Warm Taco Dip

I'm sure like the rest of the country, you might be gearing up for the super bowl this weekend.  We tried a recipe over the New Years holiday that turned into a huge hit.  It was easy, delicious, and I'm surprised to say not one, not two, but all THREE of my girls ending up loving this stuff!  Matter of fact, if we are confessing our sins here, I actually ended up living off this dip for a few days.  True. Story.  But first, the dip!

I decided to try this recipe for our New Years Eve gathering this year, after seeing it on Pinterest here. First, because I thought it would be a crowd-pleaser  (well who I ask you, does not absolutely love tacos), and secondly, because I already had most the stuff needed for the dip in my house.  It's a  win win.  Plus, you only need a few ingredients to pull this off:

The original recipe called to cook this in a crock pot.  I have since done it both in a crock pot and in a regular pot on the stove. (Yes, I made it twice in one week, it was that tasty)  Worked out fine either way.  The original recipe had onion powder, and that was the only thing I changed, since I had chopped onions in the freezer and no onion power on hand.  You will need:

1 lb ground beef 
1/2 onion chopped (or half a bag of chopped onions)
16 oz of salsa (I used mild)
1 15 oz jar of Tostitos cheese (I used cheese dip, milder than the medium queso)
1 16 oz of sour cream
1 16 oz can re fried beans

I dumped the 1 lb of hamburger meat in my roasting oven.  It is infinitely better than a crock pot (see rant here) because it can go up to 400º and I ended up browning the meat in here.  Hey, one less pan to dirty up is A-Okay in my book.

After browning (and draining if necessary) the meat and onions, add in your other ingredients, including the cheese, salsa, sour cream, re-fried beans, and salt and pepper to taste.

Stir around until combined

Heat on low for a few hours until you are ready for your party.  The original recipe said to heat on high for two hours, but I don't like to do that to recipes that have sour cream in them.  Low and slow seemed to work just great. 

Beefy, cheesy, taco dip!  Yum.

Serve hot with hearty corn chips.  Ones that can really hold up to meaningful dipping and not break, because this dip is rather substantial.  

Yum.  It was the perfect dip to ring in new years with.  See our disco lights in the background?  It was a Christmas gift from my parents.  Besides this dip it turned out to be the other great thing about our sad little New Years celebration.  Why sad?  Oh yes, and now on to my story.  Well I made a big ol' vat of this dip, then my hubby went and got the flu the day before New Years Eve, so we ended up not going anywhere, and he was quarantined upstairs.  No body felt like cooking, (nobody, meaning me), and we had a ton of dip that everyone loved, so we ended up having this taco dip for New Year's Eve while the girls turned up the music and had a disco dance party to the colorful lights. That almost qualifies as a New Years Party, right?  Then we had it for lunch the next day (their suggestion), a late night snack the later that night, and lunch the next day too.  By the time January 2nd, rolled around, I realized we had survived on this dip the entire time.  Hilarious.  You'd think we would have been sick of it, but nope.  I made it a few days later and took it to our after Christmas after Christmas party with extended family, which they loved as well.  My pickiest eater says she wants it for her birthday meal with corn on the cob and watermelon (high praise if it made it on to her birthday menu).   

Warm Taco Dip - the only dip you'll ever need

One other thing, it is easy to spice this thing up.  Our recipe was very mild for the small fry (okay and for me, the zero star Thai girl).  Just add medium or hot salsa instead of mild, add medium queso cheese instead of mild cheese dip, spicy sausage, and add any other spicy things like green chiles or hot sauce to the mix.  This is a great, hearty dip you can bring to any occasion.  Enjoy!

 

Bacon Appetizers (Pioneer Woman)

A few days before my office Christmas party, I started scouring my Pinterest boards looking for a tasty new appetizer to try.  I mean, what's the point of pinning all that delicious looking food if you don't actually MAKE the recipes every once in a while, right?  I came across this one from one of my favorite Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman, and thought I would try them out.  

