Caramelized Onion and Bacon Dip vs Chili Cheese Dog Dip: Dueling Dip Thursday 3/28/2013

CARAMELIZED ONION AND BACON DIP

The name itself made my mouth water.  The title alone had me at hello.  And then I was reading the ingredients and saw three types of cheese.  I’m in.

I love how an onion in raw form can be not very tasty and smell like someone with really bad B.O., and then somehow in the cooking process they transform into delicious, sweet accompaniments for any meal.  Imagine taking a big bite out of a raw onion.  Now after you stop dry heaving, think of taking a big bite of caramelized onion.  Totally different. My point is, even if you don’t like onions, you probably will love caramelized onions…I feel I can eat them plain. 

Ingredients:

2 large yellow onions

10 slices of bacon

8 oz cream cheese

¾ cup of non-fat greek yogurt or sour cream

¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

¼ cup grated swiss cheese

2 garlic cloves minced

2 tablespoons of butter

2 tablespoons of olive oil

2 Tablespoons of red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon of chopped parsley

First caramelize the onions.  Slice the onions into really thin pieces, and add to a pan over low-medium heat.  Add butter, olive oil, red wine vinegar and garlic.  Cook a little over an hour until the onions are caramelized. I will shoot you straight here….the process of making caramelized onions is not fun.  It is a lengthy process and the entire time you can smell delicious onion cooking.  In fact, it is torture.  Every time I looked in the pan it seemed like there was no change. When did they turn the brown color of caramel?

Round 1.  Onion 1 – Shanon 0

After about 5 minutes I got impatient.  I cranked the heat a little. Foolish, FOOLISH I TELL YOU!!  The onions were all burny and crisp in a bad way.  Is it possible that I had been bested by an onion? For real? I have been shamed out of my own kitchen, and to make matters worse, NO DIP! After a few hours of pouting and blaming it on our stove (obviously it was the stove’s fault),  I surrendered and went to buy more onions. I refuse to let something that smells like B.O. win.  REFUSE.

Round 2. TRIUMPH!

I had no idea that caramelizing onions takes over an hour.  I mean I have sautéd onions plenty of times and none of those events took over an hour. Otherwise I would have given up and ordered takeout.  However, it was pointed out to me that sautéing and caramelizing are two VERY different things.  Touche. This time I was patient.  And by patient I mean I stalked the stove and did a drive-by every 2 minutes until they were FINALLY done. And then proceeded to eat some.  Ok many.

Note: For all of you future entrepreneurs looking for the next business venture….create a company that sells pre-packaged caramelized onions.  I will be first in line to buy your product and as long as they are delicious, I will endorse you when you apply to be on Shark Tank.  Don’t let Mr. Wonderful talk you down!

The color here is because of my phone...they really were caramelized...promise

While the onions are caramelizing, cook the bacon and then chop into little pieces. Once the onions are done, add the cream cheese, sour cream, parmesan and swiss to the pan and mix all together until the “pre-dip” is all melted together. 

Then add the bacon and parsley.

You may have noted that I called this pre-dip at this point.  Although you can eat this warm, I found that it is exponentially better when it is cold.  The warm dip is sort of like a junior high dance.  Everyone is there, but everyone ignores each other.  But then after a few hours suddenly everyone is dancing and the party has really started.  Same thing here.  The flavors all meld together and form a way better version of French onion dip.  WAY better.  I even brought some to our Field Snack Correspondent Nicole to sample.

We ate them with fritos and triscuits.  Even without the dip, any excuse to eat fritos and triscuits is a win.  I was all ready to score this as a 3 cheese wedge out of 6 when I tried it warm.  Then I tried it again cold and it skyrocketed to a 5. No dip that takes over an hour to make, and then 2 hours of cooling will ever be a 6.  I am sorry. But.....if you can con someone else into making it for you, I would say it is a 5.5.  

This recipe makes 8 servings and each serving was 183 calories based on the ingredients I used (turkey bacon, fat free cream cheese and non-fat greek yogurt) and the expertise of www.myfitnesspal.com.  Then add the calories of whatever you use as a dipping vehicle (a tear is rolling down my cheek for those of you that aren’t planning on using triscuits or fritos).

