Hot and Spicy Baked Mexican Santa Fe Dip

This is a re-post. Originally posted on 8/20/2010. I  Used to make it a lot but  I haven't made this dip for  a longest time, reason being the quantity, you can make it is small quantity but will have to keep lot of half cut onions and peppers. 

Most of the time I make this when I am having a party.  It does freeze well, you can  mix all the ingredients and freeze in casserole and then thaw and bake before serving, or can bake it and freeze it and thaw and heat it up before serving. 

• Ingredients:
• 2 medium chopped tomatoes
• 1 large onion chopped
• 1 bunch green onions chopped
• 1 green pepper chopped
• 1 yellow or orange pepper chopped (I omitted this time)
• 1 red pepper chopped

• One bunch cilantro chopped
• Juice from one fresh lime
• 1 red onion chopped
• 4 cloves garlic chopped
• 2 fresh Jalapenos or cayenne pepper chopped
• 1/2  cup Jalapeno peppers (pickled) chopped)
• Two 16 oz bottle of any chunky medium or mild salsa
• Two 8 oz bottle of Ortega taco sauce mild or medium
• One can of corn kernel drained
• One 8 oz package of Monterrey Jack cheese
• Two 8 oz package of Sharp Cheddar cheese (I used yellow and white)
• Black beans 1 can (optional, I omitted it this time)
• One extra tomato, 1/2 cup of cilantro and couple of green onions all chopped and mixed with juice from one fresh lime and pinch of salt for garnishing.

Method:

* Preheat oven at 350 F
* Shred all the cheeses.
* Chop all veggies and I divided them in two small casseroles, but you prefer you can make them in a large one.
* Mix all ingredients: Chopped veggies, corn, chunky salsa, Taco sauce, chopped cilantro, chopped garlic, fresh Jalapenos and

* Mix 3/4 of each cheese with rest of the ingredients and sprinkle rest of the cheese on top.
* Bake at 350F, covered with foil, for 20 minutes, then remove foil and bake an additional 10 minutes, until bubbly and just starting to brown.
* Remove from oven.
* In a small bowl, combine the tomato, green onion, cilantro, salt and lime juice. Pile the tomato mixture in the center.
* Serve hot with your favorite corn chips.

Enjoy :)

Adapted and modified by Surekha from
Original Recipe Courtesy of  Mrs. Bhadra K.
Photograph by Surekha

Mango & Berries Smoothy and Instant Berry Margarita with a twist

With all the smoothies available everywhere now, I decided to make a virgin healthy smoothy, that kids can enjoy and healthy smoothy modified to not so healthy Margarita for adults who enjoy cocktails with a twist.

This recipe yields four 12 oz servings  of smoothy.
Out of these we consumed three as smoothy and from one 12 oz smoothy I made three 8 oz servings of Margaritas.

Ingredients for Smoothy:

• 2  non fibrous ripe Mangoes, peels and cubed
• 6 oz of fresh Black Berries

• 6 oz of fresh Red Raspberries
• 12 oz of fresh stemmed Strawberries
• 1 pack (12 -14 oz) of frozen Blueberries

• 1 cup of orange juice (can add more if want more diluted version)

Method:

• Wash all the fresh Berries.
• Wash, peel and cube mangoes discarding pits.
• Chop, blend and puree all the Berries, Mango cubes and Orange juice to  smooth consistency.

•  Since Blue Berries are frozen, you don't need ice, but if desired,  you can crush the ice in blender first and then add the berries, mangoes and orange juice. 
• Serve in tall smoothy glasses with slices of strawberries on edge of glass for garnish.

 

 

Ingredients for Margarita:

• Above prepared  smoothy (12 oz)
• 12 oz of ready made Margarita ( I used Chi-Chi's)
• Granulated sugar or white sea salt for rim of glass

• Lime juice from two large juicy limes
• Pinch of Kala Namak (black rock salt)for each serving
• Pinch of roasted cumin powder for each serving.

Method:

• Dip  rim of each margarita serving glass in lime juice and coat with sugar or salt generously.
• Pour 4 oz of prepared smoothy in each glass.

•  Add some lime juice, cumin powder and black salt  to smoothy in each glass.
• Pour 4 oz of  ready made margarita in each glass of smoothy.
• Stir and serve chilled.

 

 Enjoy :)


Recipe and Photographs by Surekha.