Hot Appetizer Pie

With the Holidays fast approaching, Swedish Chef would like to highlight some of his favorite appetizers for entertaining, over the next few weeks.  I will try to include hot appetizers as well as appetizers that can be served cold or at room temperature.  Today's recipe is a favorite among our friends, whenever we entertain, or are invited out.  I think you will enjoy this one.

Ingredients:

8 oz. block cream cheese
2 T. milk
2½ oz. jar dried beef, finely chopped
2 T. green pepper, finely chopped
2 T. onion, finely chopped
½ t. black pepper, freshly ground
dash of garlic powder
½ c. sour cream
1 t. horseradish
¼ c. pecans, chopped
2 T. butter

Soften cream cheese and blend with milk in a bowl.  Mix other ingredients, except nuts and butter. 

Place into an oven-proof casserole or 8" pie plate, lightly sprayed with non-stick coating. 

Spread pecans over the top and dot with butter.

Bake in a 350º oven for 15 minutes or until hot and bubbly.  Serve with crackers or sturdy potato chips.

Tijuana Trash

The holidays are fast approaching.  You are going to be thinking about some snacks to serve your guests or take to a holiday party.  My friend Chris brought this to one of our parties a year ago.  I thought it was so unique and different.  You have the sweetness, the saltiness, and the spiciness of an interesting snack.  I do hope you will try this - it's a winner!

Ingredients:

2 c. tortilla chips, broken into 1-inch pieces (I use small Tostitos, broken in half)
1½ c. Crispix or Corn Chex cereal
4-5 c. popped popcorn
6 oz. Spanish peanuts
4 T. light corn syrup
4 T. butter
4 T. brown sugar
3/4 T. chili powder
1/8 t. ground cinnamon
¼ t. cayenne pepper



In this demonstration, I doubled the batch (strongly suggested)

Preheat oven to 250º.  Pop popcorn and place in large mixing bowl.  Combine tortilla chips, cereal, and nuts.

In a saucepan, combine corn syrup, butter, brown sugar, chili powder, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper.  Heat to boiling.

Mix cereal-popcorn mix with your hand or a spoon.

Place in a large greased roasting pan or you can line the pan with foil for easy clean up.

Pour syrup mixture over cereal popcorn mix and stir to combine.  Place in 250º oven, uncovered, for 1 hour, stirring every 20 minutes.

Remove from oven and turn onto a sheet of waxed or parchment paper, to cool.

This will keep in an airtight container for about two weeks.

Hot German Potato Salad

Looking for a simple but hearty, warm side dish?  Try my Hot German Potato Salad.  It's easy to make with basic ingredients - and delicious!

Ingredients:

4-6 medium potatoes (red, russet, or Yukon Gold)
8 strips bacon, diced
1 small onion, chopped
*½ celery, diced (or 1 T. celery seed)
2oz. jar sliced pimento, drained
¼ c. fresh parsley, chopped
1 T. stone-ground mustard
3 T. flour
3 T. sugar
¼-½ tsp. salt
black pepper, to taste
3/4 c. water
3/4 c. vinegar
3 T. bacon drippings

Wash potatoes with brush and place into 4 qt. water; bring to a boil and cook until tender (20-30 minutes).  Remove from heat and drain water.  Allow potatoes to cool enough to handle and remove skins.

In a large skillet, add diced bacon and cook until crisp.  Remove to paper towel to drain, and reserve 3 T. bacon grease.

In drippings, sauté onions and celery* until tender.  Stir in salt, pepper, sugar, mustard and blend.  Add flour and stir until flour is absorbed into the bacon grease.  Add water and vinegar; bring to a boil and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.

Pour sauce over sliced, cooked potatoes.  Add bacon and pimento and gently toss to coat.

Place in a greased casserole dish.  Sprinkle with parsley.  Cover with foil and heat in a 350º oven for 20-35 minutes.  Serve warm.  Makes 6 servings.

*in this recipe, I omitted the celery because someone in my family has an aversion to the taste and texture of celery.

Randy's Taco Bake

This simple casserole was selected to appear in the 50th anniversary edition cookbook for Perkins.  The ingredients sound unusual, but it always gets raves when I take it to a party.  I would compare it to Mexican ravioli.  I think this is going to be one of your favorites!

