Jalapeño Popper Dip

Another great recipe from allrecipes.com, this always gets devoured and therefore I have no picture to show you! But, I wanted to get it posted in time for Oscars! Every year we bring appetizers to our holiday gathering and vote on the favorite - this one won and I was handing out recipes all night. Even if you don't think you would like anything with the main title being, "jalapeño", you should still try this! Serve with crackers or baguette slices or homemade tortilla chips.

Jalapeño Popper Dip

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

1 cup mayonnaise

1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chilies, drained

2 ounces canned diced jalapeño peppers, drained

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (fresh!)

Directions:

Stir together cream cheese and mayonnaise in a large bowl until smooth. Stir in green chiles and jalapeno peppers. Pour mixture into a microwave safe serving dish, and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Microwave on High until hot, about 3 minutes. ** I prefer baked version, 350 for 10-15 minutes until warm and cheese melts.

Mexican Bean Salad

This is from one of my favorite recipe sites, Allrecipes.com. It is phenomenal served with homemade tortilla chips!!!

Tortilla Chips

Use a pizza cutter to cut tortilla into wedges and bake at 350 until dry/crisp. (You can sprinkle with salt.)

class="ingredients" style="margin-top: 10px;">

Mexican Bean Salad

• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained
• 1 (15 ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen corn kernels
• 1 red onion, chopped

Dressing:

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 clove crushed garlic
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1/2 tablespoon ground black pepper
• 1 dash hot pepper sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1. In a large bowl, combine beans, bell peppers, frozen corn, and red onion.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, red wine vinegar, lime juice, lemon juice, sugar, salt, garlic, cilantro, cumin, and black pepper. Season to taste with hot sauce and chili powder.
3. Pour olive oil dressing over vegetables; mix well. Chill thoroughly, and serve cold.

Makes a lot, serves a great crowd but the homemade tortilla chips really make this recipe a standout!

Florentine Roll-ups

These are delicious and can easily be adapted to a household of meat eaters and vegetarians. If you have both in your household, make one pan with traditional sauce and meat (about 8X8) and another pan with plain, meatless spaghetti or marinara sauce.

16 oz. lasagna noodles
4 c. ricotta or cottage cheese (2 lb.)
2 c. (8 oz.) cheddar or mozzarella cheese
1 c. chopped fresh spinach
1/2 green onion, chopped
1 egg, beaten
1/4 t. black pepper
1/4 t. salt
3 c. spaghetti sauce
Parmesan Cheese


Cook pasta, drain. Lay on flat wax paper to cool. Heat oven to 350 degrees.









Stir together ingredients except sauce. Spread about 1/3 c. mixture on each lasagna noodle. Roll up and place seam side down in pan (put a bit of sauce in bottom of pan first).








Top with remaining sauce. Sprinkle with Parmesan, or mozzarella cheese. Cover and bake 45 minutes.








Thanks, Elaine for this great recipe! I make it and have plenty for the remainder of the week for lunches or leftovers!

Tasty Chocolate Treat

Easiest treat ever!!! I love this! I bought some No Pudge brownie mix and wrestled with the old, "if I make a pan, I will eat the whole pan" issue.




I read the directions and discovered that you can make a single serving and it is just perfect!





Just put some of the mix in a small dish, add enough yogurt (I had Danon All Natural Vanilla on hand) to make a batter-type mixture and microwave! Awesome!!!! You can even lick the spoon!

Yogurt and the dry mixture from the package...



Batter...



Finished and ready to eat!

Corn Chowder

Corn Chowder







This soup is excellent!! This is one of our family favorites that I changed over from Chicken Corn Chowder into this vegetarian version.


½ cup chopped onion
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
3 T. butter or margarine or olive oil
1-2 c. vegetable stock (depending on how much you want to make)
½ - 1 t. cumin
2 cups half-and-half cream (soy is fine!)
2 cups (8oz.) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
4 cans (16 oz) cream-style corn
1 can (4 oz) chopped green chilies, undrained
¼ - 1 t. hot pepper sauce (optional; taste your soup and add as desired)
1 medium tomato, chopped (optional, I rarely do this part)
fresh cilantro or parsley

In a dutch oven, brown onion in butter until clear and add garlic. Add vegetable stock to pan along with cumin; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Add cream, cheese, corn, chilies. Cook and stir over low until cheese is melted. Stir in tomato if using, add hot sauce if using. Add parsley or cilantro if desired. Excellent soup! Gobbled up by the four men in my house with not a complaint about missing any meat! (I did serve them grilled ham and cheese with their soup.)

***Melissa’s notes: Delicious served with Ritz crackers crushed on top. For meat eaters, you could add shredded chicken to their servings (I use Purdue Chicken Short Cuts so I don't have to do much prep for it), or grill a ham and swiss or ham and cheddar sandwich to go along with the soup.

