The Nifty Foodie

Whenever I cook any mexican cuisine in our home, it’s really hard not to grab some chips and queso to go along with it. It just feels right. Of course, whenever we go to our favorite mexican restaurant, we snack on chips and queso. Bonus points if the restaurant serves queso blanco. That’s my absolute favorite.

We’ve always wanted to recreate the queso blanco that we love in our own home, and while we LOVE this recipe, I was curious about this particular recipe that I saw, since it seemed so much quicker to throw together. You just throw the ingredients in a bowl and nuke it. And for those of you who aren’t fans of Velveeta, no worries…there’s no Velveeta in this recipe!

Microwave Queso Blanco
Source: Pennies on a Platter

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 lb. block White American Cheese (commonly found at the deli counter), cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1/4 cup diced green chiles
• 2 pickled jalapenos, chopped
• 1 oz. pickled jalapeno juice
• 2/3 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup cold water
• pinch of cumin (optional)

Directions:

1. Place all the ingredients in a large bowl, that is safe for the microwave. Microwave the mixture for 5 minutes, stopping to stir the cheese every minute. Don’t worry if the mixture doesn’t look like it’s going to come together at first. Eventually, it will.
2. Stir the cheese well again and serve. If you have leftover queso, just stick it in the fridge and reheat in 30 second intervals in the microwave until the cheese is hot again.

When we moved to a new house this year, one of the main things that I wanted was a raised bed for our vegetable and herb garden. I haven’t had much success in the past, so this year I was optimistic. We put in three basil plants, and they just blew up! The thing with herbs is that if you want them to grow more, you need to pick them. So, I picked most of the leaves off of the plants, and realized that I had more than enough to make some pesto happen.

Pesto is something that I’m fairly new to. I really didn’t know what pesto was until I started reading food blogs. Once I learned, I thought that pesto couldn’t be an everyday meal. It just looked and sounded SO fancy. I was REALLY missing out here, y’all. All you need to do is throw your ingredients in a food processor, and let it go. It’s just really easy, and adds such wonderful flavor to whatever you add it to. Heck, you don’t need to add it to anything…eat it by the spoonful.

A trick that I learned from a few Twitter friends that pesto doesn’t NEED pine nuts (who knew those things were so dang pricey?!). Walnuts were the perfect substitution to pine nuts, and I totally couldn’t tell the difference!

Pesto
Source: Ina Garten

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup walnuts
• 1.5 tbsp. fresh chopped garlic (about 5 cloves)
• 2 1/2 cups of fresh, packed basil leaves
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Place the walnuts and garlic in a food processor and pulse the ingredients for about 15 seconds. Add the basil, salt and pepper to the food processor, and turn on the food processor. While everything is chopping, slowly add the olive oil in through the top of the food processor until everything is well pureed. Add in the parmesan cheese, and pulse for about another minute to make sure it’s well incorporated.
2. Serve immediately or place in a container with a small amount of olive oil on top to prevent the pesto from browning.

I love hosting big family holidays. I have a blast choosing a menu, shopping and waking up early to start the cooking festivities. It’s really rewarding when you see all of your loved ones gathered around and enjoying the food that YOU made! Never in my college day Lean Cuisine eating dreams did I think I could ever host a family holiday, but we have…quite a few times.

One of the big perks to cooking up a huge holiday meals is that you can sneak a taste or two of a few dishes as you’re cooking them up without getting smacked on the wrist by your momma. Sadly, I actually end up filling up on appetizers and taking small tastes before serving everyone! (whoops!) By the time everyone has their huge plates of food, I find myself sitting down and struggling to eat one plate. Oh well…

This past Christmas and Easter, I had this spinach artichoke dip to blame for the pre-meal full feeling. My friend, who blogs at Wine and Shoes, gave me this recipe after trying this dip at a party, and it’s just fabulous! I like to have this in a crockpot (to help the dip stay warm) where the appetizers are, which is sadly my kitchen island. All I have to do is take a step or two to sneak a cracker full of this stuff every couple of minutes. I’m not the only one who found it dangerous, either. As people started arriving, I noticed a little crowd was forming, and it certainly wasn’t for the cheese tray.

