Slow Cooker Spinach Artichoke Dip

This is yet another of my Super Bowl recipes. It doesn't really count as a new recipe, since I've made it a few times before. But this time, I harnessed the power of my food processor to make it much, much easier to prepare. Have I mentioned how much I love my food processor? $30 clearance at Wal-Mart and some of the best money I ever spent. But for those of you poor souls without a food processor, don't despair. This recipe can still be delicious if made by hand.

Slow Cooker Spinach Artichoke Dip


Based heavily on this recipe from A Year of Slow Cooking. The tweaks are mostly things that happened accidentally when I had more or less of a certain ingredient, or was just feeling adventurous.

10 oz. package of baby spinach
14 oz. can artichoke hearts, drained
8 oz. mozzarella
4 oz. Parmesan
8 oz. cream cheese
8 oz. sour cream
3 T. minced garlic

I make this recipe in my 6 quart crock pot, but there's enough extra space that it could probably fit easily in a 4 or 5 quart.

First, chop or tear the spinach; I usually tear it by hand, but this time, I decided to use the food processor.

Before

After

I had to do it in three batches, but it still took about two minutes, as opposed to the 5 or 10 it can take if tearing or chopping by hand. I dumped the chopped spinach into the slow cooker, getting so excited by my cleverness that I forgot to put in the liner at first (no, I didn't take a picture of that).

Then I used the food processor to chop the artichokes, because who wants a big slimy piece of artichoke in their dip?

Before (no, I didn't clean the food processor. Why do you ask?)

After

Then the artichokes joined their chopped spinach brethren in the slow cooker. 

After that, I shredded the cheeses in the food processor, and added the cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, and garlic.

And I cooked it on high for 3 hours until the guests got there, stirring it at about 2 hours to mix everything together once the cheese was all melty.

Before stirring (big, gloopy mess)

After stirring (lovely, edible dip)

It was a big hit, and there was enough for me to have leftovers :D Mwahahahaha! And have I mentioned how fantastic the slow cooker liners made by Reynolds are? I know they're non-renewable, but after a big party, being able to just pull the mess out of my slow cooker and throw it away makes me very, very happy.

Bacon-Wrapped Lil' Smokies

This year for the Super Bowl, I decided to branch out a bit from my standard appetizer fare and try this recipe. I'd seen the recipe before, but I was skeptical. Until one day, in the hospitality room at an academic team event, I found them. I tried them. My life was forever changed (okay, not really. But they are really, really delicious). One online review called them "meat candy," which sounds really gross until you try it, and then you completely understand.

Oh, and lest I give you the wrong idea about me, I should point out that our annual "Super Bowl" party is really just an excuse to get together, eat food, and play nerdy games while watching the occasional commercial. This year, the Super Bowl was not on the one network that our cruddy antenna picks up (nope, no cable) so we had a football-free Super Bowl party.

Bacon-Wrapped Lil' Smokies

Original recipe at Allrecipes

14 oz. package lil' smokies (I used all beef; I prefer the cheddar, but the store was out)
12 oz. package center-cut bacon (some was left over)
3/4 c. brown sugar
Toothpicks (not really an ingredient, but I didn't have any, so I had to buy some)

After reading the reviews on Allrecipes, here's how I did it.

Line an 11 x 13 pan with aluminum foil; spray foil with cooking spray.

Slice enough of the bacon into thirds to wrap around all the lil' smokies. I overestimated a little bit, and still had 4-5 pieces of bacon left over. Put bacon slices, lil' smokies, and brown sugar into a gallon zippered plastic bag. Mush everything around until the meat is coated.

Wrap each sausage in a piece of bacon, pinning the ends together with a toothpick. Set the wrapped sausages in the prepared pan, leaning the toothpicks over to the side so the pan can be covered. Once all the sausages are wrapped (if you have any extra bacon, just roll it up and stick a toothpick in it) and placed in the pan, cover the pan and put it in the refrigerator overnight (at this point, you can bake them right away if you want to)

After wrapping

Just before baking

I preheated the oven to 375, since I needed to bake other things at the same time, and people who had reviewed the recipe had varied the temperature a lot. I sprinkled a bit more brown sugar over the top, since there was none visible (all the brown sugar from before had kind of melted into a sort of liquidy marinade). I baked it for about 30 minutes on 375, then upped the temperature to 400 for another 30 minutes, since I wanted the bacon to be crispy. I could have broiled it, but if my oven is much above 400 it can set off the smoke alarms, so I wussed out.

Conclusion: As it turned out, another 30 minutes at 400 was a bit too long; I smelled something scorching and the bacon got a little blackened, as you may or may not be able to see. However, they were still the first thing guests grabbed, and the first thing to be completely wiped out, so I really think we can call this one a success, just one that needs careful watching I managed to snag two or three for myself before they disappeared, and they were delicious. They didn't taste burned at all. Oh, and my slow cookers were all occupied by other things (I'll share one recipe tomorrow) so I just set them out in the pan. They weren't there long enough to get cold. If I make these for a large gathering, I'd need to double the recipe.

What did you cook for Super Bowl snackage? Or, if you didn't cook for Super Sunday, what's your go-to appetizer?

