Man Meals

Last Saturday, we hosted a poker game at our house. I tried to be my little Suzy Homemaker self, and made some treats for the guys. I had pigs in a blanket, cinnamon brown butter rice krispies treats, firecrackers, and jalapeno popper dip.

I'm not giving out the recipe for pigs in a blanket, because gross. Plus, we watched Food, Inc. the next day, and even though I've been a vegetarian for 15 years, it made me feel like I've bathed in the blood of a million murdered animals. Although, I do highly recommend that movie to EVERYONE. It's not a preachy "be a vegetarian" movie, but it's all about every aspect of the food industry. Although, if you become a vegetarian after you see it, that won't hurt my feelings. ;) I think, actually, I'm going to try to only buy farm-raised, organic meat for Josh from now on. That is, if I can't actually ever get him to be a full-on veggie.

But, I digress. This post is about recipes, NOT about making people feel bad for what they eat. Sorry.

I've made brown butter rice krispies treats for a ton of occasions now, since I came across the recipe about 6 months ago. Brown butter is amazing. I would bottle it, and use it as perfume if I could (and if that didn't make me sound like a nutjob). It's time consuming, but it's worth it. Here's the recipe that I use. I didn't have vanilla beans, so I just did a generous 1/2t of extract. But, one thing I do add to this recipe is 1t of ground cinnamon. It sounds like a lot, but trust me, it's a pretty mellow (but super delicious) flavor. Make this dish - you won't regret it.

(btw, yes, I know that as a vegetarian I really shouldn't be eating rice krispies treats. i can come up with a million excuses, but i won't. sue me.)

Firecrackers are basically white trash chex mix. You take saltines, cover 'em in oil, ranch dressing mix, garlic powder, and a ton of crushed red pepper. Then, you wait til the oil soaks in. Super easy, and tasty. But, next time I'll use unsalted crackers. The ones I made basically brined my insides.

And now, my personal favorite for the night. Jalapeno Popper Dip. Oh my, was this stuff good. Here's the recipe. If you notice, it calls for bacon. I didn't put it in for obvious reasons. I asked the Mister if he thought I should add it in next time, but he said he liked it how it was. If a meat-eating guy says there's no room for bacon, then you should take him at his word. Also, I did this in a 9x9 pan. If you do it in that size - you definitely only need half of the bread crumb topping. If you do it in a 9x13 pan, double the amount of the dip, but keep the amount of topping the same. Also, my jalapenos were WAY TOO MILD!!! It tasted good, but there was no spice. The Aycocks like spicy. It was my fault, anyway, for not tasting before I put it in the oven. I just couldn't bring myself to do it, though. In my mayo-hating mind, I assumed the taste of cold mayo would rear its ugly head, and if it was heated up, I wouldn't be able to taste it. So, I really didn't want to try it until after it was cooked. Yes, I know, I'm a moron. Lesson learned.

Apparently we're hosting another poker tournament in a week....so if any of y'all (all two of you) have some ideas for different snacks, let me know. I always like trying new recipes!