Broccoli and Hearts of Palm Dip

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Last week I shared a recipe for Broccoli Pesto. I am still experimenting with broccoli (boy, did I buy a lot of broccoli), and came up with this delicious, you-won’t-believe-it’s-broccoli, dip. It is complex and wonderfully flavorful, and works well with crackers, toasted bread strips, or, enjoy it as I do, on a slice of toast and run under the broiler. It’s a tasty and effortless way to effortlessly consume a daily portion of vegetables.

Broccoli and Hearts of Palm Dip

 1 c. broccoli florets, chopped

½ c. chopped Melissa’s hearts of palm

2 T. chopped onion

2 T. chopped Melissa’s Sweet Red Bell Peppers

1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

½ c. Duke’s mayonnaise

½ c. sour cream

¼ c. grated fresh Parmesan cheese

½ t. Melissa’s chopped garlic

Few gratings coarsely ground black pepper

2 T. Parmesan cheese

 Preheat oven to 375° F.

 Place all ingredients into a medium mixing bowl and fold it together until combined. Pour into a 1.5-quart casserole dish, and top with the remaining 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

 

 

Smoky White Bean Queso Dip

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A major staple in my diet during my high school years was jalapeño bean dip. That, and a bag of nacho cheese Doritos, and I was good to go. Good times. It wasn’t the greatest diet for a growing teenage girl, but at least the beans provided protein. It could’ve been a lot worse. Today, that love for bean dip continues, only now instead of buying it in a can, I make my own. This recipe is a favorite. If you like it extra spicy, feel free to add more jalapeños. Me? I think it’s perfect as it is.

Smoky White Bean Queso Dip

1 8-oz. pkg. cream cheese, room temperature
1 10-oz. can [Rotel] diced tomatoes with green chiles, drained
1 15-oz. can white chili beans, drained
½ t. kosher salt
¼ - ½ t. cumin
Few gratings coarsely ground black pepper

In a medium microwave safe bowl, combine cream cheese and tomatoes, and microwave on high for one minute. Stir in beans and microwave again for two minutes, stirring after one minute, until the cheese has melted and the mixture is smooth. Add remaining ingredients, and serve warm with tortilla chips. Garnish as desired.

Juniper Baked Pimiento Cheese Dip

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If you are anything like me, i.e. someone who enjoys reading new recipes, then you are probably as eager as I am every Wednesday for the food section in the local paper, whether you read it digitally or a hard-copy. And, if, also like me, you are a fan of pimento cheese, have I got a recipe for you!

Juniper, a Southern Table and Bar, in downtown St. Louis offered up their recipe for this zippy, flavorful pimiento cheese that is baked. Like all pimiento cheese, it is easy to put together, and, as I always do, make it easy on myself by using Melissa’s Fire Roasted Sweet Bell Peppers rather than roasting my own (as they suggested in their recipe). One taste, and this quickly rose to my top five favorite pimiento cheeses, in a list that boasts more than two dozen varieties.

Here is my adaptation of their recipe. While this one is baked, it is just as good cold, and has as many uses as you can imagine, including being stuffed into celery, dolloped on top of a burger or hotdog, added to a steaming bowl of chili or tomato soup, or simply as the hot dip that it was intended. Juniper includes pickles among their dippers, as well as a type of bread that is similar to pita or to the Indian bread naan. Choose your favorites here. There is no end to the way that you can enjoy this.

Juniper Baked Pimiento Cheese Dip
Slightly adapted from the original in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Yield: 8 servings (as if!)

1 Melissa’s Fire Roasted Sweet Bell Pepper, minced
¼ pound yellow cheddar cheese
¼ pound white cheddar cheese
¼ cup Duke’s mayonnaise
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
¾ teaspoon smoked paprika (no substitutions!)
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon Crystal hot sauce
1 tablespoon garlic-dill pickle juice
Salt to taste
2 tablespoons cornbread crumbs
2 tablespoons minced fresh Italian parsley

The dip is baked and served in cast iron at Juniper, which helps it retain heat. You may use individual 6- or 8-ounce ramekins for this appetizer. Adjust the timing of the baking accordingly.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF, or 325ºF for glass pans.

Grate the cold cheddar cheeses using the large holes on a box grater or a food processor fitted with a grating disc. Toss the cheeses together in a mixing bowl. Add the diced red peppers and fold into the cheese.

In a separate mixing bowl, blend the mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, smoked paprika and cayenne pepper. Stir the mix into the cheeses. Add hot sauce and pickle juice and stir to blend evenly. Taste. Add salt if needed.

 

Transfer the mixed dip into a 1-½ quart baking dish. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove and top with cornbread crumbs. Return to the oven and bake an additional 5 to 7 minutes.
Remove to a wire rack to cool slightly. Top with chopped parsley. Serve with assorted pickles, breads or crackers.

Garlic Bread Dip

I’m not proud of this, but sometimes I have dip for supper. These days I’m busy and I just don’t want to be bothered. I wake up in the morning with the best of intentions of making an excellent meal, and by day’s end, whatever I can heat up in the oven and hold on my lap while watching the ball game works for me.

As you may know from my earlier post about Cheesy Garlic Bread, I do love my bread and cheese, particularly when garlic is involved. I recently ran across this recipe, cut it in half, altered it, and it made the perfect high-calorie, artery-clogging, dinner for baseball-watching me. I dipped ribs of celery and toasted bread cubes into it, but dip whatever you like. It’s going to be good no matter what.

