One of the things that has always impressed me as I read the Old Testament was the importance the Lord placed on the observance of holy days, especially the feast days. Feast. Food. The importance of good eats. Not for every day, of course, but special occasions. Food is largely what makes most occasions special.
As our family observed a special occasion last week, my husband wanted me to make Lipton’s onion soup mix dip, to be accompanied by potato chips and carrot and celery sticks. Because I love him, I obliged—happily. However, I don’t think it’s all that tasty or essential. And more importantly, I’m concerned that good potato chips are going to be hard to make post-collapse. I certainly haven’t figured out how to make them yet. And just as importantly, I can’t yet make sour cream from powdered milk. Yes, the Media Crema substitute is an excellent one, but those cans are pricey and they don’t have a long shelf life. I’d like to save those cans for when they are truly needed.
I believe my family can be persuaded that other dips are even better. And I also wanted some dips that wouldn’t necessarily suggest the need for potato chips. Dips that use sourdough bread or baguettes—now those would be ideal. And a little healthier and easier to make than potato chips.
So for our family get together, I made the requested onion soup mix dip. I also went into super stealth research mode and made some hot cream cheese dips. It may have been a little unfair to the onion soup mix dip. After all, it was a bitter cold day in April (!*#^%) and a hot dip may have an unfair advantage.
I’m not generally accused of playing fair anyway.
I made two hot dips, in two distinctly different flavors, one for each day. The Cream Cheese Pizza Dip was good. The Green-Chile Cheese Dip was outstanding.
Cream Cheese Pizza Dip
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1 cup pizza sauce
Mix the cream cheese with the Italian seasoning. Spread the cream cheese mixture on a pie plate or shallow dinner plate.
Sprinkle ½ cup each of the Parmesan and mozzarella cheeses on top of the cream cheese layer. Top with the pizza sauce.
Sprinkle the remaining cheeses on top of the pizza sauce. Cover with plastic wrap. Microwave for 5 minutes. It will be hot!
Serve with sourdough bread or crackers.
Green Chile Cheese Dip
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese
1 can (4 ounces) diced green chiles
1 cup shredded Monterey jack pepper cheese
Jalapeo peppers or green onion, sliced
Beat the first three ingredients in medium bowl until creamy. Spread the mixture in a microwave safe pie plate. Microwave on high for 3-4 minutes or until the edges are bubbly and the center is hot. Garnish with jalapeo peppers or green onions. Serve with tortilla chips.
Family reviews: We scarfed this down. Awesome. Comfort food. Terrific with tortilla chips, but really good spread on sourdough bread as well. More canned green chiles and freeze-dried pepper jack cheese are in our future.
Notes: Instead of beating the ingredients until creamy, I just mashed them together with a fork. And I didn’t have any jalapeo peppers or green onions for garnish. And it was still fantastic.
Links to related posts:
How to Make Really Good Cream Cheese from Powdered Milk
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