We’re kicking 2012 off the right way!

Bacon & Asparagus

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Y’all, these bacon wrapped asparagus bundles are so simple to make and so delicious!

I made these several times at my parents house over Christmas break and my goodness, all y’all on Instar.gram just went gaga over it.  We ate them hot. warm and even cold and they were delicious every single time!

These are so simple, yet impressive.

Take a bundle of asparagus, rinse it well and lay it on a paper towel.

Take each piece of asparagus one hand on each end and bend, the asparagus will snap at it’s natural breaking point – toss the bottom, tough piece and set the top aside.  Repeat with each spear.

Pre-heat oven to 400 F

Lay all the snapped spears on a cutting board and dish and drizzle with olive oil and top with your favorite seasoning.  I prefer Zatarain’s Big & Zesty Garlic & Herb Creole Seasoning.  At my parent’s house I used a Southwest Seasoning and a Season Salt – you really can’t go wrong.  Toss the asparagus around in the olive oil and seasoning until all the spears are well coated

Count out the spears into bundles of 10 – 12 spears.  I can get 4 bundles out of each bunch of asparagus.

Starting at the bottom of a bundle, wrap tightly all the way up with a thick piece of bacon

Place the bacon wrapped spears on a broiler pan over another tray, once they’re all done, place them in the 400 F oven and cook about 20 minutes – or until the asparagus is cooked to your liking. (the cooking time will depend upon the thickness of the spears)
Serve with whatever you like, or these would even make fun snacks for a party, maybe even with this chili garlic dipping sauce – YUM!

Here’s the printable, save-able version – thanks to the wonderful ZipList plug-in!

if you like this recipe, you’ll love these bacon wrapped roasted green beans from Karly

Happy first Mouthwatering Monday of 2012, y’all! Thank you for linking up your recipes every week! I get so much inspiration and joy from seeing what y’all are sharing with your friends and family each week.

Here in Texas, football season is in full swing

Whether it’s Friday nights watchin’ the boys on the field or couch coaching, football season means delicious food and fun.

Appetizers are a huge part of footballin’ and a couple of weeks ago I was inspired by a box of Ritz crackers to break out of my own comfort zone and make a cheesy appetizer which has here-to-fore never graced a table in my home.

That’s right – the cheeseball.

I’ve often been accused of being a cheeseball, marrying a cheeseball and giving birth to two cheeseballs – but I have never before made a cheeseball.

Until a trip to H-E-B and a box of Ritz Crackers inspired me

I have a love for green onions

and parmesan cheese

the fact that those two ingredients were featured in the recipe on the box, inspired me to throw caution to the wind and make my first cheeseball.

I was surprised by how easy it was and absolutely thrilled by how delicious it turned out to be.

A friend of mine told me that she typically hates cheeseballs, but since I made it she decided to give it a taste.

Rumor has it that she was seen dippin’ and double dippin’ the cheeseball…….

This recipe is SO easy and SO delicious!  If you’ve never made a cheeseball, this is the recipe that you should make your cheeseballin’ debut with.

Happy Monday, y’all!
I can’t wait to see what y’all have been cookin’ up. I love seeing what y’all are feeding your friends and families. Don’t forget to comment, link back and visit others.

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Occasionally, I make something and I can’t stop eating it.

To the point that I’m torn between eating it and patting myself on the back.

This guacamole is one of those recipes.

I have a guacamole recipe,  one that I love, one that has never disappointed me.

HOWEVER — after having Guacamole at Solario during BlissDom with 3 of my girls.

Let’s just say that the game changed once Shane made our Guacamole

There is something about fresh guacamole, guacamole made in front of you, with the avocados seeded and removed from their skins in front of you — there is no guacamole like it.  And this guacamole, there was something slightly peppery that lay under the freshness and the tangy lime flavor.. I was determined to go home and replicate it.

To say that we were a bit guac obsessed after that night at Solario would be an understatement.  We even created an entire hashtag about it #guactribe

Y’all — I honestly can’t stop eating this guacamole — it is THAT good.

Freshness is the key, avocados, cilantro, tomatoes, onion, garlic, limes, cumin, jalapenos, salt and radishes (yes, radishes)

Oh did I throw you for a loop there?

Trust me when I say, I am not a radish eater — yet, radishes are key to this guac.

Honestly, y’all — I know it sounds weird and I would NEVER have believed it if I hadn’t eaten it but, radishes are a really cool texture and taste addition to this guac.

Slice four avocados in half, remove the seeds and scoop out the flesh, squeeze the juice of one lime and toss with a fork until the lime juice covers all the avocados. Set aside.

