Hot Crab Dip

Sep 21, 2012

From an old appetizer cookbook that is so well-used that it lost its binding (and cover, hence I don’t know the title of the book) long ago. I’m left with a collection of loose pages.

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Hot Crab Dip

Crab dip like your mom used to make.
Course Appetizer
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes

Ingredients

  • 8 oz cream cheese softened
  • 6 oz crab meat drained and rinsed
  • 2 tablespoons onion finely chopped
  • 2 tablespoons sour cream
  • 1/2 tablespoon horseradish or to taste
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • dash lemon juice
  • dash hot pepper sauce
  • dash Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/2 cup sliced almonds

Instructions

  1. Combine all but almonds.
  2. Place in an ovenproof bowl and sprinkle with almonds.
  3. Bake at 375º for 15 minutes, or until heated through.

Recipe Notes

Serve warm with crackers and vegetables.

When I double the recipe, I use 1 can of crab meat and 1 can of chopped clams. My mom loves this and makes it often. Just recently she was horrified to learn that whenever she's had it at my house, it has chopped clams in it.

 

Pesto

Sep 21, 2012

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Pesto

Fresh basil flavor any time of year.
Course dip
Prep Time 10 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 cups fresh basil
  • 1/4 cup nuts walnuts, pine nuts, sunflower seeds, etc.
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 1/2 – 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese
  • 1/2 cup olive oil

Instructions

  1. Puree basil, nuts, and garlic in blender or food processor.
  2. Blend in cheese.
  3. On low speed, slowly add 1/2-cup oil.
  4. Pour into container and add thin layer of olive oil over the top, then refrigerate.

Recipe Notes

You can also divide this into ice cube trays and freeze. Put frozen cubes in a plastic bag and use as needed.

 

Guacamole

Sep 21, 2012

If you believe tomatoes in your guacamole is heresy, look away.

guacamole

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Guacamole

Course Appetizer
Prep Time 15 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 avocados diced
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic
  • 1 to mato diced
  • 1/2 onion diced
  • 2 jalapeno peppers finely chopped
  • 3 tablespoons fresh cilantro chopped
  • 2 tablespoons sour cream
  • splash hot pepper sauce
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Instructions

  1. Mash the avocados with a fork, leaving some chunks.
  2. Stir in the rest of the ingredients.
  3. Cover and chill for at least 30 minutes before serving.

 

 

Double Tomato Bruschetta

Sep 9, 2012

This has lots of intense flavor and it disappears quickly.

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dtb step 1

Chop up the sun-dried tomatoes. Here, I added pesto because I didn’t have any basil.

Combine everything and mix together.

Chop everything else, combine all the ingredients, and mix together.

dtb step 3

Collect your mess in the sink. Come back later to see if the mess has disappeared.

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Double Tomato Bruschetta

Sun-dried and fresh tomatoes, and full of flavor.
Course Appetizer
Prep Time 15 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

  • 6 roma tomatoes
  • 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil
  • 1/4 cup Parmesan or Asiago cheese fresh, shredded
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
  • 1/4 cup fresh basil stems removed, chopped
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Instructions

  1. Chop the sun-dried tomatoes or pulse in a food processor.
  2. Remove the seeds from the roma tomatoes. This is optional, but I usually do so.
  3. Chop tomatoes or pulse in a food processor.
  4. Let tomatoes drain in a sieve for a few minutes to drain some of the liquid.
  5. Combine everything.
  6. Allow the mixture to sit for at least 10 minutes (several hours or overnight in the refrigerator is better).

Recipe Notes

Serve with sliced baguettes, Italian toast, crackers, your fingers, a shovel.

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Caramel Apple Dip

Sep 9, 2012

caramel-dip

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Caramel Apple Dip

Rich and creamy caramel dip for apples. Or anything, really. You could make your own caramel. but it's really not worth the bother when you'll be adding cream cheese and sugar.
Course Appetizer
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 6 minutes
Total Time 26 minutes

Ingredients

  • 32 caramels Kraft, etc., less than a 14 oz. bag
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 8 oz cream cheese softened
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar

Instructions

  1. Unwrap caramels and place in microwave-safe bowl. Unwrapping takes much longer than you'd think it would.
  2. Add milk.
  3. Microwave on medium for about 6 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes, until melted and smooth.
  4. Cream together cream cheese and brown sugar until smooth and no lumps remain.
  5. Add cream cheese mixture to caramel mixture and stir well.

Recipe Notes

Serve with apples, bananas, pears, cookies. Especially good warm, but room temperature is fine.