Creamy Mexican Corn with Jalapenos

I'm always on a quest for new side dishes.  I feel like I rotate between baked potatoes, stewed tomatoes, salad and Ranch style beans with every meal.  Not to mention we probably have Mexican food at least three times a week and I'm pretty sure I've over-loaded Mr. Devilish Dish and the Little Devil with rice and refried beans.  Make that a quest for new MEXICAN side dishes too.  This one definitely fit the bill.  Creamed cheese and jalapenos?  We're in!

Cream cheese?  Butter?  Jalapenos?
Definitely.

The Line-Up. 
Use more or less jalapenos to your liking.
(We are The DEVILISH Dish, I have a SPICY
reputation to uphold.)

Combine everything in a sauce pan.

Stir constantly until cheese is melted
and everything is heated through.

Enjoy!  OLE!

Pray for Oklahoma-and How You Can Help!

As I'm sure everyone has seen on their television, my home state has been decimated by storms over the last 48 hours.  The tornado in Moore, Oklahoma touched down about 2.5 miles north of my house.  Mr. DD and I had the dog in our hidey hole and prayed.  What you are seeing on television isn't even close to the heart-wrenching devastation that is right up the road, and close to my heart.

I'm sure you've seen my Facebook posts regarding Mr. DD's cooking class.  That was supposed to take place last night at 6:30.  We debated most of the day about whether or not to cancel, as the weather forecasts predicted a sketchy afternoon.  When I heard that elementary schools were hit, and children were injured, missing and possibly dead I called the store owner and simply said, "I cannot stand up in front of 25 people and drink margaritas and talk about chimichangas when people's babies are missing."  She agreed 100%.  We were just numb and speechless. 

To distract myself from the horror unfolding on television I began unpacking all of the food and items that were ready to go for the class.  Two huge Tres Leches Cakes.  Frosted and ready to go.  Piles of avocados, tomatoes, limes, jalapeno peppers.  (Class Subject:  South of the Border Sensational!)  Fresh things that needed to be used immediately.  I overhead Caryn Ross on the radio.  She was volunteering at the church right up the road from me.  In case you don't know Caryn, she's also known as The Fat and Sassy Mama.  She's a fellow food blogger like me.  And more importantly, a fellow Okie.  She was talking to the news anchors about the church being a shelter for tornado victims and what kinds of things people could to do to help.  I contacted her on Facebook and said, "I know they are asking for bottled water and baby wipes and non-perishables, but do you think they could use some Tres Leches Cake too?"  She kindly replied that the church would gratefully accept anything I was willing to donate.

This morning I got up, and took the piles of avocados, tomatoes, limes, onions and jalapenos and prepared a wash-tub sized container of guacamole.  The version Mr. Devilish Dish makes!  I went to the store and got lots of tortilla chips.  Cleaned out my party pantry and bagged up more napkins and paper plates than I'd care to admit I had in my possession.  Loaded it all up and took it to the church up the road. 

I'm happy to report there were at least 20 cars ahead of me, waiting patiently in line to drop off donations.  The church volunteers were very efficient and gracious and quite happy to see the guacamole.

It reminded me of a story and funny saying a former co-worker once told me.  She had seen a news report of a beached whale, and folks panicking and working together to save the creature.  The news interviewed a somewhat hysterical woman who exclaimed, "I didn't know that to do, so I made sandwiches."  We used to joke about that story and say that was us.  I'm not good in emergencies.  I don't know what to do.  I'll just make sandwiches.

And it's true.  I'm not a doctor.  Or a first responder.  The people doing rescue work on the ground in Moore, Oklahoma don't need me stumbling around in their way.  So I did the only thing I know to do in a time like this.  PRAY AND COOK. 

I've heard the phrase "Oklahoma Standard" used a lot in the last few hours.  Donations of food, money, clothing, water and other supplies just pouring in.  People donating hotel points to open up free rooms for folks who've lost their homes.  Tire companies repairing debris-damaged tires for free.  Restaurants proving free meals, taking boxed lunches to first responders.  It's the Oklahoma way.  It's what we do here. It's in our blood.  News 9 in Oklahoma City announced their station as a drop off location for items last night.  There were cars lined up for MILES and MILES to drop things off.  Children brought in their jars of change.  Oklahoma City Thunder Players donating their time, effort and money.  I won't be surprised if in a few hours they announce "No more bottled water, we have too much" because that's just how we do things here.  We take care of each other.  Oklahomans proved this to the rest of the country and the world during the Murrah Bombing of 1995. Again as tornadoes struck this same area in 1999 and again a couple of years later.  We are resilient.  We love God here.  We salute the flag here.  And to quote Will Rogers, "We've never met a man we didn't like."  We will recover.