Mmmm  Bacon Appetizers

What's not to love about something with only three ingredients - even if these same said ingredients seem like slightly strange bedfellows?  Bacon. Club Crackers. Parmesan Cheese. Together.  That's it.  I shrugged and thought, well Ree has never steered me wrong in the past, I'm just going to go for it.  First gather your ingredients:

Club crackers, bacon (not thick cut) and grated Parmesan cheese

Take a sleeve of club crackers and lay them out on a 1/2 sheet pan or cookie sheet.  It is highly recommended that you use a rack over the top of the baking sheet, so the bacon grease drips below as it cooks.

I hilariously do not yet have a rack that fits my 1/2 sheet pan (it's on my Christmas wish list... hint hint Mr. D), so I MacGyver'd a make-shift solution using the rack I normally use to cool my cookies on.  It was a little cumbersome and awkward, but it got the job done.  Next, get out your bacon and cut the slab in half

 Next, you want to sprinkle a teaspoon of Parmesan cheese onto the length of each cracker

  
Ree insists you do NOT want the hoity-toity fancy shredded Parmesan here, just the regular green can of grated cheese you would find in your regular supermarket.  That's because these are apparently a "retro" aka "hip" appetizer from the 80's. That was before the popularity of gluten-free everything, the insurgence of kale (which by the way was a salad bar garnish in the 80's), and that healthy police PC list of no-no's for most processed foods that now ravage our land.  People ate bacon back then, and processed cheese, and smoked 2-packs a day, and drank Tab.  People in the 80's didn't care.  People in the 80's knew how to PARTY!

Where was I?  Oh yes.  We are about to take our half strip of bacon, and gingerly wrap it around the cracker withOUT spilling any of the loose Parmesan cheese.  This takes much dexterity and skill by the way.

Try to wrap the bacon so that the loose end is tucked under the bottom of the cracker on the rack.  Soon you will have a few rows of these cute fellas.  I used one full sleeve of the club crackers, but ended up using more than one package of bacon, actually half of a second pack of bacon.

Little piggie blankets, all in a row

Place in a 250º oven for two hours. That's right.  Two long hours.  You can wrap presents, you can do your hair, you can learn to yodel.  Just make sure you know your entire house will smell like delicious, fragrant bacon.  Two hours later you will peek in your oven to find these golden brown, delightful little rows of pure hog heaven.

After you let them cool completely, you can place them on a serving tray.

These are not supposed to be served hot, but at room temperature. This allows time for the crackers to crisp back up and the bacon juices to "settle".   I've also been told you can make these puppies ahead of time, freeze them, and pull them out and defrost them at 250º for a few minutes before serving.    Let's take a closer look:

Cheesy bacon crackers with no name...

Well, they smell awesome, they don't look all that glamorous, but the important question is.... how do they taste??

Well the definitive answer would be bacon! If you like bacon, then this is your new go-to appetizer.  The cracker gets all brown and crispy, the cheese melts slightly down and browns the cracker even more.   I wasn't sure how this would be received by my coworkers.  Again, not the prettiest to look at, and she wouldn't win the swim suit competition at the pageant that's for sure, but she may just walk away with the award for Ms. Congeniality of flavor town!  So here I went, off to the party. hoping for the best.  I laid down my plate of bacon-y goodness and uncovered the foil wrapper.  

Bacon appetizers - you cant go wrong!!

My boss was the first to spot them about ten seconds later.  "IS THIS BACON?!"... he shouted and popped one in his mouth.  After that a few more people in the room stepped forward. I saw a couple of husbands look at each other with an approving nod.  This wasn't a cheese ball or a hummus veggie tray, this was cooked MEAT.  I'm not kidding you, within a few minutes, the entire plate was gone.  I totally should have doubled the recipe!  One co-worker told me I was required to bring them to all future company functions after trying just one.  If that's not the mark of a great appetizer, I don't know what is.

