Jalapeno Popper Dip

You all know my love for fried foods and the mildly spicy, cheesey jalapeno poppers are no exception! Honestly, I don’t deep fry often though, because of health reasons and because my whole house smells like a vat of oil afterwards. Well, leave it to Kevin to bring the taste of poppers into a cheesy gooey dip without frying (not that its probably any less calorific!)! If you haven’t been yet, hop over to Kevin’s blog Closet Cooking. I have followed him for years, way before I had a blog, and in my mind he is “The King Of Dips”. 😀 I’m definitely on board with that.

I do not usually put mayonaise in my dips because I never buy it, and don’t use it for anything else either. Here’s another cheapskate frugal tip – Next time you go to subway or other sandwich places where they give you packets of mayo, don’t throw them away… You can use them in things where you just need a little, like this one. FYI, mayo does not contain cream or milk ingredients but it does usually contain eggs.

I also love the taste of buffalo sauce. Basically, hot chili sauce! I wanted to incorporate it into my dip without it taking over.

Here is what I did:

• 5-7 large fresh jalapenos, seeded and diced very small
• 3 spring onions sliced thinly
• salt to taste
• 6 oz cream cheese at room temperature(soft)
• 1/4c strained or greek yogurt
• 1/4c mayonnaise (3 packets hehe)
• 1/2c +1T cheese, grated – I used kerrygold ivernia which is like a cross between cheddar, gruyere and parmesan- any of those would work and so would blue cheese!
• 1T grated parmesan
• Some splashes of hot sauce/chili paste
• 1 handful of panko breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 350

In a small amount of olive oil, saute the green onions and jalapeno to soften and bring out the flavors. Add a pinch of salt. Let cool a bit while you grate the cheeses and prepare the other ingredients.

Mix the 2 Tablespoons of cheese with panko breadcrumbs and keep aside. Mix the cream cheese, yogurt, and mayo together till incorporated. Stir in the jalapeno mixture. Then stir in the 1/2 grated cheese. Spread in your baking dish and then sprinkle with the chili paste. Use a fork to smooth it over the top layer of the tip. Top with the bread crumb mixture. Spray with an oil spray (optional) to crisp the bread crumbs. Bake for 20-30 minutes until hot and bubbly!! Serve with tortilla chips. The ones we used are made from blue corn… they are not artificially colored. 🙂

Sending to Hearth and Soul Blog Hop

**I know I’ve been a little inactive lately, but I plan to get back into things soon!! **