I made this stuff up! Cooking with Mimi

Pesto Fondue

Pesto Fondue

• 3 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 1 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
• 1 1/4 cups dry white wine
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1/2 cup pesto

In a large saucepan, add the pesto mixture and white wine until it reaches a slow rolling boil.

In a large bowl, toss the shredded mozzerella and parmesan cheese with cornstarch. Slowly stir it into saucepan with the boiling pesto/wine one small handful at a time. Stir over medium heat until it is melted and stringy. It may take about 5 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to fondue pot or little crockpot.

Beer Cheese Dip

No picture of this but it was a keeper. This recipe comes from The Hungry Housewive's blog. We warmed our dip and really liked it that way.

Beer Cheese Dip

16 oz Cream Cheese, softened

32 oz Velveeta Cheese, cubed

3 cloves Garlic, minced

2 jars Old English Cheese

18 oz Dark Beer, stirred to remove bubbles (1 1/2 bottles of beer)

2 Loafs of Round Bread (not sliced)

1 Tbsp Parsley for garnish

In a large bowl with an electric mixer, mix cream cheese until smooth.

Add the two jars of Old English Cheese and incorporate with the cream cheese until smooth.

Add 1/2 of the cubed Velveeta Cheese into the cream cheese and mix until smooth.

Blend in the 3 cloves of garlic.

Blend in one bottle of beer.

Add the remaining Velveeta Cheese and blend.

Add in the remaining beer.

With the mixer on medium high, blend the cheese until smooth. Be sure to keep you beaters in the cheese mixture as much as possible to reduce the amount of air in the cheese. This will take about 5 minutes. You can add more beer if your dip is too thick.

To prepare the bread bowl, cut a lid out of one of the loafs of bread and remove.

Scoop out the bread out of the center of the bread to make a “bowl”. Set that bread aside, you will use it to dip. Take care not to tear through the bread or your dip will leak through.

Take the other loaf of bread and cube it into 1″ cubes.

Pour the beer cheese into the bread bowl and arrange the cut up bread around the bowl.

Garnish with parsley

Serve immediately or make up to 3 days in advance. Store leftovers in the fridge.

Crostini with Mushrooms, Prosciutto, and Blue Cheese

I've had the recipe for a while. It was yummy!

Crostini with Mushrooms, Proscuitto, and Blue Cheese

• 3 Tbsp butter
• 1/2 lb shitake mushrooms
• 4 ounces crimini mushrooms, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
• 1/2 cup chopped thinly sliced prosciutto, I used danish bacon
• 18 1/2 inch thinly sliced sourdough baguette

Melt butter in large skillet over medium high heat. Add all mushrooms and garlic and saute until mushrooms are cooked through and brown, about 10 minutes. Add cream and boil until liquid is completely absorbed, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Add blue cheese and stir until it melts. Mix in prosciutto. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer mushroom mixture into a bowl. (This can be made a day ahead of time and refrigerate)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Arrange bread slices on baking sheet. Bake until just golden about 5 minutes. Mound 1 generous tablespoon on each slice. Return to oven and bake about 6 minutes. Sprinkle with chopped parsley.

Spinach Dip

This is a favorite in our house at holidays or really anytime. Let me just say also that I don't like spinach or green onions but this dip is fantastic so give it a try. This recipe comes directly off the back of the Knorr Vegetable Soup Mix package. They really know what they are doing but I wanted to share this anyway because its tasty and easy to throw together. Plus Kelly made it today and it was so so good!

Spinach Dip

• 1 package (10 oz) baby spinach, chopped, (10 oz) frozen spinach thawed and squeezed dry
• 1 container (16 oz) sour cream
• 1 cup Best Foods Mayonaise (it really is that important to use Best Foods, it makes it so much better)
• 1 pkg Knorr Vegetable recipe soup mix
• 1 can (8 oz) water chestnuts
• 3 green onions chopped (optional but I recommend it)

Combine all ingredients and let it sit for 4 hours at least. I like to put this in a sourdough bread bowl but you could serve it with veggies also for a healthier spin on it.

Jalapeño poppers

When you see how easy this recipe is you'll want to make them. Don't be scared away by the ingredients because they are so good Tim ate a bunch of them. This recipe is a friend of a friends and it's so tasty. Be sure to wear gloves when you're cutting up the jalapenos so you're hands don't burn all night long like mine did. Really!
Jalapeno Poppers

• 20 Jalapenos cut in half and scooped out
• 1 8oz pkg Cream Cheese
• 1/2 pkg of Jimmy Dean Maple Sausage, browned

Brown your sausage and drain it. Mix the cream cheese in with the sausage and load into a quart ziploc freezer bag. Snip the end and pipe the mixture into the jalapenos. Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes or until they look done. Enjoy!

Texas Caviar

This is my mom's recipe and it's so so good! This recipe is sort of a jumping off point. If you use the canned tomatoes you don't need to add the hot sauce or vinegar but it's up to your personal taste. We tend to use more avacado.

Texas Caviar 

• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons hot sauce (like Texas Pete)
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 avocados
• 1 yellow or green pepper diced up
• 1 (15 ounce) can white corn kernels (we use frozen corn)
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans or black-eyed peas
• 3-4 whole roma tomatoes (or 1 can diced tomatoes with mexican peppers)
• 1 cup diced onions
• 1/2- 3/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 to taste salt & pepper

Directions

1. Whisk together the vinegar, oil garlic and hot sauce.
2. Then fold in the avocado and the rest of the ingredients.
3. Season to taste and serve with Tortilla chips as an appetizer or you can serve also as a salad in lettuce lined bowls.

