Jalapeno Cheese Ball

This started out as several different recipes that I spent quite a few tries tweaking. I believe I have finally perfected it! It's hard to make it come out spicy. This was successful. You can adjust any of the spicy ingredients to your taste, and vary the types of cheese as well.

Edited to add: on Day 2 the spiciness is increased. It really is very spicy. Using regular pepper jack will bring that down a lot but you may want to lessen the amount of juice (none of that is necessary at all). Play with it to your own taste but i wanted to let you know that sitting overnight increases it!

Recipe Ingredients

2 cups Cream cheese, softened
2 cup Cheddar cheese, shredded
2 cups Pepper jack cheese, shredded (see note below)
1/4 cup green onions, finely chopped
3 Tbsp. jalapeno peppers, minced
3 Tbsp. juice from jalapeno jar
½ tsp cayenne pepper

Chopped or ground nuts, or crushed corn or tortilla chip crumbs, if desired

Recipe Directions

Combine all of the ingredients until thoroughly mixed and the lumps have been worked out of the cream cheese.

Serve as a dip/spread, or make into a ball:

Lightly spray food release on your hands and gather the cheese mix with your hands to form a ball.

Roll the cheese ball in ground nuts or chip crumbs until completely coated. This makes 1 HUGE or 2 normal sized cheese balls.

Notes:

• This can be made 2-3 days ahead. Seal cheese ball in plastic wrap and place in refrigerator until ready to use. Before serving, allow chilled cheese ball to sit at room temperature for an hour to soften.
• To use as a dip or spread, allow it to soften a bit before serving.
• Pepper Jack Cheese - I used 3 Alarm Pepper Jack, available at Sam's Club. This was the secret to the perfect amount of spicy, in my opinion. If you use regular pepper jack, you will need to add more jalapenos to get it spicier. Do not add more pepper juice unless you're making dip, as it will make it too soft.

Taco Skillet

Found on a low carb recipe site. Everyone loved this! The kids ate some in tortillas and some plain, and pronounced it good both ways. No one asked what the cabbage was. I suppose you could chop it really small if your kids will give you problems over it. You could not taste it but it did add some nice texture. Our kids are adventurous so we don't have to hide things from them - knock on wood!

Taco Skillet

2 pounds ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 batches of Taco seasoning

1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained *

16 oz. package coleslaw mix, or equivalent shredded cabbage

salt and pepper to taste

4 oz. shredded cheddar cheese

Optional garnishes: sour cream, cilantro, diced black olives, extra cheese

* I used a can and a half of Rotel tomatoes.

Brown the meat with the onion and garlic in a large skillet; drain. Add the seasoning and tomatoes. Simmer, uncovered, 5 minutes. Add the cabbage and cook, uncovered for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle the cheese on top, cover and cook for 2 minutes more until the cheese melts. Stir the cheese in slightly before serving. Add the garnishes if desired.