Hot Black-eyed Pea Dip

Brian isn't a big fan of Black-eyed peas. The musical group or the food. Brian didn't grow up in Texas or the South, so he never heard about the superstition to eat them on New Years for good luck. My grandfather (from the northern Midwest) didn't like them either and my grandmother used to sneak them into his food so he'd get his good luck.

I tried Texas Caviar one year for New Year's, he ate it but later said "eh."

I saw this recipe from the Pioneer Woman. Anything with melted cheese has to be good, and Brian love dip.  I altered it slightly, and he said he liked it. I thought it was good, but because I was worried about the heat, I omitted the hot sauce, used fresh jalepeno, mild salsa. It could have used a little more heat. Just a bit.

Here's the version I made:

Hot Black-eyed Pea Dip

1 can (14-ounce) Can Black-eyed Peas
1/4 cup Onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup Sour Cream
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh Jalapeno (or more to taste)
1/2 bell pepper, finely chopped
1 cup Grated Sharp White Cheddar Cheese
3 Tablespoons Salsa
Salt, chili powder, and Black Pepper To Taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drain black-eyed peas and partially mash, leaving some whole.
Add all other ingredients, stirring to combine.

Spread into a 1 1/2 quart baking dish and bake for 20 to 30 minutes until hot and bubbly.
Serve with tortilla chips

Brian grilled salmon on top of a spinach salad to go along with it. It was too nice of weather yesterday to not fire up the grill.

Happy New Year!

New Kitchen Blues

I'm not blue about my new kitchen... I love it! I'll love it more when I get my new stove on Friday!

I'm blue because I just haven't really had time to cook. Most of our cooking has consisted of Brian's Chili Dip and Veggie dogs. I did FINALLY make Donkey Tails for Brian - I've been telling him forever I wanted to make them, and he always makes a face, but guess what - He likes them!

Brian's Chili Dip
1 package cream cheese (we use Neufchatel)
1 can chili (we usually use Hormel Vegetarian, but last night we used Amy's Southwestern, and it was really good)
Chili powder to taste
Fritos Scoops

Mix all ingredients together in a microwave safe bowl. Heat in microwave until melted, stopping to stir several times. Serve with Fritos Scoops.

Brian always makes his chili dip for parties because everyone just loves it.

Now, you may ask, "What in the world is a donkey tail!" When I was a kid, we would go to Tolbert's Restaurant in downtown Dallas. I was a meat-eater then, and I would always get the Donkey tails. Tolbert's Donkey Tails were a hotdog stuffed with cheese, wrapped in a tortilla and then deep fried. Tolbert's now is in downtown Grapevine (Here's their menu).

Donkey Tails
(for 2)

2 Hotdogs (we use LightLife Smart Dogs)
2 Tortillas
Cheddar Cheese
oil

Cook hot dogs to package directions. Cover one side of a tortilla with cheese (it can be sliced or grated, grated will melt faster). Place dog in tortilla and roll tightly. Secure with toothpick.

Oil the bottom of a frying pan. Place dogs in frying pan and cook until golden brown. Turn and cook again until golden brown. Repeat 2 more times until all sides are golden brown. Serve with mustard, salsa, or chili. I personally like it with Rotel Dip.

Halloween Food!

October 25th was our "Witch Burning and BBQ" or Ghoulish Grillout - which ever you prefer.

Where the food was located:

The food table:

Brian's iced sugar cookies (My favorite is the Frankenstein!):

Chocolate Peanut Butter Coffins:

Brian's Graveyard Cake with sugar cookie tombstones:
Brian also made Rotel Dip, Chili Dip, and Grilled Brauts. I made Mac and Cheese with halloween pasta. We also mixed up some Hallowtinis and Brian made Sangria.

Thanks to everyone that showed up to eat our food!

Hummus

toothpastefordinner.com

I haven't written much lately. I've still cooked, but nothing really original. I haven't been able to write much because I've had a little kitten demanding my attention (or just being so freakin' cute I have to pick him up and cuddle him).

Yesterday we had a staff potluck party. I'm lucky enough to work with quite a few people that can really cook, so you don't have to fake the "mmm that's good" through your teeth. I decided to make hummus, since there is always just way too many desserts. A couple people asked if I had the recipe on here, but I hadn't put it up because Brian usually makes it.

Hummus was one of the first things I made for Brian, little did I know he used to live on the stuff. So, he seemed to really like it, and eventually I taught him how to make it, and now he makes it better, which led to him becoming "The Dip Master." I came up with the recipe, because I had a few recipes in some vegetarian cookbooks. One actually required parsley chopped up in it, which that's how I made it first. Ick! One was too garlicky, one was too garbanzo-y. I was never happy with the taste. On a whim, I decided to add some toasted sesame oil, and voila! my hummus was born.

My hummus recipe has appeared in a fundraising cookbook, however, they left off the tahini. Um, it's not really hummus without it! So if you ever check out the book Come to the Table from my library, you will see my handwriting in it! I defaced a library book, but it was for the sake of hummus!

