Salute to small STL Businesses!

Salute to small STL business's! Finally went to Straubs for the first time today and found these chips. I have to admit my draw to them was the cute little prim kraft paper bag. The cashier told me that the $.99 sample size I bought would be gone before I made it out of the parking lot (had to make a left on a 4 lane road!) and that I should go buy the family size. He was right! These chips were the yummiest kettle chips I've ever had. Reminded me of the King's Taters that you get at the fair. The bag claims no presevatives, no trans fats, no MSG & gluten free. Next up to try the spicy ones!http://billygoatstl.com/

Leftover Jalapeno Popper Dip

http://www.bigredkitchen.com/2008/10/jalapeo-popper-dip.html

Made this dip for New Year's Eve and it was a really good replacement for Buffalo Chicken Dip and for me who gets heartburn easily I didn't feel it was a heartburn inducing.  You can control how hot this dip gets by what jalapenos and green chilies you buy.  I was a little worried about the mayo separating, but even with keeping it on a warming plate for most of the night and reheating in the microwave since I haven't had a problem yet.  

Today I used some of the leftover dip to make Jacket Potato's for lunch and it was yummy.  Jacket potatoes are red potatoes that have been cooked, cut an x shaped in the potato but not all the way down and filling the v with a mixture of sour cream, spices, and Cheddar cheese.  I used my microwave potato pocket from Hawaii (I think you can get them at most craft shows no days) and microwaved 4 potatoes for 3 minutes.  Then cut the V and filled with the popper dip!  It was delicious and cut down on a little of the spice.

Take Two: Avocado Chicken Salad

http://becomingbetty.blogspot.com/2011/09/avocado-chicken-salad.html

The first time I made this I used canned Chicken and it was awful.  Today I made it with fresh chicken and it was wonderful.  I could eat this everyday!  I do LOVE avocado!  I'm beginning to think that this is going to be the year of cilantro and green onions.  I keep finding myself pulling out the food processor to chop the two ingredients.  

Cilantro Lime Chicken Tacos

http://www.pipandebby.com/pip-ebby/2011/11/18/slow-cooker-cilantro-lime-chicken.html

This was very good, stayed nice and moist when it was finished .  I have to say I didn't really follow the recipe I just used the mere suggestion of it after reading it.  I had some leftover homemade salsa from last week.  Since the majority of the ingredients in the chicken recipe were already in the salsa I just added the taco seasoning packet and a little bit more cilantro and lime since I had already used quit a bit in the original salsa recipe.  When done we heated up some corn tortillas (wrap in wet paper towel and heat in the micro for 45 seconds per 4 tortillas), added some Mexican cheddar cheese, a little lettuce, and some sour cream, the chicken and chowed down. Used 6 chicken breasts and still had plenty of leftovers, which is not usually the case in our house after eating dinner and boxing up two lunches for the next day.  

http://www.dana-made-it.com/2010/12/day-14.html

Pudding for the New Year! Slippery Nipple pudding shots!

http://www.myscienceproject.org/j-shot-3.html

Oh yum yum and so decedent!  I made these shots for my sisters bacholorette party and they are rich, but so yummy and they go down a little too smooth. The are quick and easy, and I served them with ice cream sample spoons.   Also made the Mudslide shots in the past, good but way to rich for my taste.  GASP!  I'm not really a chocolate fan.

Onion Ring Dip may be a winner!

http://www.lifesambrosia.com/2009/04/crispy-parmesan-onion-rings-recipe.html

Onion ring dip

In preparation for New Years Eve I mixed up the dry ingredients and the sauces for onion rings, and pickles.  As the original chef states the sauce hasn't had time to get "married" yet, but upon first taste it reminded me of 17street BBQ onion straw sauce DELISH!!!!  Much more to my liking than the comeback sauce made last week.

http://www.17thstreetbarbecue.com/Home.aspx

What's for dinner.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/crab-manicotti/detail.aspx

Crab Manicotti 

Husband gave it a thumbs up.  Maybe it's the curse of the chef working so hard they never enjoy their creations, but I thought it needed more kick.  Found that I could only stuff 7 noodles, and I felt they could have used more stuffing at that, husband said fill was perfect.  9X9 pan was too small, but 9X13 was too large.  Sauce ran off of top on noodles into side and I needed to spoon sauce on top mid bake to keep from drying out.  

http://www.foodpeoplewant.com/mozzarella-sticks/

Mozzerella Sticks

I succumb to the cooking gods on this one.  My husband deemed the dip too bland, I thought it tasted like a thin, bitter dill dip with too much lemon.  The first stick breaded nicely, but after that the panko was so caked with egg that it was hard to bread the other sticks.  I think I've watched hells kitchen too many times I can pick out the individual tastes now.  I've decided that I don't like the taste of Italian Seasoning and this breading was heavy on this flavor.  Perhaps if there had been a baking option to this recipe I would have liked it, but frying it did not work well.  The recipe calls for 5 minutes at 350 I had the sticks in barely 2 minutes at 300 and they began to burn evaporating the cheese inside.  I like to fry a couple of things in a week before I throw out the oil to avoid waste, but after making these the oil is unusable.  The breading broke off and burnt ruining the oil for any other cooking.