pimento Archives | Mama Harris' Kitchen

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and I know some of you aren’t sure what your plans are. Whether you are preparing for a romantic night in with your love or you want something to snack on while you’re preparing for a night out together, this appetizer is perfection for date night.

With heart shaped tortilla chips and a creamy, cheesy dip with a little kick to it, this appetizer is sure to please! The tortilla chips are baked so you don’t feel as guilty dipping them into the cheesy goodness of this pimento queso that’s made with garlic white cheddar cheese, medium cheddar cheese and pepper jack cheese. The pimentos and red onions add beautiful color to this dip and the seasonings lend just the kick you need to make your sweetie keep coming back for more.

Trust me, you’ll thank me later!

If you do prefer a fried chip, because baked chips tend to be a bit chewier, you can fry them but use the same seasonings and adorable heart shapes. I just love the way these came out, and the seasonings for the chips complimented the flavors in the dip perfectly.

Ingredients for the Heart Shaped Tortilla Chips:

Stack of white corn tortillas
heart shaped cookie cutter
salt
paprika
seasoning salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Begin by cutting the tortillas into heart shapes using your cookie cutter.

Season the heart shapes on both sides with a light dusting of salt, paprika and seasoning salt.

Place on a baking sheet lined with foil or a silicone mat, and bake in the oven for 6 minutes.
Remove the baking sheet from the oven, turn all the chips over and lightly spray with canola cookie oil spray.
Place back in oven for another 6 minutes, or until crispy.

*If the chips are a bit chewy still, be sure they are spaced out far enough apart, about 1/4 inch away from each other or just bake a few more minutes until crispy.

Ingredients for Pimento Queso Dip:

8 oz garlic white cheddar cheese, shredded
4 oz medium cheddar cheese, shredded
4 oz pepper jack cheese, shredded
4 oz cream cheese, softened
4 oz jar pimentos
1/2 cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoon chopped red onion
1/2 teaspoon cholula hot sauce
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/8 teaspoon dry basil
salt and pepper
cilantro, for garnish (optional)

Directions:

While the chips are baking, shred up the cheeses and place them in a medium mixing bowl.
Heat up the cream cheese for about 25 seconds in the microwave, until softened and mix it in.
Add the pimentos, mayonnaise, chopped red onion, hot sauce and spices.
Mix well, then spread into a baking dish that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.

Bake uncovered for about 25 minutes, or until cheese is golden and melted.
Garnish with cilantro and serve warm.

Enjoy!

Pimento Queso Dip with Heart Shaped Tortilla Chips

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

Pimento Queso Dip with Heart Shaped Tortilla Chips

This Valentine's Day serve up this pimento queso dip made even more delicious with heart shaped tortilla chips. Your sweetie is sure to come back for more!

Ingredients

For the Heart Shaped Tortilla Chips:

Stack of white corn tortillas
heart shaped cookie cutter
salt
paprika
seasoning salt
canola cooking spray

For the Pimento Queso Dip:

8 oz garlic white cheddar cheese, shredded
4 oz medium cheddar cheese, shredded
4 oz pepper jack cheese, shredded
4 oz cream cheese, softened
4 oz jar pimentos
1/2 cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoon chopped red onion
1/2 teaspoon cholula hot sauce
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/8 teaspoon dry basil
salt and pepper
cilantro, for garnish (optional)

Instructions

For the Heart Shaped Tortilla Chips:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Begin by cutting the tortillas into heart shapes using your cookie cutter.
Season the heart shapes on both sides with a light dusting of salt, paprika and seasoning salt.
Place on a baking sheet lined with foil or a silicone mat, and bake in the oven for 6 minutes.
Remove the baking sheet from the oven, turn all the chips over and lightly spray with canola cookie oil spray.
Place back in oven for another 6 minutes, or until crispy.
*If the chips are a bit chewy still, be sure they are spaced out far enough apart, about 1/4 inch away from each other or just bake a few more minutes until crispy.

For the Pimento Queso Dip:

While the chips are baking, shred up the cheeses and place them in a medium mixing bowl.
Heat up the cream cheese for about 25 seconds in the microwave, until softened and mix it in.
Add the pimentos, mayonnaise, chopped red onion, hot sauce and spices.
Mix well, then spread into a baking dish that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.
Bake uncovered for about 25 minutes, or until cheese is golden and melted.
Garnish with cilantro and serve warm.

https://mamaharriskitchen.com/2015/02/pimento-queso-dip-heart-shaped-tortilla-chips/

What will you be serving up for Valentine’s Day?