By the way, I have also heard that you can replace the Parmesan cheese layer with a layer of brown sugar instead, for a sweet and savory version of the same appetizer.  Now, run and make up a batch of these for your next gathering, and go party like it's 1989!

Mr. D's Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

I think this blogging thing is catchy... wanna know why? I caught my hubby trying a new recipe all on his own.  Not only was he just trying a new recipe, but he was taking pictures of the step by step process, you know, in case I wanted to blog about it.  It was a beautiful sight.  I was so proud.  He picked out something he had been wanting to do for a year or two, but I had never been that keen on it because of the "gross" factor.  Namely pumpkin guts.  Each year he suggests we roast the seeds, and then I tend to gaze at the big ol' pile of slimy stringy pumpkin innards and think they don't look all that appetizing. But guess what people?  I was WRONG. So very wrong. That's right.  I apologize Honey for ever doubting you because once we roasted these little babies, I actually ended up liking them, nay snacking on them.  AND -  they are suppose to be pretty healthy, high in fiber, and all that extra bonus stuff.

Roasted pumpkin seeds - a crispy, crunchy, tasty snack

We happened to carve five pumpkins this year and once we cleaned them all out, we had about two cups of pumpkin seeds.  He found an online recipe here, and altered it only slightly.  Okay so how do you make them?  You have dug  out your seeds. They recommend not cleaning them off all the way. Take out the major chunks of pumpkin strings and goop, but it is alright to leave some of it on, it adds "flavor".  Preheat your oven to 300º.

I'm resisting the gross out slimy factor here... I'm still doubting the recipe at this time

  
Add one tablespoon of melted butter and coat the pumpkin seeds

Next you want to toss the seeds in the flavoring of your choice.  Mr. D got all creative here and wanted to try two, that's right TWO different flavors on our first time out. He separated the seeds evenly into 1 cup portions. First we went with a classic seasoning salt

Johnny's Seasoning Salt is awesome!

Then, and I think this is where I am my most proud.  He went way back into the spice rack, and came out with: Grill Mates Mojito Lime seasoning.  Never in my life would I have picked that flavor.  I thought for sure that at the very least, it would be a completely "out there" flavor and he could have these as his own personal snack.  That no one else would touch them....

Who has ever heard of lime mojito pumpkin seeds... before now, I mean.

Once your seasonings are mixed well, pour them onto a baking tray in a single layer.

After that place the tray(s) in the oven and let the low heat do it's magic for 45 mintues.  And by magic, I mean take these suspiciously sticky seeds and turn them into a hearty gourmet treat even I could not resist.  Be sure to turn the seeds a few times during the roasting process to make sure they cook evenly.  Under an hour later you will have this:

Lime Mojito roasted pumpkin seeds.  Who KNEW they would turn out this good?

Here are the seasoned salt ones:

I thought oh, I'll just try these simple seasoned salted ones and then walk away.  So I tried one and... hey it wasn't that bad.  Sort of like a big sunflower seed.  Okay okay, I'll give in and try the lime mojito ones... hey wait a second.  These were good.  Better than good.  These were tasty.  So tasty I might eat a second one.  The girls came over and I thought for sure they would only eat the plain salted ones, but we all ended up liking them both!  Who knew?  So now we have a whole new fun family tradition we can add to our harvest fun, and it is all thanks to my industrious hubby for sticking to his guns and making us love a brand new snack.  I realize now it only tastes a little like crow...

So don't throw out your pumpkin seeds this year!  Roast them with your favorite seasonings.  Other options would be garlic salt, cayenne, Cajun, it's up to you.  My youngest wants us to try cinnamon next.  Let me know what your favorite seasoning is!

