The Firecracker Recipes

Steps:

• Bring sugar and 3/4 cup water to a boil in a small pot. Reduce heat, and simmer, stirring, until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat, and let cool. Simple syrup can be refrigerated up to 2 weeks.
• Combine syrup, cherries, and gin in a 3-quart pitcher, and refrigerate until cold, at least 2 hours and up to 6 hours. Stir in lemon juice and wine. Serve over ice, and garnish with lemon slices.

Steps:

• Whisk the canola oil, crushed red pepper flakes, ranch dressing mix, and chili powder together in a bowl.
• Divide the saltine crackers evenly into 2 1-gallon-sized sealable bags. Pour the oil mixture evenly over the crackers. Seal the bag and flip to allow the oil mixture to run over the crackers for 5 minutes; flip again. Repeat the flipping every five minutes to evenly coat the crackers for about 1 hour. Remove the crackers from the bags and spread onto large platters. Allow to sit overnight before serving.

Steps:

• Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish.
• Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and stir the ground beef with the onion in the hot skillet until completely browned, 7 to 10 minutes; drain any excess fat. Stir the black beans, chili powder, cumin, and salt to the beef mixture; cook and stir until hot, about 5 minutes. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Arrange the tortillas atop the beef mixture.
• Mix the tomatoes with green chile peppers and cream of mushroom soup together in a bowl; spread over the tortillas. Top with the Cheddar cheese.
• Bake in the preheated oven until cooked through and the cheese is melted completely, 25 to 30 minutes.

Steps:

• Place the vegetable oil, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, ranch dressing mix, and crushed red pepper flakes in a 2-gallon plastic zipper bag. Seal the bag and smoosh with your hands to thoroughly combine the oil and spices. Place the crackers into the bag, seal, and turn the bag over to cover the crackers with the spice mix. Let the bag sit for about 1 hour, then turn again. Repeat several more times until the crackers are well-coated with spice mix, and allow the bag to sit overnight. Remove crackers and serve.