Mince 1/2 an onion, chop 2 garlic cloves, mince 2 radishes, rough chop 2 medium tomatoes or 8 grape tomatoes.  Add in 1 tsp cumin, 1 diced jalapeno (seeded if you can’t handle it), 1 tsp kosher salt and 2 Tbsp chopped cilantro

Mix all the ingredients together with a fork, mashing the pulp until the consistency is to your liking — set the bowl aside for 1 hour at room temperature before serving

It will be hard to resist diving straight in, however, trust me when I tell you — it is WORTH THE WAIT!

Serve with corn tortilla chips or veggies

Y’all, I will be making this for every party we go to, every time we have fajitas and I will be finding excuses to make this, I cannot stop eating it.

SO GOOD

I hope that y’all try this recipe and share it with loved ones.

If you’re like me — you can’t leave a recipe alone so, if you make it and tweak it, I’d love to hear what you did![/donotprint]

I’m so happy with the way Mouthwatering Mondays has grown, I know that I share recipes throughout the week but, Mondays make me happy. I love seeing how many of y’all are visiting each others blogs and discovering fellow foodies! Thank y’all for participating and sharing the love

• Leave a comment
• Link your recipe URL
• Visit at least 3 other participants
• Link back here in your post

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[donotprint]Football and Texans — We go together like Friday Nights and Football or Hot Caramel and Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream or Velveeta and Ro*Tel.

Even though we’re from Texas, my husband is a MAJOR Colts Fan

Casey even went to the stadium last year to get him a T-shirt after they won the Superbowl, she might be his favorite

So, it was pretty much a no brainer that for my Velveeta Fall Football Vlog the game I HAD to choose would be the Colts vs The Cowboys.

We have some friends who are die-hard Cowboys fans so I knew that with good food and a good game, it was going to be a night to remember.

I was right, if you caught the game — it was a nailbiter, right down to the end when the Cowboys won.

We had a lot of fun decorating the house with streamers and jerseys as you’ll see in the video.

This time around, Velveeta provided me with some recipe options from which to choose and one immediately stuck out to me.  The Ro*Tel Rodriguez Nacho Dip — Sour Cream, Velveeta, Ro*Tel and Italian Sausage** (YUM) and to top it off, so simple to make.

**I substituted Chorizo for the Italian Sausage because our store was out of Italian Sausage and it was SO SO good.

It was the first thing gone from my table, Nathan didn’t wait for anyone else to show up, either he just dug right in and started chowing down.

I highly recommend making this at your next football party or you know — just because you want something hot and delicious to eat.

Untitled from Rachel – A Southern Fairytale on Vimeo.

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This dip was honestly so delicious, y’all, even my friend’s husband who claims to hate sour cream loooooooved this dip.

This post and video is part of my participation in a Velveeta Kitchenistas program. My time in this program has been compensated, however, the opinions and silliness are all me

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I love appetizers.

I love foods that are full of flavor, eaten with your hands and often messy.

I’m a connoisseur of buffalo wings, salsas, queso, quesadillas, onion dips, pico de gallo, bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers, cream cheese stuffed peppers and more.

I love the food that is easily prepared, easily eaten, finger lickin’ delicious and fun.

When trying to come up with an additional, quick and delicious recipe for our football gathering today, this is what I came up with.

Fresh lime juice, heady cilantro, sweet corn, black beans and fragrant cumin combine to create a delicious chilled and simple appetizer.

Open one (15 oz) can of black beans, drain and rinse

add in one (15 oz) can of sweet corn

The juice of 3 limes,  1/2 C chopped cilantro, 1 Tbsp cumin, 2 (10 oz) cans of tomatoes and green chilies (drained) and 1/2 C finely chopped red onion

Combine all ingredients and put in the refrigerator to chill for 2 hours

Here’s what you need to do.  RESIST opening your refrigerator over and over and over just so that you can smell the delicious scent of limes and cilantro and cumin.

Do NOT sneak spoonfuls of this pico de gallo because if you do, there won’t be any left over for your friends.

And trust me, if they find out that you’ve made this and didn’t share — you’ll be in trouble

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It’s Monday. Y’all know how it goes.

1. Link 2. comment. 3. comment on other posts

It’s football season and Princess has her game face on

Do you have yours?

