Restaurant style salsa

Pioneer Woman

My family is a very tight family. We love to be together. We play ball together, we watch games together, we do everything together. One thing that we love is to play games together. When we play we have to have snacks. One of our favorite snacks is SALSA!! Last Sunday my son and I decided we wanted to make salsa and we didn't have all the ingredients for our normal salsa so we looked up other recipes and came across this one. We happened to have all the ingredients for this one and so my boys and I whipped it up. It was so easy and so dang good we made another batch that same day. This recipe is definitely a keeper.

1 can (28 Ounce) Whole Tomatoes With Juice
2 cans (10 Ounce) Rotel (diced Tomatoes And Green Chilies)
¼ cups Chopped Onion
1 clove Garlic, Minced
1 whole Jalapeno, Quartered And Sliced Thin
1/4 teaspoons Sugar
1/4 teaspoons Salt
1/4 teaspoons Ground Cumin
1/2 cup Cilantro (more To Taste!)
1/2 whole Lime Juice


Note: this is a very large batch. Recommend using a 12-cup food processor, or you can process the ingredients in batches and then mix everything together in a large mixing bowl.

Combine whole tomatoes, Rotel, onion, jalapeno, garlic, sugar, salt, cumin, lime juice, and cilantro in a blender or food processor. Pulse until you get the salsa to the consistency you’d like—I do about 10 to 15 pulses. Test seasonings with a tortilla chip and adjust as needed.

Refrigerate salsa for at least an hour. Serve with tortilla chips or cheese nachos.

Bacon Wrapped Jalapenos (Nicole Kirkbride)

I LOVE LOVE LOVE jalapeno poppers from the deli or from the store but HOLY COW they can be expensive!!! So we tried this and it was great not quite the same but it works plus its so yummy!!

wash and clean jalapenos, then slice them in half lengthwise.
Stuff with cream cheese then wrap with bacon.

Bake at 350 for about an hour or until bacon is cooked.
Easy and Good!! I took these to a baseball game a couple years ago and the MEN loved them! I like to dip mine in ranch to tone down the heat a little. Hope you like these or at least your hubby does :)

Sweet Potato Fries & Avocado dip (cooking channel's - Ingrid Hoffman) - adapted by Carolyn

Ok so after much begging Carolyn is going to contribute to the blog here and there when she can by providing us with some great recipes so im going to post a few that she sent me after she made 1 of our sisters lunch that ended up getting shared with quiet a few people in the office. So since so many people asked for the recipe there she figured it would be a great thing to share on the blog so i hope all of you that have tried or will be trying this let us know what you think.

SWEET POTATO FRIES:

2 large sweet potatoes (peeled or unpeeled) cut into 4in. long & 1/4-1/2 in. thick fries

2 TBS olive oil

1 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp ground coriander

coarse ground rock salt, and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Preheat your oven to 450* F Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and set aside

Place the sweet potatoes in a lg bowl and toss with olive oil until the sweet potatoes are coated. Add the paprika, chili powder, coriander, salt, and pepper; toss to distribute evenly. Arrange the coated fries in a single layer on the prepared pan. Bake for 20 minutes on the lower rack until the sweet potatoes soften. Transfer the pan to the upper rack of the oven and bake 10 minutes longer, until fries are crispy. Serve with avocado dip.

AVOCADO DIP:

1 avocado

1/3 c. mayo

1/3 c. cream cheese

1 jalapeno, seeded & chopped

2 scallions, white & light green part only, chopped

1 lime juiced

salt & freshly ground pepper

Place the avocado, mayonnaise, cream cheese, jalapeno, scallions, and lime juice into a blender or small food processor. Blend for 1 minute or until you have a smooth paste. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Serve as a dip for the Sweet Potato Oven Fries.

Hope you all enjoy these recipes & again please leave your comments, questions or remarks.

Shrimp Dip

Blend until smooth:
1 (8oz) cream cheese softened
1/2 c. sour cream
1/4 c. mayo

Put cream cheese mix in bottom of dish layer as follows:
cocktail sauce, mozzarella cheese, shrimp (small), tomatoes (diced), green onions (diced)

Serve with crackers we like it with wheat thins!!

Toffee Dip

So this week is Super Bowl week are you ready???  Here is a simple recipe that EVERYONE will love!!!

1 pkg. cream cheese (at room temperature)
1/2-2/3 pkg. toffee bits
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix cream cheese first to get the lumps out of it. Add vanilla mix until smooth. Add sugars. Then add the toffee chips. Chill until serving. Serve with apples or other fruit.

