jalepeno

Spicy Pimento Cheese

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Are there foods that you wouldn’t touch as a kid that you later realized were actually really tasty?  There are several things on that list for me, but one of my adult-discovered favorites is pimento cheese. Looking through random recipes one day, I realized that with the addition of a little spice, pimento cheese had a lot of potential! By adding the jalapenos for just the right kick and using a good quality cheddar cheese, I turned pimento cheese into one of my favorite snacks or lunches.  I really think you’ll love it too!  ~Tracy

Four Sisters Dish Spicy Pimento Cheese

8 oz. softened cream cheese*

¾ c. mayonnaise (don’t use Miracle Whip)*

1 T. Sriracha sauce

3 T. finely chopped yellow onion

2 garlic cloves, minced

½ tsp. celery salt

¼ tsp. kosher salt

3 T. finely chopped pickled jalapeno

1/3 c. chopped roasted red peppers

2 chopped scallions (using all of white and approx ½ of greens)

1 8 oz. block reduced fat sharp white cheddar, grated (equal to about 4 cups)*

toasted French bread or crackers for serving

In a large bowl, cream together cream cheese, mayonnaise, and Sriracha. Stir in onion, garlic, celery salt, and kosher salt. Add the jalapeno, scallions, and red peppers. Stir gently to avoid breaking up the peppers further. Finally, gently stir in the cheddar cheese. Serve on toasted French bread or with crackers. Refrigerate unused portion.

Note:  Depending on the level of spiciness you like, you can add more or less jalapeno.  Keep in mind that jalapenos sometimes become a bit more spicy the longer they sit within a mixture.

*Use either Fat-free mayo and cream cheese or reduced-fat mayo and cream cheese (see WW Info. below for points).  Both versions were figured using reduced-fat cheddar.

WW Info: 5 points per half-cup serving on all three plans if using fat free mayo & cream cheese; 8 points per half-cup serving on all plans if use reduced fat mayo & cream cheese. Both points values are figured with reduced-fat cheddar. Points values do not include crackers or bread.  

WW Info: If use fat free mayo and cream cheese, this recipe is 5 ww points on all plans for a 1/2 c. serving; with reduced fat mayo and cream cheese, it’s 8 ww points on all plans for a 1/2 c. serving. Makes 8 servings. Bread or crackers not included in points.

 

Jalapeño Pepper-Jack Turkey Meatballs

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Y’all know one of my favorite flavor combinations is jalapenos and bacon. Remember my Jalapeno Popper Chicken Chili? It’s the stuff dreams are made of. Well, I recently had the idea to make a more main dish version of the well-known appetizer. I mean, I made the chili and it’s become one of my favorite soups/chilis ever! Plus it’s one of our most popular recipes (have you tried it yet?), so it stands to reason that I need more of this in my life. I promise you need this in your life too. Bacon, wrapped around jalapeno seasoned ground turkey, stuffed with pepper-jack cheese? Yes, please!

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When I made these and served them to my family, I asked my youngest if he liked them. He just did this move…

Brady dab

I said, “what is that?!”

“A dab, Mom. That means I like it.”

Ha! Okay, I guess that’s a good review. Clearly, if my 7-year-old thinks these are dab-worthy, they must be good! ~Erin

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb. 99% fat free ground turkey breast
  • 3 fresh jalapenos
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • ½ tsp. garlic salt
  • ½ tsp. onion powder
  • 1 c. seasoned breadcrumbs (I used Progresso Garlic & Herb.)
  • 8 slices center cut bacon, cut in half
  • 3 oz. pepper jack cheese, cut into ¼ in. cubes (15 or 16 cubes)

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Instructions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
  2. Seed & finely chop the jalapenos (remove all the seeds and ribs if you don’t want much spice – that’s where a jalapeno holds its heat).
  3. Mix the ground turkey, chopped jalapenos, egg, garlic salt, onion powder until well combined.
  4. Mix in the seasoned breadcrumbs until just combined. Do not overmix.
  5. Make a patty about the size of your palm, place a cube of cheese in the center and form the turkey around it to make a ball.
  6. Wrap the meatball in half a slice of bacon. (I find it helps to stretch the bacon a bit, lengthwise, beforehand.)
  7. Place on a baking sheet and repeat until you’ve made about 15 or 16 bacon-wrapped meatballs.
  8. Bake in a preheated oven for 40-50 minutes, until bacon is fully cooked and meatballs are golden brown and cooked through.

