Roasted Salsa

This is officially my FAVORITE salsa recipe! It definitely had some spice to it so if you’re a little weary of it being too hot, I’d reduce the amount of peppers or chipotle chilies. Bryan and I LOVED the smoky flavor the canned chilies brought to the dip. It tasted good warm right after I made it, however the flavor was even better the next day cold. Yum. This will definitely be made again in this house.

Ingredients
Olive oil spray
4 Roma tomatoes, halved
1 can stewed tomatoes, drained
1 yellow onion, cut into eighths
1 jalapeño, seeded and quartered
1/2 poblano pepper, seeded and cut into strips
2 garlic cloves
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
2-3 canned chipotle chilies in adobo, chopped
2 tbsp lime juice
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 tsp sugar
1/2 tbsp cumin
1/4 tsp coriander

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 500°.

2. In a rectangular baking pan lined with foil, combine, tomatoes, onion, jalapeño, poblano pepper, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper. Spray veggies with olive oil and mix to coat.

3. Bake for approximately 30-40 minutes, checking every 10 minutes to stir veggies. The onions will begin to burn a little at the edges, and the tomatoes will start to get a little blackened as well.

4. Pull the veggies out of the oven and let them cool a little bit. In a food processor or a blender, add the cooked veggies, chipotle chilies, lime juice, cilantro, cumin, coriander and sugar. Blend until your desired consistency. I like mine pretty smooth.

5. You can serve warm or cool. I refrigerated over night and enjoyed the flavors even more the next day.

Fire Roasted Tomato Salsa

This was a good salsa to make if you want a homemade salsa but without all the prep time. By using a can of fire roasted tomatoes and a few additional ingredients, this is done in no time. I liked the consistency of the salsa and it had a nice medium flavor. It wasn’t too hot, just a little bit of kick. The downfall to using canned tomatoes was that the dip lacked the fresh taste of homemade salsa.

Adapted from One Particular Kitchen

Ingredients
2 fresh jalapeños
3 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice, preferably fire roasted
1/4 cup (loosely packed) chopped fresh cilantro
2 tbl fresh lime juice
Salt

Directions
1. Heat an ungreased skillet over medium heat and roast the peppers and garlic, turning often until they’re splotchy and brown and soft — this takes about 10 minutes for the peppers, and 15 minutes for the garlic

2. Cool until you can handle them, then roughly chop the pepperss, discarding caps, and drop into food processor

3. Peel the garlic and scoop the softened cloves into a food processor; pulse until very finely chopped

4. Add the tomatoes with their juice to the food processor then pulse until puree is coarse.

5. Pour into serving dish and stir in cilantro and lime juice, and salt to taste — about 1/2-3/4 teaspoon

6. Refrigerate overnight, then serve and enjoy!

Peanut Sauce

This sauce went well with the summer rolls. I would recommend making it the day before you need it because the flavors really blended well for me over night.

Adapted from Cooking Light

Ingredients
1/4 cup lime juice
3 tbl reduced fat creamy peanut butter
3 tbl low-sodium soy sauce
3 tbl honey
1 tbl chili paste with garlic
4 garlic cloves, minced

Directions
1. Combine all ingredients in a small bowl; stir well with a whisk.

2. Refrigerate overnight. Bring to room temp before serving.

The Facts
8 Servings
Calories 69.4
Total Fat 2.3 g
Fiber 0.4 g
WW Points 1

Spinach Artichoke Dip

It’s time to catch up on my New Year’s appetizer blogging! I made this spinach and artichoke dip for Thanksgiving and again for our New Year’s party. I’ve have made this dip many different ways with all different ingredients including mayonnaise, cream cheese, sour cream and Alfredo sauce. I’ve mixed and combined difference aspects of a bunch of recipes along the way that I feel confident enough to call this one my own! The recipe below I now use as my go to recipe and really like the flavor the Alfredo sauce brings to the recipe. It gives it that restaurant style creaminess.

