Everyday Craziness & Appetizers for Dinner

I'm going to get right to it. You know, cut to the chase.


It's been about a zillion years since I've posted, and let's be honest...I've not been the best at staying regular (ha! I'm so funny). I mean I've never been great about sticking to a schedule. Sometimes I go two or three days without washing my hair. So it's only normal that I go several months between blog posts.


But for this, I am sorry. I promise I'm going to work on posting more frequently, but this means that some things are going to change around here. While MiniGuinea will largely remain a blog centered around my escapades with recipes I find all over the interwebs, I'm also going to start posting about my everyday craziness. This past year has been amazing and amazingly crazy...I can only imagine where our lives will go from here. So for now I'll leave you with our dinner of appetizer's and the notion that there's no telling what kind of non-sense will ensue from here.


Goat Cheese & Pancetta Salad on Sweet Potato Medallions

Anyway for an unknown reason, I find the idea of eating appetizer's for dinner really appealing. Don't you? It sounds like so much fun.


So, after a much needed weekend of nothing (is tomorrow really Monday?) Having appetizer's for dinner only seemed like the right thing to do.


These were completely delicious and and I know this, well...because I ate them and I liked them. But also because Josh ate them and loved them too. As he should because I added pancetta solely for his enjoyment...right, solely his enjoyment.

Goat Cheese & Pancetta Salad atop Sweet Potato Medallions
Adapted from: (my idol) Smitten Kitchen

Serves 2


1 Sweet Potato (very large) peeled and sliced into 1/2 inch medallions
4 Tbs Olive Oil
1/4 cup of Cashews
1/4 Lb Pancetta, diced
1 Shallot, minced
2 Stalks of Celery
2 Tbs Flat-Leaf Parsley
3 Oz Goat Cheese
1 Tbs Red Wine Vinegar
1/2 tsp Dijon Mustard (the good stuff)


Preheat the oven to a screaming 450 degrees.


Coat a baking sheet generously with olive oil, and lay the sweet potato medallions in one layer on the baking sheet and sprinkle with salt & pepper. Roast the potatoes without interruption for 15 minutes (possibly 20). Flip each piece over (the bottoms of the potatoes should be dark and blistered) and roast a remaining 10 minutes so that the tops match the bottoms.


While the potatoes are roasting, prepare the salad.


Cook the pancetta over medium-high heat until crisp and the fat has rendered. Once the pancetta has cooked, set aside to cool on a paper towel lined plate. In a separate bowl, combine the minced shallot and the red wine vinegar and set aside. Chop the cashews, celery, and parsley and crumble the goat cheese, then toss together to combine.

Stir the dijon mustard into the shallot, vinegar mixture. Once the mustard is combined, Whisk in a few tablespoons of olive oil into the dressing. Add the cooked pancetta, and shallot dressing to the celery mixture and toss to combine. Eat a little bit of this salad that is totally delish to tide you over.


To serve, place the sweet potato medallions onto a platter and spoon the salad mixture over each medallion. Dust the finished medallions with a bit of freshly cracked black pepper, and snarf them down immediately.

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Classic Wedge Salad

I know what you’re thinking. We’re in the thick of spring and I come home from the farmer’s market with...iceberg lettuce? Odd I know, the markets are teeming with amazing spring green vegetables iceberg lettuce is the least green of them all. I actually never buy the stuff unless I’m making this salad, and after I saw this featured on another blog I had a weird craving for bacon and tomatoes coated in blue cheese dressing.

Josh is a huge fan of bacon and blue cheese, so I knew he’d be game. Although to give him credit, I’ve been packing tons of kale, spinach, rapini, and the likes into our diet lately and he actually prefers the higher dosage of greens.

Wedge Salad

Adapted From: Give a Girl a Cookie

1 Head of Iceberg Lettuce, quartered

1 Cup Grape Tomatoes, Halved

5 Strips of Thick Cut Bacon, cooked until crisp & crumbled

4 Ounces Bleu Cheese, crumbled (I used Stilton)

1/4 Cup Sour Cream

1/4 Cup Buttermilk

1 Tbs Lemon Juice

1 tsp Red Wine Vinegar

Dressing: 

Combine the bleu cheese crumbles, sour cream, buttermilk, lemon juice, and red wine vinegar in a small bowl and mix to combine. Salt and Pepper as needed. If the dressing is too thick for your liking you can always add more buttermilk to thin it out.

Assemble the Salad: 

Arrange the lettuce on a platter and drizzle the dressing over the wedges, sprinkle the bacon and tomatoes over the lettuce and serve!

**You can always add chopped chives, extra blue cheese crumbles, and more cracked black pepper to up the pretty factor a bit.

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