Hummus

2 cloves garlic
1 can garbanzo beans
1/4 cup tahini
1 TBSP water
2 TBSP lemon juice
1 tsp cumin
pinch red pepper flakes (or more to taste)
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
salt to taste
1/4 cup olive oil
toasted sesame seeds and olive oil for garnish

In a food processor, chop garlic. Scrape sides and add beans, tahini, water, lemon juice, cumin, red pepper flakes, sesame oil and process until fully chopped and blended. While processor is running, slowly drizzle in olive oil. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Sometimes you will need more lemon juice, sometimes more water, sometimes more salt, and sometimes more sesame oil. When satisfied with the flavor, transfer to a bowl. Using the back of a spoon, make a swirl in the top. Drizzle olive oil in the swirl. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve with warm pita and/or carrot sticks.

Hummus was photographed on Too many syllables for me.

It is also easy to add stuff to it. You can add:
-sundried tomatoes
-olive pesto the swirl on top (that was Brian's idea, and it looked and tasted great!)
-roasted bell peppers

When you have leftover pita and hummus, you can make a sandwich with it - just spread the pita with hummus and add veggies.

You can eat it everyday! We do (or at least every 4 days).


toothpastefordinner.com

Asian Tapas

The other night I made an "Asian Tapas" spread for dinner (I suppose some would call it Dim Sum, but it wasn't that authentic - and it wasn't really a "spread," but I digress). It was vegetable potstickers (from a frozen package), Spring Rolls, and Edamame Hummus.

Brian actually made the Edamame Hummus while I prepared the spring rolls. The first time he ever cooked for me, that is what he made (and shrimp tempura and spring rolls).

Edamame Hummus

1 clove garlic
1/2 pound frozen shelled edamame, about 1 1/2 cups
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
1 lemon (about 3 tablespoons), juiced
salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin (I'm not sure Brian uses Cumin anymore)
About 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
About 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
About 1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
toasted sesame seeds to garnish

Microwave the soybeans in a little bit of water until fully heated.

In a food processor, chop the garlic. Scrape sides and add edamame, tahini, water, lemon zest and juice, garlic, salt, cumin, and coriander and process until until smooth. With the motor running, slowly drizzle in 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and sesame oil.

Transfer to a small bowl, stir in drizzle with remaining oil and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

(the original recipe was from the Food Network Brian alters it slightly.)

I also made spring rolls, which basically what I did for Southeast Asia Night. This time I added the Bean Thread Noodles, Bell Pepper, Spinach, Broccoli Slaw, Shredded Carrots, Green Onion and Sesame Seeds.

I purchased some frozen vegetable potstickers at Central Market, and I just microwaved them. The corners ended up chewy, so it probably is better to steam them (or panfry, of course). I made the following dipping sauce to go along with them:

Soy Sesame Dipping Sauce

1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 tsp garlic granules
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds

Add all ingredients to a small bowl. Whisk together. (Measurements are approximate. I tasted and added more of what I thought it needed. You probably could use 1 clove of garlic finely chopped, but I went with what was easy).

Too many syllables for me

Blogging 101: Keep Blogging. If someone points out you haven't blogged in a while, then that's not good. So this is for Karyn!

I do have a good excuse. I got a bad upper respiratory infection. Then Brian did. Then Brian and I went to New York. With URIs. Fun. Then we came back. And we still had URIs. 2 weeks after i exhibited the first symptoms, I still have some symptoms, but I managed to make some food (other than soup).

In New York, Brian and I went to a cute Greek restaurant (Greek Kitchen on 10th Ave.) for lunch. For an appetizer we got the eggplant dip. I was telling a co-worker who is half-Greek about it, because we always talk about Greek food. I couldn't remember what it was called and neither could she, so she looked it up, and it is called melintzanosalata. She kept saying it over and over again to learn to the word: "Mel - in -tzan - o - sa - la - ta. Mel - in - tzan - o - sa - la - ta." That's just too many syllables for me. I said that I do make
melintzanosalata, but I think what I make it is more like baba ganouj.

Here's what I make:

Baba Ganouj

1 medium eggplant
2 cloves garlic
1 TBSP tahini
Salt, Pepper, Coriander, and Cumin to taste
juice from 1 lemon
about 2 TBSP Olive Oil
1/2 tsp. toasted sesame oil
Toasted sesame seeds

Put eggplant on a cookie sheet or roasting pan. Place on top rack of oven. Place rack as close to heat source in oven as possible without the eggplant touching. Heat oven on Broil. Broil for about 8 to 10 minutes, until one side burns. Turn, and broil until skin burns. After 4 turns, remove from oven, wrap in foil to steam. Steam for about 20 to 30 minutes, and then unwrap and allow to cool. Remove all skin.

In a food processor, chop garlic. Scape sides, and add roasted eggplant, tahini, salt, pepper, coriander, cumin, and lemon juice. blend until mixed. Slowly drizzle in 1 TBSP of olive oil and the toasted sesame oil. Blend until smooth.

Plate. Then drizzle with remaining olive oil and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve with warm pita.

I also made a Greek Salad to go with it, with store-bought dolmas on top. Brian made hummus, and pomegranate martinis. I have been trying to get him to write out dip recipes, but he finally wrote out the martini recipe:

Pomegranate Martini


Fill a shaker with ice, then add:

2 jiggers (2oz) vodka
1 jigger (1oz) Bauchant- orange liqueur
1 jigger (1oz) Pomegranate juice
squeeze of lime

shake contents vigorously.

use the squeezed lime-half to rim the martini glass, then dust with sugar

Pour contents of shaker & enjoy!