This has been a very crazy week! We were blessed with a great weekend last weekend! The Super Bowl teams fly in on Monday and Tuesday morning we are kicked in the butt by this wicked ice storm. It was like Wham Bam Thank You Mam! They said we had ice thunder. I am not sure what ice thunder is but Mother Nature said she was closing the city down! After several days of frozen tundra she threw several inches of snow at us Friday morning.
Schools would end up closed for the remainder of the week and I made an accidental snow angel when I busted my butt on some hidden ice underneath the fresh powder Friday Morning. My dogs thought it was extremely funny! I love where we live, but this winter has been pretty crazy! The
travel business was a little busier this week and my search for
full time employment continues. With the Super Bowl in town this weekend I thought I would share a very strange recipe called Wacky Fire Crackers!
It is not really strange, but I never would of thought all of these ingredients would make something so yummy! This very addicting cracker was first introduced to me at one of our tailgate parties before one of
Matt's football games at
Louisiana Tech! Tom & Sherry Toups from Southlake, TX shared this recipe with us and we have been making them ever since. You have to hang with me on this one! These crackers are like Lay's Potato Chips and you cannot just have one! Are you ready? Here we go! You start off with a box of your favorite saltine crackers and a gallon zip lock bag. Go ahead and empty your 4 sleeves of saltines into the zip lock bag.
Here comes the bizarre part. Take 1 3/4 cup of canola oil (That is correct 1 3/4 cup of canola oil) and mix it with 1 package of Hidden Valley Dry Ranch Dressing. Then you add anywhere from 3 - 4 TBS of dried crushed red peppers. You can add more if you like it hotter. Then you add 3 - TBS of dried dill. Mix all of this up until it is well incorporated. Here comes the fun part. You take this mixture and pour it all into the zip lock bag full of saltines. Don't be afraid! It works! You just have to trust me.
Go ahead and seal the zip lock bag and move the crackers back and forth in the bag until everything looks coated. Find a nice corner on your counter and toss every 15 minutes and set the bag on a new side of the zip lock bag. After an hour you should have had the crackers sit on each of the 4 sides of the zip lock bag. Another twist is to substitute the dill with dried oregano. You will now have a cracker that taste a little like a pizza. After an hour or so I get a sheet pan and line with some paper towels and pour the crackers onto the sheet pan.
Throw away your zip lock bag and get a new one. After about an hour put the crackers in your new zip lock bag. While your filling the bag go ahead and sample some of these crackers from heaven. I bet you will be a fan of these Wacky Fire Crackers. They taste even better after 24 hours. Serve them with your favorite dip, soup or whatever you want to load you new found love up with. We like them with guacamole or any type of cheese.
No matter what you top your cracker off with I hope you like these as much as we do. The Super Bowl is here and the weather looks like it is going to be nice for game day. No matter whom you are cheering for I hope you have a great Super Bowl Sunday. Family, Friends, Great Food, Great Commercials and Competitive Football make for a Great Day!
I hope you try this recipe. If you do, leave me a comment. I would love to know how it turned out. If you make any modifications with the herbs or peppers please share. I love experimentation with food! A special thanks to Tom & Sherry Toups for introducing this amazing recipe to us!
Find
something you enjoy and just do it! Life is way too short! Have fun and smile! You never know what tomorrow will bring! Until next time, “Cookin’ with John” will be playing with some more food ideas to share with you!
The day ended up quite nice! I finished and published my latest travel blog "Travelin' with John". The best thing of the day was that most, but not all of the snow and ice has melted. You can't see me, but I am doing a Happy Dance! The melted slush is like walking on an Icee. I would much rather be drinking one than walking on one. I think the dogs liked the snow better than the wet slush! They walk like they are walking on fire! Oh well at least we are thawing out a bit before the next winter weirdness hits. Since we just finished up our Wacky Fire Crackers recipe I thought I would share a cheese ball recipe that my mother-n-law has made as long as I can remember, so that must be a long time. 
All I know is whenever she makes it that it is always a battle to take home any of leftover cheese ball. The majority of the time this famous cheese ball is devoured once it hits the table. In honor of my mother-n-law I have named this signature recipe "Cheese Ball a la Margaret" I am not sure how something with a few ingredients can taste like heaven on a cracker, but it does! Let's get started! You need 2 - 8oz packages of cream cheese at room temperature, Worcestershire sauce, Accent, 5 - 6 green onions with the tops and 2 packs of Budding Beef. 
I told you there were only a few ingredients. You will need a medium size bowl. Go ahead and chop your green onions and the 2 packs of Buddings Beef. Make sure and reserve 1/2 of your chopped beef. Add your 2 - 8oz packages of room temperature cream cheese to your bowl. Then add 3 TBS of Worcestershire sauce, 1 TSP of Accent and the chopped green onions. Mix this very well and then add 1/2 of the chopped beef. 
At this point I put the cheese ball mixture in the refrigerator to firm up just a little bit. Once the cheese ball mixture has firmed up go ahead and form it into 1 ball or 2 balls depending on how big you want your cheese ball to be. Roll out a sheet of wax paper and put your cheese ball on the wax paper. Then take your remaining chopped beef and completely cover the cheese ball. You should have a work of art in front of you. It's ok, you can admire it before you wrap in the wax paper. You should have an amazing aroma in your kitchen right now! I would put it in your refrigerator and let it setup before you serve it. 
There are a couple of other items that you can add to your cheese ball like chopped jalapeños or several dashes of your favorite hot sauce. I have made many different variations of this recipe, but I always fall back to the original recipe. Also if you want a firmer cheese ball then cut your Worcestershire sauce down to TBS. When you’re ready to serve grab your favorite cracker and enjoy. I bet you fall in love with this recipe as our family has. Just make sure if you take it to a party that you claim dibs on the leftovers if there are any. I want to thank my mother-n-law for sharing this recipe with me. She is an amazing cook and I hope to share many more of her recipes. Thanks Meggie! Love You! After you make this recipe shoot me a note or post a comment and let me know how you liked it. 
If you make any modifications please share. I love to experiment with food and recipes. If you have a favorite recipe you want to share please send it to me. I would love to make it and then write about it! Happy Super Bowl Sunday and may your favorite yellow team win! Thanks for following “Cookin’ with John”. Find something you enjoy and just do it! Life is way too short! Have fun and smile! You never know what tomorrow will bring! Until next time, “Cookin’ with John” will be playing with some more food ideas to share with you!
