Jalapeño Popper Grilled Cheese

 

There's one thing that you can always count on, and that is having your sweet, innocent, apple-cheeked children revealing your secrets is a delightfully innocent way. When my number one son and granddaughter came to visit me over the weekend, I happened to mention to my son that I had made a jalapeño popper grilled cheese sandwich that I really liked.

 

“Oooooh,” said my granddaughter, “That is dad’s happy place. He looooves jalapeño poppers.” 

 

I had no idea. I will say that when you take one bite of this sandwich, it will be your happy place too. I made this in a bucket-style air fryer, and couldn’t be happier; the silicon liner made clean up a breeze. Unlike when grilling or pan cooking, the bread came out wonderfully toasted without a hint of butter residue to make fingers greasy. If air fryers aren’t your thing, feel free to grill or pan fry. This sandwich is all about the filling.

Jalapeño Popper Grilled Cheese

Slightly adapted from airfried.com

 4 slices sandwich bread

2 T. butter, room temperature

3 oz. cream cheese, room temperatute

1 T. sour cream

1 c. shredded cheddar

¼ c. diced Melissa’s pickled jalapeños

½ t. garlic powder

 Preheat air fryer to 360°F.  (If yours requires preheating.)

Spread the outside of each slice of bread with butter.

Place cream cheese, sour cream, cheddar, jalapeños, and garlic powder into a small bowl and mix with a fork to combine.

Arrange two slices of bread, buttered side down, and top with the cheese mixture. Place the remaining slices of bread over the top, butter side up.

 Place the sandwiches in your air fryer basket and air fry 5 minutes. Flip the sandwiches over and continue cooking for 4-5 minutes or until bread is golden brown and toasted.

Let set 1 minute before slicing and serving. 

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

 

Mushroom, Spinach, and Pinto Bean Enchiladas

 

 Meal Prep Magic: Time-Saving Tricks for Stress-Free Cooking, a Weelicious Cookbook by Catherine McCord is a new release (April 4, 2023) from Abrams Books, and well worth investigating. Aside from the tips on fridge and pantry organization, there are some darned good recipes. This one (as so many Mexican and Tex-Mex recipes tend to do) caught my eye. I was surprised at how quickly this dish came together. Quicker than I had imagined, actually, and it was incredibly satisfying and delicious. I used portobello mushrooms and a bit of Montreal steak seasoning, so mine had a very woodsy and meaty flavor. For me, one enchilada by itself, made a meal. This is a recipe that I plan to revisit often. 

 Mushroom, Spinach, and Pinto Bean Enchiladas
Slightly adapted from Meal Prep Magic by Catherine McCord

2 T. olive oil
1 lb. mushrooms, sliced*
¼ t. Montreal Steak Seasoning
½ t. garlic powder
1 t. onion powder
½ t. ground cumin
½ t. kosher salt
2 c. loosely packed fresh spinach
1 15-oz. can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 ½ c. shredded Mexican cheese blend
1 12-oz. can enchilada sauce**
6 large flour tortillas

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Spray a 9” x 11” baking dish with PAM; set aside.

Heat the oil in a 12” sauté pan over medium heat. Add the mushrooms, steak seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, and salt to the oil and sauté, stirring occasionally, for four minutes or until the mushrooms start to turn golden. Add the spinach and stir until wilted, about one minute. Remove the mushrooms and spinach from the heat, stir in the beans and 1/2 cup of the cheese.

Spread half of the enchilada sauce in the bottom of your prepared baking dish. Place the tortillas on a work surface. Scoop 1/2 cup of the mushroom mixture onto the half of the tortilla closest to you. Roll up the tortillas and place them on the top of the enchilada sauce. Top with the remaining enchilada sauce.

Cover the enchilada pan with foil and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the foil, top with the remaining cup of cheese, and bake for an additional 15 minutes. Allow to cool for a few minutes and serve.

Garnish as you see fit.

*I used Melissa’s portobello mushrooms

**I made my own enchilada sauce

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

 Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Abrams Books as a member of their Abrams Dinner Party 2022-2023.

