Sausage Rotel Dip

Source: My niece, Raina Wihongi

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. Jimmy Dean ground sausage
• 2 10-oz. cans Rotel Diced Tomatoes & Green Chiles, drained
• 2 8-oz. packages cream cheese

Directions:

1. Brown sausage and drain.
2. Soften cream cheese in microwave.
3. Mix sausage, cream cheese, and Rotel in a bowl.  Serve warm with tortilla chips, Wheat Thins, Triscuits, etc.

Comments:  I made this dip years ago (I think I got it from my pal Janae), but had forgotten about it until my niece (niece-in-law?), Raina, made a huge batch of it for a Christmas appetizer.  The Wihongi clan inhaled it before we had even said the blessing on our dinner!  Anyway, it's amazing, easy, and a big crowd-pleaser.  (Which is good, since I made it this morning for Scott's faculty's pre-Super Bowl party/food competition.)

Slow Cooker Enchilada Casserole

Source:  The Crockin' Girls

Ingredients:

• 1/2 to 1 T. butter
• 1/2 onion chopped
• 1 pound ground turkey meat
• 1 T. cumin, or to taste
• 1/2 c. light sour cream
• 2 Cup low fat cottage cheese
• 1/2 tsp. Teaspoon salt
• pinch of black pepper
• 20 corn tortillas
• 2 c. mozzarella cheese
• 1 (10 oz) can* mild red enchilada sauce  (*I doubled this)
• 1 can sliced black olives (optional)

Directions:

1. Meat Mixture: Heat butter in skillet on medium high. Cook onions until tender and then add the ground turkey meat. Cook until turkey meat is cooked through. Add cumin to meat mixture halfway through cooking the meat.
2. Cheese Mixture: Mix sour cream with cottage cheese, salt, and pepper. Combine cheese mixture with meat mixture and mix well.
3. In layers, cover the bottom of the crock pot (I used a 6-quart) with corn tortillas, overlapping each other.
4. Spread half of the meat mixture evenly over the corn tortillas*, then add a layer of mozzarella cheese. Add another layer of tortillas, finish up the meat mixture and then another layer of mozzarella cheese, leaving enough to top off the casserole.  (*I also poured some enchilada sauce over each layer after I added the meat mixture.)
5. Add the last layer of corn tortillas. Pour the enchilada sauce over the casserole. Add the black olives and top with the remaining cheese.
6. Cover, cook on LOW for 3 hours.

Comments:

 

We really rely on our CrockPot a lot, especially on Sundays, and it was fun to find a yummy Mexican slow cooker recipe.  Plus, with the ground turkey, it's pretty healthy!  As was mentioned in the ingredients and directions, I preferred it with much more enchilada sauce.  The original recipe called for enchilada sauce poured only over the top -- which made it a bit dry and bland -- I prefer the enchilada sauce more distributed throughout the whole casserole.  We non-olive-loving Wihongis omitted those entirely, but we topped each serving with sour cream, guacamole, extra cheese, etc., and we were plenty happy.  This is so tasty!

Neiman Marcus Brownies

Source: PinFoody, via Pinterest

Ingredients:

• 1 box yellow (or chocolate) cake mix
• 3 eggs
• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 c. (1 stick) butter, melted
• 4 c. (1 lb.) powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 and spray a 9×13 dish with cooking spray.
2. Mix cake mix, melted butter and one egg to a soft dough. Press into the bottom of the pan.
3. Mix powdered sugar, softened cream cheese and remaining two eggs until smooth, about 1-2 mins. Pour on top of crust.
4. Bake at 300 for 40-50 minutes until top is golden brown.

Comments:

These brownies were amazing!  (Very sweet and rich, so heads-up!)  We made it with a yellow cake mix (our house smelled phenomenal), but I can't wait to try it with chocolate cake mix next time.  Scott and I preferred to eat them completely cooled; they were a bit sticky/gooey/messy and a bit difficult to cut and eat right out of the oven.  After we cut them, we've stored them in the fridge, and they've been just perfect.  The consistency is really more like lemon bars than brownies; these are fabulous!

