Dill Dip

I got a Kindle for Jeff for Christmas this year. He spends a disproportionate amount of his time in motel rooms waiting to get called back to work. And he reads like nothing you have ever seen. We have books all over the house and they were starting to plot their takeover. He loved it and hasn't put it down yet.

So he got me one for Mother's Day. 

I can't honestly say I love it as much as Jeff does, but I don't have any complaints about it, either. What I have become obsessed with is the free books that Amazon offers. Every few days I go a little crazy and download about ten books simply because they don't cost me anything. I have 153 books on my Kindle right now, some of which I am looking at right now and more than a little perplexed as to why I have it, even if it WAS free. 

One day, it was cookbooks. Free cookbooks? Yes, please.

In one of those cookbooks (I think it was the Circle of Friends, but I can't seem to locate the recipe) was a recipe for Dill Dip. When we visited my very pregnant sister last month, we spent a lot of time eating, and this was one of the snacks we decided to try. 

Add lemon juice, dried parsley, dill, dried sage and dried garlic to two cups of sour cream.

Mix it all up and serve with vegetables and crackers. This can be served immediately, but it gets better if you let all the flavors blend together for a few hours.

This was terrific. It is so muggy in Tennessee that you seriously can't even breathe. This dip is the perfect counteraction to that. It is light and tangy and goes with anything you have on hand. My brother-in-law went nuts over it. It worked really well as a sandwich spread, too.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Dill Dip

2 Cups Sour Cream

1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

2 Tablespoons Dried Parsley

1 1/2 Tablespoon Dill Weed, minced

2 teaspoons Dried Sage

1 teaspoon Dried, Minced Garlic

In a bowl, combine all ingredients. Mix well, cover and chill.

Drunken Mushrooms

The biggest thing that happens in my hometown is the Rodeo. Three nights of great fun and catching up with friends I only seem to see at this event. Well, or Wal-Mart, but that doesn't really count.

On Saturday afternoon is the parade. It starts in Cottonwood Falls, circles by the nursing home, down by the courthouse and down the highway, before finally ending at the rodeo grounds in Strong City. All in all, it's somewhere around 5 miles of horses, floats, ATVs and antique tractors.

My family has mostly moved on from riding horses in the parade to riding on contraptions rolling on 2 to 4 wheels. For several years now, those of us who don't ride in the parade have ended up over in the park where it all starts waiting for the riders to return. This usually took on the form of everyone sitting around in the hot sun getting really hungry. It took us awhile, but this year, we finally decided to do a picnic kind of thing in the shade. Jeff brought the smoker and everyone else brought other stuff.

I brought Ree's mushrooms. She actually makes hers on the stove. I haven't tried that, because I made mine in the crockpot the first time and never looked back.

For every pound of mushrooms, mix together 1/2 cup butter, a chicken bouillon cube, a beef bullion cube, a minced clove of garlic, a dash of ground pepper, 1/2 teaspoon Worchestershire sauce and 1/4 teaspoon dill seed. Heat until the butter is melted.

Add a cup of hot water. Bring this to a boil over medium heat.

Pour in 2 cups of alcohol. This is Burgundy wine. I have also used a stout beer and whiskey to great effect.

Let that simmer a bit while you wash the mushrooms. Just add these to your slow cooker. My large pot holds four pounds comfortably.

Pour the boiling mixture over the mushrooms. Cook on low for 6-9 hours. I have also cooked these on high for a couple hours less, but slow is better.

I cannot describe these to you. There are no words. You can eat these on steak. On baked potatoes. On bread. On the side. You can eat these right out of the steaming hot pan if you want. 

Like I said, you can use pretty much anything as flavoring. Every version I have tried have been devoured. If I were to pick, though, I would probably choose the wine. It gives them a little sweeter flavor that I really liked. The beer was more of a salty flavor that was really good as well. Hmmm...maybe I don't have a favorite. 

