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A Recipe Collection–top 3 Most Requested Hot Appetizers

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

When I host parties, I always have at least 2 or 3 hot appetizers for my guests to choose from. I am not a “throw-a-can-of-peanuts-on-the-table” kind of gal!

It’s important to me that I take the time to select satisfying party appetizers that:

Are simple to make

Have few ingredients

Hold up well over time

Are pleasing to look at and of course,

Taste great!

Over the years, I have tried out a lot of easy party appetizers on my friends and family and hands down, the three below are my “Top 3 Most Requested Hot Appetizers” (in no particular order).

Number One Most Requested Hot Appetizer–Warm Chipotle Cheddar Dip

2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

1 cup shredded Monterey Jack or Mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1-8 oz. can whole kernel corn, drained (3/4 cup)

1-4 oz. can chopped green chili peppers, drained

2 teaspoons finely chopped canned chipotle chili peppers in adobo sauce (or to taste)

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1 medium tomato, seeded and chopped (3/4 cup)

1/4 cup sliced green onion

2 tablespoons snipped fresh cilantro

Vegetables, crackers or chips

I found this dip when I was on a low carb diet and was looking for a party appetizer that would work well with vegetables. Something with a robust flavor that would perk up the veggies.

Well this one definitely fit the bill. This appetizer has become a favorite among my friends. It’s served multiple times throughout the year at various parties that I either host or attend.

You can make it as smokey and spicy as you want by adjusting the amount of chipotle peppers (smoked jalepenos) but watch out. You can easily go from mildly spicy to blow-your-face-off hot by adding too much!

Steps to Make Cheddar Chipotle Dip

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Stir together cheeses, mayonnaise, corn, green chili peppers, chipotle chili peppers and garlic powder in a large mixing bowl. Spread mixture into a 1 quart, covered dish.

Bake for 30 minutes until bubbly. Top with tomato, green onion and cilantro. I like to make a pattern out of the toppings so I put the tomatoes all in the middle, make a ring around them with the green onion then sprinkle the cilantro over all.

Serve with vegetables, like red, green and yellow peppers. Tostido and Frito Scoops work well too.

Number Two Most Requested Hot Appetizer–Boneless Buffalo Wings

1 large bag of popcorn chicken, thawed (I buy mine at Sam’s Club)

1 package dry Good Seasons Italian dressing mix

1 bottle Frank’s Red Hot Sauce (or to taste)

1 stick margarine (butter will separate)

2 teaspoons lemon juice

Pinch dried basil

In a saucepan, combine dressing mix, hot sauce, margarine, lemon juice and basil and cook until margarine melts, stirring constantly.

Place chicken in a large bowl and pour sauce over it. Stir until well combined, then pour all into a Crock Pot. Cook on low 4 hours. Crack the lid to keep down the steam and prevent wings from getting soggy.

Serve with celery sticks and blue cheese dressing (do not use the reduced fat variety).

Number Three Most Requested Hot Appetizer–Warm Green Chili Dip

8 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese

8 oz. shredded mild cheddar cheese

2 cups mayonnaise

1 small sweet onion, minced

1 can (4 oz.) chopped green chilis, drained

1-1/2 oz. chopped pepperoni

1/2 cup sliced ripe olives

Assorted veggies (baby carrots and peppers are great!)

Tostidos or Fritos Scoops

In a shallow baking dish, combine the first five ingredients. Top mixture with the pepperoni and olives.

Bake at 325 degrees about 25 minutes or until bubbly. Serve with Scoops, crackers or assorted fresh vegetables.

Note: I do not recommend using reduced fat mayonnaise.

Speaking from personal experience, these three hot appetizers are guaranteed to be a hit at any get together.

WARNING: Get ready to hand out the recipes!

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What would happen if you consumed pure capsaicin?

Tuesday, January 19th, 2010
Sid asked:

Pure Capsaicin is 15million on the Scoville scale, by comparison pepper spray is up to 5million and Scotch bonnet chillis are up to 1million.

Would it kill you or cause organ failure do you think?
capsaicin is the irritant in chillis btw. That’s why currys taste hot

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Using the Scoville Scale, what is the limit of Scoville Units a human can safely ingest?

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

I’ve been told that 800 000 S.U. can raise your blood pressure, which isn’t good, and I’ve been known to eat hot sauces like candy, so it’d be very helpful to know

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Peppers Help you Lose Weight

Friday, January 8th, 2010

Sweet peppers and black peppers do not belong to the same family. Sweet peppers are plump, bell-shaped vegetables featuring either three or four lobes.

Peppers are loved for their versatility in many great dishes, including grilled for barbecues, stuffed with desired filling and baked, steamed with other veggies, cooked in sauces or stir-fries, or eaten cold, crisp and raw in salads or as snacks any time of the day. It?s no wonder they are the favourites of the vegetarians and vegans.

They come from the colorful Capsicum family which can be split into two main categories – sweet bell peppers and the spicy chillies, such as jalapenos. The difference arises from the presence of capsaicin in chillies (which is explained later) but not in sweet bell peppers.

Sweet bell peppers are also known as capsicums, sweet peppers or green/red peppers.

All sweet bell peppers start out green and change color as they ripen. Depending on the stage of ripeness and their variety, their colors range from orange, yellow, red, purple, brown, black, ivory or green and so do their sweetness.

