Super Flop

Turns out the Broncos weren't the only miserable losers Sunday night.  Like most of you, we got together with friends to watch the Big Game.  Our friend Brian made jambalaya, which turned out really well.  Nice and spicy.  Neil made teriyaki wings and they all got eaten. But me?  Oh no.  I made one of the worst party dips in modern history.

Jalapeno Popper Dip

The year's hottest dip...NOT.

 I ripped it out of a magazine because the photo looked nice.  I thought to myself, "Hmmm, Neil and I like jalapeno.  Most everyone likes poppers.  This will be perfect."  Wrong, wrong, wrong. First, when I mixed the ingredients, it all got very yellow and mushy.  In fact, Neil looked at it and thought I'd made egg salad.  Second, the use of mustard was way over the top.  I can appreciate the tang and tartness that the mustard would add. The acid makes sense when you're working with so much cheese, but this was just too much.  Then, the jalapenos that I used had NO HEAT.  So, all I could get from the peppers was almost like that raw bell pepper taste, which I don't happen to like at all.  I added some pickled jalapenos and their juice to try to heat it up, but it just wasn't enough to do the trick.

No one mentioned it, but Neil and I both sat there eating this stuff and I looked at him and said, quite simply, "I hate this."  Fortunately, I don't have many flops come out of my kitchen, but this was one for the books!  If you see this recipe, don't be tempted by the picture.  Just look away and turn your attention to some queso instead.

Snacking with Soul

Send me to the grocery store and I'm armed with a specific list, a fistful of coupons and a pit bull will to pay as little as possible.  Send Neil, or most men, and they will return with whatever you asked for (most of the time!) and anything else that caught their eye.  That's how Palmetto Cheese ended up in our house.

It has soul indeed!

For those of you not from South Carolina, this is a SC product that we all love.  It's pimento cheese but much more special than that.  It's made with real cheese, real mayo, real pimento, by real people.  It comes out of Pawley's Island and we're proud to eat it, serve it at parties and claim it as our own.  But, Palmetto Cheese isn't cheap.  Don't get me wrong; it's not outrageously expensive but it's pricey.  So, I stop and look at it in the store, but then my coupon-psycho brain kicks in and talks me out of buying it.  

Delightfully, Neil ended up at Publix. He saw, he bought, he brought home.  While at first I looked at it and said to myself, "OMG, I can't believe he bought this!" I was secretly jumping for joy because I haven't had it in so long!  He chose the Palmetto Cheese with bacon. Highly recommended.  I've been snacking on it with pretzels.  Neil has varied his morsels this afternoon.  First, he started with a small spoon.  At the time of this post, he's using one of our home-grown jalepenos as a "cracker" and just topping it with the cheese.  I'm looking at him now...he looks like one happy little snacker.

If you haven't tried Palmetto Cheese, you should.  If you're a man, head on over to the grocery.  If you're a frugal woman, like me, send your husband.  

Lazy Friday Night "Supper"

So, I've been a cooking fool this week, which makes me happy.  But, today I returned home with no plan in place, yawning my 'you-know-what' off and tons of leftovers and knick-knacks in the fridge.  Yes, it was time for mystery "antipasto."

I assembled a few things:  a plate of Greek black olives, garlic marinated green olives, Alouette spreadable brie (Neil hates brie rind.  I mean, really hates it so this stuff works for him), pepperoncini, pepperoni, sharp cheddar slices and water crackers.  And, I sauteed a couple of mini-crab cakes, although at the time of this writing Neil hasn't eaten his, so he's about to forfeit them.


Neil has a biz trip coming up, so this weekend will be more fun for cooking while he's here.  I have my (FREE) pound of chicken I got from Earth Fare and some nice looking pork chops in the fridge, so I think I can make an interesting weekend of it.  Since tomorrow is the Iceman Challenge, he'll probably be hungry enough to eat shoe leather tomorrow night.