October 24, 2011: Quick Chile Con Queso Recipe

I don’t know if you’ve figured it out yet but I hate to waste food. Recently I took several bags of assorted chips to a church function and ended up with a little bit leftover in each. I’m not a plain chip gal so I made this easy chile con queso to use as a dip with the tortilla chips.

What did I do with the rest of the chips? I used the potato chips as the topping on a tuna casserole and the corn chips as the basis for Frito Chili Pie using a jar of my homemade chili and some shredded cheese. Voila! No wasted food!

Chile Con Queso

4 ounces Velveeta, cubed

1 small roasted green chile, chopped

1 fresh jalapeno, minced (don't discard the seeds unless you want a milder dip)

1 T. minced onion (dried or fresh)

1 t. minced garlic (jarred is fine)

½ t. cilantro (dried or fresh)

2 cherry tomatoes, chopped (optional)

2 T. milk

Combine all ingredients in a microwaveable bowl. Heat for 1 – 2 minutes, until cheese is thoroughly melted. Mix well before serving.

July 23, 2011: Avocado Boats Recipe

Here’s another side dish recipe I scrapped together from various ones I found on the Food Network website, modified to use the ingredients I had on hand. They came out quite yummy and they look good, too!

Avocado Boats

2 avocadoes
½ lime
2/3 cup sliced yellow cherry tomatoes, halved
3 thick slices bacon, crisply fried
1 t. Kosher salt
Cracked black pepper

Halve the avocadoes and carefully scoop the fruit out of the peels. Remove the pits. Squeeze the juice from the lime half evenly over each. Fill the cups of the avocadoes with tomatoes. Sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper to taste. Crumble cooked bacon over the top.

Tip: You can use other types of tomatoes in these avocado boats. Baby heirloom tomatoes, with their pretty colors, would look and taste fantastic, too.