OK, it’s almost New Year’s Eve and someone invites you to a party. You need a quick and easy thing to bring along. Voila! This dip! Bacon. Cheese and more cheese. A little bit of salsa. And did I mention the bacon. Dip in crackers or tortilla chips. Serve Warm if you can, but also works at room temperature. Enjoy!
And now for something completely different! I’ve often been asked to bring Ranch Dip/Dressing Mix over to Germany for friends as they don’t have the packets of Hidden Valley Ranch, but it’s really easy — and I think better — to simply make your own. So here it is, a recipe for Ranch Dip and Dressing Mix. The full recipes for Salad Dressing and for the Dip are actually written here too. Lasts about a year, if you actually don’t use it up in the first weeks that you have it in the pantry!
It’s getting close to Christmas so here is a great idea for a stocking stuffer: Absolutely fabulously delicious roasted nuts. They are to die for yummy! Sweet from the honey, flavorful but not really spicy from the cinnamon and smoked paprika. They are both sweet and savory. You can use any type of nuts, but I went with cashews, almonds and pecans, but walnuts and even macademias would be lovey too. They’ll stay fresh for a couple of weeks, if they last that long!
It’s turned dramatically colder in the last few days. Not really surprising, given that it is the end of October. I refuse to turn on the heat until November 1st though. But, colder weather means warmer food so I made this lovely Bacon Shrimp and Corn Chowder for dinner last night. Now, soup is hard to photograph and chwder even more so, so even though the photo has a whole lot of white in it, you’ll have to trust me that the chowdah has a whole lot of flavor.
I’ve had a crazy overload of tomatoes from my porch garden this year. It started out with the bigger tomatoes, like Early Girl and Big Boys. Then came the Romas, and now I have a crazy amount of cherry and grape tomatoes. I mean, it’s insane. Every day I am picking at least 20 and there are still at least 2 weeks worth coming. Often I just eat them straight off the vine, but tonight I made these really easy Slow-Cooked Cherry Tomatoes with Garlic and Rosemary for dinner. Would be great with fish, chicken or as a bruschetta topping too. Yum!