Favorite Recipe Friday: Guacamole

I grew up thinking I hated guacamole. I didn't like avocados, and any guacamole I'd ever had at a Mexican restaurant was sickly brown-green and tasted disgusting. This might have had something to do with the quality of the Mexican restaurants I frequented, but I digress.

So around the time I was pregnant with my first child, my mom started making homemade guacamole. I was highly skeptical, but I tried some to be polite, and I fell in love. It was amazing! The perfect balance of flavors, saltiness, everything. It was perfect. I swear it tasted green (I also swear I don't usually go around tasting colors). I knew I had to start making it for myself. I made it by hand, mashing the ingredients together with a pastry blender, but the texture was chunkier than I really liked, and it was waaaay too time-consuming for someone with a baby who wanted to be held all the time. So one day in Wal-Mart I saw a food processor on clearance for $30, and my love affair with guacamole has continued unhindered. Except when the food processor is dirty because I forgot to wash it. This happened a lot before we got a dishwasher.

Anyway, this recipe can be scaled up or down as desired; the quantities below are the small size I make for myself and my daughter to eat. It can be made by hand if you like a chunkier texture, or in a food processor if you like it smooth. You can even add tomatoes if you want. I know some people like them in guacamole, but I have a hate/hate relationship with tomatoes in their basic form, so I leave them out.

Guacamole

2 overripe avocados (You want them a little soft. Not super squishy, because then they're usually bruised)
1 T. minced garlic (I like a lot of garlic)
1 T. lime juice
1 T. dried cilantro
1 t. salt
1 slice onion
1/4 Anaheim pepper (optional; since my daughter started eating this with me, I usually leave it out)

Slice the avocados in half, cutting around the pit. Remove the pit and scoop out the flesh with a spoon. Combine avocados and all other ingredients in food processor and process until desired texture is reached

If processing by hand, mash all ingredients together in large bowl using fork, potato masher, pastry blender, or other tool  until desired texture is reached.

To keep guacamole from turning brown , pat it down smoothly in the bowl and make sure there are no air pockets (air is what makes it turn brown; stupid oxidization). Take a piece of plastic wrap and press it down gently into the surface of the guacamole, making sure there are no air pockets under the plastic.

Turkey Taquitos

This week's new recipe is Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos. As soon as I saw this recipe, I knew I had to try it. I love, love, LOVE the taquitos you get in a box for like $5 in the freezer section (okay, I'm sure these days its more like $7, since I haven't allowed myself to buy them for a long time) but they're so full of processed crap I just can't justify putting them into my body. I'm sure the fried ones at Mexican restaurants are just as bad for me, but at least there I don't have to look at the ingredients list :).

I did modify the recipe a little bit. I had most of what I needed, but I made a few substitutions/omissions. The big one was to use cooked turkey instead of chicken, because I had a ridiculous amount left over from cooking a turkey breast in the slow cooker. Below is my modified recipe:

Baked Turkey Taquitos

1/4 c. (4 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 T. lime juice
1/2 t. ground cumin
1 t. chili powder
1/2 t. onion powder
1/2 t. garlic powder
1 T. dried cilantro
2 c. shredded cooked turkey
1 c. grated pepper jack cheese

approximately 20 small corn tortillas
cooking spray
salt

If cooking right away,  heat oven to 425 and line a baking sheet with foil. I forgot to use cooking spray on the foil, but it didn't seem to matter.

Mix cream cheese, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, cilantro, turkey, and cheese in a small bowl until well combined. At this point, you can refrigerate the filling. (I had guests coming over, so I prepped the filling ahead of time and stuck it in the fridge for about 5 or 6 hours).

Microwave 2-3 tortillas at a time between damp paper towels for 20-30 seconds (my microwave is weak, so it took 30 seconds). Spread a small amount of filling in a line on the lower third of the tortilla (see the original recipe for pictures, since my camera is broken) and roll them up tightly. Lay them on the cookie sheet, seam side down, and make sure they don't touch. I had trouble keeping mine tightly rolled; they tended to relax once I put them on the pan. Anyone know a solution for this? It didn't affect the flavor, but it made my borderline OCD self unhappy.

Anyway, once you've filled a pan, spray them with cooking spray and sprinkle salt over the tops. The original recipe calls for kosher salt, but I found that the coarse grains tended to bounce right off instead of sticking, so I used regular table salt. Then bake them for 15-20 minutes, or until the ends are golden brown and crispy. (15 minutes in my oven, so you might want to check them around 12 minutes or so).

Conclusion: Delicious!!! The picky eater in me wants to point out that only the ends were crispy, while the middles were not, but that made my toddler happy (she broke them in half, ate the middles, and then shoved her finger through the crispy ends so she could wear them like a ring). These tasted a lot like the junk-food-in-a-box taquitos, but were full of yummy real food goodness. And they were baked, not fried! I had them with sour cream, my husband dipped his in homemade salsa, and the friends we had over for dinner took turns with the salsa, sour cream, and guacamole. I was skeptical about using the pepper jack cheese, because I'm a wuss when it comes to spicy foods, but they weren't spicy at all (as we could tell, because my toddler ate them without complaint, except for the crispy bits)

As you can see from the picture, a couple of them split open while cooking, but that didn't keep them from being devoured. Next time I may make a double batch and pop half of them in the freezer to test out how well they taste after being frozen. 

What's your favorite guilty pleasure junk food? Do you have a healthier homemade version that makes you less guilty?