A New Chef in the Kitchen: Sausage Stuffed Jalapeños

My brother-in-law has been in my life for over half of it. He and my sister have been together for that long, and thinking about that statistic is wonderful, but it also reminds me of how old I am! He’s never been one to join in on the cooking marathons my mom, sister, and I have together, although he’s dabbled in some adventurous cooking, like brewing his own beer and making bacon.

When we gathered last weekend for my mom’s birthday, he showed up with his own contribution to our spread. He made stuffed jalapeños for the first time. While I couldn’t try them myself, the entire batch was devoured by three adults before dinner was ready. He didn’t have any parmesan cheese, and substituted with cheddar (his favorite cheese) instead. I think that I could try making these myself by substituting some sautéed veggies for the sausage. I'm looking forward to seeing what he comes up with next time!

I would like to give a shout out to my friend, Sunny. She and her twins have made it to 37 weeks - full term - with the past couple months spent on bed rest. She is a total rock star, and her mom is an angel for flying across the country to spend the past couple months with her, looking after her 2-year-old son.

Sausage Stuffed Jalapeños
(From AllRecipes)
Ingredients
1 pound ground pork sausage
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese (Kate's brother-in-law used cheddar cheese)
1 pound large fresh jalapeño peppers, halved lengthwise and seeded
1 (8 ounce) bottle Ranch dressing (optional)

Directions
Preheat oven to 425°F.

Place sausage in a skillet over medium heat, and cook until evenly brown. Drain grease.
In a bowl, mix the sausage, cream cheese, and Parmesan cheese. Spoon about 1 tablespoon sausage mixture into each jalapeño half. Arrange stuffed halves in baking dishes.

Bake 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until bubbly and lightly browned. Serve with Ranch dressing, if desired.

Crab Cocktail: Kate's Layered Crab Dip

This recipe is a fun take on shrimp cocktail, and it is much easier. Instead of peeling, deveining, and poaching shrimp, you are simply layering crabmeat. And instead of your guests having to deal with discarding shrimp tails somewhere, they scoop this up with a cracker. It’s a fun hors d'oeuvre for the holidays because of the colors. I like to add cilantro because it adds freshness and a beautiful bright green color that makes it very eye-pleasing.

Kate’s Layered Crab Dip
Ingredients
8 ounces low-fat cream cheese, softened
6-8 ounces lump crab meat
1 (12 oz.) bottle of cocktail sauce
¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
Assorted crackers

Directions
Drain crab meat in a colander and rinse with water. Pat dry with a paper towel.

Spread cream cheese over serving platter. Top with crab meat. Top with cocktail sauce and sprinkle with cilantro. Serve immediately with assorted crackers, such as Water Crackers.

Sister's Spinach Dip: Spinach and Artichoke Dip

Happy New Year! I hope that you had an exciting New Year’s Eve, and a peaceful start to your new year. I am excited to see what 2010 will bring!

New Year’s Eve is a holiday that I have mixed feelings about. It holds a special place in my heart, as my husband proposed to me on New Year’s Eve eight years ago. Some years I feel like getting dressing up in a little black dress and attending (or hosting) a fabulous party, while other years I prefer sitting on my couch in my pajamas. This year we found a happy medium.

My sister hosted us and another couple (who are such good friends we consider them to be family) at her house. We set out a couple appetizers and played with her young kids. After we put them to bed, we dined on a lovely meal (she made surf ‘n’ turf with beef tenderloin and shrimp) followed by chocolate fondu. We wore comfy clothes and lounged around until the ball dropped.

The day before New Year’s Eve, my sister and I divided up a list of grocery items. She would be visiting a specialty grocery store to purchase the meat, seafood, and wine, while I was planning to go to a basic grocery store for everyday items. My sister was planning on making her go-to spinach dip, but as it was necessary for me to pick up practically all of her ingredients during my grocery run, she suggested that I just make it instead.

Spinach dip seams to be a well-loved appetizer in whatever form it may come in. I have many good memories with high school friends picking up a pre-made container from the grocery deli section and eating it with a loaf of Hawaiian bread. My sister’s version is from Cooking Light and is best when served bubbling hot with tortilla chips.

