Entertaining 911, continued

31 Days of Blog: Day 3. There is a certain wisdom to getting the necessities out of the way first thing in the day to make sure they get done. I always apply this to the dreaded cleaning of the house, if it doesn’t get done by noon, it seldom gets done, I either run out of steam or I lose focus. The same is true for blogging once a day during this National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo) of July/Food, yesterday is a great example, I only wrote an 80-word post, half of which was done before 7 am, when I got distracted (toilet-training a two-year-old is a wonderful thing), and I didn’t actually post until the rest of my family was breathing down my back looking for dinner. Today, I’m trying to get it done early again.

I’m still in the 4th of July mode, and I want appetizers galore this weekend (we actually had nachos for dinner last night, and we had so much fun making them as a family — that almost never happens in my house, cooking as a family). At a recent dinner party, I made an upscale version of Chile con Queso. It was a nice change. The goat cheese adds tang, and the green salsa adds heat, a really nice complement. You can serve the dip with your favorite bagged chips, or you can make your own adobo chips from the recipe below, it’s easy and tasty, uses up leftover corn tortillas (you know me and my using up leftovers), and doesn’t have a lot of extra sodium.

Warm goat cheese and cilantro salsa

1 jar Mrs. Renfro’s green salsa
½ c cilantro
½ c low-fat cream cheese, softened (½ block)
¼ c goat cheese

Preheat oven to 350°. To prepare salsa, combine salsa and cilantro, cover and set aside.

To prepare cheese, combine cream cheese and goat cheese in a small bowl; stir until blended. Spread cheese mixture into a shallow ramekin or baking dish; cover with foil. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes or just until warm. Remove from oven, top with salsa, and serve with chips.

Adobo Chips

½ t paprika
¼ t cumin
2½ t fresh lime juice
8 6-inch white corn tortillas
1 t canola oil
1 t adobo sauce

Preheat oven to 375°. Combine 2½ teaspoons lime juice, canola oil, adobo sauce, paprika, and cumin in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Brush 1 tortilla with about ¼ teaspoon juice mixture, spreading to edge. Top with another tortilla; repeat procedure with juice mixture. Repeat procedure 6 more times (you will have 1 stack of 8 tortillas). Using a sharp knife, cut tortilla stack into 6 wedges. Place wedges in a single layer on baking sheets. Bake at 375° for 15 minutes; turn wedges. Bake an additional 10 minutes.

We’ll be sharing this new Con Queso tonight with friends while we watch fireworks at Salisbury Beach. Enjoy!