Zesty Cheese Dip

Use strong chips!

Our routine for Sunday night after church is just that: the acronym S.N.A.C. The mid-afternoon meal between church services is usually the biggie. But in the evening, no one wants to prepare a big spread. And with a family of our size, everyone has a different opinion of what to eat. Here is one thing Mom & Dad have been stuck on lately. Natural nacho chips heated in the oven and this cheese stuff.

small onion, chopped

1 or 2 seeded jalapenos, chopped

2 tablespoons butter

2-1/2 cups monterey jack and sharp cheddar cheese

cilantro

In a hot cast iron, skillet saute the onions,  jalapeno, and butter until soft and lightly golden  Add cheese and constantly stir for a minute then turn off the heat. Continue to stir until all the cheese is melted. Top with cilantro and serve with chips. Eat it right out of the pan!

gooey goodness

It's simple, and you can modify or add ingredients to suit your own tastes. The mixture turns out a little slippery and cools off pretty quickly. Sometimes we'll heat it back up on the stove to get it flowing again. This makes plenty for both of us plus some of the 'occasional dippers' who have already finished their S.N.A.C. Enjoy! Please leave comments and suggestions if you tried something different or had any problems with this one.

Jalapeno Poppers

Here is a very popular snack type food. If you are like me, the one's in the store are just a little too HOT!!! I love the way they taste, but not the way they make my mouth feel.  Sooooo, I thought, why couldn't I try to make these myself, with peppers that were a little more milder than jalapenos. This spring I planted what is called a "salsa" pepper in my garden.  They have just enough bite to them to make these little gems perfect. This recipe can be adapted to any hot or milder pepper.

20 jalapeno peppers
8 oz. brick cream cheese, softened to room temperature
8 oz. shredded Cheddar cheese
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp.ground black pepper
1/8 tsp. paprika
1/8 tsp. chili powder
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
1 cup bread crumbs (I make my own; recipe here)
Coconut oil for frying

Before cutting and seeding peppers, you may want to wear gloves. I burnt my fingers the first time I attempted to do this without them. Not good! Slice the peppers in half lengthwise. Use either a spoon or your fingers to take out the seeds and the pith. Since that is where the heat is, you can take out or leave as much or as little as you want, according to your taste.

In a bowl, combine the cheeses. Stir until well blended and stuff a bit into each pepper half.

In a small bowl, mix the flour, salt, black pepper, paprika, chili powder and garlic powder together until well blended. Place the milk in a separate bowl and the bread crumbs in another separate bowl.

Dip the peppers into the milk, then the flour, again in the milk, then in the bread crumbs. Set them aside as you do the remaining peppers.

Heat the oil to 350. Fry poppers a few at a time without crowding the oil. They will only fry for about 30-45 sec. Drain onto a paper towel and enjoy!

These can be frozen as well. After frying the poppers, let cool and put into a freezer container of your choice. When ready to cook, take out what you need, place on a cookie sheet and pop them into a 400 oven for 10-15 min, or until hot.

Homemade Refried Beans

These beans are the greatest and they beat the canned stuff by a mile! They do take a little while to cook, but they are well worth it!
Here's what you need:

1 bag (16 oz.) dried pinto beans
2 tsp. garlic powder
3 tsp. real salt
3 Tbsp. lard or bacon grease

1. Sort beans, making sure all rocks and debris are out of them. Throw away any bad beans. Rinse them in a colander under cold running water.

2. Put them into large pan and fill the pan up about 3/4 of the way with water. Lid the pot and turn the heat to med. high. When the beans begin to boil, remove lid.

3. Cook the beans until the water turns dark. This step usually takes about 2 hours or so.  Add the garlic powder, the salt and the bacon grease or lard.

4. Turn the heat down to about med. and cook the beans. Check them often as the water tends to cook away. If you notice the water level is going down, you can add more water to bring it back up to the previous amount. This step could take anywhere from 2-3 hours, depending on how high you are cooking them. You will know they are done when the liquid gets thick and pulls away from the inside of the pan. Also, when the beans smash easily up against the side of the pan.

5. Remove pan from heat and begin to mash them with a potato masher until they are the consistency that you want. I always keep mine a little chunkier than the canned beans.

6. Now they are ready to use. Use them anyway you would use the canned ones. Very easy and very yummy! They are easily frozen, so you can make these up ahead of time, freeze them and you will always have re fried beans for recipes.  When you need to use them from frozen, just thaw and add them to a pan with a little milk (this makes them creamy) and stir them until they heat up. These are great for my Spicy Bean Burritos.

The cooking times may vary. I do not usually watch the clock, I just cook them until they are done.