We’re Texans and y’all know about Texans and Football: It’s like Peanut Butter and Jelly– or Homemade Tortillas and Queso — or Ro*Tel and Velveeta

Like Friday Nights and High School Football — they just go together, they’re meant to be

We are a football watchin’ family — we’re also a football food lovin’ family

For us, one of the original Game Day Foods is Ro*Tel’s Famous Queso

I honestly don’t remember the first time that I ate this Queso, it’s just always been a part of my life.

I remember in middle school, moving from Texas to Nevada and my parents making Queso for all of our new friends and them just falling head over heels in love with it.   I remember cans of Ro*Tel and blocks of Velveeta– whether it was for game day, slumber parties, get togethers or just because, it’s just always been a part of my life.

I love to use this Queso to top my hamburgers, nachos, chicken, fajitas, dip tortillas in or just as it was originally intended — as a delicious, slightly spicy, cheesy, tomato and green chilies dip; meant to be devoured with salty corn chips.

Today’s recipe is the original Ro*Tel Queso — I know it’s a super simple dip, and yet, I’m constantly shocked at how many people ask me for the recipe.

How have y’all NOT grown up with this recipe?  How is this NOT a staple of your game day/party day/just because I want cheese and spice and salt day recipes?

It’s SO super simple and crazy kinds of delicious

Cube the Velveeta — this makes the melting process much easier

Combine the Velveeta and Ro*Tel in a microwaveable bowl (or in a saucepan to heat on the stove)

Stir frequently while heating and prepare your favorite game day serving dish –

Pour in the Queso and serve with chips, crackers, veggies — whatever your little heart craves.

Put this on the table and watch as it disappears.

I’m really excited to tell y’all that I’m not only sharing the Ro*Tel Famous Queso dip with y’all today — I’m also partnering with Ro*Tel for their Feed Their Game Face promotion and offering y’all a chance to win a Queso Party Pack for 100! Oh yes, you read that correctly — One Hundred! Just think of the game day party you can have with THAT!

This includes:

• Queso for 100
• $50 grocery card
• Goodies from Fans Edge

Why yes — it is awesome.

In addition to entering to win this Tonguegasmic Queso Prize Pack, you can go to the Ro*Tel Feed Their Game Face site and get Queso serving tips,  AND enter to win their SUPER SUPERB (pardon my cheerleading flashback) Feed Their Game Face sweepstakes — the grand prize of which is —

I swear I need a drumroll here…

• FREE groceries for a year AND 2 tickets, flight and lodging to ANY College Football Game during the 2011 season!!

enter and find official rules HERE

Okay, so y’all want to enter to win the Queso for 100, goodies from Fans Edge, $50 Grocery Card that I am giving away?

I’m going to make it easy for y’all, easy peasy Queso cheesy  (I couldn’t resist)

remember — each entry must be in a separate comment

• MANDATORY first entry:  If you won this amazing Queso Prize Pack — what would you do with it?  Would you have a game day fiesta? A neighborhood block party?
• (bonus entry) Tweet this giveaway and link your tweet url in a separate comment
• (bonus entry) Take a picture of your game face and link to it in a comment (Facebook, flickr, twitter, blog etc…)  I just might post the best ones

***This contest is open from Monday — November 1st to Friday, November 5th at 10:00 PM CST**

I will use Comment Contest Plug-In to choose the winner of the contest.  They have 48 hours to respond, or another winner will be chosen.

It’s Mouthwatering Monday — the super Cheesy edition (wink wink) I can’t wait to see what y’all have been cookin’ up! Make sure to enter your link, enter to win the contest, visit the other participants and go visit the Ro*Tel Feed Their Game Face homepage to enter to win the super superb grand prize!

**I’ll be receiving a goody pack from Ro*Tel as compensation for hosting this giveaway and be entered to win a trip to BlogHer 2011. However, as my regular readers and twitter followers know — I’m completely in love with both Ro*Tel and Velveeta and talk about, tweet about and share recipes including them a lot. So, while I am participating in this and getting some nummy treats — my passion, love, experiences with and feelings about, that I’ve shared with y’all — 100% my own and true

Contest Closed~ Congrats to our Winner! @RoseMillsOhio

Caramelized Onions, cayenne and black peppers, butter, mayonnaise, sour cream and cream cheese combine to make a slightly spicy, creamy, savory totally tonguegasmic dip that really and truly tastes just like that fried onion blossom that you dip in that slightly spicy creamy dip, you get in restaurants.

This dip is one of the appetizers that I served when Sarah and her family came for dinner, it’s equally delicious with salty potato chips or crisp cold sliced veggies.

