Cranberry Dip

Cranberry Dip
From the Honeymoon Kitchen

Brace yourselves folks, eating season has officially arrived.  From about November 15th through January 2nd the honeymoon kitchen turns into a lean, mean, holiday food making machine.  Well, maybe not so lean...

Right now we're in the throes of Thanksgiving prep, which means testing out potential recipes to contribute to the big family dinner next week.  We're somewhat neurotic when it comes to finding the perfect recipe, and we always test things out before serving them to the masses.  This usually results in a lot of weird dip-for-dinner, veggies-for-breakfast type meals, but we can't complain.

This particular dip was inspired by a Whole Foods cranberry dip and it's certainly pretty enough for any holiday spread.  The only problem with it is that I couldn't figure out when to serve it.  It's delicious but a little too sweet for an appetizer to a big dinner.  I think it could be perfect for a holiday cocktail gathering, but alas, we don't have any such event on the calendar this year.  Oh well, it made for a decadant dinner and a number of fantastic afternoon snacks!


Ingredients

• 2 tsp vegetable oil
• 1 sweet onion, diced
• 1 tsp + 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 4 oz goat cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 tsp orange zest
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted (you may notice a variety of nuts in the pic because we were experimenting - trust me, go with almonds, they were the winner by far)

Preparation

1. Heat vegetable oil in a skillet over medium heat.
2. Add diced onions.  Saute, stirring often, until onions are softened.
3. Add 1 tsp sugar and mix well. Cook until onions are caramelized, stirring often, about 10 minutes.
4. Remove onions from skillet and set aside.
5. Add cranberries, water, and 1/4 cup sugar, stirring to dissolve sugar.  Cook until cranberries are softened, periodically smushing them with a wooden spoon, about 7 minutes or until mixture thickens.
6. Add balsamic vinegar and caramelized onions.  Stir to combine.
7. Chill cranberry topping at least 1 hour.
8. Meanwhile, mix cream cheese, goat cheese, orange zest, and orange juice together with a hand mixer.
9. Spread cheese mixture in the bottom of a serving dish.  Top with chilled cranberry mixture and slivered almonds.
10. Serve immediately or chill up to 3 days.  (I thought it got better after a night in the fridge.)

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Chorizo Bean Dip

 

Chorizo Bean Dip
From Cooking Light 

 

We've got one last surprise entry from the book club extravaganza.  I call it a surprise because it was too busy getting its groove on in the oven to make the teaser picture I posted last week.  On top of that, the book club version was made following the Cooking Light recipe verbatim.  It was devoured at book club and we thought about posting it as is, but we had a hunch we could make it even better.

 

So we scrambled to find a reason to test out the improved recipe before I moved on from my series of book club posts.  Just as we were about to resign ourselves to a bean dip dinner for two on Friday night, opportunity came a knockin' in the form of a Bears game cook out.  The main change was swapping out Spanish chorizo for the raw, crumbled Mexican variety.  It makes for a much smoother texture and adds smokey chrorizo flavor to every bite.  Enjoy!

 

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 4 oz Mexican chorizo (it comes raw in a tube and you can squeeze it out and cook it kind of like ground beef)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 Serrano peppers, or any fun hot pepper you want to try out, chopped (we removed about half the seeds, this depends on your chili and your preference for heat)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp ground red pepper
• 5 garlic cloves, smashed and minced
• 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 2 (15 oz) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 large tomato, seeded and chopped
• 3/4 cup Mexican cheese blend (we used reduced fat)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Heat oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat.  Add chorizo crumbles, breaking up with a wooden spoon.  Saute for about 5-7 minutes or until cooked, stiring occasionally.  Remove chorizo from pan, set aside.
3. Using the same pan over medium-high heat, add onion and jalapeno to chorizo drippings.  Saute 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Add salt, cumin, red pepper and garlic.  Saute 1 minute, stirring constantly.
5. Stir in broth and beans and bring to a boil.  Cook 5 minutes.  Remove from heat.
6. Mash beans using a potato masher.  Stir in reserved chorizo.
7. Spread bean mixture in an 8x8 baking dish, coated with cooking spray.  Top beans with tomatoes and cheese.
8. Bake for 20 minutes, or until cheese is melty and starting to brown.

Serves 6 (1/2 cup servings).

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Bacon Blue Cheese Guacamole

 

Bacon Blue Cheese Guacamole
Adapted from The Best Thing I Ever Ate, on Food Network

 

Yes, you read that right.  And yes, it's awesome.  Unless, of course, you hate blue cheese, as does my roommate (that's what I choose to call him when he makes poor life decisions such as this).  But no worries, that just means more for me and the other sane people out there!

 

I made this gem for our big Labor Day BBQ and it was a huge hit.  People tended to take one bite, shoot me a quizzical look, and then exclaim "Oh my God, is there BACON in this?!?"  And then dive back in for more...

 

Ingredients

• 4 ripe avocados, pitted and mashed
• 1/4 cup red onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed and minced
• 2 large Roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 2 jalapenos, chopped (seeds in if you like extra heat - we do!)
• 3 Tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
• 6 strips bacon, cooked until crispy and chopped into bits
• 1 1/2 tsp paprika
• salt and pepper, to taste
• juice of 2 limes
• 1/4 cup blue cheese
• 1 tsp fresh sage, finely chopped

Preparation

1. Mix all ingredients together.  (If you want to get some extra prep work done the night before, you can chop and mix everything except the avocados and store it in a bowl over night.  Then right before serving, add the avocados and possibly extra salt and pepper.)

Serves a crowd of blue cheese loving guac enthusiasts!

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