CHILI CHEESEDOG DIP

Shanon took pity on me this week, and gave me the easy Dip Assignment, because I've been working in the office instead of telecommuting.  Like a grownup, having to wear real pants.  And have shoes on ALL DAY. Clearly I wasn't up to the trials and tribulations of caramelizing onions or waiting for a dip to cool down to eat it.  THUS: Chili Cheesedog Dip.  Three ingredients and no bothersome "cooking." 

Ingedients:

16 oz Mexican Velveeta
4 hot dogs
1 can of chili






Yep, that's ALL the ingredients.  Chop the hot dogs...chop the Velveeta...open the can...dump everything in an oven safe dish.  Stir.

This was the whole process, and thank goodness, because we were having dip for dinner and I didn't get home until 7:30.  After you've half-heartedly stirred it, the dip needs to bake for about an hour.   Probably it should be stirred occasionally during this time, but I was really busy being a comatose lump on the couch and skipped that part.

Now:  It's dip!  Incredibly, incredibly salty dip.  I say that with love, of course.  I adore salt and believe that all dips should primarily taste of salt and cheese.  But this one, while not TOO salty for me, it was nudging the line.  For normal people not addicted to sodium, it might be over the edge.  Also, I served it with Fritos scoops (also known as "chips of the gods") so that added an additional layer of salt.  It's possible with a different dip vehicle, the salt level might not seem so aggressive.

It makes 4 servings.  They are large servings, big enough that one serving can be "dinner," but with 545 calories for the dip, without the fritos (or other dippers) you probably need to plan ahead...run some miles...eat only celery for lunch...something.  Based on the almost-too-salty flavor, and the high opportunity cost, I have to give chili cheesedog dip only 4 wedges out of 6.

Stuffed Peppers

As always,  vegetables are a challenge.  Green peppers are another dangerous-looking item which I avoid.  They have a strange aftertaste, and all that green color convinces me there are terrifyingly large amounts of nutrients in there.  But this recipe does an excellent job of hiding the vegetable taste, covering it with delicious flavor instead.  And there's cheese.  (Are there foods without cheese?  There shouldn't be.)

Ingredients
1 lb pork
1 packet "skillet sauce" Carnita or Fajita flavor.
1 onion, chopped
1/2 cup cheddar cheese
6 tablespoons light sour cream
brown rice - 2 cups cooked.  (if starting with bulk, this is 2/3 c dry + 2 c water)
4 green peppers

Start with pork.   You can use whatever solid pork you want...I happened to have some chunks of pork loin on hand but you could start with pork chops or pork "steak" or whatever...any pound of pork will do.  Put it in the crockpot with some cooking sauce.  Shanon uses the "Carnita" flavor which I cannot find where I live.  I use the "Fajita" flavor.  You'll usually find them in the grocery store right by the taco seasoning. In the case you can't find these sauce packets at all, just use some spices, about a tablespoon of southwest seasoning, a squeeze of lime and a cup or so of water.

Put these in the crock pot.  Add one chopped onion.  I have experimented with different onion choppings...small dice vs. large chop vs long strips of onion...all these experiments were probably a waste of time since it seems to taste exactly the same every way I've tried.  But it was science.  Yeah, I'm a scientist now.



 IF your crockpot has a tight lid, you probably don't need any other liquid.  MY Crockpot does NOT have a tight lid, so I need to add extra liquid or this will dry out.  Use some chicken stock, or just water.  Cook all day. 
At some point in the day, cook some brown rice. I do this in a rice cooker with chicken stock but any method is fine. It's not hard to cook, but it does take some time. If you use instant, I won't judge. Ok, I might judge a tiny bit. But I think we can all agree instant brown rice is clearly better than no brown rice at all.

