What's Cooking?: 3 Dip Success

Let’s look at the cold weather with a glass-half-full type attitude. This week is a “get-the-first-on third” kind of weekend to win the day. Let’s start with that attitude in tailgating. We are going to make three very easy dips to win on third down when our tailgate partners are counting on us.  The great part about tailgating in 40-degree weather is your dip will stay nice and cold, so you don’t need to be as worried about it getting too hot.


Blue Cheese Makes about 4 cups
1- pound sour cream
½ - pound cream cheese
1 package ranch dip mix or dressing mix. (1oz)
2 tbs chives

1.  Let sour cream soften at room temperature for about an hour. Still should be covered and rapped, but just leave it on the counter.
2.  Mix sour cream, cream cheese together. Make sure that the cream cheese is well mixed in.
3.  Then add the cheese crumble and chives.
4. Goes great with: buffalo-sauced anything, vegetables like carrots or celery, and Dakota Style kettle potato chip.

Cheesy Beer

2lbs of Dimock's Bacon and Onion Cheese
¼ cup minced onion
2 cloves of garlic minced
¼ tsp red pepper flakes
1 bottle beer Crow Peak Amber Beer

1.      Shred the Dimmock cheese. You will probably have a little bit leftover. Eat that for quality control. 😉

2.      Mix everything EXCEPT the beer. This should blend and come together. Gradually, add the beer, no more than 4 ounces at a time. Beat on medium spread until a creamy consistency. Taste your dip, you might need to add salt and pepper to flavor.

3.    This should store for two weeks in your fridge if sealed well. Just make sure the cheese isn’t set to expire the day before you go to mix it.

Spinach and Artichoke

1 lb cream cheese

12 oz of Artichoke Hearts (canned from the store drained works well)
1 lb spinach fresh. wilte and squeeze off the water, also I prefer the stem removed not required.
3 tbs yellow onion (Chopped fine)
1 tbs pepper
1 tbs fresh garlic crushed
2 cups parmesan cheese shredded

1.       Completely soften cream cheese in mixer scraping bowl & paddle often.

2.       Mix in pepper, garlic, onion, & parmesan cheese, scraping bowl as needed.

3.       Add artichokes and spinach and mix until just blended

a.       (Do not over mix! There should be chunks of artichoke left. It should not be completely smooth. Also, if you over mix it will turn green.)

4.       For appetizers, portion into microwave & ovenproof dishes

5.       For service microwave until hot, stirring at least once

6.       Clean edge of dish and top with freshly grated parmesan cheese and lightly brown in salamander

7.       Serve with deep-fried pita bread wedges

Go Jacks and block that kick!
-Tim