Superbowl Dip Time!

With Super Bowl just a couple weeks away, I decided to post a couple yummy & super easy to make hot dips I have made in the past to help you out in your party planning.  The first is my cheesy crab dip (I'll post my spinach and artichoke dip next week...plenty of time to get the supplies and make it for your party!).  This recipe serves about 6 people as an appetizer, so mattering on how much food you make (and how many people you are having), you may want to double the recipe.

Ingredients:

4 ounce softened cream cheese
8 tsp diced sweet onion
2 Tbl softened butter
8 tsp finely diced green bell pepper
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp seasoned salt
1/4 tsp paprika
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 6oz cans crab meat (drained)
fresh chopped scallions (garnish)

Preheat oven to 350*
Mix cream cheese, sour cream, and butter until smooth.
Add in seasoned salt and paprika.
Stir in onions, crab meat, green pepper, and cheese.
Place in a lightly greased small shallow baking dish and bake about 10-15 minutes (until mixture bubbles).
Serve hot with tortilla chips.

You Do Know the Muffin WOman

For some reason lately, I've been in the mood for muffins. And not just the run of the mill blueberry kind. I'm talking fresh from the oven bakery kind. But, since I love to bake, I set out to make my own. So today I made orange juice cranberry muffins and strawberry cream muffins. Man oh man are the delish!!!! So I figured I'd be nice and share my recipes with you guys. So here is the Orange Juice Cranberry muffin recipe I came up with...hope you love them too!

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp grated orange rind
1 & 1/2 fresh squeezed orange juice (if you don't use fresh squeezed, then use 1 cup frozen concentrate with pulp & 1/2 cup water, but the fresh squeezed is so much yummier)
1 egg
1/3 cup oil
1/2 cup dried cranberries (craisins)

Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, and orange rind. Stir it all together to make sure all the ingredients are evenly distributed. Make a well in the center, and pour in the orange juice, egg, and oil. Stir the mixture together just enough so that the flour is moist. Add the craisins and mix together, but don't over mix it as the batter should be lumpy. Pour the batter into 12 either greased or non-stick silicone muffin tins. If you are going to use the struesel topping listed below, then sprinkle that on top now. Bake at 400* for about 15-20 minutes until they are nicely browned on top. Remove from the oven, let cool slightly, and then try not to eat all these yummy warm muffins in one sitting.

In the picture above, I used a simple icing, but I have used the struesel topping as well, and both taste great with this muffin.

Icing:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tbl milk
1 tbl vanilla bean paste

Combine in a small bowl, and then drizzle over warm muffins

Struesel:
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 & 1/2 tbl melted butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Blend all ingredients together with a fork until it is coarse and crumbly. Sprinkle on top of muffin before baking.

Yummy homemade Carribean food

So, in my (much) younger days I worked at Bahama Breeze in Alpharetta, Ga. You expect a chain restaurant to have just decent food, yet this place was amazing! Ever since I moved away, I have craved many things from their menu, especially since I don't have one anywhere even close to me. Yet recently I found something out...they post recipes to many of their dishes online! Yes, you heard me...a restaurant posts their recipes online...for free. I guess they figure you will still come in anyway for their other great food, the convenience of not having to cook, plus the atmosphere is fun too. But for those of us who don't have that luxury (and love to cook), check out Bahama Breeze's awesome website for all sorts of yummy foods that make you feel like you are sitting on a beach.