  Return to your crockpot.  The pork has fallen apart and absorbed all the flavor of the sauce.  Time to shred the pork.  You can do this with two forks.  Due to my lack of manual dexterity, I prefer to pull the pork out of the sauce/onions and then add them back in after the shredding.  You could definitely shredd it IN the crockpot if you have the skills for that sort of thing.  Once the pork is shredded, add the onions.  If needed, add some of the cooking liquid to keep it from being dry, just a few tablespoons.  Now add the sour cream and cheese and rice.  (Note that 6 tablespoons of of sour cream is 3/8 cup.  I do not have a measuring cup that size, so I use the tablespoons.  Or, to be honest, heaping tablespoons because I really like sour cream and want to sneak more in.)  Stir. 

Time to address the peppers.  Cut each pepper in half.  You can see each has a chunk of seeds/innards by the stem that you can just rip out with your hand.  Once all the peppers are "empty" place them on a greased cookie sheet (open side up) in the oven at 425 degrees for 10 minutes.

When the peppers emerge, they are ready to be stuffed.  There may be some liquid in each pepper-cup.  Ignore it.  (At first I was concerned this liquid might make my stuffing taste pepper-like, and carefully soaked it up with a paper towel.  Then I became lazy, and left the liquid...no taste difference, and infinitely improved chances of avoiding severe burns.) Usually this stuffing will fill 4 peppers/8 halves, but it will vary based on the size of the peppers.  If you have extra, just heap it up on top.  It's pretty sticky and generally doesn't fall out.

Cook for an additional 10-15 minutes at 425.  Remove, and prepare to be amazed by the lack of vegetable taste.  The interior stuffing is gooey and delicious.  The exterior green pepper part in inoffensice AND makes it easier to stab with your fork.  You can serve with a little extra sour cream for dipping.  These are super fiet-friendly: each pepper-half only has about 200 calories, so you can eat two and still have ice cream for dessert. 
They reheat very well, so can be packed for lunch the next day.

 

Man Dip vs Pizza Dip: Dueling Dip Thursday - 3-21-2013

Man Dip vs Pizza Dip

This week's Duel about Meat and Cream Cheese!  Clearly you can tell from the start that this week is a HUGE WIN for everyone!  Really.  Both dips are AMAZING

MAN DIP

Man Dip is a secret family recipe which I was able to pry from the fingers of my friend Kristin.  Her family has guarded the secret of this delectable goo for centuries.  Or at least decades.

It contains this tricky list of ingredients:

1 can of Rotel tomatoes
1 block of cream cheese
1 lb of Jimmy Dean sausage

You COULD use the reduced fat sausage, but my grocery store didn't have it.  You can also use reduced fat cream cheese, which I did do.

Again, we begin the dip a high percentage of ingredients that I won't eat in stand-alone situations.  Yet somehow the outcome is something INCREDIBLY delicious.

The process is simple. 

Brown the sausage. (Drain.) 

Do you see it here, the previously mentioned Meat Smusher?  Well it turns out it is called the "Mix 'N Chop" and it is from Pampered Chef.  It's amazing what you learn from reader comments.



Mix the ingredients. 

Cook.   This could be done in the oven.  Or in a crockpot.  However, once you've had the dip, you won't be able to wait the excruciating amount of time required to cook something in a crockpot.  You CAN cook it in the oven and then place it in the crock pot to keep it warm.  Of course, I don't genuinely believe it will be sitting so long that you even need to keep it warm, but if you're SUPER SLOW or have a lot of restraint, it might be needed.

By law, it MUST be served with Tostito's Scoops chips, so I include one in the picture. This dip scores in at a 5.5 cheese wedge out of 6.

PIZZA Dip

With a name like Pizza Dip, how could it possibly be bad?  It can't.  Unless you eat pizza with crazy toppings like broccoli and spinach with no cheese.  In which case....you are on the wrong blog....

The picture alone of this dip is what sucked me in.  It was pepperoni slices on bubbly cheese and it was neatly displayed next to crusty bread slices.  There was nothing I didn't like about it so I added it quickly to my to do list.  And then checked daily to make sure it was still there!  That isn't sad at all, that is smart.  Can you imagine if I went to make it and suddenly the recipe had disappeared?  Have you ever heard of a stage 5 meltdown? Picture the temper tantrum of a 2 year old, with the drama of an actor and the pain of someone on a fiet.  So you see how this was a necessary step...

