I'll bet lots of you have made Chili Cheese Dip for casual parties. We put this one together all the time, especially when the kids are entertaining. Easy, fun, tasty. And it can be assembled ahead of time and heated up in the microwave when it's time to serve.Sunday was Academy Awards night and all three girls were home. That doesn't happen too often, but the promise of everyone's favorite snacks was probably too good to pass up. We had Buffalo wings, cucumber sandwiches, pizza rolls, popcorn, egg rolls, caprese flatbread, kiddie cocktails (the girls still love it when Dad makes these), little hot dogs in Pillsbury roll up croissants (my particular favorite) and today's feature - Chili Cheese Dip.
This is not usually a vegetarian option, but we needed something to share that we all loved and kept veggie-daughter happy. So we adapted this to suit. And it worked out great!
First, for those of you who have never made this before, the regular recipe:
Chili Cheese Dip
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese
1 can Hormel Chili (no bean)
8 oz shredded cheddar
1 bag of Tostito chips
I use a glass pie plate for this dish and it's perfect.
Spread cream cheese in the bottom of pie plate
Cover with chili
Cover with shredded cheddar
Heat in microwave until the cheddar is melted. Serve with chips.
Yep, it's that easy.
For our veggie version, I substituted Meal Starters crumbles for the chili. I "browned" the crumbles in a saucepan with a little water (you have to get the crumbles to 165 degrees, according to pkg directions), and then added McCormick brand Chili seasoning. Once this was sufficiently mixed and warmed, I spread it over the cream cheese and continued with the directions above. The taste is different than the original version's but it was good on its own, nonetheless.
Avery was right - busy week here. I'm catching up from being out of town and I don't think I'm even halfway back to normal yet!
In the meantime, congratulations are in order!
The winner of our Cookie Cutter contest is
Danica Rice!
Congrats, Danica! Have fun with your prize!
Also, our very own Jenn McKinlay just had a new book released. Sprinkle with Murder is in bookstores near you - I just picked up my copy this past Saturday. Can't wait to start reading.
And don't forget Jenn's cupcake contest! If you’d like to win cupcakes from Crumbs Bake Shop, send us an e-mail at [email protected] or a comment with your idea of the wackiest cupcake ingredients you can think of.
Enjoy!
Julie
Author of Grace Under Pressure - a Manor of Murder Mystery - coming June 2010
www.juliehyzy.com
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