Bev’s Savory Cheese Ball, by Beverly Hicks Burch

Bev’s Savory Cheese Ball

By Beverly Hicks Burch

In the early 1970s I was beginning to build my cookbook collection. I have one cookbook that was published by Kraft in 1971 called The Complete Cheese Cookbook. I’m sure I must have written and sent off for this little jewel because I haven’t seen it anywhere else.

One family favorite from this little cookbook is a cheese ball that is without a doubt one of the best on the planet. Once you have this cheese ball you’ll never ever go back to those "cheesy" (sorry just couldn’t help that little pun) store bought jobs.

As usual I’ve made a few adjustments over the years…mostly to reduce calories and fat content…

© 2009 Beverly Hicks Burch All Rights Reserved.

Kraft’s Party Cheese Ball

2 8 ounce packages low-fat cream cheese

2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese

1 tablespoon chopped pimiento

1 tablespoon finely chopped green bell pepper

1 tablespoon finely chopped onion

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Dash of cayenne pepper

Dash of kosher salt

Finely chopped pecans

Cream the softened cream cheese. Next mix in the cheddar cheese. Add the pimiento, bell pepper, onion, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, cayenne pepper and salt. Mix well. Chill and shape into a ball and then roll in the finely chopped pecans. Keep refrigerated.

Panini Pursuit, by Beverly Hicks Burch

Panini Pursuit

By Beverly Hicks Burch

Last month while we were visiting Tall & Handsome’s family up North, his sister gave us a Panini maker she wanted to get off her hands. She’d used it once, set it up in the cabinet and never used it again.

Well, you know T & H and I haven’t met too many cooking techniques we don’t like or don’t want to try at least once. And, since both of us have enjoyed a good Panini at one time or the other, we thought it might be neat to try some homemade ones.

Before setting of on our Panini adventure we did a little research on Panini recipes. We found several we want to try…but we also thought we’d play around and see what we could come up on our own.

We had made some Chicken and Wild Rice soup over the weekend using a rotisserie chicken. We had a little chicken left we wanted to use, so we decided to make Paninis for super this evening. This is what we came up with and they were pretty darn good!

Chicken, Ham and Pear Panini

For each Panini you will need:

2 sliced of Italian bread

Sliced cooked chicken

Sliced ham

Provolone cheese

Fresh pear slices

Honey mustard

Hand slice the Italian bread with a diagonal cut to create more surface on the bread. Spread honey mustard on one side of each slice.

Hand slice Italian bread…

Next layer or build you Panini by placing the chicken, the ham, the cheese and the pear slices on one slice of bread. Top with the other bread slice.

Add chicken…

Add ham…

Add cheese…

Add pears..

Lightly spread the outer sides of the bread with butter (we use Land O’Lakes Light spreadable butter in a tub).

Spread lightly with butter…

Place in a Panini maker or pan and apply a Panini press to flatten the sandwich as it cooks.

Grill 2 – 4 minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy!

© 2009 Beverly Hicks Burch All Rights Reserved.

Bacon! …and Pimiento Cheese, by Beverly Hicks Burch

Bacon! …and Pimiento Cheese

By Beverly Hicks Burch

Am I the only one that thinks bacon should belong it its own special and totally honorable food group? Can you think of anything bacon doesn’t make better? Well, ok, maybe not caramel or chocolate…

Yes, I know…bacon isn’t considered to be particularly healthy for you, but there are precautions you can take.

· You can limit your intake or consumption of bacon.

· Years ago I discovered the wonders of center cut bacon. Center cut bacon reduces the fat and calories found in bacon and it tends to be leaner.

· Also, the market now offers low sodium varieties of bacon. And, of course there are different types of bacon like Canadian bacon which is extremely lean and lower in fat. Then there are the foreign types like Serrano (Spanish) and Prosciutto (Italian) types of bacon.

Another food I acquired a fondness of…kind of late in life…was Pimiento Cheese. I think I was at a tea or shower or reception and had for the first time in my life home-made Pimiento Cheese. It began a love affair. Maybe it’s a Southern thing, but I don’t know anyone that eats the stuff like we do. We’ll slather it on anything. Ever wonder who first put the combo of celery sticks and Pimiento Cheese together? As the Brits say, “Brilliant!”

Well, imagine the overload my taste buds went into when I saw a recipe in the July 2009 issue of Southern Living…we’re talking the kind where your mouth get all watery inside just from anticipation… The recipe was for Bacon Pimiento Cheese. Somewhere there has to be a culinary genius treading the soil of terra firma.

I’m going to share my version of the recipe. I called it my version because there are a couple of adaptations I would make to “lighten” it up just a tad. If you choose not to do this I’m sure yours will turn out just as yummy.

Enjoy!

©2009 Beverly Hicks Burch All Rights Reserved.

Bacon Pimiento Cheese

Adapted from a recipe from Southern Living July 2009

4 strips center cook bacon

16 oz. shredded Cheddar cheese

1 – 4 oz. jar diced pimiento, rinsed and drained

½ cup low fat mayonnaise

2 tablespoons finely chopped onion

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1/8 teaspoon salt or salt to taste (I reduced the salt also from the original)

1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

1. Cook bacon and drain well on paper towels. Crumble or chopped bacon.

2. Stir together bacon and remaining ingredients and mix until just blended.

3. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.

A Staple of the South, by Beverly Hicks Burch

A Staple in the South

By Beverly Hicks Burch

When I was little there was a food that I absolutely would not touch and it was pimento cheese. Somewhere down the line I mustered up enough courage to try it and a love affair began. I think my first taste must have been a home-made batch because it was fantastic. Ever since then I have been on a quest for the perfect Pimento Cheese recipe. Seems everyone has one…some use mayo, others use Miracle Whip…the recipes vary in some way or another.