But green bell peppers remain green throughout the ripening process. Thus, it can be challenging to differentiate the other bell peppers from the green variety before they ripen.

All peppers are an excellent source of vitamin C. Green bell peppers contain as much as two times of vitamin C as oranges while red or yellow pepper pack three or four times the daily value of vitamin C.

Besides power-packed with vitamin C, bell peppers also provide vitamin B6, phytochemicals such as lycopene and beta-carotene (the precursor for vitamin A), folate, potassium and plenty of fiber. Chilli peppers contain an additional substance, called capsaicin which has many health benefits:

· Effective treatment and natural pain relief for inflammation such as arthritis, psoriasis, diabetic neuropathy.

· Reduce risk of heart attack and stroke as it helps to reduce cholesterol levels and formation of blood clots.

· Clear blocked nose and congested lungs.

· Prevent prostate cancer by inhibiting growth of cancerous cells · Prevent stomach ulcers by killing bacteria in the stomach and stimulate more protective stomach juices.

· Help to lose weight as it speeds up the body?s metabolism rate, suppresses appetite and cravings for sweet foods.

· Lower risk of Type 2 diabetes by controlling the blood sugar.

Capsaicin is what makes the chillies hot as it produces a strong burning sensation in the mouth. The seeds are not the main culprits for causing the hotness. Actually, capsaicin is most concentrated in the white membrane where the seed is attached.

Thus, you should be careful when handling the chilli peppers so as not to let them come in contact with your skin or eyes such as rubbing your eyes with your hands after touching the chillies. Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water after handling the chillies.

Should you eat a really hot chilli which causes an unbearable burning sensation in your mouth, drink milk or eat yogurt, rice or bread instead of water to ease the pain.

Here are a few tips on how to handle the chillies skillfully:

· Wear gloves.

· To remove the seeds without touching them, hold the chilli stem and cut open with a paring knife. Cut away the membranes and seeds with the knife. Using a melon baller can also do the trick. Soak the chillies in water for another 15 minutes before cutting them. Note that this will only reduce but will not fully remove the ?hotness? of the chillies.

· If you do not need to remove the seeds, just hold the chili by the stem and cut the chillies into rings. Asians like to eat the raw chillies as a dip in this manner, with the chillies soaked in lime juice or soy sauce.

Chilli peppers come in different sizes, shapes and degrees of heat or spiciness. The more mature the pepper, the hotter it will be. To measure the heat level in chillies, the Scoville Scale is often used. The Scoville Scale converts the amount of capsaicin in parts per million into Scoville heat units. So the greater the number of Scoville Scale, the hotter the pepper. A sweet bell pepper measures 0 Scoville unit and a habaneros or scotch bonnet, the hottest known chilli peppers, records at around 300,000 units.

Peppers are available in the markets all year round. Choose well-shaped, firm and glossy peppers which feel heavy for their size. Look out for unhealthy peppers with soft or wrinkled areas, cracks, slashes or black spots. Except for jalape? which often have shallow cracks at their stem ends, chili peppers should be free of crack.

It?s best to wrap the peppers in paper bags or paper towels and store in the refrigerator to keep their freshness, up to 5 days for bell peppers and up to 3 weeks for chilli peppers.

Remember to wash the peppers before cooking so as to remove the wax on their surfaces.

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Chile Con Carne: a History

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

It’s simple really. Peppers with meat in a spicy stew with tomatoes, onions, beans and other ingredients in as many variations as the mind can muster. From Baja to Cincinnati right through the heart of Texas, where it’s the official state dish, chile con carne, or chili for short, is among the most famous indigenous American foods.

Some say that chili was invented in Mexico during the 1840′s, possibly in Chihuahua, as a complimentary dish served at cantinas for outsiders, who wanted something spicy and cheap. Others contend it was born in Ensenada, Mexico in the 1880′s as a way of stretching available meat in the kitchens of poor Tejanos. Many Texans maintain that it was the invention of Texas cowhands who ate it by the bucketful as the drove their herds across the plains. The most imaginative origin traces its roots back to pre-Columbian Aztec chefs.

What is known for a fact is that in the 1880′s, colorfully-dressed Hispanic women called “Chili Queens” began to operate around Military Plaza and other high traffic public places in downtown San Antonio, Texas, where they would reheat cast iron pots of pre-cooked chili and sell it by the bowl.

Sanitation laws in the late 30′s shut down the Chili Queens, but not the public appetite for this tasty Western dish. Chili parlors opened by hundreds. These small, family-run chili joints spread from Texas to the rest of the USA, and became a part of the pre-WWII American landscape. Even today hardly any American who claims to be able to cook doesn’t have their very own secrete recipe for chili, whether it be hot, sweet, thick, soupy or just plain odd.

Regional variations add a certain level of enjoyment for chili lovers. Traditional Texas style chili is thick and uses few to no vegetables. New Mexico chili is famed for it’s thinner consistency and the use of green rather than red chili peppers. In the chili in Cincinnati, Ohio has a sauce like quality and is used as a condiment or topping for hotdogs or spaghetti. White chili uses no tomato and relies on beans. Vegetarian chili (chile sin carne) is, of course, meatless. Health conscious chili ditches the suet and substitutes white button mushrooms for beans to lower the calories. In fact, chili is such a malleable dish that it can be hard to define. Still, most people know it when they taste it, and are all to happy to do so.

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