Spinach and Artichoke Dip
(Adapted from Cooking Light, September, 2007)
Ingredients
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
½ cup fat-free sour cream
¼ cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese, divided
¼ teaspoon black pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 (14-ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 (8-ounce) block 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
1 (8-ounce) block fat-free cream cheese, softened
1 (12-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed dry
1 (13.5-ounce) package baked tortilla chips (about 16 cups)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350° F.

Combine 1 ½ cups mozzarella, sour cream, 2 tablespoons Parmesan, and next 6 ingredients (through spinach) in a large bowl; stir until well blended. Spoon mixture into a 1 ½-quart baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining ½ cup mozzarella and remaining 2 tablespoons Parmesan.

Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown. Serve with tortilla chips.

She Does it Again: Garlic-Onion Cheese Spread

When my sister assigned me to bring hors d'oeuvres to my niece’s 1st birthday party, I contacted my friend Christina to see if she had any new recipes I could try. She definitely came through and gave me a wonderful assortment to choose from. One of her recommendations was a cheese spread that she described as simple but delicious. I looked over the ingredients and found it to be an interesting combination – bacon, apricot, and garlic all in one dip? Christina has a very trustworthy palate and added this recipe to my list (praying that it would turn out somewhat yellow for the “Brown Bear” theme).

The recipe calls for bacon, and I substituted with soy bacon (aka “Fakin’”). This was a huge hit! The party guests loved it, and no one could quite pin-point all of the ingredients! Another winner from Christina, and one that will be added to my hors d'oeuvre repertoire.

Garlic-Onion Cheese Spread
Ingredients
2 packages cream cheese, softened
2-3 Tablespoons apricot preserves
3 green onions, chopped
3 Tablespoons cooked bacon (or soy bacon), crumbled
½ to 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
Dash freshly ground black pepper
Serve with assorted crackers

Directions
In small mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and preserves until blended. Stir in onions, back, garlic, and pepper. Refrigerate until serving. Serve with crackers.

Halloween Treat: Frosted Pumpkin Cake

In honor of my husband’s favorite holiday, and for everyone who is looking for a festive Halloween treat, I decided to bake something with pumpkin. My latest issue of Cooking Light included a recipe for pumpkin cake with a cream cheese frosting. My favorite pumpkin treat will be posted later in November, but I do love the combination of a cream cheese frosting with pumpkin.

I had my Kitchen Aid stand mixer out ready to go when I realized that I had less brown sugar than I thought I did. I only had one-half of a cup of brown sugar, and was in need of the other half to make this recipe. Instead of making friends with a neighbor, I drove the 20+ miles (one-way) to my sister’s house to get ½ cup of brown sugar. (Okay, I also really wanted to borrow a dress from her, and my excursion lent it’s way to a little playtime with my equally adorable nephew and niece.)

A while later, I was back in my kitchen with my ½ cup of brown sugar in a plastic baggy and I was ready to bake cake! My cake batter seemed really thick. It was difficult to spread out in the pan, so you can either take your time and really work at smoothing it out, or just let it bake unevenly (which I’ll shamelessly admit that I did). While it was baking I wondered if I’d need to do it over with less flour, but it turned out very dense and moist.

I decorated the cake with some Halloween candies. While I did this recipe in celebration of Halloween, it would also work for Thanksgiving. You could garnish with some chopped pecans (or even toss some pecans in the batter for a little crunch).


Frosted Pumpkin Cake
(From Cooking Light; November, 2009)
Ingredients
Cake:
* 10.1 ounces all-purpose flour (about 2 ¼ cups)
* 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
* 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* ¼ teaspoon salt
* 1 cup packed brown sugar
* ½ cup butter, softened
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin puree
Cooking spray

Frosting:
* 2 tablespoons butter, softened
* ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
* 1 (8-ounce) package 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
*2 cups powdered sugar

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F.

To prepare cake, weight or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk.

Combine brown sugar, ¼ cup butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well combined. Add eggs, 1 at a time, to sugar mixture; beat well after each addition. Add pumpkin; mix well. Fold in flour mixture. Spread batter into a 13 x 9-inch baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350°F for 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely in a pan on a wire rack.

To prepare the frosting, combine 2 tablespoons butter, ½ teaspoon vanilla, and cream cheese in a medium bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until combined. Gradually add the powdered sugar, beating until well combined. Spread frosting evenly over top of cake.