Dip Baby Dips

And... we're back.  Sort of.  Amy and I have been severely MIA lately.  It's summer.  Who wouldn't rather be out in the fresh summer air sipping wine on patios and enjoying dinner on decks?  In fact, dinner what?  The summer heat has me craving things like fresh vegetables and fruits... snacking items really.  In fact, I have lost about five pounds since summer started. 

 

YAHOO!  for swim suit season!

 

I also started a new job about four weeks ago, which has me working 50+ hours a week.  I landed a Chief of Staff to the CEO type role at a small start up and couldn't be happier.  It's exactly what I was looking for and the role has turned into so much more than I expected.  Career Kelley has arrived!  Which between my new job, my workout schedule, my girlfriends and my man candy, there isn't much time to be had in the kitchen.

 

I made these delish dips for a Memorial Day BBQ at my beau's.  They are amazing.  If you have to make one, make the corn salsa and eat it for lunch and dinner.  It's awesome. 

 

 

First up:  Chickpea and red pepper salsa: (from Real Simple)

• 1 15 ounce can of chickpeas, rinsed and roughly chopped
• 4 scallions
• 1 cup arugula, chopped
• 2 jarred roasted red peppers, chopped (about 1/4 cup)
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 2 tbsp EVOO
• salt and pepper to taste

mix all ingredients together.  Serve with pita chips

 

Homemade Hummus, created by me:

• 1 15 ounce can of chickpeas
• 1/4 cup of cilantro
• 1 tbsp EVOO
• 1/8 cup of fresh lemon juice

puree all ingredients in a food processor, blend until mostly smooth

 

Roasted Red Pepper Salsa (as adapted from Tasty Kitchen)

1-½ whole Large Red Bell Peppers

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

12 whole Green Onions

1 can (about 3 Oz. Can) Chopped Black Olives

⅓ cups Parmesan Cheese

4-½ Tablespoons Lime Juice

3 Tablespoons Fresh Cilantro, Chopped

½ teaspoons Salt

¼ teaspoons Ground Black Pepper

Mix all ingredients together. 

 

 

Corn and Red Pepper Relish (as adapted from Tasty Kitchen):

2 ears Corn, Kernels Removed (or frozen corn, defrosted)

1 whole Red Pepper, Very Finely Diced

¼ cups Red Onion, Finely Diced

1 Tablespoon Minced Cilantro

2 Tablespoons Cider Vinegar

2 Tablespoons Turbinado Sugar

2 dashes Hot Pepper Sauce

Salt To Taste

 

mix ingredients together and enjoy. 

 

Super Bowl Appetizers

I know that these recipes are less exciting since the Super Bowl occurred three weeks ago, but these appetizers would still be awesome at any future function. I was a huge fan of both of these appetizers.

This Spicy Buffalo Chicken Balls appetizer is from a Martha Stewart recipe. I absolutely LOVED this recipe, and I'll be making these again in the future. They were spicy but the spice wasn't overwhelming.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
3/4 cup hot sauce
2 lb ground chicken (I had trouble finding this. Not all grocery stores carry ground chicken.)
1 cup chopped celery
1 2/3 cup breadcrumbs
2 eggs
2 teaspoons coarse salt
Blue cheese (as a dipping sauce)

Preheat the oven to 450, and grease a pan.

On low heat, add the hot sauce and butter to a saucepan. Heat and whisk this mixture until well blended.
Then, cool this mixture until room temperature. Now add the ground chicken, celery, breadcrumbs and eggs. Toss in a couple teaspoons of salt.

Now start forming the balls- just like you make beef meatballs. Place the balls on an oiled baking sheet. You want the balls to be touching on all sides. Cook for 15 minutes at 450. I pulled out my thermometer after the 15 minutes to make sure that the chicken was at a safe temperature. I get nervous about chicken. Let the balls cool for 5 minutes and then toss and coat the chicken balls with hot sauce. Blue cheese dressing can be used for dipping.I forgot to bring blue cheese dressing to my Super Bowl party, and they were just fine without the dressing. I served the chicken balls in a crock pot on warm. They are much better when served warm.

I also made Bacon and Cheese Wrapped Tater Tots with Hot Sauce. I found the recipe here. I substituted the Tobasco for some Frank's RedHot. They were super easy to make.

They were a hit. Obviously anything with bacon is awesome. I also served these in a crock pot.

Super Easy Lettuce Wraps

This is my go-to recipe for a healthy appetizer or snack. I'm currently participating in the Biggest Loser Minnesota Challenge. I'll be snacking on these lettuce wraps multiple times between now and April 15th (the end of this particular challenge).

Ingredients:
1 green bell pepper
1 cup of a white or yellow onion
1 lb lean ground turkey
5 oz of Thai peanut sauce (San-J is highly recommended)
A head of lettuce

Other than the peanut sauce and lettuce, I have the other ingredients in my freezer at all times. Part of me is proud of this, and part of me worries that I'm becoming a food hoarder.

