It’s been well documented that I love Mexican food. And that I love dips. A Mexican dip ~ perfection, especially one without meat as so often people throw beef or sausage in Mexican dips {gross}.
So when Red Gold offered to send me the ingredients to the standard queso dip, I said sure! We took advantage of the NFL playoff weekends to make the queso dips. I won’t attempt to say they’re healthy, but the babies enjoy the fattiness as does their Mommy!
In case you’re searching for an easy & delicious dip to bring to your super bowl party Sunday night, or just like us, to enjoy sitting at home on a cold day, here’s my thoughts on this queso made two ways.
First up was the traditional staple queso dip, 16 oz Velveeta cheese & 1 can of Rotel tomatoes. I melted the combined ingredients in the microwave & served with Tostitos scoops. It was good. It was cheesy. There was a bit of a kick which we like & tomatoes which I really like. It was thick & really stuck to the chip. I had some on the side of a Whole Foods bean burrito & it was just as good on its own for a snack later on.
The following weekend, my parents were in town helping take care of RSV sick babies. We broke out the Red Gold tomatoes & Velveeta and made queso dip Saturday evening as warm comfort food appetizer. My parents hadn’t had this type of dip in a while & both really enjoyed it.
Red Gold & Velveeta, all ready to be microwaved into delicious queso dip.
I made Jason aka the husband be more critical than his normal “it’s good”. He said he actually like the flavor of the Red Gold queso version better. I definitely agreed.
Red Gold & Velveeta Queso Dip
The can of Red Gold & green chilies was larger {16 oz vs 12 oz}. That meant more tomatoes & more green chilies per bite. A definite plus in my book as I love tomatoes & the flavor of the green chillies. It also made the dip a little runnier, less super-think which I liked. I didn’t think it was any ‘hotter’ though for those afraid of too much heat.
As someone who doesn’t really care who wins the game tomorrow night, I just say enjoy the food! Happy Super bowl weekend friends!
While I was sent the ingredients for both dips from Red Gold, I wasn’t otherwise compensated for this post. All thoughts & opinions expressed are completely mine {& the husband’s} own.
Bruegger’s Bagels officially turns 30 on Feb 7th, but they started the celebration early & in Raleigh to boot {don’t you just love a long celebration?}.
Tuesday morning, I had the awesome pleasure of getting both a behind the scenes tour of a local Bruegger’s bakery & also meeting their executive chef, Philip Smith while he was in town.
Everything was perfect-down to the flowers on our table. Executive Chef Philip Smith introduces himself & Bruegger’s bagels. Basic cream cheese versus Bruegger’s plain cream cheese. “If it doesn’t crunch, it’s just a roll with a hole”, Chef Smith explains what makes their bagels special.
If you were following along my twitter & IG feeds, you saw some of the deliciousness. I’d guess a lot of my readers have been to one of Bruegger’s 300 local bakeries. But the bagels are even better when you hear the passion from the chef & see & smell & taste exactly how they’re made. With just five core ingredients: flour, water, barley malt, yeast & salt, Bruegger’s makes great uncomplicated bread. They believe in doing better things with simpler ingredients.
Baker Denise topping freshly boiled bagels with seasoning. Chef Smith showing us the dough in the freezer. My beloved blueberry bagels slowly fermenting {takes two days}. Pulling bagels out of the kettle boiler. Boiled bagels are arranged on aluminum trays topped with burlap to bake upside down at 470 for 3.5 mins then flipped.
After watching the bagels from cold fermenting dough to baked fresh perfection using the art & science of baker’s fingers, we grabbed a pipping hot bagel to enjoy. I had a sea salt bagel that I covered with strawberry cream cheese on one half & veggie cream cheese on the other. So delicious! Their cream cheeses are all made in VT & very creamy due to them processing it at a very low temperature. The low temperature helps hold the look & flavor of the veggies, fruits, &/or nuts added to their cream cheeses.
Executive Chef Smith & I. Bruegger’s selection of baked fresh bagels. My super hot baked fresh from the oven salt bagel. My bagel loaded with veggie cream cheese.
We ended the Raleigh Baked Fresh media celebration sampling Chef Philip’s take on what to do with leftover bagels. We rarely have any left over at my house, but if you do, you’ll have to try this Smoked Salmon & Dill Strata.
Smoked Salmon & Dill Strata
Ingredients
5 plain bagels, cut into thumb sized pieces
6 eggs, cracked into a bowl
1 lb Brugger’s smoked salmon
1 6 oz tub Bruegger’s Chive & Onion Cream Cheese
1 c half & half
1 stick of butter
pinch of salt & pepper
1/4 c fresh dill, end of the branches, picked into tiny pieces
1/4 of a medium red onion, finely chopped
Pam spray
Directions
Preheat your oven to 350. Spray a 13″ shallow baking dish with Pam.