Dirty Martini Dip

 

About a year ago, I found a dirty martini dip in one of the markets that I frequent (honestly, I can’t remember which one). I really enjoyed it, and have been thinking about that dip ever since, which probably gives you some indication as to my obsession with food (not that you’d fail to notice my hips, but I digress).

This morning I was playing with my new Sheldon and Amy “Fun with Flags”-style white board and came up with a recipe that is really delicious. Having seen a number of recipes online, I noticed (and was shocked by the fact) that none of them contained gin. Honestly, how can you have a dirty martini ANYTHING without gin?! Here’s the result of my experimentation. You can add more gin if you want a stronger taste, just cut back a bit on the sour cream so that it’s not too runny. It is so good as a dip, but I have to tell you that I used it on a ham sandwich, and I am in love! I spread it on a piece of bread before topping it with wafer thin slices of ham. So good! Give it a try. You will soon become as addicted as I am.

Dirty Martini Dip 

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
¾ c. sour cream
4 oz. blue cheese crumbles
¾ c. chopped pimiento-stuffed olives
1 T. gin
¼ t. onion powder
¼ t. garlic powder

Place all ingredients into a medium bowl, and beat together with a hand mixer until smooth and creamy. Serve with crudities, crackers, bagel, chips, your choice. In addition to being a tasty dip, it makes an excellent sandwich spread.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

 

Chocolate Mint Oreo Trifles

 

My initial plan was to make this as a dessert for St. Patrick’s Day, because it’s green. As usual, holidays just fly by, generally with me chasing after them, so it had come and gone before I even purchased a package of mint Oreos. But, because it’s spring, and everything is starting to turn green, I decided to make it and share it with my number one son and his family. I made a bit of a mistake by doing this. This serves four, and no more. I stretched this out to serve five, and that completely threw off the pudding-to-whipped-cream ratio. Don’t be tempted to do that; learn from my mistakes. This can be made up to 24 hours ahead of serving it, thanks to the stabilized whipped cream. If you prefer not to stabilize the whipped cream, as I have done here, you’re going to want to serve it fairly quickly.Chocolate Mint Oreo Trifles

Adapted from The Slow Roasted Italian

12 Oreo Mint Cookies, chopped

1 3.9-oz. pkg. Instant JELL-O Chocolate Pudding

2 c. whole milk

2 c. heavy whipping cream

2 t. unflavored gelatin (Knox recommended)

½ c. powdered sugar

1½ t. peppermint extract

6-8 drops green food coloring

20 Andes Mints, chopped

In a medium mixing bowl with an electric mixer, beat  pudding mix and milk for 2 minutes until thickened. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Into a small bowl or ramekin, place 8 teaspoons of cold water. Sprinkle gelatin on top, and let it set on the counter until firm. Meanwhile whip heavy cream with an electric mixer. Start the mixer on low while you put the ramekin with the water and gel mixture into the microwave for 10 seconds to melt. As the cream is whipping, slowly add the melted gel mixture. Add powdered sugar, food coloring, and peppermint extract. Increase speed to high and whip cream until stiff peaks form. You have just stabilized your rib cream, so that it won’t collapse on itself while your trifles are in the refrigerator waiting to be served.

 To assemble: Add 1/4 of the Oreos to the bottom of each of the four individual trifle dishes. Spoon 1/4 of pudding directly on top of Oreos. Reserve a tablespoon of chopped mints. Add ¼ of remaining mints to trifle, directly on top of pudding. Top with whipped cream. Sprinkle with reserved mints. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Garnish with an Andes mint, if desired.

Serves 4.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

 

Olive Vinaigrette

 A couple of weeks ago I shared a copycat recipe for Olive Garden’s salad dressing. Today I was thinking about olives, and wondered how a simple vinaigrette would taste with the addition of chopped pimiento-stuffed olives. I must say that I quite like it. It has a bolder, zingier taste than does vinaigrette without. Next time I’m going to try a “dirty martini” version, and add a tablespoon of gin. Imagine how good that would be? Give this a try, and mix things up by adding olives stuffed with garlic, jalapeños, blue or feta cheeses, or try, black olives, or Kalamata olives. Be bold!

