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.

Good is Bad and Bad is Good

I have not posted in a long time. Mostly, I just haven't had the time. Now that I am here, I thought I would share a few things with you.
     First, I want to let everyone know, right off the bat, that I do not pretend to know everything from a health stand point. I am learning everyday, but would like to share some of the things I have learned.

     Some have asked me about different oils, what is good, what isn't. I have researched this and have found some interesting finds. I have found that pretty much what "they" are telling us is good for us, isn't. It's time to get back to the good 'ole fashioned fats; lard, butter and a new one- coconut oil.

      Before everyone freaks out about this one, let's first take a look at lard. There is a few things you need to know about lard. This is not the lard that is sold in the grocery stores, or WalMart. The lard I'm talking about is lard from grass fed, grazing cows. Stuff you cannot find in the grocery stores. The stuff in the stores has been treated with chemicals and such. You need to find a good butcher that has grass fed beef and chances are you will find the right lard.

     Here is a great article on the benefits of lard: http://www.weedemandreap.com/2013/02/the-top-3-reasons-why-you-should-be-eating-lard.html

     That pretty much explains the whole lard thing. Then we come to butter. We LOVE butter at our house. We go through quite a lot of butter. Butter is so good for you. It has vitamins and things that your body needs. Here is a link about why everyone should be eating butter: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/12/07/why-is-butter-better.aspx

As far as the coconut oil is concerned, there are articles upon articles on coconut oils. Here's one:  http://wellnessmama.com/5734/101-uses-for-coconut-oil

and another: http://products.mercola.com/coconut-oil/

Now, you might be thinking, what about Canola, that sports the lie that it's "heart healthy". Well....http://www.smallfootprintfamily.com/2009/09/25/the-inconvenient-truth-about-canola-oil/

How about Soy Bean oil or corn oil? Here you go:  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/01/27/soybean-oil.aspx

 http://www.livestrong.com/article/302830-health-risks-of-corn-oil/

That's it for tonight. Oils, the good and the bad. As always, I ask you to do your own research, like I have done. There are hundreds of articles out there, both good and bad, but all I can say is what I have learned. God gave us great food! He has given us flavorful foods. It's up to us to either believe it or not. So, like I always say, don't take my word for it, research it yourselves. I know what I have found and I also have come to this reality. What the world tells us is good, it usually goes against God. What God says is good, the world says no. This applies to food as well.

Isaiah 5:20
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

 King James Version

Homemade Gatorade

                                                     



I LOVE Gatorade. My kids LOVE Gatorade. Well, ok, I did, until I found out what was in it.  BVO? I don't think I need a flame retardant in my sports drink. So, I was researching Gatorade and I came across this lovely bit of information. Read about BVO here: http://voices.yahoo.com/the-dangers-additive-brominated-vegetable-oil-1569091.html. Then as I looked further, I found out it really shouldn't be consumed by anyone, let alone kids and also realized there was more to this drink than meets the eye.  http://www.healthyfutureforkids.com/2007/09/gatorade-not-fit-for-gators-or-kids.html

This got me to thinking, there has to be a recipe for homemade Gatorade and you know what? There was! It was easy, cheap AND good! In fact, it can be made with ingredients you probably already have in your own kitchen.

1/2 cup lemon juice
1/8 tsp. Real salt (why I use Real salt - http://realsalt.com/)
1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar (depending on your taste)
2 Qt. water

Mix all ingredients into a 2 qt.container. Chill. Enjoy. It's that easy!

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.

Spicy Bean Burritos

These are good for a late night snack or a quick lunch. They are very tasty and once they are made, they can be easily frozen. Just take them out of the freezer and pop them into the oven to heat up. I suppose you could heat them in the microwave too, but since we don't use a microwave, you are on your own with that one!

Flour tortillas - my homemade ones here
Refried beans - my homemade ones here
Pepper Jack cheese, shredded
Monterey jack or Cheddar cheese, shredded

This recipe is pretty versatile. You can use as much cheese as you would like. You can use more spicy cheese if you like more spice or more regular cheese if you don't like it so spicy. You can even have no cheese, just beans, like my crazy son likes his. You can customize these to your own liking.

1. Lay out a warm tortilla.

2. Spoon a large Tbsp. full of beans down the center of the tortilla.

3. Sprinkle the cheese.

4. Roll into a burrito.

5.Enjoy!

If you are making these and freezing them, wrap each one in wax paper and freeze in a container of your choice. When needed, unwrap paper, place on a oven safe pan, heat in a 400 oven for about 15 min. or until crispy and bubbly. Serve with sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes, anything you would like.

Flour Tortillas

Ahhhh...flour tortillas. There are so many uses for them. My family goes through a lot! I started reading labels and found out the store ones are made with some ingredients I really didn't want in my house. So, the next step was make them myself. I started on the tortilla journey. They are pretty easy to make, even though they do take a little practice. My first ones didn't really look like tortillas. Some looked like Africa, some looked like blobs, but the more I made them, the more they began to look like tortillas. Even though some are funny looking, they taste great! the bonus? Nothing artificial, nothing questionable. Here we go.....

3 cups unbleached flour
1 tsp. real salt
2 tsp.baking powder
4-6 Tbsp. lard or coconut oil
1 cup warm water

1. Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Drop in the lard.

2. Mix lard and dry ingredients until well incorporated. I use my hands, they work better than anything else.

3. Add the water and mix well. You can use a wooden spoon here if you like. Keep mixing until the dough forms a ball. Cover the bowl with a dry towel and let it sit for 1/2 hour.

4. Divide dough into 10-12 pieces, rolling them in your hands. Place on the counter for about 10 min. Meanwhile, heat up a large skillet on med. heat. It needs to be very hot when you start cooking your tortillas. I use a cast iron skillet for various reasons. You can use what ever you want. While the skillet is heating up, you want to start rolling your tortillas into flat circles. You want them as flat as you can.

5. When the skillet is hot, gently place the tortilla in the skillet. Cook until the dough begins to bubble, about 45 sec. Flip with spatula and cook on the other side for about 30-45 sec. Place them onto a clean, dry cloth. Cook the remaining tortillas. When cool, store them in the fridge.

6. When it's time to use them, place each tortilla in a skillet on med. and warm them on both sides.

Since these do not have any preservatives in them, they should be kept in the fridge. They can be kept at room temp., but only for a day or so. After they have cooled, they will not be as soft as the ones in the package, so re-heating them is a must if you want to roll them into a burrito shape. If not, yo can eat them right out of the package.

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.