I especially love this dip, because there is no mayo. 90% of you will disagree with me, but I think mayo is gross. It smells terrible, looks nasty and because of that, I just can’t stomach the idea of eating ANYTHING containing mayo. Sorry to the mayo lovers…

Spicy Spinach Artichoke Dip
Source: Wine and Shoes (originally from Tabasco)

Ingredients:

• 1 stick butter
• 1 med onion, chopped finely
• 2-10 oz packs frozen spinach, thawed and well drained
• 1-14 oz can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 8 oz sour cream
• 1 cup Monterey jack cheese, shredded & divided
• 1 cup parmesan cheese, grated & divided
• 2 tbsp. Tabasco sauce
• salt, to taste

Directions:

1. Melt the butter in large saucepan on medium-low heat. Add the chopped onion and sauté the butter and onions until they are translucent and soft, about 5 minutes.  Add in the spinach, artichokes, cream cheese, sour cream, ¾ cup of the parmesan and ¾ cup of the Monterey jack, Tabasco and salt (to taste).  Cook until well mixed.
2. Pour the mixture into a smaller crockpot and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.
3. Add the lid to the crockpot and heat on low for about 20 minutes, until the cheese is just melted. Then, keep the crockpot on low throughout serving.

Man y’all. The past couple of weeks have been crazy. I haven’t really gotten sick in a few years, and on Valentine’s Day, as luck would have it, I caught some sort of cold-like virus. Ugh. Lesson learned…do not stop taking Vitamin C gummies. (yup, I totally take gummy vitamins) I’ve recently started feeling better, which means I’m back in the kitchen! It felt so weird not cooking for two weeks, but thankfully, my husband is pretty darn awesome in the kitchen, which helped immensely when I didn’t feel like getting off the sofa.

I made this salsa one night to try a green salsa with the chicken taquitos that we fairly regularly make, which is actually the salsa intended for this recipe. However, usually I just throw in some red salsa when I’m in a hurry, but I had some time to make this. I have a confession, though…I’ve never worked with or even had tomatillos before this. I remember being in the produce section, overwhelmed by how to tell a good tomatillo from a bad one (I’m a worry worm…what can I say?), but I think I survived haha! I was very surprised at how flavorful this salsa was. I was worried I’d hate tomatillos, but it was quite the opposite! This salsa was fantastic, and really wasn’t that bad to make either!

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa
Source: Pink Parsley, originally from Rick Bayless Mexican Everyday

Ingredients:

• 4-5 medium tomatillos, husked, rinsed, and halved (about 8 ounces)
• 2 large garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 jalapeno
• 1/3 cup loosely packed, roughly chopped cilantro
• 1/2 small white onion, chopped
• juice of 1/2 lime
• salt

Directions:

1. Heat a large, nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Place the tomatillos (with the cut-side down), garlic and jalapeno in the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes, until the tomatillos are well-browned. Also, watch the garlic to ensure that you don’t burn it…it will taste bitter once burned. Flip the ingredients in the pan and take a couple of minutes to brown the other side of the vegetables.
2. Remove the tomatillos and garlic and add them to a food processor or blender. Brown the jalapeno on all sides and then move it to a cutting board to cool.
3. Once cooled, peel off the burned skin (which should happen very easily) and scoop out the ribs and seeds (unless you REALLY like spicy). Chop the jalapeno and add to the food processor or blender with the tomatillos and garlic.
4. Add 1/4 cup of water, the chopped onion and chopped cilantro to the food processor/blender until it’s a coarse puree. Feel free to add a little water if the salsa is too thick. Add lime juice and salt to taste and serve.

 

Part of me cannot believe that the Superbowl is Sunday. I mean, that’s the end of football season until next Fall. I have to wait at least six months to watch another game after this. Sad.  (If you know me, you know I’m being dead serious about how sad this is to me. Crazy football fan here!) A perk of Superbowl Sunday? Watching Millie run up to the TV when I randomly switch over to the Puppy Bowl.

To mourn celebrate the end of another football season, here’s some great recipes that will definitely disappear if you serve them at your Superbowl parties.

Restaurant Style Queso Blanco

Restaurant Style Salsa

Crawfish Pies

Crawfish Cheesecake

Pork and Sausage Jambalaya

Berry Mash Bruschetta

Sugar Cookie Bars

Peanut Butter Cheesecake Brownies

Oreo Cupcakes

Oh, and if you have an occasional puppy bowl break, I’m pretty sure the dogs at your party would love you for these!

Peanut Butter and Pumpkin Dog Treats