Queso Blanco Dip

Sure, it's easy enough to make this stuff by combining a jar of salsa with a chunk of velveeta cheese.  Or buy the stuff in the jar.

This recipe may be more involved, but it is so much better than the jarred stuff!

INGREDIENTS


1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup white onion, finely diced
1 large jalapeno, seeds and stem removed; finely diced
12 oz white American cheese, shredded (block of processed Velveeta or Kraft American Cheese)
4 oz Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded
1/2 to 1 cup milk
1 – 2 roma tomatoes, seeds removed and diced
2 tbsp. cilantro, roughly chopped

DIRECTIONS


Heat the oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Saute the onion and pepper until softened and reduce heat to medium-low. Stir in the shredded cheese and 1/4 cup of the milk. Quickly stir until the cheese is melted. Add the tomatoes, cilantro, and additional milk a little at a time until you reach desired consistency. Serve immediately with tortilla chips, tortillas, or on tacos, burritos, etc.

VERDICT

Yum.  I could eat a full recipe of this stuff with a bag of chips and not think twice about the calorie count. 

Another option that saves a little time is to use a can of diced tomatoes and green chiles, found in the Mexican aisle of the grocery store. 

Buffalo Cauliflower Bites

My husband is usually really supportive of my cooking.  He tends to like whatever I cook, and he's very supportive of trying all these new recipes out.  But sometimes... sometimes the poor guy just wants to watch football and eat pizza.  And I just won't leave it alone.  I tell him (in a completely serious and excited voice) "we're going to have cauliflower for our football snack today!"

He would roll his eyes if he could.

But funny enough, this recipe was a hit, and is something he actually asked for again.  And it's cauliflower!  And it's HEALTHY!

Hallelujah!  Here's the recipe:


INGREDIENTS

• 1 head cauliflower

 For the batter:

• Dash of Frank’s Original Hot Sauce
• ½ c. white rice flour (I used plain old regular flour)
  
• ½ c. water
• Pinch salt

For the Buffalo sauce:

• ¼ c. Frank’s Hot Sauce
• ¼ c. oil, canola oil works best
• Pinch salt

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Mix together the batter ingredients in a small bowl. Dip the cauliflower in the batter until coated evenly then place on greased baking sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes or until the batter hardens.
2. Mix together sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Once the cauliflower are done baking, brush them with the hot sauce mixture and bake again for a few more minutes, until cauliflower is crispy.
3. Remove from oven. You may want to add a bit more buffalo sauce to taste

VERDICT

For real, this stuff is awesome.  And it's cauliflower!!  Did I mention that???  It's flippin' cauliflower!  You might even be fooled into thinking these are boneless Buffalo wings.  The consistency is similar, and if you're a fan of Buffalo wing sauce this recipe is terrific!

Crockpot Chicken A LA Criola

Usually I start off my posts with some kind of commentary.  What we were doing that night, where the ingredients came from... you know, small talk.

You won't get any in this post.  Honestly, I made this so long ago I don't exactly remember when it was... or even how it turned out.

INGREDIENTS

• 10 (2 lbs) skinless boneless chicken thighs, fat trimmed
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 bell pepper, chopped or sliced
• 4 plum tomatoes
• 2 tbsp alcaparrado or pitted spanish olives
• 8 oz can tomato sauce
• 1/4 tsp oregano
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• salt to taste
• 1-2 bay leaf
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro (plus 2 tbsp more for serving)

DIRECTIONS

Place chicken, onion, garlic, pepper and tomatoes in the crock pot. Season with salt, cumin and oregano. Mix well so everything is seasoned.
Add tomato sauce, alcaparrado (or olives) along with 1 tbsp of the brine, 1/2 cup water, bay leaf and cilantro. Mix well and set crock pot to HIGH 4 hours or LOW for 6 hours. When done, taste for salt and seasoning and adjust spices as needed. Add 2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro and serve over rice.

VERDICT

I'm not saying it was bad... but I don't remember it being anything special either.  You'll have to try it for yourself!

NUTRITION


Serving: 2 thighs + vegetables & sauce
Calories: 211
Fat:6.2 g
Protein: 28.8 g
Carb: 9.9 g
Fiber: 1.9 g 
Sugar: 2.1 g
Sodium: 447 mg (without salt)  

Chocolate Covered Everything

I love the holidays.  We buy a big bag of milk-chocolate morsels and I use it to cover EVERYTHING.

Pretzels?  Of course.

Ruffles chips?  Smeared with a dallop of peanut butter first, of course.

And then I found this Martha Stewart recipe for peanut butter pretzel balls.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 tablespoon unsalted butter, room-temperature
• 1 cup crushed pretzels
• 1 cup crushed potato chips (my addition- you can leave them out if you're so inclined)
• 5 ounces milk chocolate, melted (or, you know, how ever much it takes to cover these suckers)

 DIRECTIONS

VERDICT

These are to die for.  That's all I can say.  And I'm hungry just looking at the pictures.

As for the appearance of the balls themselves.... I have no idea how Martha makes hers so neat and round and nice looking.  I got two balls to look they way they should before hands were covered in peanut butter and pretzel pieces and the rest of them were blobs that barely stuck together.

But that's an issue to deal with on the next batch.  And based on how these things are flying out of their container, it won't be long before I need to make more.