• Buy a hunk of Gorgonzola cheese.
  
• Put it on a pretty plate with some walnuts or toasted almonds, some thin green apple slices and some kalamata olives.
  
• Serve with bread, crackers or plain Jane.
  
• Just slice the cheese like you would a brick of cheddar and nosh away. Delish.

• 1 bag arugula
• 1/4 red onion, chopped finely
• 1 small can mandarin oranges, rinsed and chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (use what you don't eat on your appetizer plate)
• 1/2 cup or less Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled (also from the appetizer plate)
• If you have any green apple left over from your appetizer plate, chop it up and throw it in.
• Throw everything into a bowl and mix it up. Serve the dressing on the side.
  

• In a blender, throw in equal parts balsamic vinegar and olive oil. (If you have a Trader Joe's near by, look for Fig Balsamic vinegar there. Ooh, it's real good).
• Add a heaping tablespoon or so of brown or Dijon mustard, a small clove of garlic and the juice of a lemon.
• Blend it up.
• Adjust the taste to your liking.

• You'll need a large frying pan that can withstand a 350' oven.
• Enough really ripe whole tomatoes to stuff the pan. Probably around 12 or 14, depending on the size of the tomatoes. Vine ripened are more expensive, but worth every penny. So good.
• Garlic
• Olive Oil
• Kalamata Olives, pitted
• Capers, small jar
  
  
  1. Preheat the oven to 350'
  2. Fill the bottom of the frying pan with olive oil. Say 1/8" deep or so. You can't really have too much, so don't be afraid.
  3. Heat the oil up on the stovetop.
  4. Slice 4 large cloves of garlic and toss them in the hot oil. Take the pan off the heat right away. You just want to add a little flavor to the oil at this juncture, not cook the garlic all the way.
  5. Cut the tops (the stem side) off the tomatoes so they're flat. Stuff them, flat side down, into the pan then poke the tops with a fork so they don't explode in the oven!
  6. Chop up some Kalamata olives, toss them into the cracks. Add a little of the juice from the olive jar or can.
  7. Put in some capers and caper juice, too.
  8. Stick the whole pan in the oven for an hour or so. You'll know it's done when the tomatoes are easily mashed with a fork.
  9. Mash it up, serve it over pasta or polenta.

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