Well hello, and Happy July! I hope my fellow Americans had a wonderful, fun, and firework accident-free Independence Day yesterday! I did what any true patriot in the U. S. of A would do and celebrated by eating a lot of (mostly unhealthy) foods, sweets, and sporting some red, white & blue while watching people set off illegal firecrackers they purchased across state lines.

You know. The usual.

My long holiday weekend actually extends through today, and I’m spending my last day off before returning to work tomorrow in NYC with Sean to do some shopping, a little sightseeing, and to try and hunt down these incredibly elaborate milkshakes everyone has been talking about lately. We’ll see how it goes!

Before I leave to catch my train into Grand Central, though- I wanted to share a recipe I tried my hand at this past week (as part of that aforementioned unhealthy food binge I went on in celebration of the 4th.) I randomly came across this appetizer in a local flyer recently, and being a fan of both roasted potatoes AND pesto- I knew I had to give it a go.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

• 1/3 lbs (4 medium) Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch thick slices
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• 6 ounces soft cream cheese
• 1/4 cup prepared pesto
• 1/4 cup finely chopped prepared roasted red peppers
• Snipped fresh chives (optional)

OKAY, HERE’S WHAT YOU DO:

1. Heat oven to 400ºF. Spray baking sheet with cooking spray or rub with olive oil.

2. On baking sheet, arrange sliced potatoes in single layer; spray/rub lightly with additional cooking spray/olive oil.

3. Sprinkle potato slices evenly with 1/4 teaspoon of garlic salt.

4. Roast potatoes for 20-25 minutes or until they are are tender and browned- turning them over halfway and sprinkling with the remaining garlic salt.

5. While potatoes are finishing roasting, mix together cream cheese and pesto in a small bowl.

6. Once the potatoes are done cooking, spoon the pesto/cheese mixture on top of each slice. Top with chopped red pepper and sprinkle with chives. Serve immediately.

To call this an appetizer is actually a bit misleading, since these potato slices are pretty filling and could actually be a meal by themselves, but they tasted delicious- a perfect combination of saltiness and cheesiness- crunchiness and gooey-ness. I plan on making these for the next get together or party I throw and/or attend since I know they’ll be a hit and go fast!

I’d also like to experiment a bit with the ingredients, like maybe substituting chopped onions in place of the red peppers or seasoning them a bit differently. There’s a lot of different ways these can be prepared!

xx