Every now and then I get a big ol’ craving for Mexican food. This only happens about once every, oh, day or two. I can’t help it. I love Mexican food. In fact, I sometimes regret not marrying an old Mexican grandma. I’m sure her cooking would have been divine. I guess my husband and his lackluster cooking abilities will have to do though.

He’s cute. I like him. Even if he does roll his eyes and say “Mexican food again?” At least he lets me pose him (sit here, turn your head this way, smile, no, not a fake smile, a real smile!) so that the internet can see how cute he is.

That’s enough talk about boys. This is a food blog.

Something that I must have to go along side my tacos, enchiladas, and burritos is this delicious, nutritious (Well, kind of. Maybe.), completely addicting guacamole. Trust me when I say that this guacamole will change your little Mexican food loving life.

The best part is, if you live with onion haters, you can easily substitute onion powder for the chopped onions and you don’t sacrifice any flavor. I like the crunch the onion adds to this, but the flavor doesn’t suffer a bit if you leave them out. And, yeah, that boy up there is the onion hater in my life. It’s a good thing he’s cute.

Guacamole

• 4 ripe Haas avocados
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 1/4 cup finely diced onion (I use a red onion, but any will work) (or sub onion powder)
• 1 lime
• 2 tbsp sour cream
• 1 tsp cumin (or more, to taste)
• salt, to taste

Chop the avacodos into small cubes and mash with a fork, leaving just a few chunks and add to a medium sized bowl. Add in the garlic, cilantro, onion, sour cream, cumin, and salt. Squeeze the juice of the lime into the bowl and stir everything together. Serve immediately.

I’ve had appetizers on the brain lately. These little BLT Stuffed Tomatoes aren’t helping much either. In fact, looking at these pictures makes me sad. I don’t have any left and now I want more!

These are the perfect little finger food, full of creamy sour cream, salty bacon, and a bit of parmesan cheese, all stuffed in a little cherry tomato and sprinkled with green onions. Could there be a tastier combination?

The next time you have a get together I beg you, I implore you, I command you to make these little guys. You won’t believe how quickly they fly off the plate.

These don’t take all that long to prepare and can be made a few hours in advance. You just slice a cherry tomato in half and then scoop out the insides. I use a paring knife and just cut all around the edges of the tomato and flip the insides out, but you can also use a small spoon to scrape the guts out. If you do use a paring knife, be careful! It’s easy to slip through the thin tomato skin and slice off a finger.

You then whip up your filling and either pipe it into the tomatoes or just use a small spoon and scoop it into the empty tomatoes. I prefer to use a spoon myself, but do what works best for you.

These aren’t all that bad for you either if you use light sour cream and turkey bacon. I’ve never used turkey bacon myself, but that doesn’t mean you can’t!

You can count on each person eating at least 3 or 4 of these little guys, so make plenty!

BLT Stuffed Tomatoes

• 8 ounces sour cream (light works great!)
• 4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 1 tbsp parmesan cheese (the powdery kind is fine)
• 2 tsp fresh parsley, chopped (you can substitute dried parsley)
• green onions, for garnish
• salt and pepper, to taste
• about 20 cherry tomatoes

Wash cherry tomatoes and slice them in half. Use a paring knife or spoon to scrape out the insides. Dab the inside of each tomato with a paper towel to dry it and then sprinkle with salt. Mix together the sour cream, bacon pieces, parmesan, parsley, and salt and pepper. Spoon or pipe the filling into each tomato and sprinkle the tops with chopped green onions (or more parsley, if you’re an onion hater).

I’ve still got Superbowl on the brain over here. No, I don’t care about the teams or the game or any of that other completely interesting football stuff that the rest of the world cares about, I just care about the menu. Superbowl is the perfect day for dips and snacks and finger foods and I’m sorry, but there just aren’t enough days devoted to the finger foods.

This Jalapeno Popper dip is the perfect football food. It’s spicy, so the boys can act all tough and pretend like their lips aren’t burning off and the girls can say things like “My, my, my…aren’t you manly and strong!” Clearly, this is a winning dip.

This is positively full of jalapenos. The recipe calls for two diced jalapenos plus one jar of pickled jalapenos. I’m a bit of a wuss, so I won’t lie, my lips burst into flames. It’s hard being such a sissy. My husband had to throw a glass of water in my face. Go ahead and add the pickled jalapenos and then give it a taste. Add more jalapeno if you can handle it, but be careful, you don’t want to end up with a face full of water and third degree burns on your fragile little lips.

