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Jane Goodwin | March 8, 2013

Texas Style Armadillo Eggs!

There are many ways to make “Armadillo Eggs,” but we think (and my kids agree) that Texas Pepper Jelly’s recipe is by far the blue ribbon WINNER!

Texas Style Armadillo Eggs are a perfect snack or party food. They’re easy to make, your whole house will smell wonderful, they’re nutritious, and your family will LOVE THEM!

Ingredients:

4 ounces of room-temperature cream cheese (I use Neufchatel)
1/4 cup Loco Cheese Dip (It’s on sale, too!)
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon finely-chopped cilantro
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
Salt to taste (I don’t use any salt because the spices are enough)
6 medium-size jalapenos
2 pounds bulk sausage
1 tablespoon Butcher BBQ marinade
Shake & Bake (if desired) (I use it on half the batch, as my husband loves it)

What to do:

Preheat your oven to 375. Lightly grease a baking or cookie sheet

In a large bowl, mix together the cream cheese, Loco Cheese Dip, garlic, cumin, and cilantro. Blend well. Add a little salt if you think you need it.

Remove the stems from the jalapenos, cut in half lengthwise, scoop out ALL of the seeds, and cut the sliced jalapenos in half, horizontally. (You’ll end up with jalapeno quarters.)

Put about a teaspoon of the cheesy filling in each jalapeno quarter.

Pat the sausage into as many 3-inch circles as you have jalapeno quarters.

Place a stuffed jalapeno in the center of each sausage circle.

Wrap the sausage around the jalapenos, completely, and form into an egg shape.

Brush the “eggs” with the Butcher BBQ marinade. Roll in Shake & Bake, if you desire.

Put the “eggs” on the baking sheet, and bake for about 20 minutes. Watch carefully; when the sausage is cooked, they’re done. If you want them to be a little browner, put the sheet under the broiler for a few minutes.

You can also cook Texas Pepper Jelly’s Armadillo Eggs on the grill.

Serve with various dressings and dips. My daughter uses Ranch dressing, my husband uses salsa, and my son dips them in everything. As for me, I like to dip mine in Loco Cheese Dip.

I mean, has anybody ever really had enough cheese?

Category: BBQ, Feast of Fridays, grilling, Loco Cheese Dip, Super Easy Party Recipes, Superbowl Food, Texas BBQ rubs, Texas Cookin' Tips, Texas Pepper Jelly, Texas Pepper Jelly grilling glazes, Texas Tips, TPJ Appetizers, TPJ Recipes, TPJ Rubs and Spices | Tags: armadillo eggs, Butcher BBQ marinade, dressings, Loco Cheese Dip, pepper jelly, Shake and Bake, spicy snacks, stuffed jalapenos, Texas Pepper Jelly, TV food

Jane Goodwin | February 2, 2013

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SuperBowl Food: Texas-Style Cheesy Chicken Dip! (Crockpot Style!)

You can’t have too many dips at your SuperBowl party, and that’s not even counting your in-laws!

Texas Pepper Jelly’s Texas-Style Cheesy Chicken Dip will become one of the hits of the evening, along with all those painful tackles you’ll all be watching on the big screen. . . .

Ingredients:

One 8-oz package of cream cheese (I use Neufchatel) – softened
1/2 cup of ranch dressing
1/4 cup of Spicy Peach Grilling Sauce
1/4 cup finely diced peaches
1/2 cup crumbled mozzarella cheese
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups finely shredded cooked chicken

What to do:

Sunday morning, get out your crockpot, and preheat it on low.

Stir the cream cheese in a medium bowl with the dressing, grilling sauce, and mozzarella cheese. Stir in the shredded chicken and mix well.

Put this mixture in your crockpot, cover with the shredded Cheddar cheese, and turn it on High. Let the mixture cook until bubbly. Once the mixture bubbles and the cheddar cheese browns, turn crockpot to low and let it wait for your guests to arrive – it’s ready to eat any time now. Stir, and serve with chips, veggies, breadsticks, or whatever you wish to DIP!

