Hot Cheese Dip, Mildly Spicy Yet So Much Flavor!

We threw together a game night with some great friends and lots of snacks, easy, fun, and relaxing!
This gooey, cheesy goodness mixed up in about 5 minutes (including the time it took to fish it out of the fridge), and baked for 20 minutes.

Ingredients:
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 cup mayo
1- 4 oz. can diced, green chilies
1- 4 1/2 oz can sliced, black olives
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
Several drops of hot sauce, like Frank's
1 medium tomato
1/4 cup chopped onion
4 green onions, sliced thinly
Tortilla chips
Preheat oven to 350F.
In a large bowl, place the cheese, mayo, chilies, onion, garlic, hot sauce, and half the black olives.

Stir well.

Spoon into a pie plate or 8x8 baking dish.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Ohhh, myyy!!!
Top with the tomato, remaining olives, and green onions. Serve warm with chips. Caution, watch for stampede!

Easy, Salsa Chicken

This was so easy, I saw it on Mennonite Girls Can Cook, a great foodie blog, especially for the home style cook. I saw this several months ago and have made it twice, both times in large quantity so I could freeze part of it for later use. It freezes well cooked like this, tastes great now or later! Their original recipe concluded with enchiladas which I tried, they were delicious. I have omitted the creamed corn and instead added it fresh to the end recipe.

I am still having some camera issues so forgive out of focus or mis-focused photos, some of it is the camera and some the operator.

This is so incredibly easy! For Trim Healthy Mamas it could fit E, S, or FP, as it is there is no fat and not enough tomatoes to make it an E exclusively. Be careful what else you are serving, the rice and bean combo was for most of my family, however it would be great in a low-carb tortilla with lots of veggies and guacamole for S or without for FP. You decide.

Ingredients:
large package of boneless, skinless chicken breasts (5-6)
Large jar salsa, or two small jars (24 oz, more or less)
Procedure:
Place all the chicken in a 5 quart crock pot on high. Pour salsa over chicken.

Cover and cook for 5-6 hours.

 Uncover and stir with a fork to break it up and mix all the salsa throughout.

 Not having fun with the editing program either, just turn your head and pretend these are right side up.

 This night I served the shredded "salsa chicken" over rice and black beans then topped with cheese, tomatoes, and avocados.

Some other suggestions would be: enchiladas, soup, sandwiches, burritos, on top of nachos,even cold on a salad. Freeze what you don't eat leftover and enjoy a quick meal in a few weeks.
Thank you "Mennonite Girls", you sure can cook!

Zippy Chipotle Tomato Pie

Now this was tasty! It is an off shoot of the other tomato pie I posted last tomato season http://hearthandhospitality.blogspot.com/2010/08/fresh-tomato-tart.html. Last year's version was savory with cheddar cheese and turkey bacon, this one is much spicy and smokey with chipotle pepper in adobo sauce.
You will find canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce in the Mexican section of most grocery stores. You only need a small can and not even all of that. I freeze the remainder in a small container for future use, this stuff is way too good to waste!

You can use a basic pie crust or a ready made crust from the refrigerated section of the grocery store, or the tart crust from the above recipe link.
Filling ingredients:
2-3 large, meaty tomatoes
1/2 medium onion, sliced thinly
1 cup queso fresco, crumbled
1 cup monterey jack, shredded
3 tablespoons fresh cilantro, finely minced
1 chipotle pepper, finally minced
2 tablespoons adobo sauce
salt
Place the prepared crust in the pie pan, set aside in the fridge.
Preheat the oven to 400F. I did not blind bake this crust because it was quite a bit thinner than the first tomato tart. If you liked that recipe then use the crust recipe and follow those directions changing the cheese ingredients.
Mix both cheeses, cilantro, chipotle pepper, and adobo sauce in a small bowl.

Spread 1/2 the mixture in the bottom of the pie crust.

Arrange the sliced onion then tomato on top of the bottom cheese layer.

Spread the rest of the cheese mixture on top of the tomatoes.

 Fold the edges of the crust over the edge of pie pan.

Bake uncovered for 30-40 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and beginning to brown, and crust is golden.

I think I want a salad and a glass of raspberry tea with this...yum! Or grill some chicken to go with it, you have so much flavor in the pie anything simple will be a great accompaniment.

