Taco aka Crack Dip

I can't believe I've never posted this dip! Whenever my friends have get togethers, this is what they ask me to bring. It's one of the easiest things you can make. And, as the name suggests, once you start eating it, you can't stop! 

Ingredients:

2 blocks cream cheese, room temperature

16 oz. sour cream

1 taco seasoning packet

½ cup salsa

Couple dashes of hot sauce

2 cups shredded Colby Jack or Mexican cheese

In a medium size Tupperware bowl, combine all ingredients except for the cheese with a hand mixer.  Stir in cheese.  Refrigerate for an hour or two so that flavors combine.  I usually make mine up a day ahead of time. 

Serve with tortilla chips!

Rather than doing this in a bowl, feel free to spread out in a pan and top with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, olives, etc. 

Lyndee's Lazy Day Tacos

I walked to the kitchen about 15 times yesterday, hoping each time I opened the fridge door that some food would’ve magically appeared. I was feeling so lazy I didn’t even want to go out and pick up food at a restaurant.  A friend suggested that tacos make everything better and I couldn’t disagree with that logic at all.  I whipped these up and I was not disappointed! They took little effort and totally hit the spot. 

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef, browned

1 small onion

1 tbsp. minced garlic

Hot sauce

Salt and pepper

3 tbsp. taco seasoning

¾ cup water

Small flour tortillas

Toppings

Shredded cheese

Feta cheese

Green onions

Salsa or pico

Cilantro

Brown ground beef with chopped onion, minced garlic, a few dashes of hot sauce and salt and pepper.  Drain. Add the taco seasoning and ¾ cup of water.  Stir and let simmer for 5-10 minutes. 

Spray small pan with cooking spray and cook tortilla a few minutes on each side to warm. You can also throw tortillas in the microwave for 15 seconds too.

Garnish with the cheese and toppings of your choice! I like shredded Colby jack, feta cheese, green onion, cilantro and salsa.  But feel free to add olives, sour cream, tomatoes or anything else that floats your boat. 

Hot chicken queso dip

Ingredients:

1 block (32 oz) of velveeta cheese.

1 package (8 oz) of cream cheese.

1 can (10 oz) of rotel.

1 can (10.75 oz) cream of chicken soup

1 pound of shredded chicken

2 Tbsp hot sauce

¼ cup salsa

In a crock pot, pour the cream cheese and add in the velveeta cheese after you cut it into cubes. Stir in all ingredients and cook on low for an hour.

**You can substitute the chicken for ground beef or sausage and the cream of chicken with cream of mushroom.

This was ooey gooey cheesy goodness.  Personally, next time I would add a little more hot sauce or use hot instead of mild rotel but I like things spicy.  

Crockpot Sausage Jalapeno Popper Dip

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground Italian sausage (or regular pork or whatever appeals to you)

8 oz. package cream cheese, softened

1 C. shredded cheddar cheese

1 lb. jalapenos, seeded and diced

1 green onion, finely chopped

16 oz. sour cream

1/2 C. mayo

2 tbsp. minced garlic

1 tbsp. hot sauce  

Brown sausage and minced garlic. Drain.  Mix all ingredients together and dump into crockpot.  Cook on high for one hour.  Serve warm with ritz crackers or tortilla chips.  We also discovered this is great on top of a freshly grilled burger!  

Bacon Corn Jalapeno Dip

Ingredients

1 package cream cheese, softened

8 oz (1 cup) sour cream

1/4 cup mayonnaise

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 can corn, drained and dried

1 package bacon, cooked and drained

2-3 jalapenos, diced

1-2 tbsp hot sauce

Cook and drain bacon, set aside to cool. Stir together cream cheese, mayonnaise, and sour cream. Add in the diced garlic and jalapenos, then the drained corn. Chop or tear the bacon into small strips and stir into the dip. Add hot sauce. Chill for at least an hour and serve with chips, crackers, or raw veggies. 

Made this for a bonfire Thursday night and it was gone before some people even got to try it! I’d say it was a hit. 

Baked grilled cheese and Chili Bar

I hosted a dinner party for friends the other night.  Eight of them to be exact. I made a huge batch of chili and all the fixings.  Where I grew up, you accompany your chili with a cinnamon roll or grilled cheese.  I know, some of you say, what? Where's the cornbread? I'm from the North, that's just how we roll. I didn't want to waste precious wine drinking time at the stove cooking one or two grilled cheese at a time.  I found a few recipes online that said you can make them in the oven. I've heard this rumor before but never had a reason to try it.  This was the night. There are different variations of how to do it but I chose the simplest one.

Grilled Cheese in the oven
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Butter one side of 6 pieces of bread and place butter side down on a baking sheet.  Top with a slice of cheese of your choice.  Butter 6 more slices of bread and lay on top of the cheese, butter side up.  Sprinkle with salt.  Bake for 6-8 minutes or until bottoms are golden brown.  Flip and bake 6-8 more minutes.  Keep in mind the tops won't be brown, it cooks from the bottom!

The sandwiches turned out great! I cut in diagonals and we dipped away!

For the chili I used my usual recipe found here but doubled it to feed the crowd.  I threw it in the crockpot before I went to work in the morning so it was really easy prep pre-party.

For the Build Your Own Chili Bar I had the following for people to enjoy:
shredded cheese
green onion
jalapenos
sour cream
cinnamon rolls
french bread
grilled cheese
saltine crackers
ritz crackers
tortilla chips
butter
hot sauce

Success!!! 

Tangy Chicken Tenders

Ingredients:

2 pounds boneless, skinless, chicken breast, sliced into tenders

½ cup bbq sauce (I used Jack Daniels Spicy)

1 tbsp. Franks Red Hot sauce

½ an onion, diced

¼ cup minced garlic

¼ cup brown sugar

A few dashes of Cajun seasoning and/or hickory smoke salt

Place all ingredients in a plastic bag and make sure all chicken pieces are coated.  Refrigerate for 2 hours so that flavors can meld together.  Grill over medium heat until chicken is done and juices run clear.  If it’s not grilling season, bake in oven for 25 minutes at 350. 

These are great as is but I love to make slider sandwiches with them! All you need to do is cover with a piece of pepper jack cheese and serve on a sweet Hawaiian roll.  Yum!

Buffalo chicken bread

Ever wonder what to do with leftover buffalo wings? I know, as if that happens very often! But it happened to me this week and rather than eat them plain or throw them away, I came up with this delicious concoction. 

Ingredients:

2 pieces garlic bread/texas toast (I use the frozen kind that already has butter and seasonings on it)

Buffalo wings

Ranch

Hot sauce

Green onions

Shredded cheese

Sprinkle bread with some garlic.  Pull the chicken off the bone and shred.  Drizzle bread with ranch dressing and hot sauce.  Top with chicken, shredded cheese and green onions.  Bake at 350 until the cheese is melty and golden brown.  Or if you have a pizazz, use that! Quick and easy no stress dinner.