Ore Ida Totchos Recipe and Review-Influenster Jingle VoxBox

Last month I received the Jingle VoxBox from Influenster. It featured a lot of nice products in it and one of them was a coupon to pick up some Ore Ida tater tots. And they challenged up to come up with our own version of totchos (tater tot nachos). You can check out the Ore Ida Totchos Hub for more recipe ideas. I decided to go with a Greek theme for my version of totchos-tater tots, chicken, feta, cucumber, tomato and tzatziki. Here's the recipe so you can enjoy them too.

1 1/2lbs. chicken breast - seasoned with greek seasoning and sautéed and chopped
tomatoes - chopped
cucumber - chopped
tzatziki sauce
feta cheese crumbles

Cook the tater tots and top with chopped chicken, tzatziki sauce, cucumber, tomato and feta cheese.

I thought the tater tots were nice and crispy when I deep fried them. They have a nice texture to them and I like how versatile they are.

*Disclaimer: I received this product complimentary to test from Influenster. The above thoughts are my own honest ones.*

Scallion and Goat Cheese Muffins!

Today I decided to try out another one of the recipes in my muffin book. I decided to try out the Scallion and Goat Cheese Muffins. They aren't bad but I think they need some herbs. I am thinking perhaps some of Penzey's sandwich sprinkle. Or you could use the goat cheese that already has herbs on it. I think I may try a sweet muffin recipe next. Here's the recipe in case you want to try it. *Note: Muffins pictured only have 4 oz of goat cheese in them and a little less scallions than the recipe called for. *

Scallion and Goat Cheese Muffins
adapted from: 1 Mix, 100 Muffins by: Susanna Tee
Makes about a dozen

Ingredients:
oil or melted butter, for greasing (if using on muffin pan)
2 cups of flour
1 tbsp. of baking powder
1/8 of salt
a pinch of freshly ground black pepper (didn't use)
1 bunch of scallions, finely chopped
5 1/2 oz of goat cheese, finely diced or crumbled
2 large eggs
1 cup of buttermilk
6 tbsp. of oil or melted, cooled butter

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. (200 degrees Celsius) Grease a 12-cup muffin pan or line with a dozen paper liners. Sift together the baking powder, flour, salt, and pepper to taste into a large bowl. Stir in the goat cheese and scallions.

Lightly beat the eggs in a large bowl or pitcher, then beat in the oil and buttermilk. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the beaten liquid ingredients. Stir gently until just combined, be careful not to over mix.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pan. Bake in a preheated oven for about twenty minutes, until well risen, golden brown, and firm to the touch.
Let the muffins cool in the pan for approximately 5 minutes. Then serve them warm.

Cheese Fritters!

I decided to try out a recipe from my "Tapas" book the other day. I have wanted to try some of these recipes for a while now and finally got around to trying one out. These are pretty good but for some reason the fritter mixture was a bit to sticky. Also, the gorgonzola cheese didn't taste that strong for some reason, next time I think I will use more or perhaps try a hard cheese instead. Or perhaps some ham would be good too. The recipe makes a lot more than I thought. I ate a few earlier today that I heated up in the oven and they still tasted good. :)

Cheese Fritters
adapted from "Tapas" by Tomas Garcia

yields approximately 25

2 1/2 pounds of russet potatoes
1/2 stick of butter
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup of blue cheese or hard cheese (used gorgonzola)
salt and pepper
2 Tbsp parsley
1/2 teaspoon of grated nutmeg
1 tsp mustard powder
3-4 Tbsp flour
2 large eggs, beaten
6 Tbsp seasoned panko bread crumbs
1 1/2 cups oil for deep frying

Boil the potatoes, then drain and mash with the butter. Mix in the eggs and cheese. Season with salt and pepper, adding the parsley, grated nutmeg, and mustard powder. This should be a firm but not overly smooth mixture. Let it cool.

Take about a tablespo0n of the mixture and form into fritters. Roll the fritters in the flour then coat in the beaten egg and lastly roll in the bread crumbs.

Heat the oil in a large, heavy-duty saucepan until the temperature reaches 350 degrees F. Fry in small batches for about 5 minutes until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon, drain on paper towels, and serve immediately.