Ingredients

4 oz cream cheese

1/4 cup sour cream

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1 cup of shredded mozzarella

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 cup of pizza sauce

2 ounces of sliced pepperoni

2 Tablespoons of chopped green pepper (optional)

2 Tablespoons of sliced black olives (optional)

First mix the cream cheese, sour cream, mayo, 1/2 cup of the mozzarella and 1/4 cup of the parmesan cheese together and spread on the bottom of a pie plate.

Pour the pizza sauce over the top of the mixture and spread evenly.

Top with the remaining 1/2 cup of mozzarella and 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese and top with the pepperoni, green pepper and olives (and any other pizza topping....except broccoli...again, WRONG BLOG)

Bake until the cheese is all melty, gooey looking and slightly golden brown.  I personally like my pizza cheese to be on the darker side so use your judgement.

I served this with Garlic Triscuits and sliced crusty french bread.  I am not exagerating when I say the pie plate was scraped clean.  All that was left was a little grease which is to be expected with any melty cheese dip.  I would be lying if I hadn't considered sopping even that up with the bread.....but the bread was gone....and people were watching.

I love this dip.  I did substitute with light sour cream, turkey pepperoni and 1/3 reduced fat cream cheese. And due to a very firm demand, the olives were omitted.  But don't think I didn't but up a fight for them. Calorie-wise, 1/8 of the pie plate is 190 calories. And that is without the dipping vehicle. So for that reason ONLY I have to give this a score of 5 out of 6 cheese wedges.  If calories were not being weighed in here, it would be a 6.


Winner of Dueling Dip Thursday: MAN DIP!!

Puff Pastry Perfection Pockets

In a perfect world, cream cheese would be present in every meal.  Actually, sometimes I start with cream cheese and try to build a meal around it. Much like when I buy a pair of shoes and then desperately try to find an outfit to go with them….

Cream cheese is easily one of my favorite things.  It is so versatile.  It is present in almost every dip that I like. In melted form it makes sauces creamy and delicious, it is phenomenal slathered an inch thick on a fresh toasty bagel and need I remind you that it is a key player in cheesecake?

I have had cream cheese stuffed chicken breasts before, but these are a billion times better. They are little pillows of heaven stuffed with melty cream cheese and BACON! Not to mention…FIET FRIENDLY! I know they probably have another name, but when I was scanning the site I didn’t see it anywhere....in English.  So if you come across the name, you win the prize of knowing what these are called. Pinterest Link 

Besides, I made some tweaks to that recipe so I settled on it being fine to rename it: Puff Pastry Perfection Pockets.  I think it describes them perfectly.   

Ingredients:

1 sheet of Puff pastry

12 oz of thawed chicken breasts cut into 4 equal sizes

4 oz cream cheese softened*

2 Tablespoons of fresh parsley chopped

2 green onions chopped

2 pieces of cooked bacon chopped*

1 teaspoon of garlic salt

¼ teaspoon of black pepper

Before I get into the how-tos of these incredible delights, I need to go on a chicken breast rant…..

We buy the large quantities of frozen chicken breasts that happen to be individually wrapped, which is key.  This way you don’t get frostbite trying to break apart chicken breasts.  My issue is….the bag states that a serving size is 4 oz.  Great.  But the individually wrapped chicken is not 4 oz.  Some are 6, some are 8, some are 4. Now this took me a solid year to realize unfortunately.  Is it too much to ask that the chicken all be uniformly sized before they become “store ready” so that the breasts all be identically sized?  Or at very least, on each individually wrapped piece, stamp the actual weight of the chicken breast? Am I right? Or am I right?

Ok now on to the directions:

Very important: Thaw out the puff pastry on the counter for 40 minutes.  Otherwise you can’t work the dough because it is...well...frozen.  Once the dough is soft, take a rolling pin and roll it out a little thinner and make sure the creases are gone from where it was previously folded.  Tip: sprinkle some flour on the rolling pin and dough.  The dough can be pretty sticky and this flour will save you from having an epic meltdown if the dough rips (I know from experience). Cut the dough into 4 equal parts.