Chicken Caeser Sliders

Have a crowd of people coming over and don't want to spend time slaving over a hot stove?  Here's a great little twist on an old recipe that everyone will love. The best part is, it stays warm in the crock pot and people can serve themselves as needed.  Think, chicken Caesar salad... on a cute little bun.  Behold I give you Chicken Caesar sliders:

Picture and recipe originally found on Pinterest via Christy on her blog The girl who ate everything

We have tested this recipe out a couple of times now, and it has turned out great each time.  Matter of fact each time we make it, they are so good I completely forget to take a good picture of them, hence Christy's gorgeous picture above.  In the original recipe she cooks the chicken in a slow cooker (crock pot) which takes a few hours.  I can speed up the process a little bit in case you need to make this tonight... or let's say right now!

Take 4-5 frozen Costco chicken breasts.  Put in a large pot of water and boil them for 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.  Place warm chicken out on a cutting board and remove fat, veins, and any "undesirables" you might find.  Shred the meat with two forks OR if you want to get tricky try my newest find which is to shred the chicken in the kitchenaid mixer.

This works best if the chicken is still warm.  After that, dump meat into a crockpot and add the rest of the ingredients:

1 Cup (or more) of your favorite Caesar dressing
1/2 cup - 1 cup of Parmesan cheese 
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley (or 2 teaspoons dry parsley)
Salt and Pepper to taste (I used Johhny's season salt and some shakes of pepper

The key here is texture.  Depending on how much meat you use, you want the dressing and other ingredients to be on the moist side.  If it looks dry, add a bit more dressing.  I have been known to add a few spoonfuls of sour cream near the end to give extra moisture and sometimes help cut the "spicy" aspects of Caesar dressing.  After that warm it in your crock pot until it is heated through and time to serve.

For Serving:

2 cups shredded romaine lettuce
slider buns

You can just have a big bag of slider buns laying next to your crock pot for big gatherings, or I have found on nights when it's just us, that toasting and then buttering the slider rolls take the flavor up a notch.

  
Spoon some warm chicken Caesar mixture onto a toasted slider bun and top with cool crisp shreds of romaine lettuce.  The only trouble you will have with these tasty little babies is only eating one.  Sliders, by law, means you can have as many as these adorable sammies as you want with no added calories whatsoever.  Also the fact that this was formally a salad makes it "healthy" in my book.

slider picture found over at gamedayr recipe blog

This recipe probably makes enough for a family of 4-6 hearty eaters.  If you are having a party add more frozen chicken at the beginning and add extra sauce ingredients at the end as well.  These would work great for a game day, family get together, graduation party, baby shower... they seem to be very versatile! This makes great left overs the next day too by the way.  You can even make this as an appetizer/dip and spread the chicken mixture on sturdy crackers.

Garden Salsa

Well it's that time of year when our little raised rock garden is cranking out quite a bit of produce.  I was looking at our bowl of red tomatoes on the counter and thought, we should make salsa!  Fortunately we had also planted a few different pepper plants, such as jalapeno, and the pale yellow Santa Fe peppers.  One quick Google led us to an endless array of salsa recipes, but luckily the only three basic ingredients you need are: Tomatoes, peppers, and onions.  We ended up trying a hybrid of a few recipes while also using the ingredients on the label of our favorite store bought salsa (Costco Kirkland Signature Organic Salsa) as a base for our inspiration. Here's what we came up with:

Homemade salsa, right from the garden!!

Okay, so first gather your ingredients.  Tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, onion...

that pale yellow pepper is called a Santa Fe.  The id tag on it claimed "great for salsa" when we planted it last spring, testing it now!

also key players can be minced garlic, tomato paste, salt, water, vinegar, sugar.

Salsa ingredients - waiting to be salsa-fied

There is also the obvious choice of fresh cilantro here, but I abhor that herb with a passion.  Seriously.  To me cilantro tastes like dust, like death, like mummies!  So if you love that death herb as much as my sister-in-law (and/or half the known world) does, then by all means, chop it and throw it in!  Other people have been known to add green or red peppers finely chopped in their salsa as well.  It's up to YOU!