Hot Corn Dip

This recipe while it may sound strange is really really good. So good that Tim and I had it for dinner last night. It's a great Sunday afternoon sit in front of the tv and relax sort of deal. I think it would be really good on a baked potato also. Enjoy! 

 

 

Hot Corn Dip

Recipe by Emeril Lagasse

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 1/2 cups corn kernels (from 4 ears fresh white or yellow corn, or frozen fresh corn)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup finely chopped yellow onions
• 1/2 cup finely chopped red bell peppers - I used roasted red bell peppers from a jar.
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions (green and white parts)
• 1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1/2 to 1 cup mayonnaise - 1/2 C was plenty for mine
• 4 ounces monterey jack or cheddar, shredded- I used jalapeno cheese and it was excellent!
• 4 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• Tortilla chips, for dipping

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 

Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the corn, salt, and black pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the kernels turn deep golden brown, about 5 minutes. Note that if you're using frozen corn it probably won't get golden brown.  Just cook for about 5 minutes as the recipe states.  Transfer to a bowl. 

Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter in the skillet. Add the onions and bell peppers and cook, stirring often, until the onions are wilted, about 2 minutes. Add the green onions, jalapeno, and garlic and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes, or until the vegetables are softened. Transfer to the bowl with the corn. 

Add 1/2 C mayo, cayenne pepper, half of the monterey jack and half of the cheddar and mix well. If you need more mayo to hold the mixture together then add it, but I found that 1/2 C was plenty, and I even added a little extra cheese.  

Pour into an 8-inch square baking dish, or something equivilant and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Bake until bubbly and golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Serve hot with tortilla chips or Fritos. 

Soft Pretzels

I bought some dill mustard a couple months back and when I was at the coast this weekend I picked up a couple more flavors. I've been wanting to find a good homemade pretzel recipe and it seems I'm using my yeast more these days so I found this one and it's a keeper. Very very tasty! The kids loved helping roll the dough out into snakes and then into pretzels. We haven't quite mastered the holes in the middle of them but they were still really tasty. It's a keeper recipe!

Soft Pretzels

25 min | 10 min prep

SERVES 8 , 8 pretzels

• 1 1/2 cups water, warm (110 degrees)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 (1/4 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 4 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 gallon water
• 1/3 cup baking soda
• 2 Tbsp melted butter
• kosher salt (or Pretzel Salt)

1. Combine water, sugar, and the 2 tsp Kosher salt in a medium bowl. Sprinkle the yeast on top. Let it sit for 3 minutes.
2. Add the flour and butter and mix with dough hooks (stand mixer) on medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the sides. Continue kneading for about 4 minutes.
3. Remove dough from bowl, and place into another bowl that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Cover with a damp (wrung out tight) kitchen towel and sit on top of fridge for 1 hour.
4. Preheat oven to 450°F Bring the gallon of water and the baking soda to a boil in wide-mouthed pan (roaster type works best).
5. Meanwhile, turn dough out onto a lightly oiled work surface and divide into 10 sections. Roll each section out to 2' ropes, shape into pretzel shape.
6. Place the pretzels into the boiling water. 2 or 3 at a time for about 10-15 seconds each. Remove using a large spatula onto a baking sheet that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. It'll take two baking sheets to accomplish this.
7. Brush each pretzel with melted butter and sprinkle with Kosher salt (or sea salt or pretzel salt) and bake 15 minutes.

Bruschetta

Sara made us bruschetta while we were in Hawaii and it was so tasty. I also like to add some balsalmic vinegar to my bruschetta. Here's the recipe and keep in mind with Bruschetta this is just a jumping off point you can add more garlic or basil if you like because we like lots of it in ours.

Bruschetta 

• 6 roma tomatoes, diced, drain a bit of the juice off 
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 1/4 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
• 8 slices Italian bread, cut about 1 inch thick
• 2 tablespoons grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese

1. Whisk together chopped garlic, vinegar, salt, pepper, and basil.
2. When combined slowly drizzle in oil.
3. Add tomatoes and let sit for 20 minutes at room temp.
4. Toast the bread.
5. This can be done either in the toaster (if it's got really wide slots) or under the broiler (if using this method watch closely so it doesn't become a brickette).
6. When the bread is toasted rub each piece, on one side, with the whole garlic pieces.
7. Place the bread on a cookie sheet and top with tomato mixture.
8. Sprinkle on a little cheese and broil till the cheese melts (you can skip that last broiling bit and it's equally as wonderful).
9. Serve immediately.
10. The tomato mixture also makes a wonderful vinegrette for an antipasto salad.
11. Enjoy!

Taco Dip

This is an easy recipe but it's so tasty and worth making. You can double it to make a 13x9 pan but this amount is good for a pie tin or square 8x8 pan.

Taco Dip

• 1 can refried beans
• Guacamole
• 1 small can of chopped chiles
• 16 oz sour cream
• 1/2 cup mayonaise
• Taco seasoning (to taste)
• Cheese
• Olives

Layer the items above starting with the beans in your pie plate. Mix taco seasoning into your sour cream and mayonaise before adding it over the guacamole. Cover with shredded cheese and olives. You can add chopped tomatoes also. Enjoy!