Ingredients
4.5 oz. fresh baby spinach stems removed, chopped
14 oz. marinated artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
5 oz. Alfredo pasta sauce
4 oz. fat free cream cheese, softened
1 cup part skim shredded mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Mix together all ingredients in large mixing bowl.

3. Spread mixture into 8x8 inch baking dish or 9 inch pie plate. (Can refrigerate at this point and bake right before you need it!)

4. Cover and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until cheeses are melted and bubbly. Serve warm. (Increase baking time 5-10 minutes if coming straight from refrigerator.)

Cilantro Jalapeno Hummus

Well, this was not a good weekend to be a football fan in our household. It started Saturday with the Florida Gators playing Alabama for the SEC Championship where the winner was pretty much guaranteed a bid to the National Championship game. The Gators did not play like themselves, and the defense couldn’t do a thing to stop Alabama. It was heart breaking to watch Tim Tebow do post-game interviews with tears in his eyes. We’ve been so spoiled the past few seasons that we’ve forgot what it feels like to lose. The pain continued into Sunday as the New England Patriots lost to the Miami Dolphins.

Saturday, we had our neighbors over to watch the Gator Game. I served some light appetizers for us to munch during the game. Along with leftover tzaztiki and cucumbers from earlier in the week, I made a roasted red pepper hummus and this cilantro jalapeno hummus that I paired with multi grain chips and toasted pita wedges. I had actually made the roasted red pepper hummus earlier in the week and was not very impressed with it. I like the base of the jalapeno much better and will be using that for any future hummus recipes. I reduced the tahini and olive oil from the original recipe, but the hummus still had a great consistency. I only used one jalapeno pepper for fear of it TOO hot, however it could have definitely used some more kick. Next time I will add another pepper to spice it up.

Adapted from Annie’s Eats

Ingredients
1/3 cup fresh cilantro leaves
1-2 jalapeno peppers, ribbed and seeded (depending on desired flavor)
1 garlic clove, peeled
3 T lemon juice
1/4 cup water
2 T tahini
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 (14 oz.) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 t salt
1/4 t cumin
Pinch of cayenne pepper

Directions
1. Combine the cilantro, jalapenos, and garlic in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the ingredients have been finely minced.

2. In a small bowl, combine the lemon juice and water. In another bowl, whisk together the tahini and olive oil. Set aside.

3. Scrape down the sides of the food processor bowl and add the chickpeas, salt, cumin and cayenne. Process until almost fully ground, about 15 seconds. Scrape down the bowl.

4. With the machine running add the lemon juice-water mixture in a steady stream through the feed tube. Scrape down the bowl and continue to process for one minute.

5. With the machine running, add the oil-tahini mixture in a steady stream through the feed tube, and continue to process until smooth and creamy, about 15 seconds, scraping down the bowl as needed.

6. Transfer the hummus to a serving bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let stand until the flavors meld, at least 30 minutes.

The Facts
8 Servings
Calories 69.3
Total Fat 1.4 g
Fiber 4.4 g
WW Points 1

Tzaztiki

Mmmmm. Went great with our chicken gyros and as an appetizer with sliced cucumbers. This would be a great dip for a holiday party. Recipe below was altered from the original to make a half batch of Tzaztiki. I skipped the straining step by starting with the Greek yorgurt base, and made it light by choosing Fage 0% fat free yogurt.

Adapted from elly says opa!

Ingredients
1 17.5 oz container of Fage 0% Greek Yogurt
1 cucumber, peeled and seeded
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 t white wine vinegar
1 T lemon juice
salt and a little pepper

Directions
1. Peel and seed the cucumber. Shred the cucumbers and then squeeze them to get rid of as much excess moisture as possible. I use a towel to do this.

2. Mix together the yogurt, shredded cucumbers, garlic, vinegar and lemon juice. Salt to taste. It’s best to refrigerate for 30 minutes or more before serving, so flavors can meld.

The Facts
4 Servings
Calories 74.4
Total Fat 0.0 g
Fiber 0.3 g
WW Points 1