Pepper & Fall Into Flavor

Recently a friend shared about her toddler grandson who stuck part of a crayon up his nose.

(To the mom of this toddler I say, "Be of good courage; this stage lasts but a short time, and then in the blink of an eye, he will wreck your car.")

A quick-thinking relative told them to put pepper under his nose so that he would sneeze the crayon out.

To be honest, when she got to that part of the story, I was a nay-sayer because pepper never makes me sneeze when I cook, but it worked, and they avoided a trip to the ER.

So I was telling Kristin about this as I was cooking, and we decided to try it.

She sniffed first and had quite a sneezy facial expression but never sneezed.

Then I sniffed it, still talking about how it never makes me sneeze.

About the time I finished that sentence, I cut loose a sneeze that felt like it had drilled a hole through the earth from China, shot up into my feet and slammed into my nasal passages.

And then, you know what happened next.

So I RAN to the bathroom, tripping over Zoe who was barking and going crazy because I was sort of "barking" and going crazy myself.

Yeah, so after a few moments I returned and began the whole seasoning process again, a humbled and cranky middle aged woman, victim of her own pepper assault.

And so now we're all in the mood to cook. Let's Fall Into Flavor.



The holidays often mean carry-ins. A co-worker brings these Wonton Sausage Flowers to our carry-ins, and we snarf them down like only a church staff can.

Wonton Sausage Flowers

Ingredients:
24 wonton wrappers
1 pkg of bulk pork sausage
1/2 c. chopped onion
1/4 c. chopped celery
1/4 c. green pepper
1 clove garlic
1 3oz pkg cream cheese, softened
2 T. Chopped green onions.
Cheddar cheese for sprinkling

How to:

1. Oven 350*. Lightly grease miniature muffin pan.
2. Cook sausage, onion, green pepper, celery and garlic. Drain. Remove from heat.
3. Stir in cream cheese.
4. Press wontons into muffin pan so that edges extend over top of well.
5. Place 1 T. of sausage mixture into each wonton.
6. Bake 10 minutes or until edges begin to brown.
7. Transfer to platter and dollop each with cheddar cheese.

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