Viola's Queso

In honor of Cinco De Mayo tomorrow, I thought I would share my recipe for Queso. Actually, it isn't my recipe it is my cousin's Viola's recipe.  I could always count on Viola making this dip whenever my family would go over to her house on the weekend.  This is a great recipe that I like to make for pot lucks, movie nights and sometimes even for dinner. When we have nachos for dinner I usually add black beans and call it "gourmet nachos". It makes me feel better about snack food for dinner.  I hope you enjoy this quick and easy recipe.


 Ingredients
1 lb ground beef
1 jar queso
1 can black beans (optional)
1 bag tortilla chips

Seasonings to Taste
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Chili Powder
Ground Cumin
Salt
Pepper


Brown ground beef with seasonings.





After draining ground beef, add queso. Keep warm on stove or in slow cooker.



Serve with tortilla chips

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Wednesday Window Shopping: Jalapeño-Chicken Crescent Pinwheels

I have a confession to make, I haven't cooked dinner once this week.  Michael cooked dinner on Monday and Tuesday and I ordered take out tonight. I've been in a bit of a blue mood this week and when I am down I try not to cook.  I truly belive that dishes made with love taste so much better than dishes prepared while in a bad mood.  I'm hoping my mood lifts soon, I have a list a of great recipes I want to share.  Luckily, I cooked a few extra meals last week that I wanted to tell you about.

One of these recipes is one that I found on the Pillsbury website.  It is their recipe for Jalapeno-Chicken Crescent Pinwheels.  As usual I will just be posting my experiences with trying out this recipe, you can see the actual recipe on their website.

Now this recipe is supposed to be for appetizers, so I doubled it to feed my family.  I opted to leave out the onions and the cilantro to keep it simple for the guys' tastes.



I cut the chicken into bite size pieces.



Seasoned the chicken with Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder and Italian Seasonings.



Cook chicken over medium heat.



Combine chicken, cream cheese and jalapenos.  Yum, The fillling was tasty just like this, I ended up eating a few spoonfuls.





I first tried it according to their instructions.





But I found it to be really messy and I didn't like the way it looked.



So for the second half i just filled each triangle with the filling and rolled like a traditional crescent roll.





I thnk they turned out to be more pleasing to the eyes.



You can see the two finished products side by side here.




I give this recipe 4 starts.  It was very delicious, but it didn't make nearly as many pinwheels as the recipe stated.  It wasn't too spicy, I think the cream cheese helped to mellow it out some.

Party Meatballs

I remember the first time I had to bring a dish to a gathering with with my husband's family. It was pretty early on in our relationship and I really wanted to make a good impression.  I knew early on that Michael was the man I was going to marry and I wanted his family to like me.  It was a potluck dinner and they had all of the basics covered, so I knew I wanted to bring an appetizer.  Then I remembered these meatballs that my mom used to make. These were quick and easy and I felt that I had a winner. I was right they were a success. I think only two people said they didn't like them.  But my Michael's parents enjoyed them and most importantly Michael and his son loved them.  I usually only make these for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but occasionally I surprise the guys with them for dinner during the week and they devour them.  I usually make these in the slow cooker, but they can also be prepared on the stove or in the oven.

Ingredients
1 Bag Frozen Meatballs (about 40 in a bag)
1 12 Ounce Jar of Chili Sauce
1 16 Ounce Jar of Grape Jelly



Directions

Spray slow cooker with cooking spray. Add meatballs.




Combine chili sauce and grape jelly. Pour over meatballs.



Cook on the low setting for four to six hours and then enjoy!



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Nutritional Information 40 servings
Calories: 117 Total Fat: 4.7 g Cholesterol: 9.8 Sodium: 162.5 Carbohydrate: 14.4 Dietary Fiber: .08 Sugars: 10.7 Protein: 3.6