Jalapeno Popper Dip
Recipe from Closet Cooking

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese (I used the powdery kind and it was fine)
• 1 (4 ounce) can pickled jalapenos
• 2 jalapeno peppers (diced, optional)
• 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Finely dice the jalapenos and add to a mixing bowl. Add in the cream cheese, mayonnaise, cheddar cheese, and parmesan cheese. Mix well and spread into a small baking dish or oven safe bowl. Mix together the panko and parmesan and pour over the top of the dip. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 10-15 minutes or until heated through. Serve with chips and a big ol’ glass of milk to cool the burn.

I may not know who is playing in the Superbowl this year (Does anyone? Have the teams been chosen? Do they even get chosen? How does this thing you call “football” even work?), but I know darn good and well that I’m going to be required to make thirty-seven different appetizers and dips for the game. Oh, yes. My husband had that written into our marriage vows.

“I promise to love you forever ’til death to us part so long as you make me snacks on Superbowl Sunday.”

The wedding guests had never seen a more ridiculous wedding before.

Back to the food! I really think that “dip” should be it’s own food group. Fruits, vegetables, dairy, protein, and dip. That’s the way the food pyramid would look if I were the President of Food. Five servings of dip per day. Ah, that’d be the life.

This Buffalo Chicken Dip (also known as “crack dip” because it’s addicting like crack!) is so good. It’s got a good bit of spice, but the cream cheese and the ranch dressing cools it off just enough. This one really is like crack. You won’t be able to stop dipping!

I would like to note real quick that the original recipe called for (gag) canned chunks (puke) of chicken (vomit). Personally, I think that canned meat (blech) is evil and wrong and terribly bad. I recommend buying a rotisserie chicken and shredding the meat with a fork, but if you are brave (and crazy) go ahead and use the (ewwww) canned chicken. I won’t judge you. At least, not out loud where you can hear me.

Also, while I’m being all picky about my ingredients, I should mention that I’m not a fan of blue cheese. I omitted the blue cheese salad dressing and used all ranch and I substituted the crumbled blue cheese for shredded mozzarella.

Finally, I like to serve this with sliced French bread, but it would also be yummy on chips or crackers.

Buffalo Chicken Dip
Adapted from Frank’s Red Hot Sauce

• 1 rotisserie chicken, meat shredded with a fork
• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup blue cheese salad dressing (omit and use 1/2 cup ranch dressing total, if you prefer)
• 1/4 cup ranch salad dressing
• 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese (substitute shredded mozzarella if you prefer)
• 1/2 cup Frank’s Red Hot sauce (any hot sauce will do)

Mix together all ingredients until well combined. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. Serve with crackers, chips, or sliced bread.

Have you seen those commercials that say “Ahh, the power of cheese?” Well, I don’t want to be weird or anything, but cheese! It is powerful. Everyone loves it (please don’t tell me if you don’t love cheese, I would never recover from the shock) which means it is the perfect food to serve at get togethers, parties, funerals, weddings, baby showers, and late night television watching marathons.

Just in case I forgot to mention a time when serving cheese would be appropriate, a good rule of thumb is this: If people will be present, cheese should be on the menu. Hallelujah and amen.

My baby girl just had a birthday, so we celebrated by eating cake and ripping open presents. We also celebrated with a bit of this cheese spread. That’s the way birthdays are meant to be celebrated, after all.

There’s a picture of the birthday girl eating some snow. I figured it’d be okay to sneak a picture of her in as long as the picture included food. And, yes, I’m the type of mother that considers snow a good, healthy snack. Don’t judge.

Alright, back to the cheese. This cheese spread is simple, tasty, and perfect for your next get together. Feel free to play with the flavors of this and make it your own. I have a feeling that a bit of that powdered ranch dip mixed in would be quite tasty. You could also add a bit of finely diced jalapeno for a little kick. Or sprinkle in some cayenne if that’s more your speed. Play with it, have fun with it, but most of all, eat it. You won’t regret it.

Three Cheese Spread
Recipe adapted from Real Mom Kitchen

• 8 oz. block sharp cheddar cheese
• 8 oz. block pepper jack cheese
• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 2 tbsp. mayonnaise
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tsp parsley
• 1 tsp. onion powder
• Dash of Tabasco
• Dash of Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup milk (or more, depending on what consistency you want)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Grate the cheddar and pepper jack cheese. Add to a stand mixer or food processor and mix in the remaining ingredients. Continue mixing until everything is combined. Add more milk if you want a thinner consistency. Sprinkle with a bit of parsley if you want to be fancy and serve with crackers.