Next mix together the cream cheese, parsley, green onions and bacon and divide into 4 equal parts.

As far as the chicken goes….We had two 6 oz chicken breasts so I cut them in half first.  And then sliced into the side…I believe this may be called “butterflying” them.  But don’t quote me on this.

Add the cream cheese evenly to the middle of each piece of raw chicken and fold the chicken over as if it has swallowed the cream cheese mixture. 

Then place the chicken, seam side down on the puff pastry piece.  You could get all design-y here on how you wrap the chicken but I chose the standard envelope seal and then placed them seam side down on parchment paper. 

Take note my friends….YOU NEED FOIL OR PARCHMENT PAPER!! A little of the cream cheese will inevitable seep out on at least one.  It is just the circle of life. Make sure you serve that one to someone else. Don’t judge…trust me, you want ALL of the cream cheese filling.  The paper or foil will ensure that your delicate puff pastry doesn’t stick to the pan. 

I sprayed the top of each pocket with butter flavored Pam and sprinkled with Garlic Salt. Bake at 400 degrees for 35 min and you will be presented with this:

Ok I know….not exciting.  So I cut into it for a better visual.

Amazing.  Delicious. The dough is flaky and buttery, the chicken is surprisingly tender and juicy and the cream cheese mixture coats everything nicely…..I could have eaten a bowl of it plain in all honesty.  Plus, each pocket is 373 calories based on the ingredients I used, therefore, Fiet friendly!  You need to try this. You NEED to.  As soon as we were done eating I started rifling through the fridge and freezer to see if I had enough left to make these again….tomorrow. 

*I did use fat free cream cheese and turkey bacon.  The cream cheese was still delicious, but I am convinced that these would taste even better with reduced fat cream cheese or full fat.  I am a cream cheese snob and can hardly bare the taste of reduced fat or fat free normally, but there were enough other flavor bits to mask the weird aftertaste of fat free here. But totally up to you.

Spaghetti Squash with Peanut Sauce

Spaghetti Squash with Peanut Sauce

So, when Shanon told me about this recipe, I was extremely doubtful.  I have a cold and icy hatred of vegetables.  Squashes that do not include the word "butternut" in their names are not edible.  I have seen people eat spaghetti squash on television, as a sad sad pasta replacement with tomato sauce.  I wanted nothing to do with this dreary substitution.  However, Shanon claimed that she was even willing to eat this item as leftovers so I felt it had to be worth a try.

You begin with spaghetti squash.  This is the first hard part, because my grocery store stacks all the winter squashes together in an attempt to thwart vegetable neophytes.  The one you want is an oval shaped yellow one.  You either need one large squash about the same size as your head, or two small ones.  (You need to end up with 4 cups of squash output, but keep in mind there is a hole in the middle with seeds.  There's all kinds of crazy estimating you need to do here.  Hope you remember your geometry volume formulas.)

Once you get the squash home...there is more difficulty.  You must cut it in half lengthwise, and there is a tricky stem thing in the way.  And the squash is HARD.  And I have very poor knife skills.  SO...two options:  First, lure someone else to cut it for you.  This is the method I strongly prefer.  However, if you can't:  first microwave the squash...poke some fork holes in it, place it in the microwave for about 3 minutes.  Now, cut off the stem, which gives you a flat base on one of the small ends.  Set the squash on the flat end, and then cut down each side independently.

Remove the seeds.  If there are still some stringy bits...don't sweat it, strings are not really going to be that different than faux-noodles in the end.  Bake in a 400 degree oven, on a cookie sheet covered with foil and sprayed with non-stick-spray.  You will be sorry if you do not cover and spray the pan.  (Unless you LOVE scrubbing dishes...in that case, proceed as you will.)  45 minute cut-side down, then flip and cook 15 minutes cut-side-up.

Allow the squash to cool.  (Go make the sauce during this time.)  Now scrape it with a fork in the same direction as the "grain".  This will be perpendicular to the long side of the squash.  Magically faux-noodles appear. 