Melt the butter in your microwave on high for 20 seconds.
In a stainless bowl, beat the eggs until the yolks & whites are blended. Then add the melted butter, half & half, salt & pepper & fresh dill.
Soak the cut bagel pieces in the egg mixture, & using your fingers, work the eggs into the bread, so it is thoroughly soaked & all the custard has been absorbed.
Layer the baking dish with 1/2″ layer of soaked bagels. Top with a layer of smoked salmon {half lb or half the side of salmon}. Dot the smoked salmon with dollops of half of the cream cheese. Repeat a soaked bagel layer & another salmon layer. Dot again with the remaining half of cream cheese. Layer the remaining soaked bagels {this layer will be thinner}.
Top the soaked bagels with the chopped red onions, scattered over the top.
Bake covered for 20 min then an additional 15-20 mins uncovered until the egg dish souffles up & the center is firm.
Bruegger’s recommends serving this with a small salad dressed with lemony vinaigrette. Also note that it can be made the night before, refrigerated overnight then cooked just 10-15 mins longer covered. If you’re like me & not the biggest salmon fan, Chef Smith said you could trade it out for sausage or bacon or even peppers & onions. Enjoy!
Bruegger’s also shares other bagel recipes online. I might have to try the blueberry breakfast casserole at my next big family gathering!
You can take part in the 30th anniversary celebration on Feb 7th by taking advantage of a free bagel with cream cheese until 11a. Download the coupon on their Facebook page or by joining their email club.
Thanks to Bruegger’s for inviting & including me in their 30th anniversary media tour. I loved meeting Chef Philip Smith & the other Bruegger’s representatives. While I was given a great behind-the-scenes tour & bagels, a drink & cream cheese, I was not otherwise compensated for this post. All opinions & thoughts listed as genuinely my own.
I’ve been bored with our go-to easy baked chicken recipes. After seeing an email from Kraft Foods Tuesday, I searched their site & found this recipe. I did it a little different, so I’ll share what I did.
Ingredients
4 medium-large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 pack taco seasoning
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 & 1/2 c cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 c milk
crumbled tortilla chips
Preheat oven to 375. While that’s warming, place chicken breasts in a dish. I used our favorite 8×11 one.
Mix together taco seasoning, soup, 1 c cheese & milk.
Mixture ready to top the chicken.
Pour mixture over the chicken.
Top with tortilla chips. I just crumbled what we had left of a bag & sprinkled a few handfuls over the chicken.
Oven ready
Bake for 30 minutes covered with foil. Top with remaining 1/2 cheese & bake for an additional 10 minutes uncovered.
I served this is Spanish rice & it was awesome. Very easy & still tasty. We were full on one breast each, so this made enough for two dinners. Score!
For the last month & a half, I’ve added a disaster to our nightly routine. The babies mostly hate it. It makes a huge mess. It’s time consuming when I have no extra time. My husband usually isn’t even home to help this disaster.
I delayed starting solids for my preemies based on our thoughts & our pediatricians’ recommendations. But right after their 6 month checkup, I bought a box of Earth’s Best rice cereal, excitedly mixed it up with breast milk, grabbed my cell phone camera & got ready to experience the babies’ first taste of food. Not shockingly, they hated it & spit it out. That was Nov 28th.
Fast forward to this week & things aren’t much better.
Jump over to Liberating Working Moms to read the rest {& see a funny photo of Lucy & Zach from last night’s eating attempt}. And please add any advice you have to offer in the comments!
I’d have sworn I’d pinned the recipe for these that I saw on pinterest just before Christmas. But of course, when I opened my boards with cake mix box & white chocolate chips in hand, it wasn’t there.
Instead of really winging it {impossible for me as a baker to do}, I searched pinterest. And though I was unable to find what I’d originally seen, I did discover pinch of yum’s version. I wasn’t interested in all her add-ons, so I scaled our cookies back to the basics & they were a deliciously huge hit.
bad cell phone photo of really good cookies.
Ingredients
1 box devil’s food cake mix
1 egg
1 stick of butter
tsp vanilla
cup of white chocolate chips
Cream butter in stand mixer. Add in the egg & vanilla. Slowly mix in the box cake mix. Stir in the chips.
Place rounded spoonfuls on greased baking sheets. Bake on 350 for 10-12 mins or until beginning to crack.
