What's Cooking at the Smiths: Better Late than Never!

Well....I meant to share these recipes an entire month ago. Seriously. These recipes are from the Super Bowl! I have never been a big Super Bowl fan--I guess since we don't have a pro team in Alabama I have never gotten into pro football. But, I still watch the big game every year, and it's an excuse for good food! Britt picked out what he wanted and I cooked it. The first recipe was a sausage dip. It left me wanting another bite, after another, after another....it was good. Britt found it in the Birmingham News and clipped it out. I decided to make half the recipe since we were having so much other food. You can make the whole recipe, or half like I did, depending on your crowd size.

Hot Sausage Dip

Ingredients: {I cut this recipe in half.}

1 lb. hot sausage

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

8 oz. sour cream

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 10oz. can diced tomatoes and green chiles {drained}

Brown sausage in a medium skillet until it is no longer pink. Drain excess grease.

Add cream cheese, sour cream, shredded cheese, and rotel tomatoes to a bowl. Then add the drained sausage.

Stir until well mixed. Pour into a baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

A close-up of the finished product.

Serve this dip with Frito Scoops.

We are jalapeno LOVERS in our house. When I look through my recipes on Pinterest I find that a ton of them are jalapeno "something". These looked so good that we couldn't pass up making them for the big game's food spread.

Sausage Stuffed Jalapeno Peppers

Ingredients:

10 jalapeno peppers {seeded}

10 slices bacon

10 mini sausages {cut in half}

1 cup cream cheese {softened}

1 cup shredded cheese

1 tsp. chipotle powder

2 shallots {minced}

Cut the ends off the jalapenos and cut in half length wise.

Remove seeds. Mince shallots.

Mix cream cheese, shredded cheese, shallots, and chipotle powder in a mixing bowl. Stir until well combined.

Spoon cream cheese mixture into jalapeno halves.

Cut sausages in half and place on jalapenos.

Wrap with bacon and place seem side down on a wire rack and baking pan. Bake at 425 degrees for 20-30 minutes until bacon is brown and crispy.

These were SO good!

This recipe is supposed to be fried goat cheese fritters, but I could not find reasonably priced goat cheese logs. Instead, I took the cheaper alternative and bought mozzarella! It was still tasty.

Crispy Fried Mozzarella

Ingredients:
16 oz. mozzarella log
1 cup panko bread crumbs
2 tsp. dried parsley
1 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. ground white pepper
pinch of kosher salt
2 eggs {lightly beaten}
1/2 cup flour
Olive oil

Mix panko, parsley, thyme, white pepper, and salt in a small mixing bowl.

Lightly beat two eggs.

Slice cheese into discs. Make an "assembly line" for breading the cheese.

Coat cheese in flour, then dip in egg mixture.

Coat with panko and let rest while you prepare the rest of the cheese.

Heat olive oil in a skillet. Fry cheese until it is brown on the bottom {this happens quickly} and flip over. When cheese is finished cooking on both sides, transfer to a serving platter. I let mine cool on a paper towel-lined plate. Serve and enjoy!

This next recipe is a dessert. We were going to dinner at a friend's house and I needed and easy dessert to whip up before we went over there. I found this recipe on Pinterest. I called for strawberries, but I decided to use blueberries. It was a hit!

Blueberry Cream Cheese Cobbler