24 in 2024 -- Try at least one new recipe: Beer Cheese Dip

 The hubby and I have struggled to find the perfect beer cheese dip. I suck at making roux because I'm too impatient. Stovetop cheese beer dip isn't my forte. Stacy mentioned using cream cheese instead of a roux. I found an easy crock pot recipe that didn't sound bad and decided to give it a try since we had a giant pretzel in the freezer.

Ingredients -- I cut this down to a 1/3 of a recipe since it was only the two of us

• Cream Cheese
• Cheddar Cheese -- Use good cheese. I did not,
• Lager -- I seriously was looking for a straight lager. I didn't realize lager encompasses so many different types of beer. We used Sam Adams because it was Boston Lager. I didn't want Miller Lite or Bud Lite because I wanted to be able to drink the beer. Not a fan of those.
• Dijon Mustard
• Red Pepper Flakes
• Garlic Powder
• Salt

Toss everything in the crockpot and cook for an hour. 

It was okay. 

I think we need a milder beer (less beer) and better cheese. It had too much of a beer taste and not enough of a cheese taste. The hubby really wasn't a fan but I think I have a starting point to continue to experiment.

6887. Make Brazilian Cheese Bread

 This month at Little Chute Library's Cooks and Culture Club we were going to Brazilian Culture and Food. The librarian's friend was from Brazil and knew a restaurant owner, Mara, also from Brazil. She came to talk to us or rather teach us how to make Brazilian Cheese Bread.

Danielle made it once for our lasagna dinner but other than that I never had it. Brazilian cheese bread is a gluten free bread that is a staple in many Brazilian households because it's easy to make and freeze the dough. Then when company comes, take out the dough and bake. It is an expensive, savory treat that is enjoyed by all.

To make Brazilian Cheese Bread you will need

• 500 grams tapioca starch
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1/2 cup milk
• 4 eggs
• 125 grams Parmesan cheese
• 125 grams Mozzarella cheese

Since we were making individual batches, we used less and Mara had everything pre-masured for us.

We started by adding our egg to our tapioca starch and salt mixture and mixed until crumbly.

Then Mara came around added oil and water so we could form a ball.

We then separated the ball into small balls which we could bake there or bring home. I brought most of mine home to serve at our tea party since they were Janis friendly.

They were definitely better than I remembered. If you bake them in the air fryer like I did for the tea party, they come out nice and crispy with a perfectly cheesy inside. Even the hubby liked them.

I definitely would consider making them again if I found the tapioca starch and got a scale. They truly are a quick and easy snack to keep on hand. 

23 in 2023: Try at least one new recipe -- Cherry Crisp

 Every August, the hubby and some of his officiating buddies get together for a fish fry. It is potluck style and one of the guys brought homemade cherry crisp made with Door County cherries. It was so amazing the pan was licked clean. I ended up getting some cherries when I went to see the fall colors back in October and wanted to make the cherry crisp. 

The hubby texted his buddy and we got the recipe via screenshot. Guys. I don't even know where they got the recipe to give credit where credit is due.

Since my cherries were already pitted, I drained the juice and added them to the sauce pan with the water and sugar. 

I used just the amount of sugar it called for. Because my cherries were already soft, I didn't have to cook them much once they started to boil. I just added the cornstarch and water and let cook until thickened.

To make the crust, I used my Ninja. Best thing ever to mix in butter. It makes it all crumbly. I'm glad the oatmeal was added after butter so I didn't pulverize the oatmeal too bad.

I added about a 2/3 of the mix to the bottom of my pan, added the cherries (which were not completely cooled), and added the rest of the mix to the top. I could have used a tad less on the bottom to have a little bit more on top. Live and learn.

I baked about 48 minutes. It could have gone the 50 minutes but I didn't want to get it too crisp.

It was a bit of mess to get out of the pan. Maybe it needed to cool more. Not really sure. Hopefully it will be better once it is cooled completely.

It was just as good as I remember. We definitely need to make a fall trip to Door County to get more cherries. Definitely a recipe worth saving and sharing. 

20 in 2020 -- Make a new recipe -- Enchiladas

My mom and grandma both get Our Wisconsin magazine. Grandma gives us her copy when she is done with it. I read it and the hubby may read it. Then it sits on a pile on our coffee table for a few months til I get sick of the pile and weed out the old issues. Every issue includes a couple of recipes by readers. The hubby was going through the stack earlier this month and found a few recipes he thought sounded good. One was for enchiladas. So I bought the ingredients and put it them in the dinner rotation.

I'm more of a taco than an enchilada/burrito kind of person but the hubby prefers burritos/enchiladas. I've tried a couple of burrito recipes but the hubby wasn't overly fond of them. I was willing to try this one.

The recipe itself is pretty simple and can be made from simple pantry ingredients... chicken or turkey, cream of mushroom soup, salsa, sour cream, cheese, flour tortillas. I have a feeling the recipe was created to use up leftover turkey from Thanksgiving.

Basic instructions
1. Mix meat, sour cream, taco seasoning, half the can of soup, cheese, onion, salsa, and olives together in a bowl.

2. Spoon filling into tortillas and roll up and place seam side down in 9x13 pan.

3. Then combine the rest of the soup, sour cream and taco seasoning. Pour over enchiladas.

4. Bake for 25 minutes.
5. Sprinkles with the rest of the cheese and bake for 5 more minutes.

I only made half the recipe each night. I mixed the entire filling and topping but only cooked half the tortillas the first night. I figured they won't reheat all that well.

They were pretty tasty. We used picante instead of salsa so it had more pepper and tomato chunks than the hubby liked. The sauce was a bit much with the all that sour cream according to the hubby. That might be because we split it into two nights.

The recipe definitely needs tweaking for our tastes but it was good for the first try. It might become a keeper if I can figure out the whole sauce thing.