You need 4 cups.  DO NOT be tempted to try to use extra.  There is only enough sauce for 4 cups.  Discard or save any extra, because if you have a squash-to-sauce ratio which is too high, you will have bites where you taste actual squash.  Which you do not want, I assure you.  Imagine if acorn squash had no flavor except a slight aftertaste.  Yes.  That is a more pleasant description than this deserves.

While you were cooling the squash, you had time to make the sauce.
It requires these ingredients:
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup chicken broth
3 tbl chunky peanut butter
2 cloves of garlic
2 tbl ginger
1 tbl lime juice
1/2 tsp red pepper flake

Technically you are supposed to saute the garlic and ginger first, then add the other bits.  I of course always forget that step and therefore can report that throwing everything in a saucepan works out just fine.  Note that I use minced garlic and ginger that come in jars, due to chronic laziness.  Also I used bottled lime juice.  You may be concerned about the red pepper flake.  No need, it's not too hot when it's done.

Put everything over low heat and stir.  At first, it appears that this is not working at all and your sauce is a mass of lumps.  No worries, the peanut butter will melt.  And then, you may panic because it seems WAY too watery.  This too will somehow magically resolve, but probably not until AFTER you send several panicked texts and consider crazy ways to fix it.  Just try to remain calm during this time...have some wine...look at a book...but not TOO exciting of a book or things will burn.  (Under no circumstances should you look at the book "Wool" during cooking.  Do Not. No.)

Now, you have a lovely peanut sauce.  Add one cup of pre-cooked chicken, and pour the sauce over the squash.  (If the squash has cooled too much, microwave it a bit to warm up first.)  Stir. Stir a lot.  You do not want any naked squash bits.

And now: fall upon your squash with glee.  It's delicious.  Doesn't taste like squash at all.  Of course, it also tastes nothing like spaghetti.  But that is fine.  Perhaps best to imagine it as some unknown noodle you haven't previously encountered.  That way there are no expectations of what it should taste like, and you can just enjoy the noodley texture with the delicious peanut sauce.  This recipe makes two HUGE servings, which have about 400 calories, with the added bonus of being able to claim you ate all your vegetables.

Hot Artichoke Dip vs Skinny Spinach Dip - Dueling Dip Thursday 3-14-2013

HOT ARTICHOKE DIP

This is dip that hearkens back to the 70s.  When people were groovy and all foods contained mayonnaise.

Ingredients:
1 cup mayo
1/2 cup cheddar cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 can of artichoke hearts

Make sure the artichokes are not marinated...just packed in water or something.

Yes, there are only 4 ingredients.  And yes, two of the four items are things I find repulsive.  But we move ahead, certain that transformation will occur during the baking process.

First, drain the artichokes.  I chopped them a bit more, removing the base so that the leaves could separate.  I believe you COULD skip that, and leave them in their giant chunky glory. Then simply mix all the ingredients together.

Did you preheat your oven?    Well, you should have.  350 degrees.  ALL foods were cooked at 350 in the 70s.  Either it baked in the oven at 350 or it was fondue.  Those were your two options.

Now place the mixture in something that goes in the oven.  I'm using a glass pie pan here, because I JUST used my other pan for Baked Tacos and I don't want readers of this blog to think I only have one pan.  Vain.  Very vain.

Bake at 350 for 25+ minutes.  There should be bubbling and it may look like your dip is floating in a pool of grease.  BECAUSE IT IS!  Remove dip from the oven and serve with Triscuits.  In theory, you COULD eat this dip with other crackers, but during my childhood it was only served with Triscuits, so I view any other dipper as sacrilegious.

Being forced to look at this dip with an objective eye...I have to give it 4 out of 6 cheese wedges.  To be entirely honest, it IS greasy, and I found that the mayo "broke" a little bit during cooking.  But the killing blow is the fact that a serving contains over 450 calories, without any crackers.  And that is the case even when the serving size is quite paltry.  But if you are looking for dip that will go with shag carpeting, you cannot go wrong.