Category: crockpot meals, Slow cooker delights, Super Easy Party Recipes, Superbowl Food, Texas Cookin' Tips, Texas Tips, TPJ Appetizers, TPJ Sauces and Salsas | Tags: crockpot dips, spicy peach grilling sauce, SuperBowl dips, Superbowl Food, SuperBowl snacks, Texas Pepper Jelly

Jane Goodwin | January 12, 2013

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SuperBowl Food: Hot Crockpot Spinach Dip

Winter snacks should be hot – hot with heat and hot with peppers! Hot winter snacks warm us up, all the way through.

Crockpot recipes are so easy, and Texas Pepper Jelly’s delicious and nutritious Hot Crockpot Spinach Dip is no exception.

Ingredients:

1 box (10 oz) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and thoroughly drained
1 cup mayonnaise (do not substitute Miracle Whip)
1/2 cup sour cream (not fat-free)
1/2 cup Apple Habanero pepper jelly
1/4 cup finely chopped apples (peeled) (applesauce works, too)
2 tablespoons garlic powder
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup diced tomatoes (if you use canned, drain thoroughly!)
1/4 cup finely diced onion

What to do:

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix well. Put mixture in your slow cooker, cover, and set to “low.”

Go to work, if it’s morning. Go to bed, if it’s night. Let the mixture cook in the crockpot for 8-10 hours. Turn crockpot off, and let “set” for an hour or two.

Pour into bowl, surround with breadsticks, chips, raw veggies, whatever your family or guests like best to dip. Stand back.

Don’t count on any leftovers. There never are any at my house. My husband and son and their friends will clean up every bite of this dip in one evening. I’ve taken to hiding a cup for my daughter and me; otherwise, it’s too dangerous to try to dip.

Category: crockpot meals, Slow cooker delights, slow-cooker meals, Super Easy Party Recipes, Superbowl Food, Texas Cookin' Tips, Texas Pepper Jelly, TPJ Appetizers, Uncategorized | Tags: crockpot snacks, easy snacks, football food, hot crockpot spinach dip, spicy snacks, SuperBowl snacks, Texas Pepper Jelly

Jane Goodwin | September 11, 2012

2 comments

Texas-Style Chicken Nuggets

Chicken nuggets are probably one of your children’s favorite foods, but our Texas-style Chicken Nuggets will be one of your entire family’s favorites!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup lemon juice (fresh, not that stuff that comes in the plastic lemon!)
1/3 cup water
1 1/2 tablespoon crushed dried rosemary
1 tablespoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons Texas Bird Bath
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
4 boneless chicken breasts, cubed
2 clices toasted mixed grain bread
1/2 cup chopped almonds, toasted (optional) (but they’re really good)
3 egg whites, beaten

What to do:

In a medium bowl, combine the lemon juice, water, rosemary, garlic, Texas Bird Bath, and Worcestershire sauce. Add the chicken to this marinade, make sure each piece is covered, cover tightly, and chill in the refrigerator overnight.

Toast the bread, and grind it to coarse crumbs. Stir in the almonds.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Lift the chicken from the marinade, roll in the eggs whites, and then roll in the crumb mixture. Make sure the chicken is completely coated.

Place the chicken on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes. Serve hot, although my kids love these nuggets cold, too.

Serve with various Texas Pepper Jellies for dipping.

If this is for a meal, this recipe serves 4. If you’re making this recipe as a snack, it will serve more.