Strawberry Spinach Salad

This is one of my absolute favorite salads to eat and to serve to friends. The mixture of flavors is perfect! If you are going vegan, skip the feta and use craisins (but don't candy the almonds) and add a little more salt to the dressing.


SPINACH SALAD WITH FETA, STRAWBERRIES & CELERY SEED DRESSING

Baby Spinach
Strawberries
Feta Cheese
Candied Almonds

(Melt sugar with almonds on medium heat and brown until almonds are lightly browned – do not let burn!


Let cool.


(You can add mandarin orange slices if you want)

CELERY SEED and STRAWBERRY DRESSING:

1/4 med. onion
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. vegetable oil
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
¾ tsp. celery seed
Salt & pepper to taste
2 strawberries

Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor and pulse until smooth (fits in my mini cuisinart).

Broccoli Bundles

I promise you that you will not miss meat in this one!! Or, for those with meat-eaters in the family, separate after you mix and do half with shredded chicken and half with the broccoli- bake separately or together depending (I don't like my things even touching anything that has meat, I even use separate utensils if I'm stirring spaghetti sauces one with meat and one meatless). Also, if you are vegan, I can vouch the vegan cream cheese is spectacular...

8 ounces softened cream cheese
1/4 c. milk (almond, rice or soy is fine too)
1 t. dill
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
4 c. cooked broccoli cut into small pieces
1/2 c. finely chopped celery (if in hurry use celery seed!)
4 green onions (or dried minced onions!!)
3 tubes crescent rolls
1/4 c. butter/margarine (or Earth Balance spread)
1/4 c. bread crumbs or parmesan or a mixture

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix milk, dill, salt, pepper, broccoli, onions and celery together. Unroll crescent roll dough and separate into 12 rectangles (two triangles each, press perforated section to seal). Fill each rectangle with about 1/3 c. of the mixture, bring corners up and pinch to seal in a 'bundle'. Put in sprayed 9X13 pan with seam size down. Brush tops with butter and top with crumbs or parmesan and bake for 20 minutes or until golden.


Enjoy!

Fiber Bites

These tasty treats last a week or so and refrigeration is optional. They keep me really full when I pop one or two with water... and besides that no preservatives or chemicals. My sons love them for snack and my littlest and I often eat these as our actual lunch! Addictive! This recipe is from a longtime friend of mine - thanks, Susan!

Fiber Bites

1 c. honey
1 c. all natural peanut butter
3 c. rolled oats (I use organic)
1 c. coconut (not my fav so I make this smaller)
1/2 c. wheat bran
1 c. chocolate chips
1 c. raisins

Mix all together well and form bite-sized pieces - it's easier if your hand is damp (if the mixture is totally dry and crumbly, add a little more honey or peanut butter). I use the cookie scoop and then I form the bites and let them sit on wax paper... makes around 50 small bites.

I refrigerate after I first make them just to have them keep their shape and then after that it doesn't matter. They can be somewhat addictive!

Pizza Dip

Grammy Awards Snack!

Super easy!

Spread a block of cream cheese in the bottom of a small baker.
Spread pizza sauce on top. Add chopped toppings that you like (peppers, etc.)
Top with mozzarella cheese and bake at 350 until cheese is melted on top.

Serve with breadsticks or french bread slices/sticks.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

This is a yummy and easy soup...

Saute an onion (or a few scallions), celery, carrot and garlic cloves (1 or 2) in a few tablespoons of butter or oil on medium until onions are translucent and carrots tender. Add 2 Tablespoons of flour, some salt and pepper and mix well.

Add 2.5 cups of vegetable stock, and a cup of milk (anything will do - skim, whole, even part skim with some half-n-half; Rice or Soy or Almond milk is fine too). Bring to boil and add broccoli cuts (fresh, cut into small florets or pieces) and let simmer around 15 minutes.

Remove from heat and add cheese- I used a combination Sharp yellow cheddar, parmesan and american, but you can add the thick processed cheese if you choose. (Just make sure it's not going to continue to boil after you add the cheese or it curdles.)

Season again with salt and pepper and serve! Delicious!

Vegetarian Vittles in a Carnivore World

Hi world! I am the only vegetarian in my household and have had to come up with some interesting ways to cook for my family but still eat healthily myself... I decided to share some recipes with my friends and they needed an easy place to pick them up so this blog began. I don't claim to be perfect, but these are the things that have worked for me. I am not one to purchase exotic ingredients either, so the things you will see are simple and with ingredients that you can get anywhere. I live in a rural area so huge natural stores are not within easy reach.

I am a HS Spanish teacher and I have been sharing recipes with a few others so I decided to post them on a blog for easy access!

¡Buen provecho!