Texas Cranberry Chutney

You can also serve the chutney over warm brie, chicken, turkey or pork tenderloin.

I found this cranberry chutney recipe in a Southern Living Easy Entertainment magazine and thought it would be a nice appetizer for the holidays. Being red and all. :) I served mine over cream cheese and with crackers. I've never had a chutney before but I have to say this was pretty good. Really, anything served over cream cheese is good!

Ingredients:
2 (8 oz) cans crushed pineapple (I only used one can b/c that is what I had)
1 (16 oz) can whole berry cranberry sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp salt
1-2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced (I used one but thought it could use another)
3 green onions, chopped

Directions:

Drain pineapple well; pat dry with paper towels. Stir together pineapple and next 4 ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat, and bring to boil.



Reduce heat to low, and simmer, stirring often, 5 minutes or until thickened. (I cooked mine for about 10 minutes b/c it wasn't getting thicker)
Remove from heat, and stir in peppers and green onions. Serve immediately or cover and chill for up to 2 weeks.



Enjoy & Merry Christmas!

Frito Candy

I've been into making candy for some reason this holiday season. I found a candy recipe on this blog I follow, Eat at Home and thought it sounded interesting. When I first read the ingredients I thought what a weird combination this is. But, so many people gave raving reviews that I thought I'd give it a try. It's good! Especially if you like salty & sweet mixed together. I've already made 3 batches!

Ingredients:

2 cups of pretzels
1 cup fritos
8 mini peanut butter cups
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 bag of chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Break the pretzels and fritos up with your hands. Place them in a 9×13 pan that is lined with parchment paper or foil. Quarter the peanut butter cups and scatter them in the pan as well.



Melt the butter over low heat, then stir in the brown sugar. Turn the heat up to medium and bring it to a full boil. Boil it for a minute or two or until you cannot see the brown sugar granules in the mixture anymore, stirring every now and then.

Pour this mixture over the pretzel/frito/peanut butter cups. Bake for 8-9 minutes at 350 degrees. Take the pan out of the oven and sprinkle with chocolate chips.



Put the pan back in the oven for a minute or two to melt the chips. Spread the chocolate with a spatula.



Cool for about 15 minutes or until the pan is cool enough to go in the refrigerator. Refrigerate for at least an hour or until the chocolate has hardened. Take it out of the pan and break it up, using a knife to cut it into rough pieces.



Enjoy!

Margaret's Reuben Dip

My friend Margaret makes this awesome dip and gave me the recipe a few years ago. Jordan's favorite sandwich is a Reuben so this dip is a favorite in our house. It's a great appetizer for a party - especially during the holidays! I promise if you make this for your next party, everyone will love it!

Ingredients:
3 blocks of cream cheese, room temperature
1 pint sour cream
1 cup mayo
1 package shredded Swiss cheese
1 large jar of dried beef, minced (you can find this next to the canned tuna in the grocery store)
2 or 3 cloves of garlic, minced (I used the minced garlic you can buy in the store)
1 bunch of scallions, minced
1 large bread bowl, hollowed out to make a dish for the dip to bake in
More cubed bread or crackers/chips, whatever you like for dipping

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl.



Put as much as you can into the bread bowl. Be careful not to fill it to high as it might bubble up as it bakes. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for about an hour or until it's melted and slightly brown on top. Sometimes I need to bake for a little longer than an hour - depending on how deep the bread bowl is. This bread bowl baked for 1 hour and 20 minutes.



I try to use a low fat or fat free version of the cream cheese or mayo (usually the cream cheese) because if you use the full fat version of all of them it tends to be pretty heavy. This recipe does tend to make a lot so you might have enough to make 2 bread bowls.

Enjoy!

Black Pepper Shrimp

Harris Teeter has been having shrimp on sale so I found this recipe from Paula Deen at RecipeZaar. It's her Black Pepper Shrimp and I only changed a few things. The original recipe says to leave the shrimp unpeeled and we just don't like to spend that much time working while we eat. ;) Plus, what a mess it must make! So I peeled the shrimp and reduced the pepper a little. I also only used 1 pound of shrimp because as much as we love shrimp we certainly don't need to eat 3 pounds of it at one sitting!

Ingredients:
1 pound shrimp, peeled & deveined
3 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoons chopped garlic
1 Tablespoons fresh ground black pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450°F. Rinse and drain shrimp and place in shallow baking pan. Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Add the garlic and sauté for 3 to 4 minutes. Pour the garlic butter mixture over shrimp and toss to coat.



Sprinkle about half the pepper over shrimp until they are well covered. Bake until pink (about 5 minutes).



Turn shrimp over sprinkle with remaining pepper and bake a few minutes longer.



This is a quick and simple meal that has is great for a weeknight but still tastes great. I served ours with bread, salad & white rice. Enjoy!