Try these. I hearby declare tomorrow steak and mushroom night. You will not be sorry.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Drunken Mushrooms

4 pounds White Button Mushrooms

2 sticks Butter

1-1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce

1 liter Alcohol of Your Choice (I have had great success with Burgundy Wine, Dark Beer and Whiskey)

1 teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper

2 cups Boiling Water

4 whole Chicken Bouillon Cubes

4 whole Beef Bouillon Cubes

1 teaspoon Dill Seed

5 cloves Garlic, Peeled

Thoroughly wash the mushrooms and add to a large crockpot. 

Add all the remaining ingredients to a large saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Pour over mushrooms. Stir to combine. Simmer on low, covered, for six to nine hours. Add salt to taste at the end if desired. The mushrooms will be very dark in color. Simmer until needed. 

Orange Creamsicle Fruit Dip

The Boy was playing a computer game today and at the end, the little cartoon girl made fruit kabobs with apples. He was excited. We had to go to the grocery store and get red and green apples RIGHT NOW.

Luckily, I apples (and strawberries, a pineapple and two colors of grapes) on hand.

My kids eat a LOT of fruit.

So fruit kabobs it was.

But I wanted dip to go with it. It's just been that kind of a summer.

There are a lot of different mixtures into which you can dip fruit. I found this one over at Madigan's kitchen. The orange part of it intrigued me. The Boy has been downing orange juice like nothing else, so I figured he would go for this.

And it was easy.

And I had all the ingredients on hand. So there was nothing holding me back.

Mix the pudding and whipped topping together. And next time, for goodness sake, help The Poor Girl get all of her fingernails painted.

Stir in the orange juice.

Spend the rest of your day cutting up fruit and pound cake and skewering them onto kabobs. Unless your Boy insists, just skip this part and put all the fruit a bowl. My Boy insisted. That was the whole point of this snack, after all.

This was yummy. The orange went really well with every fruit we dipped it in. We had some left over and took it camping the next day. We didn't bring any back.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Orange Creamsicle Fruit Dip

1 8 oz Container Whipped Topping

1 Small Package Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix

6 oz Orange Juice 

Fruit for dipping (strawberries, mango, grapes, pineapple, etc)

Mix the first three ingredients together. Add a little more orange juice to thin out to desired consistency, if needed. Wash, cut and prep the fruit. Refrigerate until ready to serve. 

Hot Corn Dip

I checked out Trisha Yearwood's cookbook from the library this summer. It is beautiful with lots of really good looking food. For some reason, I never actually got around to making anything from it. When I returned it, I told myself that I was going to buy it, but for some reason, I can't ever remember to order it. And, it turns out she has two cookbooks and I don't know which one I had. Might just have to buy them both.

I did, however, jot down this one recipe. Why I picked this one, I don't know.

On our last snow day, my plan was to have leftovers for lunch. I had everything to make this dip, so I thought it would make a nice addition. I ended up just having this for lunch. The leftovers went untouched. Good thing I only made a half recipe!

I used a can of Mexican corn, a can of green chilies, half a cup of mayonnaise, 2/3 cup shredded Parmesan and a cup of shredded Colby-Jack cheese.

Mix it all together and spread out into a greased pan.
Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes until it gets all nice and bubbly.
Dip with chips. Tortilla, corn, whatever you have.
Jeff actually came in and not realizing it was a dip, started eating it with a spoon. The Girl proclaimed it "awesome!" I think The Boy just ate chips.

This is really, really good. It's best warm, but not bad cold, either. I'm thinking it's going to be on the menu for the Super Bowl. I think it would also cook well in the crock pot. I'll try that next time and let you know.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Hot Corn Dip

2 (11 ounce) cans mexicorn, drained

2 (4 1/2 ounce) cans chopped green chilies, drained

2 cups grated monterey jack cheese (about 8 ounces)

3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 cup mayonnaise (not miracle whip)

corn chips, tortilla chips

Preheat the oven to 350°F Grease a 9 × 13 × 2-inch casserole dish. In a medium bowl, mix the corn, chile's, cheeses, and mayonnaise until fully combined. Spread the mixture in the prepared casserole dish and bake, uncovered, for 30 to 40 minutes, or until bubbly around the edges. Serve the dip warm from the oven with corn chips.

