"Crunchy Cheese Nibblet" Appetizers

While we were stuck in the house during the East Coast blizzard this weekend, I experimented with an appetizer idea.

I wanted to use up some leftover potato chips we had in the house, (I'm all about trying to USE the food we have lately, instead of buying more and more) and I actually found a recipe on AllRecipes.com from a woman named Janis. This is her recipe here.

I tried out her exact recipe, but I also made a batch using some different tastes.

She got mostly positive reviews on her creation...but I definitely have a few ideas on how to improve this for my tastes. All in all, my husband and I enjoyed the appetizer, but agreed it needed some tweaking the next go round.

Here are the ingredients I used for both batches:

1 cup finely shredded Cheddar cheese (yellow)
1 cup crushed potato chips
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon ground mustard
crushed red pepper flakes

1 cup finely shredded Cheddar cheese (sharp white)
1 cup crushed potato chips
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon Bryant & Cooper BBQ sauce
parsley flakes

Directions (same concept for both)

In a bowl, combine all ingredients.


Shape dough into 3/4-in. balls.

Place on ungreased baking sheets and flatten slightly.


Bake at 375 degrees F for 5-8 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to a wire rack.

Serve warm.


Now, here is what I would have changed:

1. I did "flatten" the balls slightly... I think next time I am keeping them in ball shape so they can be served more like a cheese ball with a toothpick.

2. They need slightly more flavoring. Granted, I used plain potato chips...and these would have worlds more flavor if you used like, BBQ Chips or Sour Cream & Cheddar or anything you like. But, if you use plain chips, add more more spice or sauce or whatever.

3. They needed closer to 10 minutes cooking time.

Otherwise, kudos to this lady for being inventive. Here's to experimenting with food!

Cornbread Bake - my Thanksgiving dish!

So as I previously mentioned, my husband and I are celebrating Thanksgiving at his family this year, and we all need to bring a little something since his Aunt, who is hosting, is hurt and can't cook as much.

We're doing a dessert (my pie cupcakes!) but I (stupidly) offered to do something else. I say that because working full days during my crazy time at work is actually more tiring than I thought (this is my first November at this job) and when I come home, the last thing I want to do is bake or cook. And it's not like I can do any of this on Thursday morning since we have to schlep 3 hours away from the house. Luckily this recipe only took about 20 minutes to put together and then it was in the oven for a half hour. Not too bad - I did it in between watching Glee. Hopefully it came out ok!

So I found this recipe amongst the Sunday coupons of all things. Cornbread Bake. Sounded interesting - I like cornbread. Here is the recipe...

Ingredients:

2 pouches cornbread mix (6.5 oz each)
1 container of sour cream (16 oz - we used light)
2 eggs
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
frozen sweet corn, thawed and drained (8 oz)
1/4 cup sliced scallions

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl, stir cornbread mix, sour cream and eggs until smooth.

Add 1/2 cup cheese, corn and scallions.

Pour into greased 11 x 7 casserole dish.


Bake about 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese before serving.



I had to tweak this a bit - since I was baking this 2 days prior, I actually baked it for 15 minutes and then sprinkled the remaining cheese on to bake for the next 15 minutes. It looks great though!

This recipe actually also included a jar of chopped pimentos but we just weren't into that. I could had substituted another vegetable or something but I left it at corn and scallions. I also used a mixture of white and yellow corn.

I hope my husband's family is excited to eat this - and will like it!!