Spicy Bean Dip

Okay, it's really black eyed pea dip but if I had entitled it as such would you have opened this post? Most of our appetizers and dips are less than healthy, I personally have tried some healthier options and had come to believe that "healthy dip" meant shredded cardboard, no longer. This could be described as something akin to hummus, however, I don't care for garbanzo beans so this is a lovely option.

  It is also very versatile, as you can add more spice and heat or less, a bit more olive oil will make it even creamier or add some sour cream. I am thinking even now that I will try adding some smoky chipotle peppers or adobo sauce.
For my gluten free friends I used Nut Thin crackers, this would be good on matzoh too.
Ingredients:
1  15oz. can black eyed peas, rinsed and drained
1 large clove garlic
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
2 green onions or 2 tablespoons minced yellow onion
3 tablespoons olive oil, more or less
1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons jalapeno
1/2 teaspoon cumin
salt/pepper to taste
4-6 dashes hot sauce (like Frank's)

Put all in food processor, whirl until completely mixed and mashed.

Taste. Add, more of whatever you think it needs, usually salt for me, whirl again.
Scrape into a serving bowl.
Serve with crackers or pita bread.

Great, no guilt snack or appetizer. Enjoy...really enjoy!

Spicy, Sweet Peach BBQ Sauce

I wanted something sticky sweet to brush over some chicken breasts so I started with some peaches I had in the freezer.

This peachy experiment turned out so well we will be using it often.
Start with about 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen peaches in a small saucepan.

Add the juice of 1 lemon.

Add 1/2 cup ketchup, and 2 tablespoons adobo sauce, 1 teaspoon chili powder, 1 teaspoon liquid smoke, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 cup water.

Simmer for 15 minutes or until smooth and thick. Use a smart stick to puree or allow to cool then puree in a blender.

Now brush this beautiful, sticky concoction on some chicken and allow to rest in refrigerator for a couple hours. Bake for 45 minutes at 425F. or grill. Grilling would be my preference but I had too much inside work this time.

I served this with potato salad and a garden salad. Good stuff!

Chicken Tortilla Roll Ups-Quick, Easy, Healthy

I had some chicken I had cooked in salsa left in the fridge and needed a quick meal ready on time for someone who was dashing in and leaving again.

This doesn't look like much -here, try this photo-

This was so good and the best part is that you can change the ingredients to suite you or what's in your fridge.
I don't have a photo of the chicken because it was blurry and I didn't realize it until just now. But...
rice,

tortillas,

veggies,

(diced orange pepper, tomato, cilantro, avocado),

sour cream, hot sauce, cheese.

Now, just roll this baby up and enjoy!
You could use beef, or just beans for vegetarian, skip the cheese and sour cream for vegan, add corn or jalapenos for sweet/spicy flavor or adobo sauce for a smokey taste. Or instead of diced avocados use guacamole. Loads of options, I'm sure you can think of a few yourself, let me know what you like so I can try it!

Chipotle Grilled Chicken

Time to get the grill out and since I was going to take photos Dave really cleaned it, well at least the part the food touched. He says it is sterile once it is hot, I say all the charred chunks may be sterile but are still yesterday's garbage. Hmm.
This chicken was easy, tender and so flavorful there wasn't much leftover but if you have any left it would make outstanding chicken salad the next day.

The night before or in the morning, rinse and pat dry 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Cut slits in them every couple inches so they absorb more of the marinade flavor. I cut these in half lengthwise as well--lots of flavor and less grill time.

Place in a container or ziploc and set in the refrigerator while you make the marinade.
In a food processor bowl, put the following ingredients:
3 garlic cloves
3 black peppercorns
1 whole clove
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1 small onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
juice and zest of 1 lime
3 roma tomatoes
1 tablespoon honey
1-2 chipotle peppers canned in adobo sauce (freeze the rest of the can in a container)
Puree until smooth.

It smells wonderful!

Pour over the prepared chicken,

Toss to coat. Refrigerate overnight or all day.
Half hour before grilling, remove from refrigerator to come to room temperature. Preheat grill to medium or when coals are ready,

grill for 15-20 minutes.

Turn only a couple times so you get those beautiful grill marks.

We will be having these frequently this summer.

Next time I think I will chop them in large chunks and serve on top of a green salad with a sprinkle of shredded Monterey Jack cheese! Look for it Dave!