Showing posts with label appetizers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label appetizers. Show all posts

June 23, 2011

Pico de Gallo and Guacamole


I told you I had a few things that I would throw at you before I move. Guacamole has to be one of the most frequently requested recipes that I make. I have posted a guacamole recipe or two, but I have never put this simple, fresh, limey, and I guess I could also say traditional guacamole to the page. There is a catch.....you can't make guacamole with out first making pico de gallo. Did I hear someone say "yes you can"? Well, whatever...this momma say, "you can't". Not if you want yourself some really good guacamole. And hey a little pico on the side never hurt anyone did it?


Get out your best choppin' up knife, a cutting board, and get prepared to chop.




It's best for the chip and for distribution of the flavors if you are careful to chop all your vegetables small. Not chunky. Small. Not minced. Just small...itsy bitsy.




Same for the tomatoes. First cut in half.




Then slice through again lengthwise, then slice into thin strips, all the while keeping the tomato together. This takes a sharp knife. Dull knifes are the DEVIL. Then slice the tomato through again crosswise and there you have it perfect, itsy bitsy diced tomaters!





Traditionally pico de gallo or fresh salsa is simply tomatoes, onions, jalapeno, cilantro and lime, but I have this love affair with red bell peppers that I cannot shake. I love him. Red Bell pepper come to momma....I know I'm playing with fire. Let's let this be our secret. I'm going to use just half of him this time. Slice in half, remove the white foamy membrane and seeds, cut in long thin strips and then cut again crosswise for those itsy bitsy pepper pieces.





Now for the hot one. Jalapeno. I use one whole jalapeno pepper, if you like less heat only use a half, if you like more heat then bring it on brother, use more!

Chop off the stem.

You may want to wear plastic gloves while working with jalapenos or any pepper with heat. If you choose not to wear some sort of cooking glove, then I suggested not rubbing your eyes or picking your nose at any time during or after the jalapeno chopping process. I would actually suggest that you refrain from nose picking entirely while cooking, but that's just my opinion. (I've got a funny booger recipe that I will have to share with you sometime...now is not the time, but I promise someday I will share.)




Slice in half, revealing the seeds.




Using your sharp knife, run the tip of the knife underneath the seeds. Removing them and the white membrane in one quick slice.




Voila!





Now for the mincing. Slice pepper into very thin strips, then take knife and chop like a maniac. Chop, chop, chop, chop don't stop until you have very tiny micro bits of jalapeno pepper.





You will need some of this. Morton Nature's Seasoning is my favorite seasoning....I think I've said that before. I use it everyday. It's a perfect salty seasoning blend. Get yourself some.




As you chop your vegetables place them in a bowl, sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of the seasoning salt.





The most tedious task of this whole recipe, for me anyway, is the cleaning and de-stemming of the cilantro. Run your Cilantro through a salad spinner, getting it nice and clean. Or if you don't have one of those doo-hickeys then run cilantro under cold water and lay out on paper towels to dry. Remove leaves from stems. You will need a good handful or approximately 1/3 cup cilantro, roughly chopped.


Let it get all cozy with the other ingredients, give the cilantro a toss.




That looks fabulous, does it not??? But there is one more ingredient that is not to be forgotten.

THE LIME.




Roll, roll, roll your lime...gently on the table...give it a squish with your palm, and cut through the.....




meeeedle.




Ah the songs of my youth! Seriously if you roll the lime along the counter with some pressure, it will loosen the juices on the inside and make it easer to juice. If you have a juicer well then great, if not you can join me in my fork juicing method.

Fork juicing method 101: After rolling, and cutting in half, hold one half of the citrus in the palm of your less dominant hand, ram the fork into the middle of the citrus....



Squeeze hard while twisting the fork. Squeeze, twist....squeeze, twist....the juice will run flow freely from the citrus. It's marvelously simple.




Toss the chopped vegetables with the lime juice. Take tortilla chip in a pincer grip, scoop some pico on the chip, and enjoy!

Oh but wait....now you need to make Guacamole! Have you ever heard this song? It makes me giggle.



Look at that. It takes my breath away. The color. I really need to paint a room in my house this color. I'll get right on that one...NOT. I hate to paint walls. I leave that up to the professionals.



Slice avocado in half. Whack your very sharp knife into the pit, and give a tiny twist to remove.





Now cut vertically and horizontally, like so, using the tip of your knife, with out cutting through the skin.




If you are civilized you can take a spoon and gracefully scoop out the flesh of the avocado, or if you are sufficiently uncivilized like myself you can give the avocado half a squeeze and squish it's innards out into a bowl.




Repeat the roll, roll, roll of the lime. Squeeze one entire lime into the avocados. I think that more lime is better, so feel free to add another half of a lime, or more. Always taste as you go. As they say the proof is in the puddin' or in this case the quac.




Mash the lime into the avocados with the back of a fork.




Add 1 cup of the pico de gallo that you just made.





Give it a stir. There you have it heaven in a bowl.

Pico de Gallo & Guacamole

Pico
4 Roma Tomatoes, diced
1 medium sweet Onion, diced
1/2 Red Bell Pepper, diced
1 Jalapeno Pepper, minced
1 hand full fresh Cilantro leaves rough chopped, or 1/3 cup chopped
1 teaspoon Mortons Nature's Seasoning Salt
1 Lime, juiced

Guac
4 ripe Avacodos
1 Lime, juiced
1 cup Pico de Gallo





What's the saying? "It ain't over till the fat lady sings." No that's not it. "All is fair in love an war." "A monkey in silk is a monkey no less." "Great minds think alike." No that's not it either. Hmmm..."what's good for the goose is good for the gander". OO OO OO I got it....