Mexican Salsa (Taste of Home adapted by me)

This is a really good salsa that uses your bottled tomatoes from your garden!!!! SUPER EASY!!

3 jalapeno peppers (ALWAYS wear gloves when working with jalapenos!!!!)
1 medium onion, quartered
1 garlic clove, halved
1 Quart & 1 Pint -OR-  2 cans (one 28oz & 1-14 1/2 oz) whole peeled tomatoes, drained
4 fresh cilantro sprigs
1/2-3/4 tsp. salt

Tortilla chips

   Heat a small ungreased skillet (cast iron works best) over high heat. With a small sharp knife, pierce jalapenos; add to the skillet. Cook for 15-20 minutes or until peppers are blistered and blackened, turning occasionally.
   Immediately place peppers in a small bowl; cover and let stand for 20 minutes. Peel off and discard the charred skins. Remove stems and seeds.
   Place onion and garlic in a food processor; cover and pulse four times. Add the tomatoes, cilantro, salt and jalapenos. Cover and process until desired consistency. Chill until serving.   Yields 3 1/2 cups

This is not really that hot so make it hotter if you want!

Stuffed Mushrooms ---- Jen Smith

I havent personally tried this because my family is not huge mushroom people but I love them so I guess I will have to make them for someone else to enjoy. But Jen is a great cook so here it is. Thanks Jen for your help!!!

STUFFED MUSHROOMS

24 ounces White Button Mushrooms (I get the medium sized ones since they do shrink)
⅓ pounds Hot Pork Sausage
½ whole Medium Onion, Finely Diced
4 cloves Garlic, Finely Minced
⅓ cups Dry White Wine (I don't have so I omit)*
8 ounces Cream Cheese
1 whole Egg Yolk
¾ cups Parmesan Cheese, Grated (I use a three cheese blend from Frigo - Parm, Asiago and Romano)
Salt And Pepper, to taste

Preparation Instructions
Wipe off or wash mushrooms in cold water. Pop out stems, reserving both parts.
Chop mushroom stems finely and set aside.
Brown and crumble sausage. Set aside on a plate to cool.
Add onions and garlic to the same skillet; cook for 2 minutes over medium low heat.
Pour in wine to deglaze pan, allow liquid to evaporate.
Add in chopped mushroom stems, stir to cook for 2 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set mixture aside on a plate to cool.
In a bowl, combine cream cheese and egg yolk. Stir together with Parmesan cheese.
Add cooled sausage and cooled mushroom stems. Stir mixture together and refrigerate for a short time to firm up.
Smear mixture into the cavity of each mushroom, creating a sizable mound over the top.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown.

Allow to cool at least ten minutes before serving; the stuffed mushrooms taste better when not piping hot.

You can replace wine with chicken broth or just leave it out like Jen does! She says you can also omit the mushrooms and eat it on crackers!!!

Potato Skins

These are so goooood and yet simple to make!!!
 Good ole Idaho Potatoes
bacon cooked and chopped (we prefer thick bacon)
green onions chopped
cheddar cheese- shredded
sour cream
garlic salt                        season salt

Preheat oven to 350 Wash potatoes and put in oven UNWRAPPED  Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until soft. Take potatoes out of oven change oven to Broil and with a oven mitt on slice potatoes in half length wise. Scoop potato pulp out BUT leaving a little layer of pulp like 1/4 inch thick. (its easier to scoop them out while hot!) Place all the potatoes upside down on a cookie sheet and spray them with pam or cooking spray. Place back in the oven until crisp then turn over and do the same thing to the insides. After they are all nice and toasty lightly sprinkle with seasonings. After that sprinkle cheese inside and garnish with bacon and onions. Put bake in the oven until cheese is melted. Serve with sour cream or ranch!!

GOOD EATS!!!

Sausage Dip (family)

Yes, as a friend pointed out to me it is football season, so I guess that means  we need some good finger foods right!!!
How about a Sausage Dip that can be as hot as you want to make it!!! This one is super easy yet OH so GOOD!!!


3 cans diced green chilies (these range in heat)
1 can diced jalepenos (go big or go home)
4 cups sour cream
2 lbs cooked sausage ( we use breakfast sausage but you can use what you like probably not maple :)
Put all in a crockpot and serve with chips
(Robin likes to add a little garlic salt too)