Here in the South we love a good Pimento Cheese sandwich and what’s better than crisp, cold celery stuffed with pimento cheese? I’m sure everyone has their own personal favorite use for the decades old stand-by.

While browsing though one of my mother’s cookbooks, The Dinner Doctor, by Anne Byrn (also the author of The Cake Doctor) I noticed yet another recipe for Pimento Cheese. She has made the recipe easy by using packaged shredded cheese. I made a small adaptation to the recipe to lower fat and calories. Regardless, it is a super easy recipe to make.

Enjoy!

© 2009 Beverly Hicks Burch All Rights Reserved.

Quick and Easy Pimento Cheese Spread

1 8 oz. package of shredded Cheddar cheese

1 2 oz. jar diced pimentos (if you can only find sliced pimentos, chop them up)

1 tablespoon minced onion

Dash of Worcestershire sauce

¼ cup lite or low fat mayonnaise

Fresh ground pepper to season

1. In a medium bowl mix together the cheese, pimentos, onion and Worcestershire sauce.

2. Fold in mayonnaise and stir to make sure ingredients are mixed well. Season with black pepper.

3. Cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes to allow flavors to combine.

**Options: Use a Mexican blend cheese instead of Cheddar.

Add ½ of a seeded and veined and chopped jalapeno pepper to either cheese

recipe.

Add 1 tablespoon of chopped, drained green chiles.

The “Anti-Turkey Day” Solution Recipe, by Beverly Hicks Burch

The “Anti-Post-Turkey Day” Solution & Recipe

By Beverly Hicks Burch

 

Ok, I like turkey…I really do…at least in it’s time and place. There have been some turkey products that have failed to “wow” me. One that comes to mind was turkey frankfurters. Blah is all I have to say. Although, I will have to say we use to get some turkey pepperoni that was more than palatable.

I’m also not overly fond of leftover turkey or chicken even. To me poultry develops a funky taste when it’s leftover and cold. Well, this year has been totally different.

Because of our hectic schedule and traveling back and forth and across four states in the 10 days before Thanksgiving, Tall & Handsome and I made an executive decision this year…we decided we were NOT going to kill ourselves cooking for just the two of us (of course we cooked a few things…like my Rumaki, green bean casserole, hot beef dip and Watergate Salad). The rest…well, we let someone else do the cooking for us.

About two weeks or so before Thanksgiving I noticed The Fresh Market was having a tasting for their Thanksgiving dinner menu. Being the smart people we are…we ran down there. Boy, are we glad we did! We opted to purchase their smoked turkey dinner. All I can say is yummy in our tummies .

This has been one turkey I’ve had absolutely no problem eating as a leftover…even in turkey sandwiches (add some lite mayo, honey mustard, a slice of Swiss cheese and a kosher dill pickle spear and you have fabulous gourmet sandwich).

But, if confession is good for the soul, I must confess this…you can get very tired of even gourmet smoke turkey sandwich. After days of leftover turkey in a plethora of ways…and, after we slaved to put up Christmas decorations I decided to treat T & H to something different and new…it was a certified hit.

You see, I’m always looking for recipes that play to T & H’s taste for his beloved New Mexico and southwestern taste buds…especially when it come to green chilies. While in the store the other day I picked up the Taste of Home Best Holiday Recipes. As I was thumbing through it I found a recipe that fit both prerequisites of the Anti-Post-Turkey Day recipe and T & H’s New Mexican taste buds…it’s called Chile Rellenos Quiche. This one is taste tested and certified folks and deemed a keeper …and it’s not very hard to make. The hardest part is the way you prepare the crust but, even that isn’t hard…just a tad bit time consuming…but, yields fantastic results.

So, give it a try and surprise your crew with the Anti-Post Turkey Day Solution.

© 2008 Beverly Hicks Burch All Rights Reserved.

Chile Rellenos Quiche

Adapted from the 2008 Taste of Home Best Holiday Recipes

 

1 9 in. deep dish pie shell

2 tablespoons cornmeal

1 – ½ cup cups (6 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese (I couldn’t find just shredded Monterey Jack, so I used Kraft’s Four Cheese Mexican blend and the results were great)

1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Cheddar cheese

1 4 oz. can green chilies

3 eggs

¾ cup sour cream (I used Daisy Light Sour Cream and it turn out just fine)

1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro (yall know I’m not overly fond of cilantro so I might use fresh parsley, but as it happens I had a jar of dried cilantro and used ½ teaspoon of the dried cilantro)

2 to 4 drops hot pepper sauce, optional (I used 4 drops of Tabasco sauce)

1. Preheat oven to 450°.
2. Line the unbaked pie shell with double thickness aluminum foil and bake for 8 minutes.
3. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 5 minutes.
4. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.
5. Turn oven down to 350°.
6. Sprinkle the cornmeal around the bottom of the pie shell.
7. In a bowl combine the two kinds of cheese. Set aside ½ cup for the top of the quiche.
8. Add the can of green chilies to the remaining cheese and then pour into the pie crust. Make sure you lightly spread evenly around the crust.
9. In a small bowl whisk eggs, sour cream and cilantro (and hot pepper sauce if using) until smooth and creamy.
10. Pour over the cheese and chilies in the crust. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup if cheese on top of quiche.
11. Bake for 35 – 40 minutes or until knife inserted into the middle comes out clean. I actually had to cook mine 50 minutes so ovens may vary…just use the knife test. Let stand 5 minutes before cutting.

Serves 6 – 8

A slice of tasty Chile Rellenos Quiche