Hormel Chili Dip

I thought I had this recipe on the blog already but when I went to look for it in a "cooking with a microwave" search for our eldest, who is leaving for college, it wasn't there. So here it is now!

From Hormel.

Ingredients:
1 (16 ounce) canhormel chili 
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 (16 ounce) packageshredded mild cheddar cheese or 1 (16 ounce) package sharp cheddar cheese
Tortilla chips or Frito Scoops, to serve

Directions

1. Microwave cream cheese for 1 minute in 12" x 12" pyrex dish or glass pie dish.
2. Remove and spread cream cheese to cover bottom of dish.
3. Next pour the hormel chili on top of the cream cheese.
4. Lastly, layer with the shredded cheddar cheese.
5. Microwave for 3 minutes or until cheese has melted.
6. Serve with nacho chips or scoop frito's.

Puckstoppers snacks with Salmon Tartare

Chef Jef's Veggie Burgers

These are my favorite veggie burgers in the whole wide world!

I have been in possession of this top secret recipe for about six years. It was given to me by Chef Jef (chef, drummer, friend, now father - yea - all around awesome guy) whom I had the pleasure of working with at Freedom Cafe. Having been a vegetarian, I have an interest and appreciation for veggie burgers and these babies were the first thing I ordered off the menu for my staff meal. The moment I had one of these for a staff dinner I fell in love. Jef finally divulged the recipe to me months later. SP distinctly recalls us "putting our heads together" to turn the restaurant kitchen recipe into a more family sized recipe.

This recipe yields about 6 patties and feeds our family for dinner - one burger each with the 6th split between SP and Puckstopper. You can happily double it, prep-cook and freeze, and save for later use. This recipe is perfect for the summer as it makes use of the garden vegetables and squash overload :D Thank you Jef, congrats on your son, and we love and miss you!

Ingredients
1 small zucchini, grated
1 small summer squash, grated
1/2 yellow onion, minced
1/2 red bell pepper, minced
2 Tablespoons chopped garlic
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon granulated onion
1 jar wheat germ
4 eggs
1 and 1/4 cup shredded Monterrey Jack cheese


Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Combine all ingredients, but don't over mix.
3. Portion out into 6 parts, and shape into patties.
4. Lightly grease a baking dish .
5. Bake patties in oven for 10 minutes. Flip and then bake for 10 minutes more.
6. Cool and freeze.
7. Remove from freezer and throw them on the grill! :D

I took a total of three pictures before I froze them. Only the top photo came out ok, but here are the rest of the blurry iPhone photos I took before they went into our bellies. And the freezer.

One special pizza night!

This recipe is a standard for us. We have done it so many times, we have been able to modify the original dough recipe so that we can make it healthier and out of wheat flour. The dough is made in a bread machine, and if using wheat add about 3 or 4 tablespoons more water to make the dough work. It's family pizza night so the toppings are yours to decide!!! This pizza night was extra special too - because it was the first time that Puckstopper was almost entirely in charge of the process!

Pizza Dough
(enough to make 2 large pies)
Ingredients:
1.5 teaspoon yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
4 cups bread flour
10 oz. Luke warm water (yes his cousins name is Luke and he gave us this recipe)
1.5 teaspoon salt
2 T olive oil
corn meal

Toppings
Yours to decide

Process:
1. Put ingredients, in order, into bread maker and start on dough setting.
2. Remove dough from machine and split into three or four balls.
3. Roll out balls and toss on a well floured surface, here is what we use to get the rolled dough on the pizza paddle.






















4. Coat your paddle thoroughly in corn meal.

















5. Once it is ready, roll the edge of the dough back just a bit, and wiggle the paddle underneath it.



































6. Gently spread some oil out on your dough and then a couple of blobs of sauce on top.








































7. Go on... spread it around.






















8. Now add your toppings. This here is a picture of my pizza.
Yes, my beloved boys are hand tearing fresh basil to go on top of my caramelized onions.

















and the tween Puckstopper made sure he had to add a little bling into this photo essay.






















9. Now gently, in one fluid motion slide your pizza onto the hot pizza stone that has already been preheated in an oven, as hot as it goes.
What no picture?
Can you imagine why?
My beloved Puckstopper was using MY PIE as his test run for that fateful slide.
Many a pizza have met their death at one such moment.
Me? I was lucky.
Puckstopper was stellar.

10. Remove from oven, cool, cut and eat!