Category: Spicy main dishes, Superbowl Food, Texas Bird Bath, Texas Cookin' Tips, Texas Pepper Jelly, Texas Tips, TPJ Appetizers, TPJ Recipes, TPJ Sauces and Salsas, Uncategorized, What's Cookin' Wednesday | Tags: children and chicken nuggets, children's favorites, easy appetizer, easy football food, easy suppers, Texas Bird Bath, Texas Pepper Jelly, Texas style chicken nuggets

Jane Goodwin | August 8, 2012

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Spicy Texas Veggie Dip

Looking for a quick, easy, tasty, and inexpensive vegetable dip for a hot summer night, a quick snack, or a party? Look no further! Texas Pepper Jelly’s Spicy Texas Veggie Dip is what you’re seeking, and you’re in the right place!

Ingredients:

1 cup sour cream (don’t use fat-free)
1/2 cup finely grated Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup Loco Cheese Dip
1/2 cup mayonnaise or Miracle Whip (I’ve used both and the difference is subtle)
3 tablespoons minced green pepper
2 tablespoons minced red pepper
1 tablespoon Texas Rib Candy, any flavor

What to do:

Mix, chill, and serve with pretty much any kind of raw vegetables your family or guests like. My son spreads this mixture on bread and eats it like candy. It’s also good with crackers and breadsticks.

Category: New Texas Pepper Jelly product, Super Easy Party Recipes, Texas Cookin' Tips, Texas Pepper Jelly, Texas Rib Candy, Texas Tips, TPJ Appetizers, TPJ Recipes, TPJ Snacks, What's Cookin' Wednesday | Tags: Loco Cheese Dip, Texas Pepper Jelly, Texas Rib Candy, Texas Veggie Dip, TPJ Recipes, What's Cookin' Wednesday

Jane Goodwin | July 6, 2012

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Texas Cinnamon Tortilla Chips

Okay, fans, here’s what you’ve been waiting for – the perfect dippin’ chip to go with dessert or fruit-type dips! It’s so easy, too, and only takes about ten minutes to fix ‘em.

Ingredients:

10 flour tortillas
1/2 cup of melted butter (I use butter-flavored spray)
1 cup white sugar (I use Splenda)
2 tablespoons of cinnamon

What to do:

Preheat your oven to 350.

Spread or spray one side of each tortilla with butter, and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

Using a pizza cutter or knife (pizza cutter is so much easier!) divide each tortilla into fourths. (cut in half both ways)

Arrange the tortilla wedges on a large buttered baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes, and let them cool for at least a half hour before serving.

Your entire house will smell WONDERFUL.

Serve with Wednesday’s Spicy Fruit Salsa, or with any kind of fruit or dessert salsa or dip. They’re also good to each by the handful, like potato chips. These chips are best when eaten the same day they’re made.

Category: Feast of Fridays, Spicy desserts, Super Easy Party Recipes, Superbowl Food, Texas Cookin' Tips, Texas Tips, TPJ Appetizers, TPJ Recipes | Tags: chips, cinnamon chips, dessert dip chips, fruit dip, fruit dip chips, pepper jelly, salsa, spicy fruit dip, Texas Pepper Jelly

Jane Goodwin | July 4, 2012

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Red, White, & Blue Spicy Fruit Salsa for a Hot Fourth of July

Happy Independence Day, Texas Pepper Jelly fans! Here’s our famous red, white, and blue Spicy Fruit Salsa, especially for your Fourth of July gathering!

Don’t assume that “salsa” will always mean “red sauce!” Texas Pepper Jelly’s amazing Spicy Fruit Salsa is one of our many exceptions to THAT rule!

Spicy Fruit Salsa is perfect for these hot summer days; it’s cool and refreshing, and there’s just something about fruit that quenches thirst at a glance.

Ingredients:

2 kiwis, peeled and diced
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and diced (any kind of apple will do, but Granny Smith apples are our favorites)
1 cup of raspberries or blackberries (I use both when I have them)
1 1/2 cups of strawberries, diced
1 cup of green seedless grapes, halved
1/2 cup of blueberries
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
1/4 cup of Apple Habanero pepper jelly
1/4 cup of Strawberry Habanero pepper jelly

What to do:

Put all of the above ingredients in a large mixing bowl and, stirring gently, mix thoroughly. Refrigerate overnight, or at least a few hours.

