Get a taste of these Mandarin dips

We have reached Halloween week and I hope you're ready. Sitting in my kitchen after enjoying my sauerbraten dinner with red cabbage and listening to all the rain still come down is the perfect time to cook. Maybe you will have people over to celebrate Halloween or maybe just sit at home eating all the candy hoping kids ring the doorbell before you eat it all. I wish each of you Happy Halloween and All Souls Day. As I start year number four with Grazing with Gary, it started out as providing Mandarin recipes to the Journal for a few weeks and then I would be finished. Well, we see how that worked out. With the Mandarin Festival coming, we will start our celebration of the Mandarin oranges grown in Placer County. Digging through our recipe contest cookbooks, I have pulled three appetizer recipes out of the book. Try them out this week, as I have spotted the first of the early bird Mandarins at a farmers' market last week. Our first recipe is for an avocado dip, and it's great with tortilla chips or over grilled salmon. Our second recipe is a garbanzo dip, great served with vegetables, and last is a Moroccan eggplant dip. Hope you're working on your Mandarin recipes for the recipe contest coming soon. Happy Cooking!! Avocado Dip Ingredients: 2 Mandarin oranges, peeled and chopped 1 sm. white onion, finely chopped 2 large tomatoes, finely chopped 2 Jalapeño peppers, seeds and veins removed, then chopped finely ½ cup cilantro, chopped finely 2 large avocados, chopped 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice Directions: Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Add avocado last. Serve with tortilla chips. Garbanzo Dip Ingredients: 2 cups cooked garbanzo beans ½ cup parsley, chopped 2 tablespoons onions, finely chopped 5 tablespoons yogurt, non-fat and plain 2 tablespoons Mandarin orange juice 1 tablespoon Mandarin orange zest ¼ teaspoon cumin ½ teaspoon garlic, minced 3 tablespoons lemon juice Directions: Puree cooked garbanzo beans until smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients in order listed, adding only 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Mix well. Additional lemon juice for desired consistency. Salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving. Moroccan Eggplant Dip Ingredients: 3 tablespoons olive oil 1 large eggplant, peeled and diced 1 8 oz. can tomato sauce 3 cloves garlic, pressed 1 large green bell pepper, chopped 1 tablespoon cumin ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper 2 teaspoons sugar 2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon oregano, dry ¼ cup red wine vinegar 1 can Mandarin orange drained, or 2 Mandarin peeled and segmented ¼ cup cilantro, fresh, chopped Directions: Heat oil in a sauté pan. Add the next 10 items to the pan and cook for 4 minutes. If using fresh Mandarins add them to the pan, cover the pan and simmer for 20 minutes. Uncover pan, if using canned Mandarins add them now, increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Cook until mixture is reduced to about 3 cups. Cool mixture, puree mixture, refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Site in fresh cilantro right before serving.