If you’re looking for some recipe inspiration, see what my friends are serving up! Late last year I created a group with some amazing foodie bloggers called Spicy Bites. We each have a different approach to our recipes and come from all over the U.S. My goal is to bring a variety of recipes together as a group and share them with our readers. This month a few of us have come together to bring you an entire romantic dinner for Valentine’s Day with a new recipe each day from the appetizer to the final dish. Each day I’ll update the links below with a new romantic recipe to make this a full meal inspiration! You can also follow along on social media under the hashtag #FoodieBeMine.

Aragula Salad with Seasonal Fresh Fruits from Adriana’s Best Recipes

Spiked Strawberry Lemonade from Food.Love.Tog.

Tomato and Butter Lobster Linguine from Spanglish Spoon

Growing up, I remember my mom making a quiche every so often. From a large quiche to cute little mini ones, and they were always a favorite of mine. We typically had them for dinner, or the little ones could be considered an appetizer. I, however, love to make it for my family for a breakfast or hearty brunch.
A quiche is even a great breakfast for either Thanksgiving or Christmas morning. It’s also great to have ready for house guests served with a warm cup of coffee. Of course, it doesn’t have to be a special occasion in order to serve this. If you’ve never had a quiche, think of it as an omelette in a pie. There’s many different fillings you can make for it, as well as many cheeses. This time I made it with some zucchini I had gotten from a friend who had a ton in their garden. I’ve been finding ways and dishes to sneak it into, and that’s what’s great about a dish like quiche. You can customize it based on what you have on hand, and what season it is. I typically make it just how I did here, but I replace ham with the turkey sausage, and instead of broccoli and zucchini I use spinach. I will share with you what I used to create the quiche pictured here, but I will also share with you how to customize it so it will be fool proof no matter what fillings you use! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 Deep dish pie crust, I use the Pillsbury ones, they come with 2 in the package and you can find them in the freezer aisle at your grocery store
4 large eggs
1 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper, to taste
Herbs of choice, for this I used a little Parsley and a little Basil, just a few shakes. Also I added some ground ginger to the meat mixture.
1 cup grated cheese, I used 1/2 Monterey Jack, and 1/2 Mild Cheddar
Filling ingredients of choice, should equal about a cup worth. I used the following:
3 slices of thick cut bacon
a little less than 1/4 cup uncooked turkey breakfast sausage
1/3 cup of chopped yellow onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 small jar of diced pimentos
1/2 a small can of mushroom slices
3 sliced of zucchini, chopped
5 broccoli florets, chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400. Take out the Pie crust to thaw in the metal tin for about 15 minutes.
Start cooking your bacon.

While the bacon is cooking, prick the pie shell generously with a fork. Then line with parchment paper, wax paper, or foil and place dried beans or pie weights inside. Bake in oven for about 11 minutes. (the beans or pie weights prevent the pie from bubbling on the inside and losing it’s shape.

Now the crust has a nice golden color. Remove the wax paper, remove the beans, place the crust on a cookie sheet and lower your oven to 350 degrees and set the crust aside while you prepare the filling.

Cook the bacon till it has a nice brown color, but not to crispy. You want it a little tender.
Remove bacon from pan, and add the onion, garlic and pimentos to the bacon grease and saute.

Add the breakfast sausage and cook until browned. This is where I added a few shakes of ground ginger.

Once the sausage is browned, turn off the heat. While still in pan, add zucchini and broccoli and break up the bacon into little bits and add. Stir well.
Once mixed, add all the filling to the crust.

Now add your cheese.

Next, break the 4 eggs into a bowl. Add the Heavy whipping cream and whisk together well. Add your salt and pepper and whatever herbs you desire. I just shake them in with not much measuring. I used Parsley and Basil. Once blended well, pour the egg mixture over the cheese.

Here’s my little secret how to get perfect pie crust every time. These are pie crust savers. If you’ve ever made a pie, you know that the crust tends to get crunchy and black. You pick up these babies and put them on for most of the cooking time, remove about 15 minutes before your pie is done and you have perfectly flaky, delicious pie crust. If you can’t find these you can wrap the crust edges carefully with foil.

Place your pie in the oven and bake for about 40-50 minutes, until the egg mixture sets. You can stick a toothpick about an inch from the crust edge and if it comes out clean it’s done. Make sure you remove your crust savers 15 minutes before the timer goes off!

Viola!! Perfection!

Let it cool a few minutes before you cut into it.

Yum!! Hope you enjoy as much as we did!

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post. All thoughts are my own.