Put it on the table and step back.

This salsa is delicious no matter what’s dipped into it; heck, my husband just spoons it as if it were cereal. Stay tuned for our next post, which will give you a fantastic recipe for cinnamon tortillas, which are the PERFECT thing to use with this and any other dessert-type dip.

Category: Spicy desserts, Texas Cookin' Tips, Texas Pepper Jelly, Texas Tips, TPJ Appetizers, TPJ Recipes, TPJ Sauces and Salsas, Uncategorized, What's Cookin' Wednesday | Tags: cooling appetizer, Fourth of July, fruit, fruit salsa, Independence Day, patriotic foods, salsa, spicy appetizer, spicy fruit salsa, spicy texas appetizer, summer salsa, Texas Pepper Jelly

Jane Goodwin | July 2, 2012

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Texas Gulf Coast Crab Dip

There’s nothing like a delicious hot dip to start the week off right, and since this is a holiday week, and since the holiday is Independence Day, and since Independence Day is traditionally filled with hot stuff like fireworks and bottle rockets, it’s even more appropriate to begin said week with a fantastic hot dip! Your family will love our Texas Gulf Coast Crab Dip. Just set it on the table along with crackers, chips, Fritos, raw veggies, breadsticks, or anything else you think your family might like to dip or spread with Texas Gulf Coast Crab Dip.

Ingredients:

1/2 pound lump crabmeat (fake will work, too)
1 8-ounce package of cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup mayonnaise (Miracle Whip just doesn’t work here)
1/4 cup Loco Cheese Dip
3 tablespoons minced onion
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

What to do:

Preheat your oven to 325.

Combine all of the above ingredients in a large bowl and GENTLY mix. Put mixture in a buttered casserole dish and bake for 35 minutes until lightly golden on top. Serve hot.

You might put the rest of the Loco Cheese Dip on the table with it, in case someone wants a little more kick to his/her portion.

Don’t count on any leftovers; there seldom are leftovers with Texas Pepper Jelly recipes.

P.S. Speaking of hot stuff, please be careful with any fireworks you might want to set off. Most parts of the country are suffering from terrible drought, and you don’t want to start a fire in the dry grass. If your community has cancelled its fireworks display because of the dryness, please don’t put on your own pyrotechnic show and run the risk of irreversible harm to your home and other people’s as well. Stay safe this Fourth of July!

Category: Loco Cheese Dip, Monday Munchies, Spicy side dishes, Super Easy Party Recipes, Superbowl Food, Texas Cookin' Tips, Texas Pepper Jelly, Texas Tips, TPJ Appetizers, TPJ Recipes, TPJ Snacks | Tags: banned pyrotechnics, breadsticks, cancelled fireworks, chips, crackers, danger, dip, drought, dry grass, fireworks, Loco Cheese Dip, Monday Munchies, spicy appetizer, Texas Appetizer, Texas Gulf Coast Crab Dip, Texas Pepper Jelly, veggies

Jane Goodwin | June 5, 2012

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Spicy Texas Pinwheel Meal

You might as well print out this recipe and add it to your “family favorites” file, because once your family dives into this delicious Spicy Texas Pinwheel Meal, they’re going to ask for it weekly until they all grow up and move out. This is also an excellent party food, or snack food for football parties.

Ingredients:

1 cup shredded chicken
8 ounces of shredded mozzarella cheese
4 ounces of shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup of Texas Pepper Jelly’s Apple Habanero Rib Candy
1/3 cup of ranch dressing
1/4 cup of shredded, peeled apple
1/4 cup of water chestnuts, sliced thin
1/3 cup of mushrooms, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup of pimentos, drained thoroughly
1 rectangle-shaped pizza dough, home-made or store-bought (also works with pie crust or biscuit dough)

What to do:

Preheat your oven to 425.

On a well-floured surface (I use my table top) roll the pizza dough into a long rectangular shape. Round won’t work.

