Papa La Huancaina

This food is as fun to say as it is to eat! It is a traditional Peruvian food. It can be served as an appitizer to share or as the main dish. Word to the wise, this is spicy! If you like it a little more mild go easy on the pepper sauce. Do it to taste.

Ingredients

• 6 potatoes


• 1 bar Cream Cheese (traditionally you use a 1/2 round of queso fresco sold in any Latino store instead of cream cheese)


• 20 Saltine crackers


• 2 tbs Peruvian Yellow hot pepper sauce (Aji amarillo molido)


• 2 cups evaporated milk


• 1/8 cup oil


• salt to taste


• Hard boiled eggs


• Large leaf lettuce

Directions

1. Blend together milk, yellow hot pepper, crackers and cream cheese until well blended


2. Next while blender is running add oil.


3. Separately boil potatoes then peel and slice into rounds.


4. Boil eggs


5. To serve lay the boiled potatoes on a bed of lettuce leaves. Then pout creamy sauce over potatoes. Add sliced eggs on top and serve.

Baked Chicken Nuggets

Ingredients

• 3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts


• 1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs


• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese


• 1 teaspoon salt


• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning


• 2 teaspoons dried basil


• garlic and onion powder to taste


• 1/2 cup butter, melted
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F


2. Cut chicken breasts into 1 1/2-inch sized pieces.


3. In a medium bowl, mix together the bread crumbs, cheese, salt, Italian seasoning, basil and onion and garlic powders. Put melted butter in a bowl or dish for dipping.


4. Dip chicken pieces into the melted butter first, then coat with the breadcrumb mixture. Place the well-coated chicken pieces on a lightly greased cookie sheet in a single layer. Drizzle small amount of melted butter on the chicken.


5. Bake for 20 min, or until no longer pink in the middle. I didn't flip them half way through this time, but I think they would turn out crispier if you did. :)

This was my first time trying this recipe. I modified it to my liking and this is my version of the recipe. Go here for the original recipe. Kyle loved them! He was a little unsure when i told him I was making chicken nuggets for dinner, but in the end it was a hit :) They were good dipped in BBQ sauce or marinara sauce, but you could use any favorite dipping sauce.

This was also really quick and easy to prepare. I got home at 5:30 and started cooking and we were almost done eating by 6:30. We ate this with some leftover rice and veggies we had in the fridge.

Kyle's food quote for the night: "You should go teach McDonalds how to do nuggets!"

Hot Artichoke and Spinach Dip

Ingredients:

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 pre-shredded Italian blend cheese
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 (14 ounce) can/jar artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
• 1/2 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
• 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a small baking dish.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together cream cheese, mayonnaise, Parmesan cheese, Romano cheese, garlic, basil, garlic salt, salt and pepper. Gently stir in artichoke hearts and spinach.
3. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish. Top with mozzarella cheese. Bake in preheated oven 25 minutes, until bubbly and lightly browned.
   

Notes: This is a high fat recipe so to cut the calories a bit I made just a few small changes. Instead of using straight mayo I used half light sour cream and light mayo. I used low fat cream cheese.

This has become one of my favorite things to bring to parties now! I served this for the Olsen's Christmas Eve party and from the time I took it out of the oven and put it on the table it was gone within 5 minutes. I almost didn't get any! I didn't even get my picture, so I had to make another batch for my family the next day so I could get some pictures!

Even if you are not an artichoke fan you will probably like this! Try this out and let me know how it goes!! It is such a wonderful dip!