Showing posts with label tailgating. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tailgating. Show all posts

Thursday, October 16, 2025

Sun-Dried Tomato Dip – A Flavorful, Versatile Spread

 
I’m a self-proclaimed dip enthusiast—give me a fridge stocked with hummus, tapenades, spreads, and dips, and I’m a happy camper. There’s something so satisfying about having a variety of flavorful spreads on hand. Whether I’m slathering them onto crackers to accompany soup or salad, spreading them on baguette slices and popping them under the broiler for a quick appetizer, or setting out a bowl for unexpected guests to enjoy with drinks, dips are my go-to for versatility and flavor.

 One recipe that’s recently caught my attention is Ina Garten’s Sun-Dried Tomato Dip from FoodNetwork.com. It’s a creamy, tangy blend of sun-dried tomatoes, cream cheese, sour cream, mayonnaise, and scallions with a kick of hot red pepper sauce. I had some sun-dried tomatoes languishing in my pantry, and this recipe was the perfect way to put them to good use. With a yield of about 2 cups, it’s just the right amount for a small gathering or to keep in the fridge for snacking.

 Here’s my take on Ina’s recipe, with one tweak: I cut the kosher salt in half. Trust me, the original 1 teaspoon of kosher salt felt like overkill to my taste buds, and if you’re using regular table salt, it could turn this dip into a salty brine. So, proceed with caution and adjust to your preference. Other than that, this dip is a winner! It’s bursting with the summery flavor of sun-dried tomatoes and scallions, yet it feels just as at home in the fall for tailgating or cozy entertaining. Bonus: it gets even tastier after a night in the fridge, letting those flavors meld into something truly garden-fresh and irresistible.

Sun-Dried Tomato Dip

¼ c. Melissa’s sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped (about 8 tomatoes)

1 8-oz. pkg. cream cheese, at room temperature

½ c. sour cream

½ c. Duke’s mayonnaise

10 drops hot red pepper sauce

½ t. kosher salt (or less, to taste)

¾ t. freshly ground black pepper

 2 scallions, thinly sliced (white and green parts)

 In a food processor fitted with a metal blade, puree the sun-dried tomatoes, cream cheese, sour cream, mayonnaise, hot red pepper sauce, salt, and pepper until smooth.

Add the scallions and pulse twice to incorporate.

Serve at room temperature with crackers, veggies, or baguette slices. For a warm twist, spread on baguette slices and broil until bubbly.

 Yield: 2 cups

Keeps in the fridge for up to a week; flavors improve overnight.

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Wednesday, July 3, 2019

Sweet and Tangy Root Beer Meatballs

Last night before I went to bed, I had great ambitions for today.  In addition into cleaning and straightening, I told myself that I was going to try a new recipe for a Spanish Beef and Noodle dish, so got out a 1-pound package of ground chuck and put it in the refrigerator to thaw. After I went to the dentist today (good check up, my teeth are sparkling), and got home (having had to take numerous detours because of construction), my enthusiasm had waned. These meatballs (also a new recipe) seemed so much easier to deal with, and I enjoyed them with some bagged salad, and a scoop of Bob Evans’ mashed potatoes. Dinner!
Sweet and Tangy Root Beer Meatballs
 
1 lb. ground chuck
½ c. Italian breadcrumbs
1 large egg
1/3 c. milk
2 T. dried minced onion
1 T. dried parsley flakes
1 t. kosher salt
1/8 t. freshly ground black pepper
1/8 t. freshly grated nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray a 7” x 11” baking dish with Pam; set aside.

Mix together above ingredients until thoroughly combined; form into small to medium-size meatballs, placing each into prepared dish as you do.

Whisk together the following ingredients and pour the mixture over the top of the meatballs:

1 c. tomato sauce
1 c.
Rogue root beer
2 T. Worcestershire sauce
1 t. prepared mustard
¼ t.
dried minced garlic 

Bake for 60 minutes until the liquid is bubbly, and meatballs are done. Remove from oven and allow to rest 10 minutes before serving.

