Tortilla Roll-ups

Here's two of my favorite roll-up recipes - Mexican chicken and Italian roll-ups.  They're a great appetizer for a party, or you can slice them in bigger halves for lunch or a picnic.

Mexican Chicken Roll-ups

Source

Ingredients:
2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese
2 cups cooked shredded chicken
1 1/3 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend
1 teaspoon finely minced garlic
1 ½ tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
4 green onions, chopped
10 oz. can Rotel, drained
cayenne pepper to taste
salt to taste
half a bunch of cilantro, chopped (optional)

2 packages burrito sized tortillas

Directions:
-Mix filing ingredients together.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- Spread 2 heaping spoonfuls of filing on each tortilla.  Roll up and cut into slices.

Italian Roll-ups

Source:  Midwest Living

Spread:
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
1 tablespoon chives
1 tablespoon chopped green onion
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, crushed
Salt and Pepper to taste

For wraps:
Ham
Salami
Pepperoni
Tortillas

Combine all ingredients for spread.  Cover and chill for at least 1 hour.  Let come to room temperature, spread a heaping tablespoon over each tortilla and layer with choice of meats.  Roll up and slice.

Pineapple Cheeseball

This is a really yummy cheeseball.  The flavors are so different and unexpected and it's very addicting.  It doesn't really have a name; I'm just calling it the pineapple cheese ball.  Anywho, it would be a great appetizer for all the holiday parties coming up!

Ingredients:

8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
8 oz. shredded sharp cheddar cheese
small can crushed pineapple, drained (8 oz. I believe)
½ green bell pepper, diced small
2 green onions, chopped small
4 oz. diced pimento, drained
1 teaspoon seasoned salt

Combine all ingredients and chill in refrigerator.  It gets even better the longer it sits.  You can shape it into a ball or serve in a bowl with good snack crackers.

Source

Jalapeno Pimiento Cheese

Once you make your own pimiento cheese, you just can't go back to the packaged stuff.  It's not even close to the real thing. 

Pimiento cheese is one of those staples you should always have in your fridge for when unexpected company shows up at your door.  It's great for a tasty snack or appetizer.  And as a grilled pimiento cheese sandwich...oh yum!

Inspired from Southern Living, July 2009

Ingredients:
2 blocks sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
4 ounce jar diced pimientos, drained (I think next time I will use a 7 ounce jar)
½ cup mayonnaise
2 jalapenos, seeded and diced
2 tablespoons finely diced onion
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:
1.  Combine all ingredients in a medium sized bowl and mix well.
2.  Place in bowl of food processor and pulse 5 or 6 times to desired consistency.

Zesty Refrigerator Pickles

Printable Recipe

Since I have an abundance of cucumbers from the garden, I decided to try my hand and refrigerator pickles.  I don’t even like cucumbers, but I do LOVE pickles. Cucumbers don’t ever stay around our house long because Cal LOVES them.  He eats them whole like a banana while he’s watching tv!  I had to sneak a few from him so I could make my pickles. 

These were a very pleasant surprise!  They are a little spicy but oh so good!  Cal was a little concerned about them, but after he gave them the sniff test, he decided to try them and gave them a thumbs up!  Pretty good, eh?

The recipe said to use 6 cups of cucumbers and 1 onion, but that didn’t sound right to me with only 1½ cups of the vinegar solution, I used less cucumbers.  I put them into 2 tall containers and divided the vinegar solution in them so it would come up half-way.

 

Source:  Cooking Light  I believe it was also in Southern Living maybe last month, but I can’t find that issue.

Ingredients:

4-5 cucumbers, thinly sliced

¼ onion, very thinly sliced

1½ cups white vinegar

¾ cup sugar

4 cloves garlic, chopped

¾ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. pepper

½ tsp. mustard seeds

½ tsp. celery seeds

½ tsp. red pepper flakes

1. Place cucumbers and onions into containers
2. Combine vinegar and remaining ingredients in a small saucepan and boil for about 1 minute.
3. Pour over cucumbers and onions, let cool.  Cover and place in refrigerator for a minimum of 4 days. 

Next up are dill and garlic pickles!  Yum!

Ahhh…the first batch of salsa this summer!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What I used: all from the garden, except for the lime and vinegar of course!

3 tomatoes (I like the skin peeled off)

2 baby red onions

2 jalapenos

3 cloves of garlic

juice from 1 lime

splash of red wine vinegar

season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder

Just mix it all up in the food processor!

Pizza Puffs

Sunday nights are appetizer nights at our little house.  Finger foods are just fun and cute, and they're easy to eat in front of the tv catching up on my shows.  Look how cute these little guys are!  All gooey and cheesy!  

You can dip them in marinara sauce or Ranch dressing would be really good (mental note).  

Don't you like to dip your pizza in ranch dressing?? Yeah it's good!

Source:  Annie's Eats

Printable version

Ingredients:

• 1 can pizza dough (such as Pillsbury)
• 4 oz. mozzarella cheese, cubed
• pepperoni slices

For the topping:

• olive oil
• Italian seasoning
• grated parmesan cheese

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400˚ F.  Lightly grease a 9-inch pie plate.  Divide the pizza dough into 20-24 roughly equal sized pieces.  Take one of the dough pieces, top with a cube of cheese and a slice or two of pepperoni.  Pull the edges of the dough around the fillings and pinch closed.  Place seam-side down in the baking dish.  Repeat with the remaining dough pieces.
Lightly brush the tops of the dough balls with olive oil.  Sprinkle with Italian seasoning and grated Parmesan cheese.  Bake for 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown.  Serve warm, with dipping sauce as desired.

Salsa Chicken Salad

This is such an easy dip and it’s something different from your regular salsa or cheese dip.  Perfect snack for a summer picnic or party….or just for lunch like me.

Source:  Paula Deen, The Lady and Sons Too!

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

2 cups cooked and shredded chicken

16 oz. sour cream

16 oz. chunky salsa

½ packet Ranch dressing mix

1 cup shredded pepperjack cheese

8 oz. container water chestnuts, chopped

Mix all ingredients together, chill in the fridge for a couple hours.  Serve cold with tortilla chips or as tortilla roll-ups.

Chicken Enchilada Dip

So, I have a bajillion jalapenos from my Papa's garden and I'm trying to find some more recipes for them!

I've already made the Jalapeno Cheese Grits for Easter.  And I always use them in fresh salsa and pico, but I'm waiting on fresh tomatoes before I make those. I also made a good Jerk Chicken marinade last week with a couple of them, but forgot to blog it.  So I guess I'll have to make it again!  Oh they're also good stuffed with cheese, wrapped in bacon and grilled.  But a few of them burned my mouth!

So if anyone has some ideas to use up jalapenos, send them my way please!

When I was thinking about what I could make with them tonight, this Chicken Enchilada Dip was the first thing that came to my mind.  I think I took it from someone's blog, but I don't remember whose.  So whoever you are, send me an email and I can credit you!

The jalapenos are not too hot in this, they won't burn your mouth.  Promise.  It's all covered in CHEESE to cool it down.  SO GOOD!

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup Tabasco spicy mayo (or add a few drops of Tabasco to regular mayo)
16 oz. shredded cheddar cheese
1 can diced green chiles
2-3 jalapenos, finely diced (remove ribs and seeds)
Half a bundle of green onions, chopped (you can sub a red onion too)
1 tsp. of Cajun seasoning
1 tsp. Garlic powder
1 lg. can of all white meat chicken

Mix all ingredients together and spread in a serving dish. I put mine in the oven on 375 for about 30 minutes, just long enough for the cheese to get melty and bubbly! Serve with tortilla chips.