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Texas Cheese Fries

January 31, 2013 in appetizer

So I guess the Superbowl is this weekend?

I stopped caring about the NFL when it became apparent that my teams weren’t going all the way. But I do care about Superbowl food! I care a lot about Superbowl food. I did a post last year with some of my favorite football snacks so I decided to skip that post this year. But I couldn’t let the Superbowl go by without sharing at least one snack idea.

I’m pretty obsessed with Texas Cheese Fries lately. I frequently request that we go to Chili’s just so I can get a gigantic plate of them but I’ve never made them at home. Because omg, so much work! Compared to going out, of course! ;) I’m pretty excited that I finally made some though because really, the only work you have to do is cooking the bacon and shredding the cheese. And if you buy already shredded cheese… well, you my friend, are smarter than me.

I loved them. I ate almost the whole plate by myself. No shame.

Nicole made the perfect Superbowl drink: Michelada Marias! They are kicked up Coronas with lime, salt, and hot sauce!

One year ago: Baked Chicken Taquitos
Two years ago: Kaiser Rolls

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Texas Cheese Fries

Ingredients

1 bag frozen seasoned french fries
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
4 slices applewood smoked bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 green onions, sliced thinly
pickled jalapenos (optional)
ranch, for dipping

Instructions

  1. Cook the fries according to package directions.
  2. Once crispy, turn the broiler on and move an oven rack closer to the top.
  3. Sprinkle the shredded cheddar and bacon on top of the fries. Broil just until cheese in melted, less than 5 minutes.
  4. Sprinkle with green onions and jalapenos if desired.
http://fakeginger.com/2013/01/31/texas-cheese-fries/

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Loaded Baked Potato Dip

November 14, 2012 in appetizer


One of my favorite things to make for parties or just for days I’m hanging out watching football games are dips. Dips are so versatile and it seems like almost everyone likes them. I mean, who doesn’t enjoy dipping a crunchy chip into a deliciously creamy dip?

I came up with this Loaded Baked Potato Dip to go with Kettle Brand Chips, which is one of my all time favorite brand of chips. I survived on their Sea Salt & Vinegar chips during my 2nd pregnancy – I swear I would have starved if it wasn’t for them. But for this dip, I used the Sea Salt which is another favorite of mine. A lot of times plain chips are either too salty or not salty enough for me but these are just right. They are perfect and I could easily eat an entire bag in day. Not that I did that or anything…

Kettle Brand has over 30 flavors of potato chips that you can check out here. You better believe I went searching for the New York Cheddar flavor after I found out about it. That one, by the way, would also go great with this dip.

So about the dip? I was really craving a good loaded baked potato when I made it so it is everything you would typically put into one – sour cream, bacon, cheddar cheese – but without the potato! It is served piping hot so it really does taste just like a loaded baked potato with the Kettle Brand Sea Salt chips. It is absolutely delicious! All the cream cheese and sour cream mixed with the salty bacon and sharp cheddar is just perfection. It is also incredibly easy and fast to whip up if you’re throwing a party or like I said earlier, just hanging out at the house watching some football. The ingredient list is super short and you likely have everything on hand already! If you are a fan of loaded or twice baked potatoes or just a fan of dips, you will definitely love this! Make sure you stock up on Kettle Brand Sea Salt or New York Cheddar chips before you make them.

Giveaway time!

The winner gets a $100 Visa gift card! All you have to do is comment with the answer to this question: If you’ve tried Kettle Brand Chips, what’s your favorite flavor? If you haven’t, which one do you want to try?

Rules:
No duplicate comments.
You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:
a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
b) Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the
following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
c) Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.
This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
The Official Rules are available here.
This sweepstakes runs from 11/13-12/31.
Be sure to visit the Kettle Brand Chips page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ reviews and find more chances to win!

