Last night was a yummy fondue night, and I figured it was time to share a recipe.

My mother in law is French Canadian, which means cheese fondue is a comfort food meal for my husband.  That’s in stark contrast to my typical Midwestern experience with fondue, which was a single trip to a Melting Pot restaurant sometime in the 80’s.  However, I now love fondue as much as I love the other wonderful foods my husband and his family have introduced me to:  smoked meat, poutine, tourtiere….I could go on and on, but those are recipes that deserve their own posts.

Back to fondue.  You don’t REALLY need a fondue pot, or fondue forks.  If you have a fondue set, by all means dig it out, dust it off and use it.  If you don’t, grab yourself a medium sized pot and some forks.  To be fair, you can likely find ready made fondue in your local grocery store (deli section, or gourmet food section).  It’s in a box, and it’s perfectly good.  However, for about the same price, you can make much better fondue from scratch and have more fun doing it.

It’s easy and it’s yummy. It’s not necessarily figure friendly, so while my husband probably had cheese fondue as a meal several times a month growing up, it’s now a treat we indulge in every couple of months.

Ingredients:

1 c. white wine (don’t over think this; just use any white wine you like, and enjoy the rest of the bottle with dinner)

8 oz. shredded swiss cheese

8 oz. shredded gruyere cheese

2 TBSP. all purpose flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg (go crazy, get some fresh nutmeg and run it across your grater)

Big loaf of freshly baked French bread, cut into bite size cubes

Simmer the wine in the pot.  Add cheese one handful at a time, and stir to melt.  A whisk is best.  After all the cheese has been incorporated and melted, sprinkle in the flour and continue to stir until smooth.  Stir in the salt and nutmeg.

Grab your bread and dig in! Of course, you can dip anything you want:  apples, pears, vegetables, and of course crusty bread.  Experiment and ENJOY!

So I make these bacon wrapped stuffed jalapenos after my friend Brian made them for a get together.  They’re big hits whenever I make them.  I deconstructed it a bit and came up with a wonton/rangoon recipe. Big hit again.  I’m glad I have jalapenos planted in the garden this year, because we’ll be making these babies a LOT!

• 1 pkg. Wonton wrappers (about 50 to a package)
• 12 oz. cream cheese (1 & 1/2 packages)
• 1/2 c. mayonnaise
• 1 lb. bacon, diced and cooked
• 6 jalapenos, roasted, chopped and seeded.  (Leave some seeds in if you want to increase the heat
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 c. finely shredded monterey jack or pepper jack cheese
• oil for frying (or can be baked if you’d rather cut the calories)

To roast the peppers, just put them whole in a pie pan and  bake in a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes.

Mix cream cheese, mayonnaise, shredded cheese and garlic until well blended and smooth.  This works better if the cream cheese is at room temperature.

Fold in the diced bacon and jalapenos.

Fill center of wrapper with about 3/4 a tsp. of filling, then seal tightly. Don’t kill yourself to make them pretty.  You can follow the helpful filling directions on the back of the wonton package, or leave them in little triangles, or make little hats out of them, or shape them like swans.  It doesn’t matter.  Just make sure they’re sealed so all the inner goodness doesn’t seep out and ruin your oil.

Fry in hot oil about 90 seconds, or until golden brown.  If baking, a quick spritz with cooking spray and 375 degrees will yield a nicely browned wrapper in about 12 minutes.

Use your favorite dipping sauce if you’d like one.  My husband likes the standard sweet & sour, I made a quick peach/mango sauce out of preserves, and I’m guessing raspberry would be yummy.

I wanted something “summery fresh” to have this weekend to snack on.  Since it’s going to be hot outside, I decided on a mango pico to have with tortilla chips.  (It’s also yummy on fish tacos, but don’t tell anyone)  It’s best if you can refrigerate for a few hours so the flavors can meld.

• 1 small bunch cilantro, chopped, tough stems removed (to make about 1/3 c.)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced fine
• 3 roma tomatoes, chopped, seeds removed
• 1/2 large red onion, chopped fine
• 1/2 orange or red or yellow bell pepper, chopped fine
• 1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped fine
• 1 ripe mango, finely diced
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• juice of 1 lime

Mince garlic and then macerate with the salt.  Add all other ingredients and mix well.