Ingredients:


2 boxes Mrs. T's Jalapeño Potato pierogies, cooked
2 lbs. ground beef, cooked
1 packet taco seasoning
3/4 c. water
2-16oz. jars Ortega thick and smooth taco sauce (pureed - not chunky salsa)
2 c. shredded Monterey Jack cheese
2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
2 c. crushed nacho cheese Doritos

Fry meat, stir in taco seasoning.  Add 3/4 c. water, then stir in taco sauce.  Cook for 10 minutes.  Boil pierogies and drain well.

In a greased 9x13 pan, place half of the beef mixture in the bottom.  Place half of the pierogies on top of the meat, followed by half of the cheese.  Repeat.

Cover with aluminum foil.  Bake for 25 minutes at 350º.  When finished, remove the foil and add the crushed Doritos on top of the casserole.  Bake for another 5-10 minutes without the foil.

Serves 6-8

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

If you like pizza and chicken wings, then you will love this recipe.  You can use a prepared pizza shell, but I am including my homemade dough recipe.  It's easy to make, and delicious. 

Dough Recipe:

2 packages dry yeast OR 2 T. yeast
2 T. sugar
2/3 c. warm water
2 c. cold water
3 T. canola or corn oil
1 t. salt (I use just ½ t.)
6½-7 c. bread flour

Sprinkle yeast in warm water and stir in 2 T. sugar.  Let set until mixture is bubbly.

In a large mixing bowl (I use a stand mixer with dough hook), combine yeast mixture with 2 c. cold water, 3 T. oil, and salt.  Add ½ c. bread flour; mix to combine, and begin adding additional flour.

Depending on humidity, you may use 6-7 more cups of flour.  You will want the dough to pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl.

Remove dough from bowl, onto floured surface.  Knead to form a ball.  Place in a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Allow to raise about 1 hour.  Punch down and divide in half.

Roll out to fit any size pizza pan.  Grease pan with vegetable spray, and dust with cornmeal (optional).

Place dough in pan and cover with plastic wrap.  Allow to raise at least 20 minutes.


Chicken Mixture:

1lb. chicken breast tenderloins or 2 boneless-skinless chicken breasts
4 c. water
1 t. salt
1 bay leaf
½-3/4 c. Frank's Red Hot wing sauce
2 c. mozzarella cheese, shredded
blue cheese salad dressing
1 c. finely chopped celery (optional)

In a medium saucepan, add water, salt, chicken, and bay leaf. 

Bring to a boil and simmer for 4-5 minutes.  Cover with lid and remove from heat.  Let steep in water for 10-15 minutes and remove to small bowl.

Once cool, shred chicken with fingers into bite-sized pieces.  Discard the bay leaf.

Add wing sauce (enough to coat chicken), toss, and place in refrigerator to marinate.

Assembly of Pizza:

Drizzle olive oil over the crust, sparingly.  Sprinkle top of crust with shredded mozzarella cheese.

Place chicken pieces on top of crust.  Drizzle blue cheese dressing over the top.  Add 1 c. minced celery (optional).

Cover with additional cup of mozzarella cheese.  Preheat oven to 400º.  Bake 18-20 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly on top.

After-Easter Ham Casserole

Ok!  So, you're saying to yourself, "Why in the world would the Swedish Chef post a recipe for after Easter in October?"  One of the things I enjoy most is creating new recipes using leftovers.  A while back, after Easter, I was trying to come up with some dishes using all of the leftover ham.  This is one of those recipes that you need to try.  It's delicious and has a little kick to it, with hot pepper flakes.  So, whenever you have ham leftover from any meal, try this. 

Ingredients:
1 medium onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped (red, orange, yellow or green)
4 T. olive oil
2 c. cheddar cheese, shredded
2 c. ham, cut into ½ inch cubes
8½ oz. can peas, drained (1 c. frozen peas can be substituted)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
½ soup can water
1 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp. hot pepper flakes
1 c. sliced button mushrooms
1 c. sour cream
15 oz. package egg noodles

Sauté onions and peppers in olive oil, until tender.

Cook noodles and drain.  To the noodles, add the sautéed onions and peppers, mushrooms, peas and ham.

In a separate bowl, add soup, sour cream, curry powder and hot pepper flakes.  Mix and add to the noodle mixture. 

Place in a greased 2qt. casserole dish or 9x13 pan, and top with cheddar cheese.  Cover with foil and bake at 350º for 35-40 minutes.  (To keep the cheese from sticking to the foil, lightly spray the foil with non-stick coating, and cover.)

You will notice that this recipe does not call for salt and pepper, because of the ham and the soup.  I will leave it up to you to season it to your taste.