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Loaded Baked Potato Dip

Ingredients

4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons chives
6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 cup shredded cheddar, divided
2 green onions, chopped

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350F.
  2. Beat together softened cream cheese and sour cream until no lumps remain. Beat in chives, bacon, and half a cup of cheddar. Spoon into a small baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining half cup of cheddar.
  3. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the dip is bubbly.
  4. Serve with Kettle Brand Sea Salt chips.
http://fakeginger.com/2012/11/14/loaded-baked-potato-dip/

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Secret Recipe Club – Chicken Club Eggrolls

October 15, 2012 in chicken

It’s always exciting for me to receive a blog I already know for my  Secret Recipe Club assignment. This month I got Erin of Dinners, Dishes, and Desserts. Erin organized that Colorado Fires fundraiser that I participated in and I’m happy to call her a friend.

When I sat down to pick a recipe from Erin’s blog, I had brownies on the brain and knew Erin would have the perfect recipe for me. Buuuut as soon as I opened her blog, my 2 year old spotted these and started shrieking “THAT ONE! THAT ONE! THAAAAAAAAAT ONE!” So yeah, I made her Chicken Club Eggrolls.

They’re eggrolls that are stuffed with chicken, avocado, bacon, and cheddar cheese. Uhhh yeah, you see why my 2 year old wanted them so badly. Erin’s are baked but I’ve never had luck baking eggroll or wonton wrappers so I fried. And I hate frying but for something like eggrolls, I think it’s totally worth it.

They were fantastic. Benjamin (the one who chose the recipe) had 4 of them! And this is the kid who claims that he doesn’t like bacon or avocado. The dipping sauce was delicious too. I’ve never tried the avocado + ranch combo but now I see why it’s so popular!

You should definitely make these. They’d be perfect as an appetizer or an entree!

One year ago: Balsamic Honey Pulled Pork Sliders
Two years ago: Not-so-snappy Gingersnaps
Three years ago: Tuscan Vegetable Soup

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Secret Recipe Club – Chicken Club Eggrolls

Ingredients

For the eggrolls:
8 eggroll wrappers (found in the produce section)
2 cups grilled chicken, diced
1/2 avocado, diced
3 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
oil, for frying
For the avocado ranch dipping sauce:
1/2 avocado
1 tablespoon dry Ranch mix
1 tablespoon plain yogurt
1 teaspoon fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions

  1. Heat oil in a large, heavy pan to 375F.
  2. In a large bowl combine chicken, diced avocado, bacon, and cheddar cheese.
  3. To assemble eggrolls, lay 1 eggroll wrapper on your workspace. Put about 1/3 cup of the mixture down the center of the wrapper. Use a pastry brush to brush water around the edges of the wrapper. Fold the sides over. Then starting with edge closest to you, fold over, making sure the filling stays inside. Use a little additional water to seal if needed. Repeat with the rest of the filling.
  4. Fry one at a time (or 2 if your pan is large enough), turning occasionally until deep golden brown. Drain on paper towels.
  5. To make the dipping sauce, mash the avocado with the dry Ranch mix. Stir in yogurt, lime juice, and salt.
  6. Serve the eggrolls with the dipping sauce.
http://fakeginger.com/2012/10/15/chicken-club-eggrolls/




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7-Layer Chili Dog Dip

February 27, 2012 in appetizer

We celebrated my oldest’s 5th birthday this past weekend. Five! How am I old enough to have a 5 year old?!

We had a small party including cake, a pinata, and way too many Power Rangers toys.

(Him on his 1st birthday and on his 5th! Is that not the chunkiest baby you’ve ever seen?)

I made this dip for his party because the boy loves hot dogs. And yes, this does have actual hot dogs in it!

It’s 7 layers (obviously) of things you might put on your hot dogs – chili, cheddar, bacon, red onions, sour cream, and cilantro. The hot dogs being the 7th layer, of course. ;)

When I first saw this recipe, I thought it sounded way too bizarre to be any good but I saved it anyway. I mean, hot dogs in a dip? On chips? Weird.

But so good. Seriously. I don’t know why, I don’t know how, but this is good stuff. I cut my hot dogs lengthwise and then sliced them maybe 1/2″ thick so they weren’t super noticeable but they still added that unmistakable hot dog texture and taste to the dip.