Start by chopping the onion and green pepper.


Saute them on medium heat with a little oil. When the onion starts to get a little brown, add in the ground turkey. Brown the turkey and fold in the onion and pepper.
Add in the peanut sauce and turn the heat to low. Let these ingredients simmer for 5 minutes. If you are using an iron skillet, remove it from the heat.

If you like spicy food, toss in a couple dashes of hot sauce into the meat mixture and stir.

Fill each piece of lettuce with a big spoonful of this mixture and serve! It's really delicious and simple. I think you'll be pleased... Folded like a taco:

My first attempt at making hummus!

Do you have any vegetarian friends? I've noticed lately that most of my appetizer recipes are not vegetarian friendly. I decided to try making hummus for the first time. I'm glad that I made it because I quickly learned that it's one of the cheapest and easiest appetizers on earth! Also, I was able to add an ingredient to my repertoire: chickpeas. There are many synonyms for chickpeas -- garbanzo beans, Indian peas, Bengal gram, & ceci beans.

I encourage you to stop by How Sweet It Is. She has great food photos. That is where I found this super easy Peanut Butter Hummus recipe. It's the perfect introduction to making hummus.

(Don't zoom in on the PB. It expired in Nov. Whoops!)

Ingredients as listed on How Sweet It Is:
15 oz. can of chickpeas
2 tablespoons of peanut butter
1/4 cup of olive oil
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika (plus some for garnish, optional)

Drain and rinse the chickpeas. Toss them into a food processor or blender. Ground until you can ground no more. Mine never got as fine as I would have liked, but later on in the process, it became smooth. Have I mentioned that I loved having a food processor? It truly changed my life. Add the peanut butter, mix, and then slowly add a stream of olive oil as you are running the food processor or blender. Mix until it looks creamy. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix one more time.

Hummus should be served cool. I popped mine in the fridge for a bit. I served my hummus with bagel chips and carrots. I had some cilantro purchased for another dish; I used that as a garnish. Do you like cilantro? Or are you one of those people who think that cilantro tastes like soap? I need you to read this - NPR: Getting to the Root of the Great Cilantro Divide.

I'm looking forward to making more hummus recipes in the future.

Are you interested in going meatless for one day a week? Read here.

Want to make more vegetarian dishes? Click here.

Black Bean Salmon Tostadas

The holiday celebrations are behind us and like many other people, I tried not to gain 15 pounds this season.  It's hard, with the Winter Warmer beers and the turkey and the pumpkin everything and sweets are far as the eye can see.  So while I am not out making merriment with my friends, it's nice to have a nice light meal at home.  Something fresh tasting, healthy, yet filling and satisfying.  I came across the following recipe from Eating Well and decided to give it a shot.

Black Bean and Salmon Tostadas from EatingWell:

• 8 6-inch corn tortillas
• Canola oil cooking spray
• 1 6- to 7-ounce can boneless, skinless wild Alaskan salmon, drained
• 1 avocado, diced
• 2 tablespoons minced pickled jalapeños, plus 2 tablespoons pickling juice from the jar, divided
• 2 cups coleslaw mix (see Tip) or shredded cabbage
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
• 1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed
• 3 tablespoons reduced-fat sour cream
• 2 tablespoons prepared salsa
• 2 scallions, chopped
• Lime wedges (optional)

Preheat your oven to 375 and line your tortillas on a cookie or baking sheet.  Spray each side with baking spray (like Pam) and sprinkle with sea salt.  Toss into the oven and bake until crisp - flipping halfway through.  These will be chip-like when they are done.  

Process black beans, salsa, sour cream and scallions in a food processor until mostly smooth.  Transfer to a bowl and microwave on  high until warm.  It doesn't look pretty, but trust me.   Actually, it looks really gross, but go with it.

In another bowl, combine avocado, salmon, jalapeño.  Regarding the canned salmon, I put my faith in the recipe and gave it a try.  It certainly wasn't bad, but I thought the salmon was more tuna-like than salmon-like. I might omit it all together next time, or use real flaked salmon.

And finally, mix cabbage, cilantro and juice from the jalapeños in a bowl.

At this point, I started to get nervous.  This was quite the random assortment of ingredients and I wasn't quite imagining how they would come together.  I promised my dinner guest that if this turned out gross that we would be heading out onto the Hill for dinner.

From here it gets easy.  I'll let the pictures do the talking:

And in the end, I had nothing to worry about this.  These were phenomenal.  Light, healthy, very flavorful.  I topped each of them with some freshly squeezed lime juice and then I wolfed them down in about six seconds.  The End.

Hot Artichoke-Spinach Dip

I love spinach and artichoke dip. You'll see it as an appetizer at many chains. I think I first fell in love with it when the BF and I used to go to late night happy hour at Applebees after my grad school night classes finished. I think we went there because the beers were only $2.
I used a recipe from the Food Network.

