Tuesday, January 25, 2011

TACO DIP {recipe}

The past few days all I've heard was, "THE PACKERS ARE GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL!" Yes, the joys of living in the state where their football team is one of the two going to the Super Bowl. Twitter literally exploded that day with "Go PACK Go!", & I got play by play tweets from 75% of the people I follow.

I'll be honest with you, I'm not that big of a football fan. If it were hockey, it would be a different story. However, I love the excuse to make my favorite finger food - Taco Dip. I figure with all the Super Bowl parties that'll be going on, you might be able to use it as an excuse to try this dish. (I know, I'm using it as an excuse to make this dish multiple times!)



INGREDIENTS
8 ounces of cream cheese
8 ounces of sour cream (we went with light, to save on calories. You are welcome to use full flavor, it tastes slightly richer if you do.)
8 ounce bag of mexican or taco cheese
One small tomato, or 1/2 of a large one
One small can of sliced black olives (or slice the large pitted olives)
1/4 of a head of lettuce
One packet of taco seasoning (we found the Old El Paso brand is what our family likes the best.)
One bag of tortilla chips.


In a large bowl; mix your cream cheese, sour cream, & taco seasoning together. We normally only use HALF the taco seasoning. I recommend mixing in a few, tasting it, & adding more to liking. If you pour the whole packet in, it may be too overwhelming. Make sure that the final mixture is a smooth consistency.



Take your mixture & spread it across the bottom of 13 x 9 cake pan. You can also use a cookie sheet, or other similar dish. The size of the dish will determine how thick your dip will be. I found the 13 x 9 is the perfect dip thickness/topping ratio. (I've perfected it to my taste liking over the years. It's an easy recipe & fun to be creative with.)



Next, chop up your lettuce into small pieces & sprinkle it over dip mixture. You can add more or less depending on coverage & taste.



After you have your lettuce down, sprinkle your cheese across the top. We are cheese lovers in my family, so we use the WHOLE 8 ounce package. However, when my mother makes this recipe, she only uses half the bag. It all depends on your families liking.


Next slice up your tomato (& olives if you choose to go that route instead of using sliced ones. We always buy whole & chop them since you get a bigger bang for your buck. That & we use olives often in our meals.) Add both these vegetables to the top of your pan.


You can sprinkle some taco seasoning over the top of your vegetables, or leave it as is. (I normally just leave it because of the seasoning on the cheese & what's in the dip is enough for my family!) Either serve immediately or refrigerate until serving. I recommend eating it within three days due to the waters from the vegetables will dampen your dip after sitting for awhile. Your guests can either put a small scoop on their plate & eat with tortilla chips that way, or just allow them to scoop right out of the dish on the tortilla chip.

If you decide to make this lovely dish, you should snap a picture & link me to it or e-mail it to me. I'd love to see everyone else's versions of my favorite dish! I'm planning on devouring this pan full within the next few days so I can make more for Super Bowl Sunday!

3 comments:

leane said...

you made taco dip without me! :(

Megan said...

The last couple of days pretty much all I've seen mentioned on my Facebook has been all about football, lol. I can only imagine what it'd be like living in the same state as a team going to the Super Bowl! Oh my gosh, that looks delicious! I'm definitely going to be making this next chance I get and you can be assured I'll take tons of pictures ;P

kim rakes said...

oooh! i am so going to make this! and i`ll send a picture your way if i do.. haha. i have had a huge craving for tacos lately... but something about the cream cheese found in this recipe is calling my name too! mmmm!!