Sweet Potato Corn Chowder

Source: Me, based on this

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 slices bacon, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced
1 10-oz package frozen corn
2 medium zucchini, quartered then sliced
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon paprika
3 tablespoons flour (I was making this gluten-free so I subbed with cornstarch at the end of cooking)
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup milk
1 cup heavy cream (I used more milk to keep it healthy)
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped (optional - I omitted)
Salt & Pepper

Directions:
1. In a large soup pot, heat the EVOO over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and cook until crisp at the edges. Add the onion and sweet potato and cook until softened. Add the corn, zucchini, thyme, bay leaf, and paprika and cook until tender. Sprinkle the flour into the pot, stir and cook for 1 minute. Gradually stir in the broth and simmer until thickened a bit. Stir in the milk, cream, and parsley and simmer until the potatoes are tender.
2. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Thicken with cornstarch, if needed.

Notes:
Make this. Make this now. It's the best chowder you've ever made, with a spectacular new flavor. The perfect comfort food to warm you up during this everlasting cold spell!

Balsamic Peppered Chicken

Source: Bonnie Norman (Mom's neighbor) via "A Taste of Glenmoor Village" (the cookbook that Mom gave to us a few years ago that her ward compiled)

Ingredients:
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 tsp. lemon pepper
1 1/2 tsp. olive oil
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup chicken broth
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 tsp. butter
Parsley
Cherry Tomatoes

Directions:
1. Pound meat to 1/4 inch. Season with lemon pepper.
2. Heat oil in fry pan and add chicken. Cook until tender.
3. Add vinegar, brother, and garlic. Cook, scraping up meat bits. Reduce until syrupy.
4. Add butter.
5. Serve on platter with sauce over top. Garnish with parsley and cherry tomatoes, if desired.

Notes: YUM! I've had this recipe on my "to try" list for ages and I regret not doing it earlier. It was so easy and quite impressive. To up the aesthetic and health factors, I piled some julienned vegetables on top instead of the parsley and tomatoes.

Ratatouille (Slow Cooker)

Source: tasteofhome.com

Ingredients

• 1 large eggplant, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 2 teaspoons salt, divided
• 3 medium tomatoes, chopped
• 3 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 1 large green pepper, chopped
• 1 large sweet yellow pepper, chopped
• 1 can (6 ounces) pitted ripe olives, drained and chopped
• 1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
• 1/2 cup minced fresh basil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

• Place eggplant in a colander over a plate; sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt and toss. Let stand for 30 minutes. Rinse and drain well. Transfer to a 5-qt. slow cooker coated with cooking spray.
• Stir in the tomatoes, zucchini, onions, green and yellow peppers, olives, tomato paste, basil, garlic, pepper and remaining salt. Drizzle with oil. Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or until vegetables are tender. 

Notes

• This was the simply, hearty definition of delicious! What a wonderful winter meal! I did add a touch more seasoning to give it a bit more zip, but other than that, it was perfect in every way!

Creamy Hot Roast Beef Dip

Source: The Blanchard Bistro Cookbook via Heather's sister-in-law Candi Wihongi

Ingredients:
8 oz. cream cheese (I used the neufchatel cheese for slightly less fat/calorie content and it worked great)
1/4 cup mayo or miracle whip
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
1/2 cup parmesan cheese (I used a little less)
1 small package (mine was 7 oz) thinly sliced roast beef, chopped
1 bunch green onions, chopped (I had a huge bunch, so I only used 5 onions and it was plenty)

Directions:
Mix ingredients together in microwave or heat on stove or crockpot (it helps if the cream cheese is softened to room temp before you start the mixing).  Serve with crackers or chips.

Notes:
Heather made this at our Blanchard Thanksgiving and it was so delicious that I decided to replicate it for New Year's Eve.  Yum!  (I didn't see it on the blog already - just in the cookbook, so I figured it couldn't hurt to include it here, too.)