Two new recipes for the file

While exhausting, our extended holiday was filled with delicious food and a couple of new recipes.  Seen above, my favorite new appetizer - party skewers with cherry tomatoes, mozzarella balls marinated in homemade pesto and an avocado wedge. You can skewer anything, really, and have pretty and easy-to-eat hors d'oeuvres in a jiffy.  Not a new idea, but discovering where to buy those little bamboo skewers with the handles (Sweet! in Downtown Lawrence, for locals, and here online) rocked my world a little. 

That's my initial 'C' made from extra pastry on the top.

My universe was further jolted when I tasted my first Australian meat pie, compliments of my son's girlfriend who spent four years in Melbourne. Yes, it contained wheat and an untold number of carbs, but it was well worth the guilt. Besides, the accompanying microgreens and Brussel sprouts were counteractively innocuous. The savory pies are easy to make and, like the mini-skewers, the possible variations are endless. Here's a good recipe for the classic version that we enjoyed. I'm imagining them for Sunday night dinners in the fall with soup or salad.  But now, back to the diet...