"Flowers on the prairie where the June bugs zoom,
Plen'y of air and plen'y of room,
Plen'y of room to swing a rope!
Plen'y of heart and plen'y of hope.

Your doin' fine OKLAHOMA!  OKLAHOMA OK!"

Spicy BBQ Chicken Dip

When I think of BBQ, I usually think of brisket or ribs.  I certainly don't think of dip.  However, you can pretty much mix anything with cream cheese, put more cheese on top, put it in the oven and be guaranteed it will taste good.  My Buffalo Chicken Dip is one of the most viewed recipes on my blog.  This is just a variation on that version, and a very good variation I must say.  If you're not all into spicy like we are, you can certainly use a mild BBQ sauce and cut back on the amount of jalapenos, or leave them out all together.  Or add more!  Serve it hot out of the oven with a big pile of scoop-style tortilla chips and you've definitely got a winner!

Spicy BBQ Chicken Dip:
Winner Winner Chicken Dinner...
Or ummm snack...

Hot & Bubbly out of the oven...

Serve warm with tortilla chips. 
YUM!

Pool Party Cupcakes

A looooonnnnnggggggg time ago Little Devil had a luau-themed birthday party.  At the end of September.  I won't go into how hard it is to find tiki torches in September, when the stores are busy putting out firewood.  For her cake, I made a standard 9x13 cake, frosted it with blue frosting, used graham cracker crumbs for sand and the Teddy Grahams had a pool party.  This was also the year she got a hermit crab for her birthday.  But we'll save Hermit I and Hermit II for another blog.  The crab was NOT A HIT with mom.  The cake was a hit with everyone.  My niece, and faithful Devilish Dish Assistant Emily was looking through our scrapbook albums a while back and saw the pictures of the cake from that party.  She said she would like that cake for her birthday.  I suggested doing that cake as cupcakes for her class, and the POOL PARTY CUPCAKES were born.  We made a trial run and served them over the summer at our own little pool party.  They turned out adorable.  We even made little popsicles using toothpicks and Mike & Ikes candies.  A few teddy bears even had Swedish Fish swimming around them.  I left those off for her class.  You know, I didn't want to be that mom that caused a kid to choke on a toothpick.  Try them for your next pool party.  Or in the case of my child, late September chilly backyard luau!

You'll be SWIMMING in FUN at your
next party!

Normally I bake from scratch.  But in the case of baking
for fifth graders, I'm willing to use a mix.  I simply baked up
24 cupcakes according to the cake mix directions.
Then I made a batch of "pool blue" buttercream frosting.
Feel free to tint the store bought frosting too!
Simplify your life whenever possible.

For the popsicles, I cut some toothpicks in half and
inserted them into Mike & Ike candies. 
If you're serving these to young children, or may
not be there to supervise, you might want to skip the
popsicle part of the decor. (#choking hazard)

The stars of the show:
Peachi-O's & Teddy Grahams
Note some teddy's have their arms up
and some have their arms down.
I think the ones with their arms up look scared,
like they're drowing!

Put a Teddy Graham through a Peachie O
like it's his little innertube...

Decorate your cupcakes as
desired.  Notice some of the Swedish Fish
swimming on the cupcakes in the background.

Pool Party Fun!

A "Sea of Teddy Bears" floating to a party near you!

Here's the batch my niece took to school for
her classroom birthday party.
Never mind her birthday is in September and
all of the pools are closed.  You're only in
fifth grade once!

Mother's Day Candy Gram In A Jar

Mother's Day is here again.  Time to honor all of the special ladies in my life.  Not only to I like to have a little something for my Mom and my Mother-In-Law, but I also like to make sure some of my special aunts know how special they are!  Sometimes it's hard to come up with an idea that will work for all of them.  A couple like to cook.  A couple don't.  So fun kitchen gadgets are out.  A couple really like jewelry and a couple don't.  So bling is out.  But universally all women like one thing, and that is CHOCOLATE.  I ran my little Candy Gram idea by my friend Ginger and I commented, "I just need to figure out what kind of container or gift bag to put the candy in."  And she suggested, "How about mason jars?" and the idea was born.  Feel free to use my little poem as is, or modify it to the types of candy you pick out.  Don't have a jar?  Throw those candy bars in a cute little sack.  Or use a ziploc bag.  Mom won't care.  What's the one thing they taught us?  "It's the thought that counts."  Just be sure and think of your Mom, Aunt, Grandmother or other special lady in your life!

What MOM doesn't love CHOCOLATE???