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7-Layer Chili Dog Dip

Ingredients

For the chili:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
1 tablespoon chili powder
½ tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 cup beef stock
1 can (14-oz) diced tomatoes
For the Dip:
Chili
½ pound bacon
4 hot dogs, diced
1½ cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup sour cream
¼ cup diced red onion
¼ cup chopped cilantro
1 bag tortilla or pita chips

Instructions

    To make the chili:
  1. Heat the olive oil over medium high heat in a large pot. When the oil is hot, add the ground beef and onion. Cook, breaking up the beef, until it’s browned and the onions have softened. Drain, if needed. Add the chili powder, cumin and coriander; cook another minute or 2, just until the spices are nice and fragrant.
  2. Add the beef stock and tomatoes and allow to come to a boil. Cook for about 10 minutes, until most of the liquid has evaporated.
    3. To assemble the dip:
  3. Preheat oven to 375.
  4. Heat a large pan over medium-high heat. Add bacon and cook, flipping as needed, until the bacon is crisp. Drain on paper towels; crumble once cool. Set aside.
  5. Pour off all but about a teaspoon of the bacon fat. Add diced hot dogs and cook, stirring frequently, until the hot dogs are browned. Remove from the heat and set aside.
  6. Spread the chili in the bottom of an 8×8-inch baking dish. Top with the hot dogs and then the cheese. Bake for 12 – 15 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
  7. Top with bacon, sour cream, red onion, and cilantro. Serve hot.
http://fakeginger.com/2012/02/27/7-layer-chili-cheese-dog-dip/

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Farfalle with Bacon and Endives

February 16, 2012 in pasta, pork

I have to be honest with y’all.

I haven’t been cooking or baking lately. Last night I cooked for the first time in a week. We have been going out every night because my husband won’t tell me what he wants to eat in his last little bit of time at home. So I thought about what I would want if the situation was reversed and I was going to be living off MREs for the next 9 months, and decided that I’d want to stuff myself with burritos the size of my head and drive-thru Chinese food before leaving. Home cooked meals? Psssh! I’d totally miss restaurants.

But the day before Valentine’s Day, this showed up on my doorstep:

It’s a bouquet of endives! How stinkin’ cute is it?!

Before those showed up, I’d never given endives much thought and I don’t think I’d ever tried one. But I couldn’t just let them go to waste.

So that’s how I ended up cooking after a week of not turning my stove on. (Except to boil coffee. Which my husband says doesn’t count as cooking, no matter how much I insist it does.)

The great thing about this pasta is that it’s really creamy without using any cream! You take a quart of chicken broth and boil it down – it gets really thick and makes your house smell amazing. Then at the end you stir in just a little Parmesan. Seriously good. If you have endives you don’t know what to do with, I definitely recommend this.

This was one of those recipes that could’ve gone either way with my husband but he LOVED it. As we speak, the leftovers are packed in his work bag so he can eat it for breakfast today.

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Farfalle with Bacon and Endives

adapted from Food & Wine

Ingredients

1 quart chicken broth
1 pound farfalle
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ pound thickly sliced bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 medium Belgian endives, cored and sliced 1 inch thick
3 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
¼ cup parsley, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon lemon zest
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

Instructions

  1. In a medium saucepan, boil the chicken broth over high heat until reduced to about 1 cup, approximately 20 minutes.
  2. Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the farfalle until al dente.
  3. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil. Add the bacon and cook over moderately low heat until slightly crisp. Transfer the bacon to paper towels to drain. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of the fat. Add the endives to the skillet and cook over medium high heat, stirring, until the endives are just wilted but still crisp, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook just until fragrant, about 20 seconds.
  4. Drain the farfalle and add it to the skillet. Add the reduced chicken broth, parsley, lemon zest and bacon and toss well. Remove from the heat. Stir in the Parmesan and season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a large bowl and hot with extra Parmesan sprinkled on top.
http://fakeginger.com/2012/02/16/farfalle-with-bacon-and-endives/

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