Mix together the Ranch dressing and Rib Candy, and brush across the dough. Add all of the other ingredients, except the cheese, and spread these over entire surface of dough. Cover with both cheeses.

Begin rolling the dough; go slowly, or you’ll push the chicken mixture to one end. Roll this dough as if it were cinnamon bread! Once rolled, tuck in the ends so the middle doesn’t leak out in your oven.

Spray a rectangular baking sheet with Canola spray, and place the bread on the pan. Lift it with both hands!

Bake for 20 minutes; check to make sure it’s done. If it seems “raw,” return to oven and bake another 10 minutes.

Let it set up for 15 minutes, slice, and enjoy. It’s really pretty when it’s cut into individual slices! Don’t make the slices too thin or you’ll lose the contents. Don’t count on any leftovers, although if by some remote chance you have some, wrap them in foil and freeze. This Pinwheel Meal is even better with a little time on it. The problem is slapping everybody’s hands away from that last piece so YOU can eat it later!

Category: Spicy leftovers, Spicy main dishes, Super Easy Party Recipes, Texas Cookin' Tips, Texas Pepper Jelly, Texas Rib Candy, Texas Tips, TPJ Appetizers, TPJ Recipes, What's Cookin' Wednesday | Tags: family favorites, football parties, pinwheel meal, pinwheel snack, rolled chicken snack, Spicy Texas Pinwheel Meal, Texas party food, Texas Pepper Jelly, Texas Rib Candy, Texas snack food

Jane Goodwin | May 3, 2012

No comments

Spicy Texas Fruit Salsa (No Cooking!)

When we think of salsa, we usually picture the usual red spicy sauce, which is delicious, but that’s not the kind of salsa we’re talking about this time.

Spicy Texas Fruit Salsa is a bit different, yes, but it’s still great with anything the usual salsa is good with: dipping your favorite things into, or coating your favorite things before or after cooking them! Meats, chips, even ice cream – Spicy Texas Fruit Salsa perfects them all!

Ingredients:

As many kinds of fresh fruit as you can grab hold of! Or, if you’re in a hurry, a 16=-oz. can of fruit salad. Chop the fruit fine, in any case. (approximately 2 cups, total)

1/2 cup of chopped red or white onion
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
4 tablespoons any flavor Texas Pepper Jelly (Choose a flavor to match whatever fruit you’ve got the most of!) (The salsa will be different every time you make it if you use a different pepper jelly each time.)

Throw everything in a large mixing bowl and make sure it’s all blended most thoroughly. Cover tightly and put it in the refrigerator overnight.

The next day, enjoy your lunch. Heck, enjoy your breakfast; this salsa is great on your toast, or sausage!

This recipe is great with Texas Pepper Jelly’s Pineapple Sweet Fire, too!

Category: Pineapple Sweet Fire, Spicy breakfasts, Super Easy Party Recipes, Texas Cookin' Tips, Texas Pepper Jelly, Texas Tips, TPJ Appetizers, TPJ Recipes, TPJ Sauces and Salsas, TPJ Snacks | Tags: any flavor pepper jelly, chopped fruit. lemon juice, delicious salsa, fruit salsa, fruit salsa with pepper jelly, salsa, spicy fruit salsa, Texas Pepper Jelly, Texas Spicy Salsa

« Older Entries

Archive for TPJ Appetizers

Texas Style Armadillo Eggs!

SuperBowl Food: Texas-Style Cheesy Chicken Dip! (Crockpot Style!)

SuperBowl Food: Hot Crockpot Spinach Dip

Texas-Style Chicken Nuggets

Spicy Texas Veggie Dip

Texas Cinnamon Tortilla Chips

Red, White, & Blue Spicy Fruit Salsa for a Hot Fourth of July

Texas Gulf Coast Crab Dip

Spicy Texas Pinwheel Meal

Spicy Texas Fruit Salsa (No Cooking!)

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