First you want 4-5 medium tomatoes.  We were not making a ton, just for us to enjoy tonight.  Maybe 2 cups worth total. We had four medium tomatoes plus a bunch of tiny cherry tomatoes, which our girls deemed "CUTE".  We de-stemmed and chopped the cherry tomatoes with a pampered chef chopper.  That brought out a lot of seeds, so we decided for the big tomatoes to slice and removed the seeds (just ran my thumb through the seed sections under water in the sink and they popped right out).  Then finely diced them into preferred bite size pieces.

We finely chopped up 1/2 an onion (about 1/2 cup).  I also threw in a spoonful of minced garlic for kicks.

Next we chopped up some peppers.  Salsa is sort of a blank canvas.  You can start with a base of basic ingredients, then use them as a spring board for your family's tastes.  If you like it hot, then leave the jalapeno seeds in, or just chop up a bunch.  If you like it milder then take the seeds and the center white membrane out.  You'll get a back ground hint of heat without blowing your head off.

It's still so excited to see vegetables you grew yourself go into your food!

If you like to chow down on big chunks in your salsa, then coarsely chop your veggies.  If you like them a little smaller, then do a finer dice on them.  Some people will put this into a food processor, we went the old fashioned route.  I told hubby these were too big, so we did a much finer dice after that.

I'm a pepper, you're a pepper, she's a pepper, he's a pepper, wouldn't you want  to be a pepper too?

Also do NOT rub your eyes, your face, or pick your nose before washing your hands.  Oh the burning!!  (Also be it noted: if you are picking your nose while you are cooking, you should really stay out of the kitchen).  Hubby washed his hands 3x and two hours later rubbed his eye and it started to burn so be CAREFUL with your peppers.

Here's our little peppers.  We just did one jalapeno, one Santa Fe, and one little red jalapeno.

Next dump everything in the mixing bowl!

Love all the colors of red, green and white

Mix everything together.  This is where you become part mad scientist.  Add salt, add a few spoonfuls of vinegar.  We added 2 spoonfuls of tomato paste to help thicken it up, if it becomes too tart, add a bit of sugar to balance it out.  You can also squeeze lemon or lime juice.  We added just a dash of water and stirred.  Keep tasting and adjusting.  

You are just a few stirs away from dipping your chips in salsa!!

Continue to adjust the seasoning, add more salt, etc., until you are satisfied with the taste.  Ours had a very fresh flavor with a background of heat, probably under the "medium" category.  The longer the salsa sits, the more the flavors will meld.  We were not that patient and got out our big ol' bag of chips right away.

Now all you have to do is go out to the backyard and enjoy your salsa while gazing at your garden.  Ooo, you know what would be good with this?  Mojitos.  I'll have to post about that very soon.  Until then... adios!

Baked Zucchini Fries

We have this little raised rock garden in the back yard.  It's what I'd like to call small, but mighty.  This year has probably been the best for produce so far, and if there is one vegetable out there that loves growing for us more than any other, it has got to be zucchini, hands down.

I'm not the only one zucchini grows well for.  There are rumors and legends about people in rural areas locking their cars at the store and in church parking lots throughout the month of August, not to deter crime, but to avoid coming back to find sacks of giant zucchinis in their back seat!!  We've tried many a zucchini muffin and fritter recipe last year, but the best thing I've found to do with them, is make a big golden crispy plate of baked zucchini fries!  That's right people I said baked!  No deep fryer needed, you can make this in your oven later tonight!  It might even be... wait for it... Healthy! 

Don't pay $11.00 at a restaurant for this tasty crowd-pleasing appetizer, whip a batch up at home!