If you think Italian-style when you think meatballs, you will love these.



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Friday, November 2, 2018

Hot Jalapeño and Hearts of Palm Dip


National Dip Day isn’t until March 23rd, and there isn’t a National Hot Dip Day (Can you imagine?!), but I couldn’t wait to share this delicious hot dip with you. Perfect for the current tailgate season, and upcoming holiday season, it is flavorful, and spicy, and cheesy, and so delicious. It contains two of my new favorite ingredients, pickled jalapeños and hearts of palm, and works equally well as a hot dip with chips or crackers, as it does atop little rye rounds and run under the broiler. You have the option of making it as spicy or mild as you like by either removing the seeds and veins from the jalapeños, or just going crazy and leaving them in. My guess is that this isn’t a wildly used combination, so when you make this you will be unique among your friends. You must give this one a try.
Hot Jalapeño and Hearts of Palm Dip

1 14.5-oz. jar
Melissa‘s Hearts of Palm
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
¼ cup Parmesan cheese
½ cup minced
Melissa’s Pickled Jalapeños
½ cup chopped scallions
¼ cup sour cream
¾ cup mayonnaise
Salt and pepper, to taste
Chopped parsley for garnish

Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray a 9” pie or
quiche/tart pan with cooking spray; set aside.

Mix all ingredients EXCEPT parsley in a medium mixing bowl until creamy. Turn into prepared pan. Bake for 25 minutes until hot and bubbly. Remove from oven and set on a cooling rack and allow it to cool for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.

Need another hot dip to try? This Superior Pecan Spread has been a crowd-pleasing family favorite for decades. Even the kids love it!



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Monday, September 10, 2018

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
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.

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.



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Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Spinach Artichoke Dip Cheesy Bread

If, like me, you are a fan of both cheese garlic bread and spinach artichoke dip, then this recipe from Anna at Crunchy Creamy Sweet is soon going to be one of your favorites. I spent the weekend making salads of one kind or other, and figured I needed some cheesy garlic bread to go along with it. While a salad alone is certainly a meal, it doesn't seem quite complete without a roll or delicious piece of bread.

I cut this recipe in half, froze a portion of it, and have every confidence that it's going to reheat just fine. This strikes me as something that would be a meal in itself, or an excellent appetizer for your tailgating or (looking ahead) Super Bowl spread. Give it a try, but I warn you, it is addicting!

Spinach Artichoke Dip Cheesy Bread
Slightly adapted from crunchycreamysweet.com

1 loaf of Italian bread, split in half lengthwise
1/2 cup butter, softened
6 ounces cream cheese, softened
5 tablespoons sour cream
5 tablespoons mayo
114-ounce can of artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 package Ranch Dressing Mix
Pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
110-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, and water squeezed out
1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

Preheat oven to 400°F.

In a medium mixing bowl, mix together cream cheese, sour
cream, and mayo. Stir in artichokes, spinach, ranch dressing mix, salt, pepper, and 1/4 cup mozzarella (reserve the rest for topping). Mix until well combined.

Place bread, cut sides up, on a baking sheet. Spread softened butter equally over the tops of each. Cover with a sheet of aluminum foil. Bake for 7 minutes. Remove from the oven, and top with a dip mix, spreading evenly to coat. Sprinkle the top with the remaining mozzarella cheese. Return to oven and bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Cool to room temperature before slicing and serving.

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Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Baked Summer Sausage with Apricot Mustard Glaze


If you are anything like me, then you probably have difficulty resisting a sale. Recently I succumbed to a sale on smoked sausage. I like smoke sausage, I really do, but I don't think I need quite as much as I ended up with. As I was un-bagging my haul, I thought to myself, huh, what am I going to do with all of this smoked sausage? Naturally, a trip to the web was in order.