WW Freestyle Info.: 2 points per meatball.

Cranberry Salsa

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Our cranberry salsa is just the tart treat you’ve been craving as the holidays approach. But beware, if you set it out as an appetizer, it’s usually all gone before the meal.  Consider a double batch if you have a crowd. And it pairs perfectly next to some turkey and stuffing (I eat it by itself with a spoon that way).

I snagged this recipe from a former colleague who already knew the recipe was such a hit that she brought copies of the recipe with her (she’d taken it to other events and had so many requests she learned her lesson & knew to come prepared)! And it was that fantastic and more.  So if you stumble across this sometime, Julie T., a huge thanks from my family (and I mean my entire massive God-bless-us-every-one extended family as seen in our brownie post) to yours.

I’ve tweaked it a titch to make it just right for us, so I hope you’ll share it with those you love as well – and save the paper by telling them to visit Four Sisters Dish of course. Do it for the rainforest and for the Moore sisters! ~Robin

CranberrySalsa

Ingredients:

  • 1 16 oz. bag of cranberries
  • ¼ c. cilantro
  • 2 – 3 T. of fresh lime juice (one lime or a little more)
  • 2 jalapeño peppers, seeded and minced
  • ¾ c. sugar
  • Tortilla or pita chips for dipping
  • Cream cheese (optional)

Directions:  

Place cranberries and cilantro in a food processor; pulse until cranberries are to the desired chopped size.  You want small chunks but not to liquefy them. You need some texture.

I then hand-mince my jalapeños because I don’t trust the processor not to pulverize them a bit too much.

Fold in jalapeños and sugar until well combined.  Serve over cream cheese if desired (I love it by itself on a chip, but cream cheese just adds some richness).

WW Freestyle Info.: Makes ten ¼ cup servings at 4 points each.  Note:  If you use sugar substitutes (I don’t, so I can’t advise on amount needed; use to taste), this recipe could be ZERO points.

Shrimp & Peppers Cajun Skillet

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This shrimp & peppers Cajun skillet is great all by itself.  And it hit me after I’d made it a couple of times that it would make a mean shrimp fajita too, if thrown into a nice warm tortilla.  Barry flips every time I make this–definitely one of his favorites.  I make it a little too spicy for the kids so I make sure I’ve got some leftovers for them so I don’t have to be conservative with the jalapeños.

As an aside, we love this blackening seasoning so much that we’ve started making a double batch most of the time…that quantity fits really nicely into a regular sized spice container. For easy storage, I reuse another emptied spice container.

You could tone down the spices if needed – tips for doing that in the recipe below. I love the heat though. It tastes just like I imagined one of Justin Wilson’s dishes would have when I watched him with Pappaw as a kid.  Enjoy!  ~Robin

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Ingredients:

  • Four Sisters Dish blackening seasoning (see recipe below)
  • 12 oz. frozen container of deveined, peeled shrimp
  • 3 T. olive oil, extra virgin, Divided (EVOO)
  • 8 The Little Potato Company baby boomer fresh creamer potatoes, quartered
  • 1 white onion, cut into 1” wedges
  • 1 T. minced garlic (I use Spice World brand when I use jarred garlic – or fresh if it’s handy).
  • 1 jalapeño pepper (slice into rings, then half the rings*)
  • 1 bell pepper, green, cut into 1” chunks
  • 2 bell peppers, red, cut into 1” chunks
  • 1 tsp. garlic salt (sprinkle over veggies before add shrimp back to skillet)

Ingredients for Four Sisters Dish blackening seasoning: 

  • 1 3/4 tsp. light brown sugar
  • 1 ½ tsp. garlic salt
  • ½ to 1 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper (1 ½ tsp. is VERY hot – most will want ½ tsp. — or 1 tsp. if you want to go pretty spicy.  I love spicy food but 1 1/2 was almost too hot for me – tissues needed nearby.)
  • 2 T. paprika (smoked paprika if making for lighter fish fillets; regular paprika for all other meats, shrimp included)