SKINNY SPINACH DIP

Spinach dip is one of those dips that opens the door for eating as much as you want simply because there is spinach right there in the title.  I usually station myself very close to it at any party where this is being served. Sometimes even mention it isn't very good, simply so that there is a higher percentage for my own intake. And no I don't feel bad about that.  Spinach dip served in a breadbowl with wedges of crusty bread for dipping makes my mouth water. I will admit that I have only ever purchased spinach dip from the deli or some other premade spinach dip, so I didn't actually know what was in it.  Who am I to reinvent the wheel?  Enter fiet.....

In my daily scan of online recipes (yes daily), I came across a Spinach Dip recipe that said 1/2 Cup of it was only 100 calories....what's this?  A dip where I can have more than a Tablespoon as a serving?  Finally!  And then I started reading the ingredients and I became a little skeptical of this "dip".  Of course I am not nearly as organized as Jane and didn't take any ingredient pictures.  But I think subconsciously I did it on purpose because the first thing I thought when I was buying them was, "ummmm....no thanks". However it was my duty as a snack buddy to push through my skepticism and make the dip anyway.

Ingredients:
1 package of frozen spinach chopped (usually these are 10 oz)
1 packet of Knorr's vegetable soup/dip mix
8 oz of light sour cream
8 oz of non-fat plain Greek Yogurt
8 oz of low-fat plain Greek Yogurt
5 oz can of sliced water chestnuts (chopped into tiny pieces and actually I only used half)

See what I mean about the ingredients?  All I could think about was the lack of mayonaisse in this recipe and how could any dip call itself a dip without it?  ESPECIALLY since even the Knorr's vegetable soup/dip mix has mayo in the original recipe.  But I pressed on.

Also....water chestnuts....I can't.  The flavorless crunch?  The slime?  I am shuttering at the flashbacks of trying one as I mixed together all of these ingredients. I have to wonder what they look like in their natural/non-canned form.  And the Christmas song referring to Chestnuts roasting on an open fire....was there a shortage of marshmallows? Why would you stoop to chestnuts? Was that the only food left in the entire city? Although, I am hoping there is a dramatic difference between chestnuts and water chestnuts.  And because I have no experience with them, I claim chestnut ignorance. No offense if you like these slices of flavorless calories.  I mean just look at them...

Moving On.

First, and most importantly, thaw the spinach and drain out all of the liquid.  This needs more than just a strainer...this needs some muscle.  I find it easiest to put it in a paper towel and squeeze it out. Then mix together all of the ingredients and let sit in the fridge until all of the flavors have melded together (or per the recipe, 2 hours). This will make about 4 cups or so.  I waited over night because I had already planned on using my remaining calories for the day on Baked Tacos.

My first taste of this dip was with a Triscuit, because as Jane mentioned, they are the best vehicle for dipping.  And I was pleasantly surprised.  There is a slight hint of yogurty taste, but nothing like what I had expected. Then I moved to the vegetables: Carrots and Celery.  Immediately I was disappointed. All I could taste was the vegetable.  It was like there was something sucking the flavor out of the spinach dip between being on my plate and me taking a bite. And isn't the main purpose of dip to hide the taste of the vegetable you are eating it with? So back to the triscuits we went.  I also tried this with bread and it was a big improvement.  Although the triscuits were my favorite.

When it comes to scoring, I admit I am torn.  Based on quantity per serving, I would give it 5 out of 6 wedges because it was 106 calories for 1/2 cup.  Based on flavor, independant of any dipping vehicles, I would give this a 3 out of 6 wedges.  Based on flavor with triscuits or bread, a 4 out of 6.  But I admit I am biased towards the real deal. So I am going to land on a 4 out of 6 and just plan to always serve it with triscuits or bread. It was super easy to make and although it may add some calories, I may try to impart some mayo in the next time I make it.  Just to see what happens. But here is a link to the original if you are interested: Pinterest Link

I think we would both be interested to hear which dip you would make or would lean towards so let us know!