Taco Cups

Awhile back, someone brought these amazing sausage ranch won-ton appetizer things. I got the recipe and promptly lost it. So when it came time to make them for our Super Bowl get together, the only ingredient I really had was the won-tons. I thought I had sausage and I thought I had ranch mix. Turns out I didn't have either.

I had sent Jeff to the grocery store to get the won-ton wrappers and that was such an ordeal that I felt like I was obligated to make something with them. Apparently no one in our little hometown grocery store knew where they were stocked. Their place in the store is up on the top shelf of a refrigerator in the produce section. It's a good thing Jeff is so tall or he never would have located them.

I had hamburger and taco seasoning. So taco flavored it is.

Press a won-ton wrapper into a greased muffin cup.

Brown a pound of hamburger and add an envelope of taco seasoning. I also added in about a quarter cup of salsa. Add a spoonful of this mixture to the bottom of the muffin cup.

Top with about a tablespoon of shredded cheese.

Bake at 425 for about 5 minutes. It doesn't take much at all to cook won-tons.

Add a dollop of sour cream and a bit of chopped tomato and shredded lettuce.

I waited until I had all the filling in to remove them from the muffin pans. Just so the bottoms didn't fall out.

I ate three of these before I even called anyone in to try them. They nearly didn't make it until the company got here. Even The Girl ate these and she claims to hate tacos.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Mini Tacos

24 wonton wrappers
1 pound lean ground beef
1 package taco seasoning mix
2 tablespoons Salsa
4 ounces shredded Mexican cheese blend
Sour cream
Chopped Tomato
Shredded Lettuce
Heat the oven to 425 degrees F. Press the wonton wrappers into 24 muffin-pan cups.
Cook the beef in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until it's well browned, stirring often to break up the meat. Pour off any fat. Stir in the taco seasoning mix and salsa. Spoon the beef mixture into the wonton cups. Top with cheese. Bake for 5 minutes or until the wontons are golden brown and the cheese is melted. Top with sour cream, tomatoes and lettuce.

Jalapeno Poppers

Oh my goodness. I was unprepared. I did not make enough of these. I got this from the Pioneer Woman and I believe she stated something to the effect that these were somewhat addictive, but I really didn't grasp exactly what that meant.

Slice jalapeno peppers in half. Remove the seeds and inner lining. If you like things really hot, you can leave some of the membrane. I personally do not like to be so overwhelmed with heat that I can't taste anything.

It is also a good idea to use gloves if you are doing a large batch. I only used a dozen peppers, so I felt pretty safe, but I did notice a faint chemical taste to my fingers for the rest of the day.
Fill each pepper half with cream cheese. I used plain, but you could get creative here and try different flavors. Slice your bacon into thirds. I ended up with really big peppers, so I sliced mine half instead.
Wrap the cream cheese filled peppers in bacon and place into a baking pan. If you have one, place a baking rack into the bottom first so the bacon grease can run off. I wasn't at home when I made this batch, so I did not use one. I did check after cooking and there wasn't a lot of grease in the pan.
Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes. I actually put them into the oven with lots of other stuff that was cooking at 350 and it took an hour for them to get done.
I'm thinking that even if you think you don't like jalapeno peppers, you will love these. I am envisioning a little strip of chicken in the middle. I also am going to try them as a stuffing in a hamburger. I'll let you know how that goes...

Click here for Printable Recipe

Jalapeno Poppers
12 Jalapeno Peppers
1 pkg Cream Cheese
1 pound Bacon
Slice peppers in half and remove seeds. Fill each half with cream cheese. Wrap in bacon. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.