Olive Vinaigrette 

1/3 c. cider vinegar

1½ t. sugar

1 T. olive juice

¼ t. dry mustard

¼ t. freshly ground pepper

1 t. garlic salt

Few gratings freshly ground black pepper

½ c. vegetable oil

5 large or 10 small pimiento-stuffed olives

 Place all ingredients into a blender or mini food processor, and process until emulsified.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

 

Stuffed Portobellos

 I am a lover of mushrooms. I always thought everyone loved mushrooms until a friend of mine told me she couldn’t stand them because, "They just lie on my tongue, and my teeth won’t chew them." I thought that was so funny, but she honestly felt that way. I love all kinds of mushrooms, but I particularly love the versatility of portobellos. They make such a wonderful main dish, and with their beefy taste, you won’t even miss the meat. This delicious recipe is the result of my cleaning out the fridge, believe it or not. I had a little bit of cottage cheese left over from the Beef & Noodle Bake, some fresh spinach threatening to go bad, as well as half of a jar of marinated artichoke hearts. I combined all of this, along with one of my favorite ingredients, fire roasted red bell peppers, and cheese (Can you ever go wrong adding cheese to anything?), and came up with this delicious recipe. If you cut it in quarters, it’s a wonderful appetizer; two make a hearty meal, and one, a nice side. No matter how you decide to serve yours, it will be very well received.

Stuffed Portobellos

4 large Melissa’s portobello mushrooms

1 T. olive oil

½ c. chopped onion

1 T. Melissa’s minced garlic

½ c. chopped marinated artichoke hearts

2 handfuls baby spinach, chopped

¼ c. chopped Melissa’s roasted red peppers

¼ c. cottage cheese

¼ t. kosher salt

¼ t. freshly ground pepper

1 t. Frank’s hot sauce

1/3 c. Italian breadcrumbs

½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese

 Preheat oven to 400°F.

Carefully remove stems and gills from mushrooms. Reserve and chop the stems for the stuffing; set aside. Place the mushrooms stem side down onto a baking pan. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until the water leaks out of them. Remove from the oven and drain paper towels; set aside. 

In a skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and chopped steams, and sauté for a couple minutes until the onion is translucent. Add garlic, artichoke hearts, spinach, and red peppers to the skillet and cook for a couple more minutes, until the spinach wilts. Stir in cottage, cheese, salt, pepper, hot sauce, and breadcrumbs, and cook until heated through.

 Use an ice cream scoop to scoop up the stuffing, and divide equally among the mushrooms. Top with mozzarella cheese.
Bake for 10 minutes or until the cheese melts.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

 

M&M Sugar Cookies

 In my Easter themed Table for Two tablescape, you may have noticed the pastel M&Ms in the bunny egg cups. I had a lot of those left over, and was looking for something to do with them, rather than just eating them straight out of the bag. I’ve always enjoyed M&M cookies, and recently had one from the bakery, that, instead of being made with dough similar to that of a chocolate chip cookie, was made of sugar cookie dough. I thought that was a great idea, so I combined a favorite sugar cookie recipe and the M&Ms, and this is the result. Imagine how cute these would be stacked in a cello bag with a pastel ribbon tied around the top to take as a hostess gift, put in Easter baskets, or at each place setting at your Easter dinner.

M&M Sugar Cookies

1 c. butter, softened
1 1/2 c. sugar plus more for rolling.
2 large eggs
2 t. vanilla extract
1 t. almond extract
3 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. kosher salt
 One bag pastel M&Ms

  Preheat the oven to 375°F. Spray baking sheets with PAM, or line with a Silpat; set aside.

 In the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition; add vanilla and almond extracts, mix well.

 Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; add to creamed mixture, blending until combined.

 Using a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop out balls, roll in granulated sugar, flatten slightly, and place on prepared baking sheet spacing 1½” – 2” apart. Press 5 to 6 M&Ms into the top of each cookie. Bake for 9 – 12 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool five minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.