After stumbling upon and trying this Apricot and Mustard Glazed Smoked Sausage, I am now wondering if I bought enough. This is so good! Not only is it good, but it's very easy, and look how beautiful it appears on the plate. 

This would work well as a starter, appetizer, or hors d'oeuvre, as you see here, plated with a variety of Melissa's Muscato Grapes, and those addictingly delicious Sweet Potato Tortilla Chips from Wickedly Prime. It would also work well at an evening meal alongside a mound of coleslaw, and hot German potato salad. This is a true fall dish, sure to be a welcome addition to whatever spread you put out for your weekend football parties, or (thinking ahead) Super Bowl. Whenever, or however you serve it, you have to try this. You won't regret it.
Baked Summer Sausage with Apricot Mustard Glaze
From melaniecooks.com

1 12-ounce piece summer sausage
1/2 cup apricot jam*
3 tablespoons
Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.


In a medium mixing bowl combine apricot jam, mustard, and brown sugar; mix well.

Slice the summer sausage three quarters of the way through (accordion style) into 1/8 to ¼-inch slices, so the slices are connected at the bottom. Place the summer sausage onto the baking sheet, and brush with half of the glaze. Be sure to get glaze in between the slices by using a spoon to do so. Reserve the remaining glaze.

Put the summer sausage into the oven and bake for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes, remove from oven and brush with remaining glaze. At this point, the spaces between the slices should have opened up making it easier to get glaze between each. Return to the oven and bake for an additional 20 minutes. Remove from oven and serve as you see fit. It can be reheated in the microwave, if needed.



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Friday, November 12, 2010

Crockpot Pulled Pork


Each week I attempt to try at least one new recipe. Thanks to the Internet, my vast selection of cookbooks, magazines, and the newspaper, I have more recipes than I will be able to prepare in a lifetime if I made something different every day. Last night I decided to try one for pork tenderloin. I had thought ahead to thaw the vacuum-sealed tenderloin in the fridge the night before, but was dismayed when I opened the package to find not one, but two of them inside. I'm not sure why they're packaged this way, but, well, they ARE.

This ended up playing into my hands as I used one for the new recipe I'd been wanting to try (Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Apples and Onions) that I found forgettable despite the excellent reviews. The other I threw into the Crockpot to make use of yet another recipe I wanted to try for pulled pork.

Go figure, the easier of the two was the best. It just goes to show you that you can make really delicious food with relatively few ingredients and virtually no effort. Working girls (and guys)? Do you hear me? Easy and good!
 
I found the recipe for the pulled pork here, at Allrecipes, but for the sake of convenience will reproduce it below.

SLOW COOKER PORK TENDERLOIN
Makes 8 servings

1 (2 pound) pork tenderloin
1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle root beer
1 (18 ounce) bottle your favorite barbecue sauce
8 hamburger buns, split and lightly toasted

Place the pork tenderloin in a slow cooker; pour the root beer over the meat. Cover and cook on low until well cooked and the pork shreds easily, 6 to 7 hours. Note: the actual length of time may vary according to individual slow cooker. Drain well. Stir in barbecue sauce. Serve over hamburger buns.

Okay, confession time. I used 1 1-lb. pork tenderloin and part of a bottle of Coke, because we didn't have any root beer in the house. I just poured the Coke over the meat until it came a little more than halfway up the side and then poured the rest over a glass of ice and drank it myself!

Once the meat was cooked (and I checked it periodically, pulling at it with a fork until it began to shred), I drained the pork, put it into a mixing bowl,and shredded it with two forks.  Then I added the seasonings I use when I bake a brisket: a few shakes of garlic salt, a few shakes of celery salt, a few shakes of Liquid Smoke -- I LOVE Liquid Smoke! --, and some (but not too much, maybe 1-1/2 teaspoons) Worcestershire Sauce. On top of this I poured about half a bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce and kept mixing until I liked the consistency.
Add additional barbecue sauce to your own taste.

This recipe is a keeper!