Kosher salt
10 oz bag baby spinach
1 cup packed fresh basil
1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
3/4 cup canned cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
6 oz Neufchatel cream cheese
1 clove garlic, smashed
14 oz can artichoke hearts, drained, squeezed dry and finely chopped
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
3/4 cup shredded low-fat mozzarella cheese
cayenne pepper
2 or 3 dashes Worcestershire sauce
black pepper
Cooking spray

Preheat the oven to 450.

The first step is to boil water + Kosher salt. Toss in the spinach and basil after the water boils. Don't keep it in there for very long because next you'll have to drain and squeeze dry the spinach/basil. I HATE doing this. It's such a pain. It seems like the spinach is never dry enough. Then, roughly chop the spinach/basil. Set aside to work on the next step. Put the chicken broth, beans, cream cheese, and garlic into a food processor.
Puree and then fold the ingredients in with the artichoke pieces and the spinach/basil. Mix in 1/2 cup of the mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, a pinch of cayenne pepper, and black pepper. Transfer to a casserole dish that you have sprayed with cooking spray. Top with the rest of the mozzarella cheese. Cook for 20-25 minutes. Serve with chips or crackers.

I was really rushed to have this dip ready for guests, and I forgot to take a photo of the finished dip. I managed to get this photo after most of the dip was gobbled up. This photo is evidence that the dip was a success!

Roasted Pumpkin Apple Soup

Like I said, I have been on a Fall kick lately.... tis the season for all things pumpkin, apple, re-introduction to red wine and bright, vibrant colors.  So when I came across this Roasted Pumpkin Apple Soup recipe from Eating Well, I thought I hit gold.

But in the end, it wasn't so much gold as it was sh*tty runner's up ribbon:



woh wohhhhhhh

It's not like it was inedible... it just didn't live up to these grand expectations that I had had for it.  I'll share it with you because no two taste preferences are the same and maybe this soup will excite the pants off you.

Roasted Pumpkin Apple Soup

• 4 pounds pie pumpkin or butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 2-inch chunks (see Tip)
• 4 large sweet-tart apples, such as Empire, Cameo or Braeburn, unpeeled, cored and cut into eighths
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
• 6 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth
• 1/3 cup chopped hazelnuts, toasted (see Tip)
• 2 tablespoons hazelnut oil

I used butternut squash instead of pumpkin because I love butternut squash.  (At least in ravioli's and doused in butter I do.)  I also skipped the hazelnuts/oil because they are expensive and I didn't spot them in the nut aisle in the first five seconds and I lost patience.  I imagine there might have been more depth to the soup had I brought in this much needed nutty flavor.  

Step 1:  Chop up all the pumpkin or squash and apples into chunks.  This was time consuming and I really had to put some back into it.  I think I got a solid gun workout with my butternut chopping. 

Step 2: Toss both with EVOO, salt and pepper and layer on a baking pan.  Roast at 450 for about 30 minutes.

Step 3:  After 30, mix in sage and roast for another 20 or so until softened and semi mushy.

Step 4:  In smaller batches - take pumpkin/apple mush and blend in a blender with 2 cups of broth.  I did three different batches.  Transfer all to a saucepan and warm thoroughly for six to ten minutes.

Step 5: Chop nuts and sprinkle on top. 

Easy right?  Here's what it should have come out looking like:

EatingWell.com

 So much potential right?  Here's how mine ended up looking:

Taken courtesy of iPhone.

Sort of looks like Baby Food huh?  I added some shaved Parmesan to mine, hoping it might enhance it.  It didn't. 

Now that I have thoroughly inspired you - get into the kitchen and make your own!  :)


What might I have done to jazz this bad boy up a bit?

Buffalo Chicken Dip

This is my go-to appetizer.

I usually have these ingredients in my refrigerator, and my guests always love it. You could make this recipe spicier by adding more hot sauce and some crushed red pepper. Obviously you can make it less spicy by using less hot sauce.

Ingredients:
2 cups of cooked, cubed chicken breast
8 oz of cream cheese (softened)
1/2 cup of blue cheese dressing
1/2 cup of hot sauce (I always use Frank's)
2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese


I always use Philadelphia cream cheese. I have dabbled with generic brands and reduced fat options, and I have always been able to taste a difference. Also, they don't seem to blend as well. I hate when my cream cheese isn't well blended.

I have made this recipe many times, and I have used many different options for the chicken. I have used baked, fried on the stove, and even canned. I prefer not to use canned chicken, but if I am in a time crunch, I definitely use it. I cooked the chicken on the stove this time because I didn't have a lot of time, and I didn't have any canned chicken.
Prepare yourself for the easiness?! Combine all of the ingredients and mix well. If the cream cheese isn't blending well, I sometimes get out the hand mixer. Cook for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

This is the finished texture. No photo could do this dip justice. Let it cool for about 10 minutes. I usually put this dip in a mini crock pot. This dip should be served warm. Serve with chips, crackers, or celery sticks.