Sweet and Savory Grape Appetizers Inspired by the Costco Connection Magazine September 2024 Issue

 

 I was reading the September 2024 issue of the Costco Connection magazine and I came upon a recipe for Sweet and Savory Grape Appetizers. (When the magazine goes live online, I will add a link to the recipe).  I asked my lovely wife what she thought of the idea and she was quite enthusiastic.  We already had some Jarlsberg cheese in the fridge so I stopped at Costco and bought some grapes, mini mozzarella cheese balls and some salami. My lovely wife has a garden with fresh basil so we were set to try this out.

My lovely wife thought of making two types of skewers: one set with grapes and Jarlsberg cheese and another set with a mixture of cherry and grape tomatoes from my lovely wife’s garden and the fresh mozzarella.  Both turned out to be attractive as well as tasty.

We took these over to our friend’s house for gaming night snacks and they were a tremendous hit.  People liked the mixed of sweet and savory and there were three different food groups in one snack!  

To sum up, these were easy to make, a real crowd pleaser and they had some real variety with just one style of snack. And you can customize them with the cheese of your choice.

We were so impressed with these that we decided that we will take them to our company picnic to impress my coworkers!

Eat, be well and be happy!

Jarlsberg and Gouda Penne with Chicken Sausage.

 Jarlsberg is on sale this week so we wanted to try something cheesy and different than our previous dinners by making a pasta dish. The Sabatino sausages were also on sale for some added punch to the dish.

I grated Jarlsberg and Smoked Gouda (about 2 cups total).

I added a couple tablespoons of corn starch and distributed it to allow the cheese sauce to thicken and to avoid clumping.

In a Dutch oven, I added a cup of Pinot Grigio and started slowly adding the cheese after it came to a simmer. We will admit we bought the wine from Aldi but Costco has plenty of affordable quality wines that we could have used.  

After all the cheese was melted, four sausages were cut up and added. The dish was seasoned with freshly ground nutmeg and black pepper and finished by adding a half pound of cooked penne.

In the end, this was a very satisfying and easy to make dish which we will surely replicate.  The cheeses worked well together with the simple white wine sauce.  Adding the sausage gave some variety and lent a meat portion to the dish.  The cost for six servings was probably less than the cost of one meal at a restaurant and it took about the same if not less time than going to a restaurant or getting delivery.

A good home cooked meal like this is satisfying, tasty and quick.  And shopping at Costco makes it an absolute bargain.