Sunday February 3, 2013

In honor of Superbowl Sunday, I made two of my favorite foods to have while tailgating-salsa and spinach artichoke dip. I'll start with the salsa recipe first-Time: 15 minutes. Ingredients used: 3 Roma tomatoes chopped, 1/2 red onion chopped, 2 jalapenos chopped (without the seeds), 1 teaspoon of lemon juice, a little less than 1 tablespoon of cilantro (stems removed), and a few sprinkles of oregano. Directions: Put the tomatoes in a mixing bowl (without the seeds), and add the onions, jalapenos, cilantro, lemon juice and oregano together and mix really well. That's it! Seriously, how easy is it to make salsa? Serve with Doritos or Tostitos chips. 

Spinach artichoke dip-Time: about 25 minutes. Ingredients used: artichoke hearts from 1 artichoke (I used an actual artichoke, but a can of artichoke hearts works just as well), 1 1/2 cups of cottage cheese, a 16 ounce package of frozen spinach (thawed), 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1/2 an onion chopped, 3 garlic cloves chopped, a few sprinkles of ground pepper and 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese. Directions: put artichoke hearts in a mixer bowl and pulse until they're chopped. Remove from mixer bowl. Put the cottage cheese in the same mixer bowl (without the artichoke hearts) and process until smooth. Now heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add in the onion and garlic and saute. Now add in the spinach, chopped artichokes and pepper. Cook until warm. Next, turn heat on low and add in the cottage cheese and Parmesan cheese and stir until all the cheese melts. When done, put spinach artichoke dip into a serving dish and enjoy! Tip: I ate my spinach artichoke dip with crackers, but my boyfriend had a pretty good idea. He suggested taking a round loaf of bread and cutting a big hole in the middle and adding in the spinach artichoke dip in and eating it that way. Sounds tasty to me!

For dinner I went the more traditional route and made Chicken Parmesan. Time: 15 minutes. Ingredients used: a little less than 1/2 package of spaghetti, 1 chicken breast, 1 slice of Parmesan cheese, and marinara sauce. Directions: Heat your oven to 350 degrees. In a pot, bring water to a boil and add spaghetti. When your oven reaches the correct temperature, put the slice of cheese onto of your chicken and bake for about 10 minutes. Put spaghetti on a plate, pour some marinara sauce on and top with the chicken. 

Happy Cooking!