The supplies:
candy
jar or other container
ribbon
printable sticker paper
(Or print on card stock and tie onto your jar)

Place candy in jar.  I opted to use full-size candy bars,
and I used wide-mouth quart-size canning jars and
my jars were PACKED.  I mean tight fit.  I had to stick
the EXTRA gum and LIFESAVERS on the lid
using glue dots.  If you're planning on using a jar and
want your life to be easier, you might want to go with
fun-sized candy bars instead of the full-size.
Live and learn...

I told you it was a tight squeeze. 
I had to place the candy bars in just right
to pack them in without squishing.
Again, you might want to select a different
container OR choose smaller candy bars.

Here's the poor Reese's PIECES
crammed on top.

I ran out of room, but I didn't want to shorten
my poem and leave off the EXTRA or LIFESAVER
part, so I stuck them on top using glue dots. 
You could also use double-sided tape.

Add a ribbon around the lid of the jar.

I typed up my poem in a text box using
Microsoft Word and printed it out onto
adhesive paper.  That way I just stuck the
"labels" onto the jars. 

If you want to omit this step, or don't have
adhesive paper, you can also print your poem
onto paper or cardstock and tie it onto
the jar with ribbon.

Here they are all ready to hand out for Mother's Day!!!

Simple Pasta Sauce

I posted a picture of our dinner recently, and I'm proud to say I was bombarded with requests for the recipe.  Nothing makes a food blogger more proud than sharing a recipe with friends!  Mr. Devilish Dish comes from a long line of pasta eaters.  He's kind of a pasta guru.  I'm more of a Mexican food girl, so I'm fine with plain ol' marinara.  But not Mr. DD.  No Prego for him.  He wants a rich, hearty meat sauce.  My heritage is not Italian.  So my mother and grandmother were not simmering red sauce all day in the kitchen.  They were frying up chicken fried steak and okra instead!  I stumbled upon a basic recipe for red sauce, and tweaked it to fit Mr. DD's liking.  If you are looking for a simple meat sauce recipe, that you can prepare on a weeknight, that's still delicious and will still please the picky Italian eaters in your house, then this is the sauce for you!

Please your picky eaters with this
delicious and simple meat sauce!

Here's the sauce before the 2 hour simmer...

Here's the sauce after the 2 hour simmer...
Look how thick, rich and dark red it has become!

Enjoy!

Teacup Vignette

I love crafty stuff just about as much as I love cooking.  When birthdays and holidays roll around, I try to make as many gifts as possible.  Sometimes a store-bought gift is better suited to the recipient (cough cough...Mr. Devilish Dish)  but usually something creative and hand-crafted is well-received.  My mother-in-law always stumps me when it comes her name on the Christmas shopping list.  I'm not sure why, we enjoy many of the same things:  cooking, reading, needlework.  I'm never sure if she already has the latest kitchen gadget or the newest book on the best seller list.  So I try to come up with something unique for her whenever I can.  I saw an idea similar to this on Pinterest, and immediately thought of my mother-in-law.  She loves beautiful things like china, little silver cups, or antique bunny chocolate molds.  A Christmas scene in a vintage teacup seemed like the perfect idea!  I immediately headed to the antique stores in search of a Christmas cup and saucer.  I think the idea would be equally as cute in any kind of vintage teacup, especially part of some family heirloom china.  But my mother-in-law loves Christmas decor, so vintage Christmas teacup it was! 

An adorable little scene in a vintage teacup!
Perfect for any holiday...

Chicken Caesar Pasta

A while back my camera decided to die.  It kicked the bucket.  Bought the farm.  Went to camera heaven.  I don't know.  Maybe it's stuck in camera purgatory.  It wasn't that great of a camera.  So being camera-less is seriously cramping my blogging style.  How is one supposed to take pictures of everything they make and eat without a camera?  So while I beg my husband for a new one, and decide what kind of camera I want to buy I've been using my daughter's old camera and the camera on my phone.  Which will explain why these might be the worst blog pictures you've ever seen.  But the recipe is good, I promise.  It's light and if you love Caesar Salad, then you'll love this dish.  I simply marinated some chicken breasts with Italian seasoning and baked them to go with this.  (Only because Mr. Devilish Dish was too busy watching baseball to fire up the grill.)  Top it with chicken or even shrimp if you'd like.  Try not to look too closely at the pictures, just look at the recipe!

So light and tasty!
Next time I'm adding some
chopped flat-leaf parsley
for color!

The Line-Up

In a pasta bowl, combine
Parmesan cheese...

Add melted butter and lemon juice.

Add mustard and anchovy paste.

Add minced garlic.

Don't forget the hot pepper sauce.

Add Worcestershire sauce.

Mix well.

Toss with cooked pasta.

Add cooked chicken.  Toss and
season with salt and pepper.

Serve and enjoy.
It's YUMMY can you tell???