7 Layer Mexican Dip

About 30 years ago we had a small party on a dock in South Jersey and hired a local caterer to put together a few starters for the gathering. One of the suggestions was a 4 layer Mexican dip. My reaction was negative but thankfully overridden by my wife who was the main organizer. She said I was a bid staid and was simply reacting because I didn’t know Mexican food or for a matter of fact knew no one of Mexican heritage. Both were true observation so I said OK. I agreed to go with the dip as my first tiny exposure to things Mexican.
I’m glad I agreed because the 4 layer was a hit and we have since made it our own through the years with additional layers and it is always a winner no matter the theme of our party. So you can be assured, if you use our 7 layer dip at your next event it will be well received and probably a real hit.

7 layer Mexican Dip

For starters here are the layers

1st. Back and Pinto Bean mixture( recipe follows below)
2nd. Guacamole
3rd Sliced green onions
4th. Sour Cream sprinkled with Chili powder
5th Diced fresh tomatoes
6th Sliced Black Olives
7th Mexican Cheese Blend, Shredded

Bean Mixture: Drain and rinse
1 can of black beans
1 can of pinto beans
Puree beans.
Then sauté ½ cup chopped yellow onion and 2 cloves of garlic in olive oil
Add pureed beans, ¼ cup chopped cilantro and 1 cup of picante sauce.
Simmer for 2-3 minutes then let cool

Preparation:
In a shallow bowl:
Spread the bean mixture
Top with prepared guacamole
Then sliced green onions
Next spread 1 cup sour cream and sprinkle with chili powder
Add a layer of diced fresh tomatoes
And sliced black olives
Finish with a generous sprinkled layer of shredded Mexican cheese blend

Serve with a combination of blue and white corn tortilla chips

Our serving bowl is a shallow 12 inch diameter solid green colored bowl with a brown lip. It has a Mexican or Native American appearance.
My knowledge of Mexican food has improved over the last 30 years and now living in Colorado has exposed us to the colorful culture of the folks that shared and were important participants in the settlement of this great part of America.

Brie en Croute

A Christmas party is something we always look forward to hosting. Having friends and family join us to share the joy of the season is a highlight of our year. We enjoy the company and do our best to have an array of food dishes that are festive and appropriate for this gathering in the holiday season.

There is a significant amount of preparation required for this party every year, so careful planning is the first step in making sure the event is a success. Each of the food items cannot take hours to assemble. There needs to be balance not only in the type of food but also in the time needed to get it ready to be served

A wonderful first offering to get the party off on a bright note is a Brie en Croute. This is quick, easy to prepare and is an interesting use for Brie (generally a dessert cheese) to start the party

Holiday Brie en Croute

Ingredients:
Frozen Puff Pastry Sheets
1 Brie Cheese round about 2.5 lb
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp. half & half

Preparation:
Roll out the 1 sheet of thawed puff pastry on a floured board
Cut corners of the pastry to make a circle roughly 24 inches in diameter
Place the wheel of Brie in the center of the pastry
Gather the pastry evenly around the Brie with a bundle on the top
Tie the bundle of dough with cotton twine to hold it in place and together
Trim excess dough and chill the cheese on a parchment lined baking sheet for 1 hour

Cooking
Preheat oven to 400’
Step 1.Combine egg yolk and half & half and brush on top of pastry
Step2. Bake till pastry puffs and is golden brown about (35 minutes)
Step 3. Keep an eye on the baking and reduce temp if it is browning too quickly
Step 4. Cool Brie on a rack for 20 minutes

Serve warm, accompanied with water crackers or those of your preference.

Buck Cooks is a daily blog covering the best recipes and kitchen cookware information.

Note:

The Brie I call for in the recipe will be appropriate for a party of 15-20 people with the other Hors d'Oeuvres being served. For a smaller gathering use a 1 lb Brie. There are recipes that call for apricot preserves, cranberries and toasted almonds on the Brie before the pastry encloses it and it is placed in the oven. We have tried these recipes through the years and have settled on the unadorned Brie en Croute recipe. The preserves and other ingredients are often messy and really unneeded to create this impressive start for the evening..
I think it was a Martha commentary that convinced us to try this classic presentation. She was right –as usual with Hors d’Oeuvres.

Cranberry Scones and Snowshoes

Our plans for this morning were to take a drive through the mountains to Estes Park to do some Christmas shopping. Plans were changed when we woke up to 10 inches of snow that fell over night. With all that beautiful new Powder we decided the shopping could wait. It was snowshoe time with some hot chocolate and scones to follow. Not yet ready for a long trek on the snowshoes, an hour or so would be fine for our first venture of the winter. We are always ready for scones and hot chocolate and this was a perfect time to use some of those cranberries left over from Thanksgiving There are many varieties of scones that we bake for ourselves but this is the one that is our favorite on a snowy morning.

