New Orleans and Halloween go together like macaroni and cheese. And since I love both Halloween and New Orleans so much, I'm going to share a very special recipe for your Halloweeny festivities tomorrow.
It's really easy. And cheesy. It's a cheeseball. A pumpkin cheeseball.
What you need:
2 8oz packages of softened cream cheese
a quarter of an onion, grated
1/4 cup of your fave salsa (not a fruity salsa)
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
1 tablespoon of chili powder
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
2 tablespoons of minced jalapeno pepper (seeds and ribs removed if you don't want the heat)
1 1/2 cups of shredded chedder cheese (or a mexican blend)
sprinkle of salt
crushed Doritos
top of a bell pepper
Mash up the cream cheese in a bowl with the salsa, onion and spices. I like to grate the onion just because I think the juicy onion pulp blends into everything better, but you could also dice it up finely. I actually mix it all up with a hand mixer and then stir in the shredded cheese just so everything gets blended nicely. Take a quick taste to make sure it's to your liking. If you want it spicier, add some more chili powder (I like to use ancho). You could even throw in a few dashes of hot sauce. If it needs salt, add a sprinkle, but a lot of salsas are salty enough that you won't need to add much, if any.
Then plop it all onto some plastic wrap and wrap it up to form a ball, or a shape resembling a pumpkin. Let it firm up in the fridge for a few hours.
Crush up some Doritos. I like to put them in a large freezer bag and mash them and dump the pieces out on a crawfish serving tray (these things are great because they act as both a work station and a serving tray). Roll the firmed up cheeseball around in the Doritos and put some on the sides, making sure they get everywhere. Cut the stem off of a bell pepper and push it down on top of the beautifully formed pumpkin cheeseball.
Put tortilla chips around for serving.
Voila! A cute festive seasonal (and highly addictive) pumpkin cheeseball. I'm sure the recipe could also be carried over to Thanksgiving since pumpkin stuff tends to stick around until the Christmas season.
Happy Halloween y'all! And stay safe out there.
funny how people want to think these are ptoposhohped. A large number of these are my carvings and I have had people over and over criticize them for being ptoposhohped, and they aren't. Just look at all my photos and you will see not only the ptoposhohped ones by themselves but you will see them as part of larger displays.There are many carvers who simply know HOW to carve the details to make them so precise.
Posted by: Wendel | 12/05/2012 at 08:56 AM
My favorite thing about Take a walk with me is not only is it a craistmhs book but I love the double romance going on. I love Cozy and Jesse relationship but I also love their grandparents relationship. You are never to old to love again:) I think that is such a cute tradition with baking the pumpkin cookies on the first day of school. I love how you love fall with halloween, thanksgiving and craistmhs and I know you write a lot of your books around those months, but I think it would be fun to have other holidays meantion in your books like Valentines, April fools, 4th of July, St. Patricks Day etc. Just an idea:)
Posted by: Haydee | 03/14/2013 at 05:39 AM