Southwest Appetizer Cheesecake

Total Time: 2 hrs 10 mins Preparation Time: 45 mins Cook Time: 1 hr 25 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 10
• plain tortilla chips or nacho cheese flavored tortilla chips
• 2 tablespoons margarine, melted
• 1 cup cottage cheese
• 3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 4 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chilies, well drained
• 1 (8 ounce) container sour cream
• 1 (8 ounce) container jalapeno cheddar cheese dip (i use frito-lay)
• 1 cup chopped tomato
• 1/2 cup green onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup sliced sliced pitted black olives

Recipe

• 1 place tortilla chips in a large ziploc bag.
• 2 finely crush chips with mallet or rolling pin to measure 2/3 cup.
• 3 preheat oven to 325 degrees.
• 4 combine crushed chips and margarine; press onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan.
• 5 bake 15 minutes.
• 6 meanwhile, process cottage cheese in processor or blender until smooth.
• 7 beat cream cheese and cottage cheese in large bowl with and electric mixer on med. speed until well blended.
• 8 add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing well after each addition.
• 9 stir in cheddar cheese and chilies.
• 10 pour mixture over baked crust.
• 11 return to oven; bake 60 minutes.
• 12 combine sour cream and dip in small bowl; mix thoroughly.
• 13 remove cheesecake from oven and carefully pour sour cream mixture evenly over top.
• 14 return cheesecake to oven; bake 10 minutes more.
• 15 remove cheesecake from oven.
• 16 let stand at room temperature to cool slightly.
• 17 loosen cake from rim of pan; cool completely before removing rim.
• 18 refrigerate cheesecake until ready to serve.
• 19 just before serving, top with the tomatoes, green onions and olives.
• 20 cut into wedges to serve.
• 21 note: the 8 oz. cans of jalepeño cheddar dip are found, usually, on the rack in front of the tortilla chips, and potato chips.