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The marriage of Pizza and Pasta

So I feel like I need to lead with the fact that I am not Italian.  Not even a little.  But I have an enormous love for Italian food.  What’s not to love? Sauce? Pasta? Cheese? More cheese?  I love it all.  So you can imagine my dismay when the calorie counts are not in my favor.  Is it just me or are some of the most delicious foods a billion calories?  Or the serving size is a Tablespoon?  Yes, I know I could substitute zucchini or eggplant or some sort of non-noodle as a noodle, but it just isn’t the same.  Somewhere between the texture and the taste the message being sent to my brain is “this is not right. Stop chewing. Don’t swallow. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!?!?!”

This led me to scan the Pinterest archives….which I gladly did (and picked up about 20 more recipes that must be tried in our R&D Dept (aka kitchen).  And I came across a picture that had melty, bubbly, gooey cheese AND pepperoni AND pasta and I think the word healthy may have been in there too somewhere.  I was intrigued.  Pizza and pasta? Together as one?  Let the games begin. This may or may not be a version of a Weight Watchers meal that is out there or something close to it.  And I will give credit where credit is due, so here is the actual link: Pinterest Link

I swiftly took to myfitnesspal to put in the recipe so I could see just how many miles I would need to be running in order to consume such a cheesy dish (there are two cups of cheese people!  TWO CUPS!!) I noticed that this was a meal that could be had on a non-workout day.  Even better.  My lazy….ummm…back side….. is already preparing the thank you notes.

Here is how this story goes…..and all stories are better automatically when there are pictures, am I right? I must also state that I forgot to take a picture of the ingredients before I started, unlike my much more organized snack buddy Jane, so I have made a mental note to do this next time. 

There is a common debate that I am convinced takes place in many households…..italian sausage vs ground beef.  I myself am not an Italian sausage fan.  I blame this on my lack of Italian-ness so if you prefer Italian sausage to groundbeef, godspeed my friend. This is very similar to my feelings on Cilantro.  Either you like it or you don’t….side note: wouldn’t the debates around election time have been hugely more fun if there were topics such as “Pro-Italian Sausage vs Pro-Ground Beef” or “What is your stance on Cilantro”? Take note politicians….

Ah yes…back to pizza pasta….

What you will need:

·       1 lb ground beef or Italian sausage

·       1 garlic clove minced

·       1 chopped medium yellow onion

·       1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning

·       32 slices of Turkey pepperoni

·       8 oz Rotini noodles

·       1 Jar of pasta sauce (2 ½ cups worth)

·       2 cups of shredded Mozzarella (this is not a typo..again 2 CUPS!!)

First sauté the onions and garlic until soft and then brown whichever meat you choose with the onions and garlic and drain any excess fat.  Add the pasta sauce and Italian seasoning.

 At the same time boil the noodles until just about done…each type is different so I just follow the directions on the box. Drain the noodles and combine them with the sauce and meat mixture. 

I grated the mozzarella because the block cheese is more melty and gooey, but it is certainly a time saver to use the pre-shredded cheese.  P.S. Mozzarella is like fiet cheese without even trying at only 80 calories for ¼ cup.  Thus my love of cheese is once again reinforced.

Add half of the cheese to the pasta sauce/meat/noodle mixture and mix together.  Before transferring to the 9x13 baking dish I HIGHLY recommend spraying with cooking spray.  I myself am not the dish do-er in our house, but using cooking spray will spare you the evil glances from those that are stuck with the deplorable job of doing dishes.  Learn from my mistakes fellow snack lovers…..Once the pasta mixture is in the pan, top with the remaining cheese and then strategically place the pepperoni on top. 

  

Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for about 20-25 min or until the pepperoni has curled up nice and crispy-like and all of the cheese is bubbling.  Side note: Everything is pre-cooked so really even if everything was melty before the 20-25 minute mark, the dinner police will not be alerted so I say go for it.   

I divided the pan into 8 servings or 4 pepperoni slicess each and that equates to 293 calories per serving based on the ingredients I used.  Which obviously means I had plenty of calories left for 2 slices of cheesy garlic bread (I wouldn’t be doing my due diligence if I didn’t recommend Pepperidge Farms 5 cheese garlic Texas Toast).  I know I COULD have added a salad instead of the bread….but….let’s be honest here.  I will always choose garlic bread over salad. 

Always. 

ALWAYS.