Cranberry Orange Scones

Ingredients:
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, coarsely chopped
½ cup sugar
3 cups all purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 stick chilled unsalted butter
1 large egg
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 teaspoon grated orange peels

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 375’
Step 1. Stir cranberries and 2 tablespoons sugar in a small bowl( let stand-5 minutes)
Step 2. Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl
Step 3. Cut butter into small cubes and distribute over dry ingredients
Step 4. With two knives or a pastry blender cut in the butter until course crumbs are formed
Step 5. In a small bowl beat egg, buttermilk, juice, vanilla and grated orange peel
Step 6. Add the egg mixture to the flour and stir to combine-the dough will be sticky
Step 7. Flour hands and knead in the cranberries till distributed throughout
Step 8. Drop 1/3 cup fulls on ungreased baking sheet.
Step 9. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in scone comes out clean
Step 10. Set on wire rack to cool slightly - Serve warm

Makes approximately 1 dozen scones

Afterthoughts: Steps 7 and 8 are a bit messy. It is not a mistake, simply sticky steps.
The recipe is a tried and true winner developed in our kitchen but the photo is another story. It is a Weight Watchers Photo which looks like it was taken in our kitchen of our scone(it wasn't) It should encourage anyone who needs to drop a few pounds to look into their program

Dinner for Lions

Food issues are the subject of my Buck Cooks Blog but I do some writing on other subjects Old friends from Lansdowne keep asking me about life in Colorado and how a Philly guy handles the different life style. Sooo About once a month I'm going to incluide an article about the area in which Buck is doing all this cooking. Like a line from a famous movie slightly changed " You're not on Lansdowne anymore Buck.

Last week I wrote about a bear incident at our home in the Colorado mountains, It was an event that seemed to have some interest among old friends who know me as an East Coast big city guy. Dueling with 500 lb. Bears in the night seems somewhat like a scene from Raiders of The Lost Ark to my old friends in Philly. Not said in my article was the fact that I always have an exit strategy when dealing with the bears on our property. They seldom attack other mammals and sleep about 6 months of the year. Using common sense we do not particularly worry about the bears other than the yearly loss of a bird feeder.

Our mountain lions are another story. We have some resident lions in the neighborhood.
One friend does not go out or the house after dusk without carrying her Lion stick, which is a stout 4 foot long dowel. Asked why she was carrying such a stick she replied “ that damn lion has been prowling around my house almost every other day. If he decides to attack, I want something handy to give him What for.”

I am not exactly sure “what for” is but I think something more than a 4’ broom stick will be needed to give him “what for’. No matter what “what for” exactly is all about.

I have lived in the mountains for 10 years and never have seen a lion. My wife has, every neighbor has and my youngest grandson who lives a few miles below us on the edge of the mountains has seen 4 lions or one lion 4 times.

I worry that the lion has picked me out for some reason. If a lion doesn’t want to be seen you won’t see him. Since I am the only local that hasn’t seen one I figure they are checking me out for special treatment. I am starting to think that I need to be carrying something more than a broomstick when I walk down to the road after dark to get the mail.

Our lion(s) have not eaten any local people recently, but dogs frequently disappear without a trace. Last year our friends and neighbors George and Mary were sitting in their sun room at the end of the day having an after dinner, quiet moment. Their beautiful dog was playing on the deck a few feet away from where they were seated.

Suddenly over the rail a large lion pounced on the 30 lb dog and leaped back over the rail carrying the dog in his jaws. George is a big guy and followed the lion over the rail and into the woods. He never found the lion or any trace of their dog.

A few years ago our friend and neighbor Tamara heard a commotion on her front landing. She opened the door to find her dog being attacked by a young lion. Tamara is not about to let a lion eat any of her living relatives or pets and went after the lion with a broom. I’ve seen Tamara shovel snow and sweep a sidewalk. . Her broom skills came in handy because she beat off the lion, rushed her dog to town for stitching up and he lived for several more years

The grandson who has seen all the lions lives in town surrounded by homes at least ½ mile away from open space. A lion was caught by the Wildlife folks across the street from his house, 100 yards from the street on which he regularly skateboards. A little scary close.

It is well known that the lions are slowly moving down out of the mountains for several reasons. The deer are moving down into residential areas where they are protected from hunting by people. They are not protected from hunting by lions. The lions have found out that dogs and cats are an easy snack now and then on their trip to town for dinner.

My mountain neighbors defending hearth and home with broomsticks also may be a reason for their drift to lower elevations. I think I’d better work on my broomstick skills.
Unlike George charging into the woods after his lion with bare hands I need to think of a better defense/attack technique, just in case I need one