cheese I used Beecher's flagship cheese, it is a bit pricey, but I love the way it tastes and also, how it melts.

Zucchini Sliders

Cut the zucchini in two equal pieces. Then flatten two sides by cutting off a bit of the skin. Cut into 1/4" slabs. They should end up like rectangles.

I use some ground chicken with some well cooked diced onions, diced cremini mushrooms, salt, pepper, oregano, and powdered garlic. Make small patties the same size and shape as the zucchini.

Cut some cheese to put on top of the zucchini. Broil the cheese till it is soft. Place the chicken patty on the cheese. Normally, I drizzle some olive oil and pizza sauce before serving. However it would be hard to clean the bamboo server.

Tapioca Blueberry Balls

Make tapioca a day before serving according to the directions on the box except try to reduce the liquid a bit. Leave uncovered over night in the fridge. Chop some small fresh blueberries. Mix it all together, form balls, preferably at least eight hours before serving, return balls to the fridge still uncovered.

Cranberry Drops

Handful of pecans, matching handful of slivered almonds, blend these into a granular nut flour, cup of cranberries, 4 dried apricots, 1/8 cup dried cherries, tablespoon of hazelnut oil. Blend. You may have to add a little water, but keep it to a minimum. Shape into a cone. We will be serving four people so that only used up have the mixture. No problem, we want sauce for the the rice cakes and paprika ground chicken balls. Feel free to add a bit of salt or red pepper to taste.

Sweet and Slightly Sour Cherry and Apricot Sauce (modeled after Moscara sauce)

Add 8 more dried apricots, another 1/8 of a cup of cherries, a tablespoon of Bragg's apple cider for the sour, (you can substitute lemon juice), and some water, or better unsweetened ginger tonic to the blender so you can blend to a puree. You might not add enough water/ginger water at first, you can add more, aim for the consistency of apple sauce. Now taste and see what other spices you want to put into the mix, I chose vanilla, (I still have a few beans left from Tahiti and used about a two inch piece), and a very small shake of Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning.

So here is the plan