"It's not a party with out some GuacaMoleee, bay-beh."!

Alls well that ends well,

post signature

April 19, 2011

Cheesy Roasted Potatoes

Here is a quick side that will knock your socks off! We love Cheesy Potatoe Skins around here. But this mom, does not love to make them. Too many steps, there's so much time invested in making them and they're devoured in a blink of an eye! So I came up with these tasty morsels. No scooping and rebaking, I use the whole potato, so I don't have "potato waste guilt".

Here's what you will need to start:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.


Cheesy Roasted Potatoes
3-4 pounds of Red Skinned or Idaho Potatoes, washed and cut into bite sided pieces
1/4 pound of Bacon + grease
Morton's Natures Seasoning Salt
2 tablespoons of Butter
2 tablespoons of Olive Oil
2 cups shredded Cheddar Cheese
4 green onions sliced
Sour Cream



Place potato pieces on a baking sheet, drizzle melted butter and olive oil over potatoes, sprinkle generously with Morten's Natures Seasoning Salt. Spead evenly on pan, place in preheated oven. Bake for 25 minutes, occasionally giving potatoes a flip so all sides are baked evenly.




While potatoes are baking, fry up your bacon, and reserve the bacon fat. Chop bacon into little bits.

As you can see I fried up a bit more than 1/4 lb. Hey, a girl needs a snack now and then, and then there is the subject of her pesky kiddos always begging for bacon......




Some where in the middle of baking your potatoes, take them out of the oven and drizzle some of this bacon fat over them, give them a toss with a spatula or you can just give the pan a violent jiggle...if you feel confident doing that sort of potato jiggling.



Continue to bake potatoes until they are nice and brown and crispy.



Now for the good stuff.



Crowd potatoes together on pan, sprinkle shredded cheddar cheese generously over roasted potatoes.



Spread bacon on top of cheese, pop pan back in the oven until cheese is melted and bubbling. Sprinkle with sliced green onions and serve with sour cream on the side.

Stand back because the vultures are going to descend upon you. Cheesy Roasted Potatoes make an easy appetizer. Or they are fantastic served with Barbecue Ribs, or Grilled Hamburgers.....



They can be paired with any number of main dishes. Recently when we had some friends over I served Cheesy Roasted Potatoes with Pulled Pork Sandwiches and Cole Slaw. It was a hit!

I hope you enjoy!

post signature

February 01, 2011

a Storm, and TWO lists


Apparently thars a winter storm heading our way. Or the way of half of America, from the sounds of it. I rarely watch the weather, or the news. It's all so down right depressing. The news that is.

The weather is just plain unpredictable. It's the "lake effect" thing here in Michigan. The weather just goes and does crazy things when it comes across that big ol' fresh water pond out there. So, yeah....like I was sayin' I usually don't bother worrying about the weather.

I think everybody else was doing enough worrying for the both of us. Jeepers Creepers you would have thought it was the return of the Storm from 1978....anyone else remember that storm? That fuzzy picture up there is me standing on a snowdrift on our road. I was wearing the latest fashions in navy and yellow snowmobile suits, accompanied by hand me down boots from my uncle.

It was certifiably a mad house in Meijers yesterday. Everybody and their brother were out, grabbing stuff, filling their carts.


While I was in the store I got to thinking that this coming Sunday is Super Bowl and what if we are snowed in and can't get out to get groceries until after Super Bowl Sunday. Well then I needed to start thinking about what we might be eating on Sunday....even though it was only Monday!

See this is why I avoid the weather and the news because I tend to blow things out of proportion and I would be stocking up for 2012's game day, if I let my mind do it's own thing!

I hadn't really planned on sharing a list of my favorite appetizers this week. Since it's suppose to be my week of Valentines Day inspired food....but hey life happens. And this is my blog and I can deviate from my plan....right?

Here are a few of my easy, crowd pleasing appetizers, and a couple of my favorites from another site I happen to use alot.

LIST #1 Super Bowl APPETIZERS






















































Next week if you haven't heard I have a WHOLE week of fantabulous GIVEAWAYS lined up. I am SO excited!

You have no idea. I am so excited I could hug somebody until their head popped off!!! Is that bad? Weird? Freaky.....OK forget I said that just know I am super excited to be giving away the following:

LIST #2 Stuff I'm GIVING AWAY!

1. Something you might hang on your wall and something you wear while cooking. Both being in the theme of my favorite morning beverage.

2. Gold, Silver, Hip, Hot and super fun to wear.

3. The Greatest Love store every told...in the form of a book.

4. Having troubles to inviting your friends over for Super Bowl Sunday...well I think you might need this THING.

5. 12 delights that will make you say, " OOhh-my-my I think I might die".


Did you really think I was going to let the cat out of the bag on my GIVEAWAYS next week?

What do think I am a blabber mouth, a spoil sport, a party stomper?

I gave you some pretty good hints...if you know me or have been reading for a while you will probably guess them all.

OK ladies and gents...that's all I got. I would love to know what you are fixing for Super Bowl Sunday. Feel free to link a recipe in the comments.

Remember it's nice to share!

Now I am going to tame the wild Indians in my home. They are staging a SNOW DAY revolt!

Help Meh!

post signature