First, assemble your ingredients:  (Printable recipe found here)

The original recipe for these zucchini fries is found by the gals over at our best bites, here

1 lb of zucchini
Italian style Panko bread crumbs
Grated Parmesean cheese (not the shredded kind)
2 eggs
1/4 cup flour
cooking spray & a cookie sheet lined with foil
salt and pepper to taste or seasoning salt
*Preheat your oven to 425º before prepping the zucchini

Take the zucchini and cut off the ends.  Peel with a vegetable peeler.  Note: there are those of you that like to leave the skin on, which is fine. If that is the case wash the outside well and continue on.  I however, knew that a striking dark "green" color on the outside might make the kids not want to eat it, so I'm making these look as pale and "french fry-ee" as possible.

Amazing action shot of a zucchini being peeled.

Now that you have your zucchini all good and (optionally) naked, chop it in half

Hiiiii-YAAA

Now if your zucchini is small, you can cut the whole things into planks (to be shown in a second). But if you have a giant baseball bat sized zucchini that hid under the leaves until the very last minute and then jumped out and surprised the bajezus out of you when spotted it, well then you might want to do what I did.  The center of the big'uns (as I like to call them) have a soft, spongy texture and are full of seeds. I decided to cut planks around the center, leaving a square core (much like I cut apples matter of fact)

Once you get your planks in order you can cut them in half again (as I did here) to make finger length fries.  

Does the term, finger-length fries creep you out a little  like it does me? Okay.  Good.

Next start slicing the planks into even fry shapes.  You can go at your own discretion here but it should be noted that the thinner the fry shape, the less like zucchini it will taste.  The thicker the fry, the more zucchini flavor will come through.  We decided to make ours a little on the thin side.

Turn all of your planks into a nice pile of fries, and try to get them all the same relative thickness if you can

Next you want to get a zip top 1 gallon sized plastic bag and put the 1/4 cup of flour in it and drop all the zucchini fries in there.  Seal the top and shake everything around until they are all coated with flour

shake shake shake... shake shake shake... shake your zucchini... shake your zucchini....

Now comes the exciting part... the dipping assembly line!  One one plate put a mixture of the Italian seasoned Panko bread crumbs and the Parmesan cheese.

The original recipe calls for exact amounts of these, but it's more casual then that, just pour a pile of each and mix

Get a shallow pie pan and crack/mix two eggs for the "wash" part of the dip process.  Set it all up in a line so you have your bag of fries, then your egg wash, then your breadcrumb/Parmesan mixture, and at the end the pan lined with foil and doused with cooking spray.

Henry Ford would be so proud of your assembly line...

Now.. we DIP!  Drop a fry in the egg wash and flip around until all sides are covered.  Right after that, put it into the crumb/cheese mixture and roll around until the coating sticks to the egg wash.  Be sure to only pull out SOME of your crumb mixture at a time. The egg covered fry is sticky and will make your crumbs lumpy after a while.  Just pull a small pile of crumbs over to work with and add more as needed.

During this process your dippin' hand will start to get all goopy (I do all the messy work with one hand, leaving the other one dry to answer the phone, pat children on the head, etc).  Soon you your fingers will look very monster-esque with coating dripping off of them like zombie hands.  I keep a paper towel near by to wipe off the excess and keep on dipping.  Place all finished fries on the foil-lined pan.  

These look good enough to eat right now... but I promise baking will make them SO worth the wait

Now you are ready to throw them in your oven that has been preheating at 425º. Bake the fries for 12 minutes on one side, pull them out, sprinkle a bit of seasoning salt or salt and pepper then turn them all over.  Cook another 12 minutes on the other side and they are done!  Test one when they come out to see if they need any more seasoning, then pile them on a plate near you!

Serve with a side of ranch dip or heat up some spaghetti sauce or marinara for dipping

These turned out really really good. The insides were creamy and tender, the outsides were crispy and crunchy. They were so good that two thirds of my children ate them, nay devoured them... and even declared them delicious!  Half of us enjoyed dipping them in ranch dressing, the other half dipped in some warmed up marinara sauce.

So if you don't have a garden, you might want to start leaving your car doors unlocked in hopes that the overabundant zucchini fairy will visit you soon!