By the way, if you have any dip left over, it is marvelous piled on top of fresh mushrooms and broiled. I used a cookie scoop to top these mushrooms, and broiled them until the tops were pleasantly bronzed. Delish!

Garlic Bread Dip

1 8-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 c. sour cream
1 T. Melissa’s roasted, chopped garlic
1 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
1½ c. Shredded Italian Blend Cheese
1 c. grated sharp cheddar cheese
Paprika
Garlic powder
Chopped fresh parsley
Toasted bread cubes or your dipping favorites

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 1-quart baking dish with Pam. I used this one.

In a medium bowl and with a hand-held electric mixer, combine cream cheese, sour cream, garlic, mozzarella, Italian cheese blend, and cheddar cheese. Beat until all the ingredients are well blended. Spread in your prepared baking dish and bake for 20 minutes or until hot, and mixture bubbles around the edges. Remove from oven and sprinkle with onion powder, paprika, and chopped parsley. Serve.

 PRINT RECIPE

Can’t get enough baked dip? Try this Hot Corn Dip with sweet, fresh, summer corn.

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Hot Corn Dip

I know you are probably thinking that I have gone a bit over the edge with this corn thing. I’m sure you’re thinking that the next time I go to the supermarket I should bypass the “5 ears for $1” bin. Perhaps I should, but you will be thanking me when you try this recipe. It is a wonderful combination of fresh corn, cream cheese, and cheddar, baked until bubbly, and so delicious that you’ll want to skip the crackers and just spoon it directly into your mouth. It’s good hot or cold, but do bake it, because it brings out the wonderful flavor of the sweet corn of summer.

By the way, if you are one of those people who believe the myth that corn has no nutritional value, you couldn’t be more wrong. Corn contains certain B vitamins and vitamin C, as well as magnesium and potassium. Yellow corn contains two antioxidants, zeaxanthin and lutein. Never apologize for loving corn!

Hot Corn Dip

6-oz cream cheese, softened

1½ T. Ranch dressing mix

3 strips bacon, fried crisp and crumbled

2 scallions, chopped

1½ cups shredded cheddar cheese
¼ cup chopped Melissa’s Roasted Red Peppers

½ cup sour cream

2 cups fresh corn kernels

Salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray a 1½-quart casserole dish with non-stick spray; set aside.

Mix ingredients thoroughly. Turn into casserole dish and bake for 25 to 30 minutes until hot and bubbly.

PRINT RECIPE

If you want a hot dip for your fall parties that is a real crowd pleaser, you can’t go wrong with Superior Pecan Spread.

This post is linked to:

Happiness is Homemade Sunday

What’s for Dinner Sunday

Dishing It & Digging It

Cooking & Crafting with J&J

Amaze Me Monday

Busy Mondays

Over the Moon

Celebrate Your Story

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Baked Pimiento Cheese Dip

If you are a regular reader of this blog, then you know about my obsession with pimiento cheese. With the weather turning cooler, I decided to heat things up a bit by making a warm pimento cheese dip. Oh my heaven, is this stuff good! To make things even better, I used, as dippers, toasted pieces of Pimiento Cheese Bread that I made. (The recipe for this is coming later in the week.) With football season upon us and the holidays ahead, this is a dip you are going to want to have in your repertoire.

Baked Pimiento Cheese Dip

1/2 pkg. cream cheese, 4 oz
1/2 cup Duke's mayonnaise
½ 7 oz-jar Melissa's Fire Roasted Sweet Red Bell Peppers, drained
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup grated pepper jack cheese
1/2 tsp. hot sauce
1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. sugar
Pinch cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly spray a 2-quart baking dish with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.

In work bowl of food processor, pulse cream cheese until smooth. Add mayonnaise, pulsing to mix. Add peppers pulsing until coarsely chopped. Add cheeses, hot sauce, Worcestershire, salt, sugar, and cayenne, pulsing until combined. Spoon mixture into prepared dish. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until bubbly and lightly browned. Serve warm with your choice of dippers.

PRINT RECIPE 

This post is linked to: Wow Us Wednesday, Wine’d Down Wednesday, Wake up Wednesday, Full Plate Thursday, Thursday Favorite Things, Share Your Style, Coffee and Conversation, and Foodie Friday & Everything Else

Artichoke Butter in Phyllo Cups

Sometimes I'm a bit slow on the uptake. For example, only recently have I discovered the convenience and crunchy deliciousness of frozen mini phyllo cups. Where have these been all my life? They are amazing!  Crisp them up a bit in the oven and fill them with any and every luscious filling you can think of, bake, and serve to appreciative and amazed guests. Fill them with lemon curd or pipe them full to bursting with chocolate mousse and you have one heck of a delicious hand-held dessert. This product goes on my list of favorites.

For a snack prior to my annual St. Patrick's Day dinner I decided to fill them with Artichoke Butter. I made the filling the day prior and stored it in a sealed container in the fridge. About fifteen minutes before I intended to serve them I dolloped a healthy teaspoon (to a teaspoon and a half) of the mixture into the cups and baked at 350°F for 10-12 minutes. Yummy!   

Artichoke Butter

1 6.34-ounce package Melissa's Steamed Artichoke hearts, finely chopped*
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Mix all ingredients together until thoroughly blended. Fill thawed and oven crisped phyllo cups, and bake for 10-12 minutes.

*If using canned or frozen artichoke hearts, drain, chop finely, and measure out one cup.

This post is linked to:

Creative Ways

Create It Thursday

Full Plate Thursday

Foodie Friday

Friday Finds