Cut 2 medium yellow onions in half and slice into half moon rings

Melt 1/2 stick (4 Tbsp) of butter (mmmmmmmmmmm butter it really makes everything better) in a skillet

Once the butter is melted add in the onions and seasonings

cook slowly, stirring occasionally until the onions are all caramelized and soft and your kitchen smells like a little piece of heaven.  Remove the onions from the heat source and allow them to cool a bit.

Mix together softened cream cheese, mayonnaise and sour cream

When the onions are cool, mix the sour cream mixture with 1/2 to 3/4 of the onions (this depends on your onion-y lovin’ palate) and then top with a few more for the pretty factor.

This dip should be served at room temperature and made just prior to serving.

Perfect for game day parties!

When my parents came to visit last weekend they brought me a new cookbook; cookbooks are one of my favorite things ever.  I have a bit of a collection, I should show y’all pictures of it sometime…

While I was skimming through the cookbook I came upon a Parmesan Pretzel Rod recipe and knew I had to try it.

Garlic, Parmesan, Cayenne, Oregano, Butter and Olive Oil combined with crispy salty pretzel rods… yes, please!

I would shake more of the excess coating before baking next time, they’re still amazingly good but, the coating is a bit heavy as seen in this picture

Today is Princess’ first day of First Grade! YAY! Thus the teacher’s gift inspired recipe

The image linkies were such a big hit last week that I’m using them again! Once you’ve linked up your recipe, please leave a comment and then go visit the other participants to see what tonguegasms they’ve been cooking up and sharing! Make sure that you link back here in your post so that others can find and share in the Mouthwatering Monday fun!

There are certain foods that evoke strong memories for me.
Memories of summer, laughter, family and security.

These pickled cucumbers are one of those foods.

Crisp, vinegary, tart, slightly sweet yet tangy and absolutely mouth-wateringly delicious. These cucumbers remind me of hot summers at my Granny’s house and the long days when summer seemed to stretch on forever and possibilities and imaginations were endless.

This recipe is so simple.  Just 3 ingredients.

It can be made so much more complex but my taste-buds, my memory requires only 3 simple ingredients.

This is one of my favorite summer treats.  Crisp, cool, crunchy and refreshing.

All this recipe needs are cucumbers, onions and vinegar

Do you have a favorite food that evokes memories of summertime and childhood?
What do you fix to cool off and refresh when the heat of summer is beating down on you?
I love reading (and drooling over) y’all’s recipes! Thanks so much for linking them up to Mouthwatering Mondays!

I teased y’all with this picture in the Mouthwatering Monday post.  Well, now that my internet is back and working properly again, I can share the recipe goodness with y’all.

Let’s talk about Velveeta and bacon and green chilies and spinach and tomatoes all melted together to form a mouthwateringly delicious dip that is perfect for football parties, birthday parties or just because.

Why should we talk about this? Well, because it’s awesome and everyone should be eating it and because it just happens to be the recipe that I made for my first Kitchenista Vlog and teased y’all about yesterday.

Since January is both Nathan’s birthday month and a BIG Football month here with Nathan’s favorite team of all time, The Colts, who have been tearin’ up the fields, kickin’ trash and takin’ names… we’ve been doing a lot more casual eating, with what we call “football food”. Lots of finger foods, appetizers and the like, so when my Velveeta recipes came in my e-mail it was a no brainer to choose a hearty dip chock full of bacon and spinach and zesty Ro*Tel tomatoes and green chilies!

This dip was super quick to make and the only alteration that I made to the original Velveeta recipe was to use the Mexican Velveeta because we love us a little it of heat!

Normally in my vlogs I’ll let you watch me cook and you’ll see more of me and my kitchen, this time however, we were in the middle of a little DIY re-working of our kitchen cabinets and EVERYTHING from inside my cabinets and drawers was on my counters; the drawers and doors were in the garage… and my kitchen was a disaster, which I think actually proves just how easy this dip is to make because I was able to make it in the midst of chaos.

Cheesy Spinach and Bacon Dip

click the title to go to the Velveeta site for the original recipe

Serve with your favorite chips and veggies

I hope that y’all make this dip and that y’all get a kick out of my Vlog.

Y’all make sure that you visit the Velveeta It! Kitchenistas FB fan page and see what my fellow Kitchenistas are cooking up!!

Now for that transparency/disclosure part of the program: I have partnered with VELVEETA to serve as one of five VELVEETA it! Kitchenistas. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program, which includes vlogging about my cooking experiences with VELVEETA and developing one original VELVEETA-based recipe. I have also been compensated for the food purchased for my VELVEETA vlogs. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.