cheese — A Southern Fairytale

Cheesy Spinach and Bacon Dip

10:19 PM ByRachelFiled UnderAppetizers, Sponsored

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

Cheesy Spinach and Bacon Dip

Ingredients

1 (10 oz) package frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1 lb (16 oz) Mexican Velveeta, cubed
4 oz (1/2 and 8 oz pkg) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, cubed
1 (10 oz) can Ro*Tel Tomatoes and Green Chilies, NOT drained
8 slices, Bacon. Cooked and Crumbled (I might have used 10)

Instructions

Cook the bacon (if you place bacon in a cold skillet and heat from there, your bacon won’t curl up as much), set aside and crumble.
Cube the Velveeta and the cream cheese; open the can of Ro*Tel
Put all the ingredients in a microwave safe bowl and cook for about 2 minutes in the microwave. Stir, cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.

http://asouthernfairytale.com/2010/02/01/cheesy-spinach-and-bacon-dip/

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.

Taggedbacon, cheese, dip, football food, kitchenista, party food, spinach, velveeta 8 Comments

Twice Baked Potatoes

8:29 PM ByRachelFiled UnderMouthwatering Monday, Side Dishes

These are not your typical twice baked potatoes… Oh no, these particular twice baked taters… these are made in the microwave.

Yes. In the microwave and in under 30 minutes.

These twice baked potatoes are my final recipe and video for the 2K10 Tastemaker Challenge. This month our challenge was Nutrition in a Time Crunch. 30 minutes being our time crunch.

I went for super simple, super delicious and super quick. Thus = Twice “Baked” Potatoes

These are MY ingredients.. you could vary them if you’d like.

I also did this with salsa and black beans instead of all that up there ^^^ {drool}

Twice “Baked” Potatoes in Under 30 Minutes

2 medium potatoes (remember 110 calories, naturally fat free!!!)
1/2 to 1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard (how strong do you like the dijon’ness’)
1/2 a bunch of green onions, chopped
about 2 Tbsp bacon bits
2 C sharp cheddar cheese, grated
salt, pepper, garlic to taste (I keep a shaker of 1/3 salt, 1/3 pepper and 1/3 garlic powder handy)
1/2 stick of butter, sliced

1. Microwave your potatoes. I used a handy dandy steamer bag and my two ‘large-side-of-medium’ potatoes took 9 minutes.

2. While your potatoes are ‘baking’ prepare your ingredients:

chop the green onions
slice the butter
grate the cheese
measure the dijon mustard

3. Take your potatoes out of the microwave and allow them to cool for a few minutes, then holding one carefully with a hot pad or towel spare t=shirt cut the “top” off a long ‘side’ of the potato

admittedly, not one of my best pictures… but, you get the idea

4. Scoop the insides of the potatoes out with a spoon, leaving just enough inside so the potato doesn’t collapse, and put the insides into a large bowl.

5. Add in all but 1 C of cheese to the potato bowl and mix and mash and stir until you have everything well combined and then fill the potato skins with the mixture and top with the remaining cheese

6. Cook the cheese topped potatoes in the microwave for another 2 1/2 minutes, or just long enough to melt the cheese.

Take them out of the microwave and give them just enough time to cool off and then devour.

Nathan declared these delicious, tonguegasmic even!

You can watch the recipe in action and bob along to a really fun Potato Song by Cheryl Wheeler by watching my video recipe here and if you’re feeling nice I’d really appreciate you voting/ranking my video by using the stars underneath it.

If you’re linking up your own recipe to Mouthwatering Mondays.. Thanks! I’m glad to have you participating in the first Mouthwatering Monday linky of 2010!! Make sure that you link your recipe post url and not just your generic blog url, leave a comment, link back here in your post and visit the other participants!

Welcome to 2010 y’all!!

Taggedcheese, microwave recipes, potatoes, tastemaker, twice baked pototaes 17 Comments

Cheesy Chipotle, Corn and Zucchini Casserole

8:14 AM ByRachelFiled UnderMouthwatering Monday, Side Dishes

cheesy chipotle, corn and zucchini casserole
This Cheesy, Chipotle, Corn and Zucchini casserole is simply, in a word ~ tonguegasmic.

I was telling Nathan what all goes into it and he looked at me with that raised eyebrow and the corner of his mouth quirked in that annoyingly smug way and said; “Well, just make sure there’s more than just that for dinner”
Mr. Skeptical ate 2 big helpings the first night and then finished off the rest for dinner the next night.

This casserole combines some of my favorite flavors and textures: crunchy sizzling bacon, the sweet snap of sauteed onions, spicy smoky-sweet chipotles, crisp sweet corn, gooey cheese and yummy zucchini.

(are you drooling yet?)

casserole ingredients

Cheesy Chipotle, Corn and Zucchini Casserole

Recipe adapted from one I found on my iFood Assistant. Can be seen here on Kraft.com

3 Tbsp Basil Parmesan Vinaigrette dressing
1 medium onion, chopped
8 slices bacon, chopped
3 medium zucchini, chopped (about 5 Cups)
1 C frozen corn, thawed (I use sweet corn)
1 to 2 C pizzeria 4 cheese blend (mozzarella, provolone, romano and parmesan)
1/2 C sour cream
4 Chipotles in adobo, chopped (start with 1, remember this is the heat aspect)

1. Preheat your oven to 350

2. Heat the dressing in a large skillet over medium-high heat

3. Add onions and bacon; cook, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes or until the onions are just beginning to soften and you want to dive in because the smell of bacon and onions together is too tempting.

sizzling bacon

4. Stir in zucchini and cook about 10 minutes, or until the zucchini is lightly browned. Stir the mixture occasionally to ensure even browning.

zucchini and bacon

5. Remove from heat; add corn, 1 C cheese, sour cream and chipotles. Mix well.

casserole ingredients. end

6. Spoon into 2 to 2 1/2 Qt baking dish. Top with 1 C cheese and bake about 15 minutes or until the cheese on top is all melty and gooey.

cheesy chipotle, corn and zucchini casserole baked

Stir and serve.

This is one of my new favorite side dishes. Mr. Skeptical even asked me when I was making it again. I can’t even begin to describe how much I love this melty, ooey, gooey, cheesy, spicy, creamy zucchini and corn casserole.

if you’re linking your tonguegasmic recipe up to the Mouthwatering Monday linky, Thank You! I love finding new blogs and new recipes!

Please link your recipe URL, not your blog url. Please leave a comment, make sure you link back here in your post and most importantly, go visit your fellow linkers!