Our New Kitchen...and Some Recipes

We spent a good part of the weekend (and most of Sunday) in the kitchen.

Unfortunately, it's a small kitchen, but it's still more efficient than our last one. At least we have a little more space to move around.

Dan loves jalapenos, so we tried out a recipe for jalapeno cheese bites from a new cookbook. We baked them in the oven, like the recipe said, and they were okay--but not great. So, the next night we tried out our new deep fryer and fried up the leftovers. Much better!

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Jalapeno Cheese Bites

Basically, you chop up a few seeded jalapeno peppers (we chopped them in a mini chopper) and mix them with 8 ounces softened cream cheese, one egg and 2 cups parmesan cheese. You're supposed to use shredded parmesan cheese, but we only had about a half cup of the powdered parmesan cheese, so that's what we used. We added a small amount of jalapeno seeds to the mixture to spice them up. Then, roll them into approximately 36 balls and roll in dry bread crumbs. Bake (or deep fry) until golden brown.

Jalapeno cheese bites

Anyway, after breakfast on Sunday, we cleaned up and I started on dinner--a pot roast with potatoes, carrots and onions. It slow cooked in the crock pot all day long. Meanwhile, I made spaghetti for lunch, and then I tried my hand at homemade salsa using our new food processor.

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I modified the recipe a little.

Homemade Salsa

Broil 3 large tomatoes and 4 jalapeno peppers until the skin starts to split. Let them cool, then slice them and seed the jalapenos. Meanwhile, sautee half an onion in a tablespoon of olive oil until they start to caramelize. Add one clove of minced garlic and cook another minute. Add a small amount of jalapeno seeds for a little spice. Let this mixture cool.

Place the tomatoes, peppers, onions and garlic in a ten-cup food processor, along with a third cup of cilantro, 2 teaspoons of lime juice, 1 teaspoon sugar, plus salt and pepper to taste. I also added a fourth cup of water, but I think it made the salsa too watery, so next time I would definitely omit the water. Chop the ingredients until the chunks are as small as you like. Refrigerate for an hour to let the flavors mix.

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I brought some of the salsa to work, along with a pan of taco dip. Yum!

Taco Dip

Soften 8 ounces cream cheese. Meanwhile, brown a half pound of ground beef and mix in a half packet of taco seasoning. Let cool in the fridge. Once the cream cheese has softened, mix it with 8 ounces sour cream, and mix in the rest of the taco seasoning. Spread the mixture over the bottom of a pie tin (or a small baking dish). Spread the cooled ground beef over the bottom layer, then sprinkle your choice shredded cheese over the meat, and then layer your favorite chopped veggies on top: tomatoes, onions, olives, etc. Refrigerate at least an hour, then serve with tortilla chips.

Taco dip is so unhealthy, but sooo good!

Of course, I made a small dish of taco dip to have at home. In fact, I'm snacking on it right now. :D

(Sorry if any of the recipes aren't completely clear; I typed them from memory.)