Instructions:

  1. Thaw shrimp; then pat to dry. Set aside.
  2. Mix up blackening seasoning (using regular paprika), stirring together all ingredients. Set aside.
  3. Begin heating a T. of EVOO in a skillet on medium heat.
  4. Coat a plate well with the Four Sisters Dish blackening seasoning. Place shrimp on the plate, then sprinkle the tops with the spice mixture as well so both sides are coated.
  5. Cook small shrimp on medium heat for 8 minutes (do not stir or they’ll lose the seasoning), turning to the other side halfway through cook time. When fully cooked, set aside.
  6. Do not wipe out the pan. The spices will help season your vegetables.
  7. Add remaining 2 T. of EVOO to the pan. Then add potatoes and onion; then lightly sprinkle them with blackening seasoning too (just to add a little flavor, not to coat them). Cook for 5 minutes.
  8. While the potatoes and onion cook, carefully remove the tails from your shrimp (be sure it’s cool enough before attempting).
  9. After potatoes and onions have cooked for five minutes, increase heat to medium-high and add jalapeño, bell peppers, & minced garlic. Sprinkle vegetables with 1 tsp. of garlic salt.  Cook for 9-11 minutes on medium-high heat until vegetables are seared and have picked up some of the spice flavors.  Be sure potatoes can be cut easily with a fork as well.
  10. Reduce heat to medium. Add shrimp back to pan, cooking another minute or just until shrimp is heated well.

Weight Watchers Info.: 4 SmartPoints (same on Freestyle plan) per serving; serves 5 (serving size: 1.5 cups).

*You could seed, then mince the jalapeño to make it less spicy.  However, if you don’t like things at all spicy, you could also use less than the whole pepper or none at all.

Crockpot Jalapeno Popper Chicken Chili

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I love anything I can put in the crockpot and basically forget about all day. This is one of those recipes. It’s beyond simple. The only real prep work is chopping the jalapenos. You know the appetizer where jalapenos are hollowed out, stuffed with creamy cheeses, wrapped in bacon, and cooked until hot and bubbly? This has all that flavor — but in soup form! It’s not overly spicy since you remove all the seeds and ribs from the jalapenos (that’s where the heat is) but it’s infused with that delicious peppery flavor. Topped with some bacon bits and shredded cheese, I’ve turned the popular popper into a warm bowl of comfort food. So easy, cheesy, and bacon-y.  Yes, that’s a word… at least in my vocabulary. Bacon makes everything better!  ~Erin

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Ingredients:

  • 2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breast (frozen in single pieces)
  • 4 oz. Greek or Reduced Fat cream cheese, softened
  • 1 (10.75 oz.) can condensed cheddar cheese soup
  • 4-5 large fresh jalapenos, seeded and chopped
  • 32 oz. fat free chicken stock
  • 1 tsp. onion powder
  • 1 tsp. garlic powder
  • 1/2 T. salt
  • 3 (15.5 oz.) cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 tsp. black pepper
  • For serving:  real bacon bits (I like to cook mine for a few minutes in a small skillet to crisp them up.), reduced fat shredded cheddar or Mexican blend cheese, chopped pickled jalapenos, chopped green onions

Instructions:

In the pot of your slow cooker, whisk together softened cream cheese and condensed cheddar cheese soup until well combined.

Whisk chicken stock, salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder into cream cheese/soup mixture.

Add jalapenos and frozen chicken breast. (You can use thawed chicken breast as well but keep in mind, it will cook faster.)

Cook 4-5 hours on high or 7 to 8 hours on low. When 1 hour of cook time is left, remove the chicken breasts from the pot, shred, and return to pot. Add cannellini beans and continue to cook for the last hour of cook time.

To serve, top each bowl with 1 tablespoon real bacon bits, ¼ cup reduced fat cheese, and, if desired, pickled jalapenos and green onions.

WW Freestyle Info.:   

This recipe makes 8 servings.  Each serving is 13 ounces (weight) or about 1 ½ cups.  Each serving is 3 points.

By adding the suggested amount of bacon bits (1 point) and reduced fat cheese (3 points), the total value of each serving would be 7 points/serving.