For Joel’s birthday dinner, I wanted to do something other than chips and salsa and ended up just gathering things from the pantry and fridge to create this winning combination. I had several bags of chips opened up (who doesn’t?!), so I used the leftovers in all 4 bags which included tortilla chips, sweet potato chips, pretzels, and seed chips. These were to be our dipping vessels. I then went to the fridge and grabbed a handful of items to be mixed together to become the dip itself. And what we ended up with, when all was said and done, was a basket of Mexican seasoned chips and a bowl of cilantro cream. The chips were perfectly zesty and the cilantro cream was so delicious that we ended up using the leftovers on our tacos the next night, and I even caught Joel licking it off his plate. And on Monday, we had all the traditional Chex Mix ingredients, so we turned one of our batches into a Mex Chex Mix.

Cilantro Cream

• 1/4 cup Greek yogurt, plain

• 1/4 cup mayo (I use Whole Food’s 365 Light Mayo)

• 1/4 cup reduced fat cream cheese
  

• 1 cup fresh cilantro (loosely packed)

• 3 roasted garlic cloves

• 3 tablespoons roughly chopped onion

• Dash of hot sauce

• Salt and pepper to taste

  Place all ingredients into food processor and process until smooth and creamy. Serve with chips, veggies, on tacos, or even tossed in a salad.

Mex Chex Mix

• 4 cups chips (tortilla style)

• 1 Tablespoon Mexican seasoning

• 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Place oil and seasoning into a small bowl and stir. Pour about half the mixture onto a cookie sheet. Place chips onto cookie sheet and begin to toss chips gently with hands, making sure the seasoning mixture is begin to coat them. Drizzle the remaining seasoning mixture over the top of chips and toss again. Place in a preheated 350 degree over. Bake 10 min., stir, and bake an additional 10 min. Pull out of oven and allow to cool.